The Missing Habit: India’s Civic Sense Crisis

  •   Thu, Jan 29 2026
  •   By Ankith S Kumar

January 29, 2026

India is a land of extraordinary contrasts. We send rockets to space, build world-class highways, and boast some of the sharpest minds on the planet. Yet, at street level, a troubling reality persists, a widespread lack of civic sense that quietly erodes our daily life.

Civic sense is not about laws or fines alone. It is about how individuals behave in shared spaces, roads, parks, buses, offices, hospitals, and even online. It is the invisible glue that holds a society together. Unfortunately, in India, this glue often seems weak or missing.

The Everyday Symptoms We Ignore

The signs are everywhere, so common that we have normalised them:

1. The Dustbin That No One Uses

A dustbin stands in plain sight, yet garbage lies scattered around it. Wrappers are thrown from moving vehicles, tea cups abandoned at bus stops. The excuse is simple: “One small piece won’t matter.” Multiply that mindset by millions, and cities drown in filth.

2. Traffic Rules are Treated as Suggestions

At red signals, some wait patiently while others inch forward, cross early, or drive on the wrong side, “just for 50 meters”. Helmets hang on handlebars, seatbelts stay unused, and pedestrians risk their lives daily. That “just” often costs lives.

3. Honking as a National Language

Traffic jams turn into noise competitions. Drivers honk even when there is nowhere to move, as if sound alone can dissolve congestion. Ambulances struggle not due to a lack of sirens, but because no one wants to give way.

4. Queue? What Queue?

In banks, temples, hospitals, wedding halls and airport boarding gates, queues exist only in theory. Someone slips ahead, saying, “Anna Onji Nimsha, unte Urgent undu”. Another adds friends midway. Those who follow rules are left frustrated, while rule-breakers are rewarded.

5. Spitting and “Wall Art”

Freshly painted walls, staircases, and corners quickly become targets for spitting. Red stains appear within days, undoing public work paid for by taxpayers. Ironically, the same people complain that the city looks dirty, and also, open urination is another nuisance.

6. Public Property is Nobody’s Property

Train seats carved with names, park benches broken, public toilets vandalised (look at our Vande Bharat trains now). The belief persists that if something belongs to the government, it belongs to no one. In reality, it belongs to everyone.

7. Clean Homes, Dirty Streets

Inside the house, spotless floors. Just outside the gate, garbage was casually dumped. Responsibility seems to end at the boundary wall. 

8. Education Without Etiquette

Many offenders are educated and well-off. Degrees have increased, but social responsibility hasn’t. Children are taught to score marks, not to respect public spaces. When adults break rules openly, children learn fast from example, not instruction.

9. The Comfort of “Chalta Hai”

Perhaps the most dangerous attitude is “Chalta hai.” Someone blocks traffic? Chalta hai.
Someone litters? Chalta hai. This silent acceptance turns bad behavior into normal behavior.

Rules Exist; Enforcement Often Doesn’t

India does not lack laws; it lacks consistent enforcement. When rules are applied selectively, citizens stop respecting them. Temporary drives and symbolic fines only teach people one thing—wait it out.

Civic sense thrives where rules are predictable and impartial, not negotiable.

The Cost We All Pay

The absence of civic sense leads to:

  • Unsafe roads and rising accidents
  • Dirty cities and health hazards
  • Wasted public money on repeated repairs
  • Constant stress, anger, and social conflict
  • A poor global image despite immense potential

In the end, everyone pays, including those who think they are clever enough to break the rules.

Change Begins Uncomfortably Close

It is easy to blame the government or the system. The harder truth is this: Civic sense begins with the individual. Before acting, ask one simple question: “What if everyone did this?” If the answer looks chaotic, unsafe, or dirty, then it’s probably wrong.

From Proud Citizens to Responsible Ones

India does not need more slogans. It needs daily discipline. True patriotism is not just waving the flag on national days; it is respecting shared spaces on ordinary days.

Civic sense is not about perfection; it is about consideration. When Indians begin to treat public spaces as extensions of their own homes, the country will not just develop, it will mature, and that transformation requires no budget, only intent, repeated every day.

 

 

 

 
By Ankith S Kumar
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Comment on this article

  • Rekha, Nitte

    Thu, Jan 29 2026

    Informative


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Title: The Missing Habit: India’s Civic Sense Crisis



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