Differentiate between accountability and responsibility. Why is ‘objective responsibility’ insufficient without ‘subjective responsibility’ for a Secretary signing an environmental clearance?

Definition: Accountability is external answerability for outcomes; responsibility is the felt internal obligation to discharge a duty diligently. Objective responsibility is rule-based and verifiable; subjective responsibility is conscience-driven and self-imposed.

Illustration: A Secretary signing an environmental clearance under EIA Notification 2006 discharges objective responsibility by following Form-I, public hearing and Expert Appraisal Committee steps. Subjective responsibility asks whether the file genuinely captures cumulative impact, dissenting community voices and long-tail ecological cost. The Lafarge Umiam 2011 case showed that signing within process can still produce ecological injustice if conscience is absent. Ashok Khemka's land-mutation reversals in Haryana exemplify subjective responsibility — going beyond rule-compliance to challenge entrenched collusion. The 2nd ARC's Ethics in Governance Report calls this 'moral ownership', the indispensable complement to formal hierarchical accountability.

Application: Mission Karmayogi embeds 'felt accountability' as a behavioural competency, recognising that process alone cannot deliver ethical governance.