Democracy from the Ground Up: Conversations with India’s Climate Citizens.

By ARPITA PRIYADARSHINI MISHRA

INTRODUCTION : When Democracy Speaks Through the Soil -

Democracy is often imagined in polling booths, parliaments, and public debates. Yet, in a country as vast and diverse as India, democracy also breathes in quieter spaces in village meetings under banyan trees, in women’s self-help group gatherings, in student clean-up drives, and in farmers’ fields adapting to a changing climate. Here, democracy is not only about representation but about responsibility. It is about citizens responding to ecological crises with care, courage, and collective action.

As climate change deepens inequalities and threatens livelihoods, India’s most powerful climate responses are increasingly emerging from the ground up. These responses are not driven by formal authority but by lived experience. Ordinary people farmers, women, youth, fishers, waste workers are becoming climate citizens, shaping environmental governance through everyday decisions and community leadership.

This article brings together conversations and stories from across India to understand how democracy, when rooted in local action, becomes a force for climate resilience and hope.

Climate Change and Citizenship: Why the Ground Matters - 

India is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Heatwaves, floods, cyclones, erratic monsoons, and water stress affect millions annually. While national policies and international negotiations are crucial, their success ultimately depends on citizen participation.

The Indian Constitution recognises this connection. Article 48A directs the State to protect the environment, while Article 51A(g) places a fundamental duty on every citizen to protect forests, rivers, and wildlife. Climate citizenship, therefore, is not optional, it is constitutional.

At the grassroots, this citizenship takes shape not through speeches, but through practice: conserving water, restoring ecosystems, managing waste, and sustaining livelihoods in harmony with nature.

Conversation 1: The Farmer Who Chose the Soil Over Chemicals -

In a semi-arid region of Maharashtra, a small farmer recounts how years of chemical farming degraded his land. Rising input costs, falling yields, and unpredictable rainfall pushed him to the brink. Instead of abandoning farming, he turned inward to the soil.

By adopting mixed cropping, composting, and reducing chemical inputs, he slowly rebuilt soil fertility. Crop diversity reduced climate risk, and organic matter improved water retention during droughts. His neighbours were skeptical at first, but as his fields stayed productive during erratic monsoons, others followed.

His story reflects a broader shift documented in agricultural reporting: farmers across India experimenting with natural and regenerative practices as climate adaptation strategies. These are not ideological choices they are survival strategies rooted in lived reality.

Conversation 2: Women as Water and Forest Stewards -

In tribal regions of Odisha and Chhattisgarh, women-led forest protection groups have emerged as guardians of biodiversity. These women patrol forests, regulate harvesting, and resolve conflicts through collective decision-making.

One such woman leader explains that forest protection is inseparable from survival. Forests provide food, medicine, fuel, and income. Climate change through irregular rainfall and rising temperatures has increased pressure on these resources. By reviving traditional governance systems, women have reduced deforestation and improved regeneration.

Similarly, in drought-prone villages of Rajasthan and Maharashtra, women have led water conservation efforts reviving ponds, building check dams, and managing equitable water distribution. These initiatives demonstrate how democracy functions at the local level: through participation, accountability, and shared stewardship.

Conversation 3: Students and the Politics of Everyday Action -

In cities and towns, students are emerging as climate citizens in their own right. College eco-clubs, NSS units, and school initiatives are tackling waste segregation, plastic reduction, biodiversity mapping, and climate awareness.

A university student involved in campus sustainability explains that climate action became political the moment they realised waste management was about justice who lives near landfills, who handles waste, and who benefits from consumption. By pushing for composting and recycling on campus, students forced institutions to change systems, not just behaviour.

Student movements may appear small, but collectively they shape social norms. As reported in multiple education and environment features, campuses are becoming laboratories of participatory environmental governance.

Conversation 4: Urban Climate Citizens and Waste Democracy -

In India’s cities, climate action often begins with waste. Resident welfare associations, largely led by women, have transformed waste management through segregation, composting, and recycling.

One urban resident describes how her housing society reduced landfill waste by more than half through decentralised composting. The initiative faced resistance initially, but transparent communication and shared responsibility helped build trust.

Waste democracy is deeply political; it questions consumption patterns, labour conditions of sanitation workers, and the invisibility of waste in urban planning. By reclaiming responsibility, citizens are reshaping urban environmental governance.

Fisherfolk, Floods, and Frontline Knowledge :- 

Along India’s coastlines and riverbanks, fishers and flood-prone communities possess deep ecological knowledge. In Assam and West Bengal, communities facing recurrent floods have adapted housing, cropping, and livelihood patterns to coexist with water rather than resist it.

One fisher explains that climate change has altered fish migration and river behaviour. By observing these changes and adjusting practices, communities reduce risk. Their voices, however, are often absent from formal planning.

Recognising such knowledge is essential for democratic climate governance. International agencies increasingly emphasise the role of indigenous and local knowledge in climate adaptation, an insight India’s grassroots have long embodied.

Democracy Beyond the Ballot: Participation, Not Permission :- 

These stories reveal a common thread: democracy is strongest when citizens act, not wait. Climate citizens do not seek permission to protect their environment; they act out of necessity and care.

This participatory democracy challenges top-down development models. It demands policies that listen, adapt, and support local initiatives. It also exposes inequalities those least responsible for climate change often bear its greatest burdens.

National and Global Recognition of Climate Citizenship :- 

Global frameworks increasingly recognise citizen-led climate action. UN agencies highlight community participation as essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 16 (Strong Institutions).

Indian grassroots initiatives documented by environmental magazines and national newspapers offer models of inclusive, low-cost, and scalable climate solutions. When connected to policy and supported institutionally, these efforts can reshape national climate strategies.

Challenges: Whose Voices Are Still Missing?

Despite inspiring examples, many climate citizens remain unheard. Marginalised communities, landless workers, informal waste workers, migrant labourers often lack platforms to influence decisions. Gender, caste, and economic inequalities shape whose voices count.

Bridging this gap requires participatory governance mechanisms, transparent institutions, and recognition of grassroots leadership. Climate democracy cannot thrive if it excludes those most affected.

The Way Forward: Listening as Governance

True climate governance begins with listening. Policies must move beyond consultation as formality and embrace co-creation with communities. Educational institutions should document grassroots innovations, media should amplify local voices, and governments should institutionalise citizen participation.

Climate change is a collective problem and democracy offers its most humane solution.

Conclusion: The Republic of Care

India’s climate citizens remind us that democracy is not only a system of power it is a practice of care. Care for land, water, forests, livelihoods, and future generations. From farms and forests to campuses and cities, ordinary people are shaping extraordinary change.

Their conversations from the ground up reveal a republic sustained not just by laws, but by responsibility. In listening to these voices, India does more than fight climate change; it strengthens democracy itself.

References :- 

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – Community & Climate Action Reports

UNDP & FAO – Local Climate Adaptation and Citizen Participation

Down To Earth Magazine – Grassroots climate stories and community action

The Hindu – Reports on climate change, environment, and citizen initiatives

The Indian Express – Ground reports on farmers, women, students, and climate resilience

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) – Community resilience frameworks

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)