FLYING A KITE TODAY? LET'S RIGHT THE WRONGS

  RakshaBandhan is a popular Hindu festival, celebrated with immense joy and happiness. It celebrates a special relationship between brothers and sisters. Sisters tie a thread (Rakhi) on her brother's wrist and pray for his long and prosperous life. But on this auspicious day, many lives are lost. Y'all know why. People take great joy in flying kites as its super fun for them, you know. Amid the celebrations, we completely ignore the danger it causes. The sharp kite threads called manjha are really dangerous to birds and humans. Chinese manjha is made up of fine cotton thread coated with a mixture of tree gums and finely powdered glass making it razor sharp.  

By all means it is bad for our environment. Chinese manjha is non-biodegradable which harms the environment and nature. This string can give rise to various types of injuries ranging from minor cuts to life threatening injuries. This made the simple traditional fun of kite flying deadlier, and now, it has become the potential cause of severe injury, disability and death each year. It is far more deadly to birds as they get entangled in the strings and causes injuries mostly related to the wings. We don't realize that the sky is made for them, not for our kites. These sharp strings crisscross the whole sky, thus restricting the birds from free flight. Human beings have also come under this threat. Year after year, injuries and deaths are reported and cases are registered under Section 336 or 337 (act endangering life or personal safety). In the last couple of weeks there have been numerous cases of people dying because of their throat being slit. Many people on two-wheeler sustained serious injuries after a kite thread got entangled around their neck. There are many related cases. In 2017, state governments banned Chinese manjha. The sale and purchase of this manjha is punishable with up to five years of jail or a fine up to Rs 1 lakh or both. Cops have been authorized to take action against sellers and buyers. Despite, a ban on its sale and use, the dangerous Chinese Manjha continues to be used by kite flyers.

Few days ago, a 6 year old boy named Dhruv Sharma, died because of these strings. He didn’t deserve to die in such a way. They were happily going to their relative's house, until the tragedy happened and their whole life was ruined. I was so disturbed after listening to this news and I know so are you. Usually when we hear someone’s traumatic experience, we feel dreadful but then we ignore and move on with our lives. This is not the time to ignore guys, we should do something. As the boy's grandfather said, we should skip flying kites on this Janmashtami and be safe. He requested all the people not to buy these plastic threads; otherwise this boy’s sacrifice will be useless. It’s not necessary to fly kites; you can also celebrate by going to the temples and praying for the goodwill of the people. Celebrate this Janmashatmi in your houses, do not buy these strings and do not fly kites. We can show our grief and condolences to the family by boycotting these deadly strings.

I request you to sign this petition. The government can at least take some action against the use of sharp threads.

Please sign my petition, if you do care about innocent lives. It would only take you a minute to sign this petition; this might do well to someone. If you want, and can, please share this petition and inspire a change.

Thank You

Simon Sharma

Simon Sharma    Contact the author of the petition