Sivakasi Firecrackers History and Manufacturing

 

"You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the World"

The predecessor of the firecracker was a type of heated bamboo, used as early as 200 BCE, that exploded when heated continuously. The Chinese name for firecrackers, 爆竹(baozhu), literally means "Exploding Bamboo."

James Dyer Ball, in his book Things Chinese, has a detailed description about the process and material used for making firecrackers at the end of the 19th century. At that time, firecrackers were made by women and children workers, using straw paper to make the body of the firecracker, while the fuse was made of paper imported from Japan made from the inner lining of the bamboo plant, or rice paper, stiffened with buckwheat paste.

A Firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger,is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental to this goal. They have fuses, and are wrapped in a heavy paper casing to contain the explosive compound. Firecrackers, along with fireworks, originated in China.

Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi, which accounts for 90 per cent of the cracker industry in India, is staring at a black Diwali and equally dark uncertain future. With cracker production in the units already down by about 60 per cent, no capital in hand, huge pending dues and bank loans mounting up, the cracker manufacturers are spending sleepless nights. Sivakasi houses over 1,100 firecracker manufacturing units its over eight lakh people who are employed in the industry are now clueless about their future after the ban order. According to men in the business, crackers produced in Sivakasi amounts to a retail sales of nearly Rs 6,000 crore annually.