Trash Is Not India’s Civic Problem. Attitudes Are: A Mirror for India

When we talk about “civic sense” in India, the conversation is usually limited to two things: people spitting paan on the road and breaking traffic signals. As if civic responsibility begins and ends with garbage bins and zebra crossings. But scratch a little deeper and you’ll see civic sense is not just about physical cleanliness or following traffic rules. It’s about mindset, behavior, and the ability to coexist with dignity. And here, India struggles far more than it admits.

The Narrow Definition of Civic Sense

In everyday discussions, civic sense is reduced to not littering. True, Indians have a notorious reputation for throwing wrappers out of bus windows, honking without reason, and turning roads into dumping grounds. But this is only the visible tip of the iceberg. What’s hidden beneath is a set of social attitudes and behaviors that reveal how civic sense is not embedded in our culture.

Other countries may not be perfect, but there is a baseline respect in public life — for personal space, for community rules, for diversity. In India, the absence of this baseline becomes obvious the moment you step into a bus, a park, or even an online forum.

Civic sense is about respect, and if a society’s idea of entertainment is demeaning half its population, what respect can we expect in the streets, in workplaces, or in politics? A country cannot talk about civic values when its popular culture reduces women to props.

The Language We Use

Language is another window into civic sense. Indians across classes, urban and rural alike, have normalized abusive language. Slurs fly around in casual conversations. Abuses are gendered, violent, and often deeply misogynistic. For many, using foul words is almost a badge of masculinity.

Now compare this with many countries abroad where public swearing is frowned upon in civil spaces, workplaces, and family gatherings. Sure, everyone curses now and then — but in India, it has become default speech. The lack of self-control in language reflects a larger lack of civic responsibility: an inability to recognize that words impact the collective environment.

Anger as a National Emotion

The world often jokes that Indians get angry too quickly. Unfortunately, it’s not just a joke. Road rage, violent fights over parking spots, full-blown brawls over cricket matches — we have normalized exploding at the smallest trigger. Civic sense is about patience, tolerance, and negotiation. But in India, shouting is often seen as strength, and aggression as power.

Contrast this with Japan, where even during natural disasters, queues remain orderly. Or with Germany, where arguments stay heated but structured. Anger in India, on the other hand, is raw and directionless, often spilling into violence. That lack of emotional civic sense makes public spaces unsafe and stressful.

Foreigners as Aliens

When foreigners visit India, they often describe feeling like they’re in a zoo — stared at, photographed without consent, treated like curiosities. While some argue this comes from “innocent curiosity,” the reality is harsher: it reflects a lack of exposure and tolerance. A white tourist in India becomes an exotic spectacle. A Black tourist faces outright racism.

True civic sense would mean respecting the privacy and dignity of visitors. But India has yet to accept diversity even within itself — caste, skin color, interfaith couples are all battlegrounds. So naturally, when outsiders arrive, the reaction is either exaggerated fascination or outright hostility.

The Real Threat to India?

Couples really ?? Here’s a peculiar paradox: a country with unemployment, poverty, and inflation chooses to obsess over young couples sitting in a park. Two adults holding hands in public is somehow seen as a bigger threat to “society” than corruption or crime. Moral policing thrives because Indians confuse civic sense with enforcing their own version of morality.

In Western countries, couples in public spaces are considered normal — because they are. Civic sense there recognizes that personal choices in relationships do not harm society. In India, we treat them as crimes, while actual civic violations like encroaching footpaths or bribing officials are ignored.

The irony is that Indians often defend themselves with pride in “culture” — but what culture are we talking about? A culture where loudspeakers blare at midnight without caring for patients in nearby hospitals? A culture where neighbors gossip about women’s clothing but ignore domestic violence? A culture where cheating the system is celebrated as “jugaad”? If this is culture, it is one that desperately needs rethinking.

Civic Sense Is About Respect

So what does all this add up to? Civic sense is not just about whether you throw trash in a bin. It’s about whether you respect women, foreigners, strangers, couples, workers, or anyone different from you. It’s about whether you can control your anger, your language, your impulses.

The irony is that Indians often defend themselves with pride in “culture” — but what culture are we talking about? A culture where loudspeakers blare at midnight without caring for patients in nearby hospitals? A culture where neighbors gossip about women’s clothing but ignore domestic violence? A culture where cheating the system is celebrated as “jugaad”? If this is culture, it is one that desperately needs rethinking.

Why Other Countries Say Indians Lack Civic Sense ?

When outsiders say Indians lack civic sense, they are not only talking about the dirt on our streets. They are talking about:

The man screaming at a waiter because his food is late.

The auto driver abusing a rival in front of passengers.

The group of men leering at a foreign woman in shorts.

The crowd that films an accident victim instead of helping.

The neighborhood that moral-polices couples while ignoring crime.

Can Civic Sense Be Taught?

The obvious question is: how do we change? Can civic sense be taught in schools? Perhaps. But civic sense is more about lived behavior than textbooks. Children imitate parents, communities set the tone, and entertainment normalizes attitudes. As long as misogyny, vulgarity, and aggression are glorified in our daily culture, no civics lesson will make a difference.

We need a redefinition of respect. Respect for time (showing up when you promised). Respect for space (not shouting on phones in public). Respect for women (not reducing them to objects). Respect for differences (not treating foreigners like exhibits). Respect for choice (not hounding couples in parks).

Learning From the World

India does not need to blindly copy the West, but it can learn. From Japan, discipline. From Scandinavian, equality. From Germany, respect for systems. From Singapore, cleanliness and efficiency. From countless places, the idea that civic sense is not external but internal: it is how you conduct yourself when no one is watching.

Conclusion: The Mirror We Refuse to Face

Civic sense in India needs to move beyond trash and traffic. The real problem is deeper: a mindset that confuses loudness with strength, morality with civic duty, and curiosity with rudeness. Until we face this mirror, no Swachh Bharat campaign will work, no traffic fine will reform us.

The challenge is not just about roads and garbage — it’s about re-wiring how Indians think, speak, and behave in public life. Only then will we deserve to call ourselves a truly civil society.

The insight review 

Upasna Sharma