India, Aug. 18 -- Last week, around 9pm on Saturday, I was driving along the Golf Course Extension Road when I decided to stop near a large vacant plot. The place was quiet, but within minutes, I saw cars pull up one after another. Residents rolled down their windows and tossed polybags filled with waste, turning it into a roadside dump. Some didn't even bother to get out-the bags landed with a dull thud before they sped away. Watching this, I couldn't help but wonder: if residents are themselves adding to the filth, who should we really hold accountable?

For months, I have reported on Gurugram's sanitation crisis. The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is often at the receiving end of residents' anger-piles of waste left uncleared,...