Trust could be the cornerstone for this election season
Courts across the country have been alluding to the word ‘trust’ a lot these days. Occasionally, they use the term directly. But even when they don’t, it’s presence can still be felt front and centre, especially when courts point to its deficit in public life or refer to its diminution in the social contract between citizens and various organs of the state. In case after case, courts are holding authorities to account for breach of promise, for violating individual rights enshrined in the Constitution, or for skewing the hierarchy of rights in favour of Corporate India. The courts seem concerned about plutocratic tendencies in which the individual citizen’s concerns get short shrift. As election season rolls around in the middle of a scorching summer, it might be worth asking whether trust—or the lack of it—will play a role in influencing voter choices.
Many social scientists have pointed to trust and social capital as critical building blocks for national prosperity. Specifically, trust will become non-negotiable if India wants to become the world’s third largest economy. The court’s pronouncements are only a symptom of how the development process seems to be ignoring this critical element of trust. Its interventions on issues related to urban civic problems can help us understand how citizen rights are being de-prioritized and why trust is so important.
A dry and thirsty Bengaluru, short of drinking water, exemplifies the damage haphazard urban planning can wreak; indiscriminate construction, wanton destruction of natural water bodies to enable fresh construction and overuse of underground aquifers have all combined to create a 20-25% drinking water shortage in the city. The courts, including the Supreme Court, have in the past pulled up Bengaluru’s municipal authorities for their failure to act in the interest of the city and its citizens but these admonitions made no difference. As summer progresses, the situation is likely to worsen. But, because it is election season, some politicians have instead been busy raking up sectarian issues rather than trying to address the crisis by working with the state government or municipal authorities.
On the West coast, the Bombay high court recently reprimanded the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country’s richest municipal body, for reneging on its promise to the court to reconstruct a skywalk between the suburban commuter station Bandra and business district of Bandra Kurla Complex. The high court’s division bench, while expressing concern over the “pathetic” condition of the footpath, said that it was not fit for use by “humans in a civilised society.” The court further observed: “To our surprise and dismay… the work of reconstruction of skywalk has yet not started. If that is so, assurances extended by BMC by filing an affidavit in reply clearly appeared to be farce… The responsibility, it is needless to say, is that of BMC to provide at least a clean and walkable footpath.”
The Bombay high court was also compelled to intervene in a case related to rising pollution in Mumbai. The court asked the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to start a rigorous audit of industries causing air pollution within the city’s metropolitan limits. The court also asked the state government and municipal corporation whether it had a policy for shifting polluting industries out of residential areas. Local citizen welfare associations in Mumbai have been raising with BMC and local legislators the issue of polluting industrial units located within residential areas, but these appeals have gone largely unheeded, until the courts were forced to step in.
The BMC’s disregard for pollution and its impact on public health was revealed recently when former municipal commissioner I.S. Chahal conceded during a press conference that city authorities had sanctioned 6,000 construction projects at the same time, over and above all the excavation related to the Metro and coastal road projects.
Actually, the BMC’s attitude is perhaps reflective of a national trait. The World Air Quality Report for 2023 found Delhi to be the most polluted capital in the world. In India, Begusarai (Bihar), Guwahati (Assam) and Delhi were found to be the three most polluted cities. Blame-sharing and powerplay between the Centre, states and municipal authorities routinely ignores the citizen, leaving her relatively disenfranchised.
The trivialization of trust was evident in the drama surrounding electoral bonds (EBs). After banning EBs, calling them unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ordered State Bank of India (SBI) to share details of all donors and recipients with the Election Commission for display on its website. The court felt citizens had a right to know which corporate organization had donated how much to which party. Oddly, SBI—in which the state holds 57.49% on behalf of all Indian citizens—trotted out what seemed like excuses to avoid revealing the details. The Supreme Court upbraided SBI and the subsequent data dump has provided citizens with a glimpse of the biases and distortions in campaign finance. SBI, by appearing to prioritize the government’s political strategy over citizens’ right to information, devalued trust.
In a country battling widespread poverty and chronic inequality, income support rather than gaps in social capital probably influence voting patterns. But, as history has taught us, never underestimate the voter.
Courts have been chiding authorities repeatedly for overlooking the rights of Indian citizens