A kite string is no plaything. It is far more dangerous than it looks, especially if it is of the “Chinese” variety. It has led to injuries, even deaths. The most recent victim of the Chinese manjha is a 13-year-old from Punjab’s Rupnagar district. He died on Sunday after the kite string got entangled in his neck.
The unfortunate death has forced the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab to step in. There is already a blanket ban on the Chinese kite string in the state and now authorities have warned of “exemplary” action against those still stelling it.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has taken serious notice of the unfortunate incident [the boy’s death] and has ordered strict action against such people who put human lives at risk, state minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said, according to the news agency PTI.
Also read: Chinese manja: Kite flying thread that Delhi banned has nothing to do with China
What is the Chinese kite string?
The Chinese manjha is not a regular cotton thread which is used to fly kites. It is made of nylon or synthetic thread and is treated with glass to make it sharper. Monofilament fishing lines are also used to make the kit strings.
Monofilament strings, made by melting polymers, are hard to break. Coated with glass they can injure and kill both humans and animals.
According to an application filed with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), some sample strings “take more than 19,000 abrasions to break and the deadly nylon would not break but take the heads from the shoulders”, reports The Indian Express.
Is it made in China?
No, it is not made in China. The string is made in and around Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly and parts of Madhya Pradesh and sold online.
According to the report, the manjha from Bareilly is of the highest quality. Originally made out of cotton, it is covered in glue rice flour and other materials to make it sharp.
However, the glass-coated Chinese manjha is far sharper and stronger. It costs a third of the cotton variety.
How fatal is the Chinese string?
The death of the 13-year-old only in Punjab is not an isolated case. There have been several causalities because of the string.
In 2016, two children died in separate incidents on Independence Day. They were looking out of the sunroof of cars when their throats were slit by the manjha.
It prompted the Delhi government to ban the strings but the incidents continue. This year, at least two motorists died in the Capital after the kite strings cut their throats while riding and another was severely injured.
There have been deaths reported from Maharashtra’s Pune and Mumbai, Gujarat and other parts of the country, especially around Makar Sankranti and Independence Day when revellers take to kite-flying.
Apart from human casualties, animals and birds have fallen prey to manjha-related mishaps. In 2016, in Ahmedabad, more than 2,000 birds were injured and 490 died. In 2019, 4,500 birds were reportedly injured within two days around Makar Sankranti in Gujarat alone.
In Chandigarh, eagles and hawks suffered the most injuries. In Bengaluru, the Avian and Reptile Rehabilitation Centre (ARRC) rescued more than 543 birds in July 2021 and 84 at the start of January 2022.
According to studies, black kites and crows are the other vulnerable species.
What steps have been taken on the issue?
In 2017, the NGT called for a countrywide ban on the Chinese manjha. “There shall be a total ban on the manjha or thread for kite-flying which is made of nylon or any synthetic material and or is coated with synthetic substance and is non-biodegradable,” it said in a 113-page order, directing state governments to enforce the directive.
Any violation of the ban attracts a jail term of up to five years and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh or both. While the NGT noted that kite-flying is part of Indian tradition, the use of the Chinese string has led to injuries in birds, animals and human beings and caused fatal accidents.
The string is also a good conductor of electricity and has resulted in many accidents from it getting snarled up in high-tension electricity lines, the NGT said.
Why is the ban not being enforced?
Across India, the ban continues to be flouted. In August 2022, the Delhi High Court directed the government to ensure strict compliance with the orders passed by it and the NGT on the ban on the sale of Chinese strings.
The Punjab government claims that there is not a single manufacturing unit of Chinese manjha in the state and people continue to purchase it from other states.
According to a report in The Indian Express, enforcement teams of the environment department have a handful of members, and traders manage to slip through and sell the banned kite strings.
With inputs from agencies
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