What’s up with Civic Sense and India?

By

Audarya Gupta

Picture By Biswaroop Ganguly

If you live in India, chances are you've seen someone break a traffic signal, jump a queue, occupy a reserved seat in public transport without a second thought, or even engage in a heated argument over the pettiest of things. Spitting tobacco on walls, littering streets, and turning public spaces into personal dumping grounds—these behaviors have become so routine that they no longer surprise anyone.

On my way back from the Prayag Mahakumbh, I found myself seated next to a BSF officer and an elderly woman while waiting to board my flight. We started to speak about the tragic and famous stampede in Prayagraj on the Shahi Snan(Holy Dip) of 13 January 2025. I mentioned that most news channels mentioned 30 casualties, while my cab drivers in the city claimed numbers as high like 700 or even 2,000. The soldier, who had been there himself, corrected me, estimating the actual toll to be around 150. At this point, the elderly woman sighed and placed the blame squarely on the government and law enforcement. That’s when the soldier decided to share his side of the story.

“I was there. I saw everything. I was even trampled on,” he said. He explained that despite extensive planning and a heavy deployment of security personnel, the tragedy was primarily caused by a complete lack of civic sense among the devotees. Eager to be the first to take a dip at the Sangam, people started pushing and shoving, completely disregarding crowd control measures.

One woman, he recalled, even lashed out at him, accusing him of blocking their religious rights. She threatened to call the media and file complaints with his seniors, all while he and his team were trying to control millions of people—without using force, raising their voices, or even pushing back. “Had everyone simply waited for their turn, by late morning or early afternoon, all would have had their holy dip, and no one would have been injured,” he remarked.

Picture by RP Saroj

While I was in Prayagraj, I also saw firsthand how devotees showed little concern for cleanliness. The ghats were littered with plastic wrappers, broken diyas, and waste floating in the river. The sheer disregard for public spaces was disheartening.

Our conversation was suddenly interrupted by a loud argument a few rows behind us at the airport. A man had left his family’s bags on two or three seats while another man, arriving with his own family, removed them and sat down. This sparked an ugly shouting match. The original seat holder responded with aggression, leading to a full-blown fight, complete with a slap. A crowd quickly gathered, taking sides, arguing, and escalating the situation further.

Just as the airport security managed to diffuse the fight, things took an even uglier turn. As the first man and his wife walked away with their bags, she either gestured to slap or actually slapped on the children of the other man—kids who looked no older than 10 or 12. Naturally, the children started to cry again, prompting again the whole confrontation. The sight of the children crying made it even more unsettling.

This entire fiasco could have been avoided with basic civic sense. If the second man had simply found another seat instead of moving the bags, or if the first man had reacted with patience rather than aggression, none of this would have happened. And, of course, if the woman had kept her hands to herself, it wouldn’t have escalated into a second round of chaos.

While our schools attempt to teach civic sense through skits, posters, and awareness drives; these efforts fall flat when children see their own parents littering, breaking traffic rules, or disregarding public spaces. Most public restrooms in India are proof of this—left filthy and unusable by those who don’t care about the next person who will need them.

Picture by Nizil Shah

People casually spit tobacco, plaster walls with political posters and advertisements, and engage in behavior that has become so normalized that it no longer registers as wrong.

If we genuinely want to see change, it has to start at home. Parents need to set an example so that children learn by watching, not just by being told. Otherwise, we will continue blaming the government—a government that is, after all, a reflection of us.

It is very sad to look at the chaos inside our own Parliament. There are shouting matches, disruptions, and a complete disregard for all established decorum. Can we really be surprised? Our leaders don’t come from mars; they are a reflection of us, shaped by the very society we live in.