Smarter citizens for dumbed-down cities

Bombay High Court has called a spade a spade. It is time we listened. This week, it observed that urban flooding is as much a civic failure as an administrative one. Every monsoon, familiar scenes play out across India: Delhi's roads disappear under water, Mumbai grinds to a halt, commuters are stranded, and neighbourhoods resemble lakes. From Bengaluru and Gurgaon to Hyderabad and Chennai, nearly every city battles chronic waterlogging, for which the answer is that old whataboutery: 'But this is nothing new.' Exactly. Civic authorities must answer for poor planning, inadequate drainage and crumbling infrastructure. But the court's remarks underscore an uncomfortable truth: state of our cities isn't just the product of government failure, but also a reflection of collective civic apathy.

Climate change has intensified rainfall. Yet, extreme rain becomes a disaster only when urban systems are weakened by neglect - institutional and individual. No municipal corporation can inspect every drain every day if citizens continue to litter and ignore blocked inlets outside their homes, markets and workplaces. Civic responsibility begins with simple acts: disposing of waste properly, reporting encroachments, clearing immediate blockages where possible, and treating public infra as shared property rather than 'someone else's responsibility'.

Governments must invest in resilient drainage, restore natural water bodies, and enforce planning and waste management laws. But citizens must be partners, not spectators. Smart cities can't be realised through sensors, apps and flyovers alone. Before India can build smart cities, it must first nurture smart, civic-minded people who recognise that well-maintained cities are a shared responsibility.