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| Are we persona ficta or real persons with responsibility to act? | | | Mohd Arif Mir (Figar)
Disclaimer: The views expressed are personal and have nothing to do with my official position. They are shared while exercising my fundamental right under Article 19 of the Constitution of India (freedom of speech and expression) and in fulfillment of the duty under Article 51A(g) to protect the environment.
Are we persona ficta—mere fictional beings, detached from the world’s pain—or are we real persons with the responsibility to act when humanity stands at the edge of ecological collapse?
The legal phrase persona ficta refers to artificial entities that exist only on paper. But today, in the face of devastating floods, droughts, wildfires, and landslides, many of us live like such abstractions—expressing concern, posting online, debating in seminar halls—yet shying away from real, sustained action.
The truth is that we are real persons—breathing beings, dependent on rivers, forests, glaciers, and soils for survival. That reality demands responsibility. To act, not just to speak.
The Chenab Valley has, in recent weeks, borne the fury of nature’s warning. The floods in Chisoti Paddar and the Wadwan crisis shook families, swept away livelihoods, and unsettled fragile ecosystems. Each life lost is not just a statistic but a reminder that time is running out.
For generations, the Chenab Valley has been a cradle of biodiversity and culture. Today, it stands vulnerable—its mountains scarred by landslides, its rivers swelling with unpredictable fury, its people fearful of tomorrow. These are not isolated events; they are glimpses of a future none of us want to inherit.
Yes, relief camps, aid distribution, awareness campaigns, and academic seminars are important. But they are not enough. To confine ourselves to symbolic acts is to betray our responsibility. What is needed is an action-oriented roadmap, drawn not in rhetoric but in real measures:
• Climate Resilience: Flood-resistant infrastructure, sustainable agriculture, scientific water management, and community-based early warning systems.
• Sustainable Development: Development must no longer come at the cost of ecology. Corporate Social Responsibility must move from token philanthropy to real accountability—cutting emissions, adopting clean energy, and restoring ecosystems.
• Policy and Implementation: Governments must translate existing commitments—the National Action Plan on Climate Change, international conventions like the Paris Agreement—into strict enforcement at local levels.
Humanity today faces two great non-traditional threats: climate change and cybersecurity.
Climate change is the physical threat—destroying crops, homes, and ecosystems. Cyber insecurity is the digital threat—capable of crippling systems that manage relief, data, and climate adaptation strategies. Together, they form a deadly nexus. To ignore them is to gamble with survival itself.
Our Constitution and our courts have already shown us the path.
• Article 21 guarantees the right to life, which the Supreme Court has expanded to include the right to a clean and healthy environment.
• In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978), the Court made clear that life is more than mere existence; it is dignity, quality, and freedom—impossible without ecological balance.
• Article 51A(g) reminds every citizen of their duty to protect the environment.
• International protocols—from the UNFCCC to the Paris Agreement—bind us to act as members of a global community.
The law empowers us. But law without action is just another persona ficta.
Every disaster in our valleys is not just an ecological issue—it is a moral question. Will we leave our children a livable planet, or only memories of what once was? The environment is not charity. It is our collective inheritance, our common property as humankind. To protect it is not an option; it is a duty owed to the living and to generations yet unborn.
The time for hesitation has ended. We cannot remain fictional actors on the sidelines while the stage collapses. We must step forward as real persons with real responsibility.
This call is for peace lovers, civil society organisations, academicians, policymakers, corporate leaders, judges, and every citizen with a conscience. Relief may save the present, but only prevention and sustainable action can save the future.
Let the tragedies of Chisoti Paddar and Wadwan not fade into forgetfulness. Let them become the turning point where we shifted from words to deeds, from persona ficta to responsible humanity.
The Earth is our only home. To protect it is to protect ourselves. The time to act is now. |
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