Trust could be the cornerstone for this election season

livemint.com:

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