When Sivasree Skanda Prasad, a musician and the wife of an Indian Member of Parliament, took to social media to complain about her experience on an overnight train journey, the reaction was swift. She described a carriage filled with passenger chaos: deafening noise, shouting, and a general disregard for fellow travellers well into the early morning hours. Predictably, the incident sparked intense debate across television channels and digital platforms. Yet the core issue has little to do with VIP privilege. It exposes a deeper, long-neglected malaise: India’s chronic lack of civic sense.
The evidence of this deficit is woven into the fabric of everyday urban life. In residential neighborhoods, dog owners allow pets to roam unleashed through apartment corridors, indifferent to the threat of dog bites. Above street level, residents throw garbage from balconies, unconcerned about pedestrians below. In stairwells, lifts, and on freshly painted walls, the stain of betel-nut spit remains a ubiquitous signature of public indifference. Queueing is treated as an optional exercise, resulting in chaotic surges that all too frequently end in preventable, fatal stampedes at public gatherings.
A standard defence attributes these failures to massive population density and widespread poverty. Yet international comparisons easily shatter this narrative. China, managing comparable demographic scale, maintains urban centers that are noticeably cleaner and more orderly. In Africa, Rwanda, a country scarred by historical conflict and constrained by low GDP, hosts Kigali, widely regarded as one of the continent's cleanest capitals. There, civic order is maintained through Umuganda, a mandatory monthly community cleanup drive. Order in public spaces is less a product of wealth than a reflection of collective priority.
The deficit in India stems from three core structural failures: inadequate public infrastructure, absent educational emphasis, and selective state enforcement.
Infrastructure provides the physical foundation for public discipline. Consider basic sanitation along national highways and within commercial venues. In many Indian cities, clean, accessible public restrooms are practically non-existent. Where waste bins do exist, municipal collection is so erratic that rubbish routinely overflows onto the pavement. When basic public amenities are absent or poorly maintained, the surrounding environment quickly deteriorates into a free-for-all.
Education forms the second missing pillar. Modern societies instill public responsibility long before citizens reach adulthood. In Japan, school curricula integrate daily tasks like classroom cleaning, teaching children shared responsibility for their immediate environment. Japanese youth learn early that respecting public spaces and showing empathy to strangers are fundamental duties of citizenship. In contrast, Indian education prioritizes academic competition and exam performance, leaving practical civic duty entirely out of the classroom.
Finally, enforcement remains dysfunctional. Rules exist on paper, but state machinery rarely acts unless pressured by celebrity intervention or viral outrage. When a prominent person tweets about an unsanitary train car or an unruly public space, railway officials and municipal teams mobilize instantly, offering targeted solutions to quiet the storm. For the average citizen, however, complaints routinely disappear into administrative black holes. This contrast reinforces a damaging belief: public regulations are arbitrary, and enforcement is an exercise in public relations rather than routine administration.
The fallout from this civic deficit goes beyond immediate physical discomfort. Living in chaotic, unpredictable public spaces elevates daily stress and urban anxiety, eroding social trust. Furthermore, as Indian communities expand globally, these habits travel with them. In suburban developments across North America and Europe, local residents increasingly voice frustration over noisy public celebrations and loud gatherings near shopping centers. Unchecked public disruption abroad risks damaging the broader reputation of the diaspora, generating unnecessary friction with host communities.
Addressing this issue requires shifting away from superficial campaigns toward permanent structural reform. Public infrastructure must be built and systematically maintained. Schools must integrate hands-on civic duty into daily routines alongside academic subjects. Most importantly, law enforcement must apply rules consistently to all citizens, rather than reserving responsiveness for viral tweets and influential persons. A nation’s standing relies not just on its economic performance or space programs, but on the quiet efficiency and mutual respect found within its public realm.