The city will stay dirty - until it first becomes ours.

Recently, some of the most noteworthy voices in the country have spoken, and written, about the growing urban decay in our cities. It doesn’t matter which city we’re referring to - our streets flood after 30 minutes of rain, our roads haven’t been resurfaced in years, there’s filth everywhere, and we no longer refer to our seasons as Monsoon, Autumn, Winter, and Spring. Instead, we call them the Dengue Season, Pollution Season, followed by an even more intense Pollution Season.

Politicians across the spectrum have failed us. But let’s be honest, we can’t escape responsibility either. One particular problem - urban filth- is squarely ours to own. No government can solve it until we change.

Recently, many influencers and public figures have made videos urging people to do their civic duty and keep our cities clean. These have been widely circulated, but I’m not convinced they will lead to mass behaviour change. Why?

Delhi Government’s recent clean-up drive with the MCD proved this yet again. MCD staff - out in full force -  worked diligently to clean the city early each morning. Places that hadn’t seen a jhadoo in years were cleared of mess. But by the next morning, the place would be dirty again. I saw this personally. The cycle continued. The drive ended, and the city was back to being one big slum. Things won’t change until something changes. 

Indian citizens have a curious relationship with the government. It’s been 77 years since independence, but the antagonism and mistrust cemented during hundreds of years of colonial rule still persists.

We - including the media - continue to refer to our governments as rulers. Governments rule with an iron hand. Focus is on compliance. Non-compliance results in punishment.

On our part, citizens don’t trust the government. The focus here is on escaping compliance. We claim to live in a community - but in reality, we’re just concerned about our own: family, home, wealth.

It’s almost as if the Civil Disobedience Movement never ended  - we’re still working against each other, rather than together, and for the country.

We will continue to dirty our streets until something fundamental changes - and that change must begin with the government. We need to get out of this vicious cycle and replace it with a virtuous one. 

Around 2012, we pitched a ‘Clean India’ idea to one of our large clients. It didn’t go through as it wasn’t aligned with the brand’s strategic direction — but here’s what the idea was: People need to be brought in to help change India’s destiny. Can we co-opt the ‘changemaker’ in all of us?

To do that, we must first make people take ownership. And to achieve that, the government needs to build incentives - not punishment.

Where citizens have helped, and led, local governance, incentives would be awarded. These incentives could range from direct and out-of-turn grants to respective municipalities for better roads, beautification, and new civic infrastructure; to direct individual awards in the form of tax rebates, individual recognition on billboards, shout-outs on social media (yes, they work). 

Citywide contests among districts, and cities, promoted and showcased, through mainstream and digital media. TV hosts, influencers and celebrities talking about it. Leaderboards on websites, et al make this into a citizen movement. We have global examples that show this approach works. 

I quite liked the idea of the ‘Mumbai Local’ train lottery tickets which the city launched to incentivize ticket-purchase (people could win daily/ weekly prizes). It met with criticism and was quickly discontinued, but I believe we need more such initiatives, not fewer. 

I’ll never forget the day when, as a student in Class VI, my entire class queued up and we handed bricks, one after another, as part of a shram-daan volunteer drive that the school had organised near our new school building. “Sharam daan, sharam daan,” we joked and mocked the drill that day. But what we didn’t realise at the time was the fundamental shift that moment sparked within each of us — the idea of dignity of labour, doing your own work. It was an exercise in character building. On that day, the school building became ours. And has stayed so ever since.

For the nation to become ours, we have to join in.

Jai Hind