Some people think residents should keep streets clean while others think its the government's responsibility. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

While many people put the onus of keeping streets clean on the local government, I believe that the prime responsibility lies with the citizens. The primary reason for putting this responsibility under the umbrella of government is that the government officials collect taxes from citizens and receive grants from national or international institutions for the upkeep and development of wards and cities under their jurisdiction. The citizens, on the other hand, have to spend from their pockets on amenities like garbage collection, recycling, sweeping of streets, maintenance of potholes etc. Conversely, if the citizens are supposed to be the primary role players in the cleanliness, they should receive appropriate tax deductions on the same. Main advantage of making the citizens the primary stakeholders is that the accountability and responsibility sharing will become highly transparent. Another benefit will be that the citizens will have the first hand information of what needs to be rectified to better the streets that they use everyday. Collecting feedback from grassroots level will make the process more efficient as opposed to gathering information by government authorities. Allocating funds and accountability at granular level will make the process more transparent. This will ensure the allotment of funds to the most needy cases and will discourage any fund swindling or corruption on account of government officials. Hence in conclusion, we can say that the citizens hold the maximum responsibility for keeping their streets clean and tidy. Citizen rights and duties are two faces of the same coin. Just passing the buck on to government authorities will not help the in the development of a society.