Each Diwali brings new trends in firecrackers, from sparklers to rockets, but this year’s dangerous novelty is the ‘carbide gun’ or ‘desi firecracker gun’. Marketed as toys, these homemade devices are ...

Aarish, 15, sits on a hospital bed in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. A pair of dark glasses hides a painful injury in his left eye. His cornea was damaged a week ago when an improvised ...