Common citizens are accountable too

This past fortnight, I have been thinking about environmental governance.

Till the 1990s, the government set up rules, and people were supposed to follow them.

Then, the era of public interest litigations (PIL) dawned. They were broad, ambitious and angry. Looking back, I am not sure they really made any difference.

Both before and after the 1990s, peoples’ movements brought all kinds of projects to the public and government notice — the movement against destroying the Silent Valley, Narmada Bachao Andolan and movement to stop the Doon Valley quarrying — these made deep changes.

Today, people’s movements have largely changed from asking for justice and equity for the poor to asking for both these and middle class rights, not quite the same thing.

Besides, they are more localised, with less national supporters. Meanwhile, the PILs have also become more focused, filed by lot more angry individuals.

In all this, one new strand emerges: The duty of the common citizen.

The state is now telling us that we need to participate in making India better and this is non-negotiable. Yes, the government ought to do better, but unlike the previous decades, citizens are almost as accountable.

That would explain why, in fact, the biggest debate around Diwali has been about citizen accountability and firecrackers. And there is a point there. While the big ticket stuff, like handling crop burning, is still for the government to do, citizens must not burn crackers if they are serious about clean air. By next week, the citizens’ report card will be out, and it will impact the debate around pollution. Let’s watch.