Civic Sense: The Unsaid Rule for a Happier and Healthier India
We often talk about financial freedom as the ultimate goal, but what's the point if you can't find peace of mind and happiness in your daily life? The constant frustration of rash drivers, littering, and a general lack of regard for public spaces can chip away at our well-being and, surprisingly, even our finances. While we've extensively covered financial topics, today, let's explore something fundamental yet often overlooked: civic sense and how its absence impacts our happiness and financial stability.
What is Civic Sense?
Civic sense is an unsaid rule, a collective understanding of how to behave in public, care for our environment, respect our community, and be polite to those around us. It's learned by observing and adopting the positive behaviors of others. Unfortunately, it's a quality that many in India seem to lack.
The Experiment: A Stark Reality
To understand this better, we conducted a simple experiment. We thoroughly cleaned an area near our office, making it spotless. On the other side of the road, which was already dirty, we intentionally added a little more litter. We then observed for a few days, and the results were shocking, yet perhaps, not entirely surprising. The initially dirty area became even dirtier, while the clean area remarkably remained clean. This simple observation highlights a crucial point: the environment we create often dictates the behavior within it.
Many believe that a lack of civic sense stems from a lack of education. However, the areas around our office are populated by educated individuals, yet these spaces remain dirty. This suggests that the issue isn't solely about education; it's something deeper. Let's delve into three key reasons for this prevalent problem and how they impact us economically and our overall happiness.
The Tragedy of the Commons
This concept describes situations where individuals exploit shared resources for personal gain, ultimately depleting or harming the resource for everyone. We see this when someone throws garbage out of their car to keep it clean, at the expense of public cleanliness.
A recent Yoga Day event in Visakhapatnam perfectly illustrated this. Despite yoga mats being freely available for participants, people resorted to snatching and stealing them, even fighting over them. The saddest part? All they had to do was queue up, and they would have received a mat anyway. When people are incentivized to break rules—when they get a benefit from jumping a queue or stealing and face no consequences—the tragedy of the commons worsens, encouraging everyone to disregard shared norms.
Road Accidents: A High Price to Pay
In 2022, India witnessed a staggering 4.6 lakh road incidents, leading to 1.7 lakh deaths. A shocking 1.2 lakh of these deaths were due to overspeeding, meaning a significant number of lives could have been saved with better civic sense on the roads.
Our recent trip to Italy offered a stark contrast. On an open highway, with a 60 km/h speed limit, despite the temptation to speed, the prevailing adherence to rules by other drivers encouraged us to maintain the prescribed speed. No one overtook us, as it was considered poor civic sense. This highlights how collective behavior can influence individual actions, promoting safety and adherence to rules.
The Cost of Theft: A Burden on Taxpayers
Theft, particularly in public spaces like railways, is another significant drain. In 2022, the Indian railways incurred losses of ₹260 crore due to the theft of items like bulbs, pillows, linens, and mugs. These losses are eventually passed on to the taxpayer through increased fares, meaning you pay more because someone else lacked civic responsibility.
The Broken Window Problem
The broken window theory suggests that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder create an environment that encourages further crime and disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people are more likely to break more windows. Conversely, if something is pristine and well-maintained, people are more inclined to preserve its condition.
Consider the Delhi Metro: it's remarkably clean and well-maintained, and people generally refrain from littering. However, the same individuals often litter once they step out onto the streets. Similarly, in a normal railway coach, you'll often see people discarding peanut shells on the floor simply because others are doing it, and no one intervenes. This illustrates that when a space appears neglected, people feel it's acceptable to contribute to its degradation.
Beyond Aesthetics: Health and Tourism Impacts
The consequences of poor civic sense extend far beyond aesthetics. 40% of all plastic in India is thrown on the streets, leading to blocked drains, monsoon floods, and breeding grounds for diseases. This waste harms street animals, pollutes our soil and water, and eventually enters our food chain. While the government is responsible for public cleanliness, we cannot solely blame them for our collective lack of civic sense.
This issue also severely impacts tourism. A primary concern for travelers considering India is the fear of falling ill due to unhygienic conditions. The internet is flooded with videos showcasing India's dirtiness, creating a negative global perception that directly hits our tourism industry and national pride.
Why Do We Lack Civic Sense?
Two key factors contribute to this pervasive issue:
Outsourced Responsibility: From childhood, we are often not taught to clean up our own messes. Whether it's a household helper or family members, the responsibility of cleaning is often outsourced, preventing the development of a personal sense of accountability.
Historical Legacy: The Endowment Effect: India's historical social structure, where cleanliness was traditionally assigned to marginalized communities, has fostered a lack of shared responsibility for public spaces. The endowment effect suggests that when we feel ownership of something, we take care of it. In India, the lack of a collective sense of ownership over public resources prevents us from treating them with the care they deserve. In contrast, in Japan, children are taught to clean their classrooms, fostering a sense of shared responsibility and ownership from a young age.
Solutions: The Path Forward
So, what's the solution? Here are a few ideas:
Enforcement and Incentivizing Good Behavior: The Coldplay concert in Mumbai offered a great example. When the organizer demanded a clean queue for free moon glasses, 1.5 lakh people, who were previously unruly, immediately formed a single file line. This demonstrates that enforcement, coupled with incentivizing good behavior rather than bad, can bring about immediate change. The government and individuals must work together to enforce rules and encourage positive civic actions.
Contact Your Municipality: We need to take shared responsibility for our surroundings. If an area needs cleaning, inform your local municipality. Many cities, like Noida and Delhi, have apps for reporting such issues, directly connecting citizens with the authorities.
Be the Change: Our experiment showed that clean spaces tend to stay clean, and dirty ones get dirtier. This isn't just a philosophical idea. A personal anecdote illustrates this: when children were kicking stray puppies in a playground, cuddling the puppies immediately changed the children's behavior from cruelty to affection. This shows that when you demonstrate correct behavior, and others witness it and agree, the positive change spreads.
The change starts with each of us. By understanding the impact of our actions, fostering a sense of shared ownership, and actively promoting civic responsibility, we can collectively work towards a happier, healthier, and more prosperous India.
What are your solutions to improving civic sense in India? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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