Why do Indians always seem to lack 'civic sense' at home and abroad?
- Santosh Desai
- Updated: Jun 08, 2026, 18:31 IST IST
For the last many months, there has been a lot of conversation about how Indians lack civic sense.
There is certainly no paucity of evidence, whether in instances of alleged misbehaviour abroad or in everyday life in India, which abounds with examples of this lack. Traffic rules are flouted frequently, littering seems to be second nature, queues are not sacrosanct, and public urination is an easy reflex. On social media, this is bemoaned with the diagnosis that unless ‘we’ change as a people, nothing can be done about it.
There is certainly no paucity of evidence, whether in instances of alleged misbehaviour abroad or in everyday life in India, which abounds with examples of this lack. Traffic rules are flouted frequently, littering seems to be second nature, queues are not sacrosanct, and public urination is an easy reflex. On social media, this is bemoaned with the diagnosis that unless ‘we’ change as a people, nothing can be done about it.
