There is something disturbingly ordinary about the way we have learned to live amidst disorder. Every day we step over trash, honk at red lights, spit on pavements, and watch a thousand small acts of civic indifference unfold as if they were the natural rhythm of life. What is worse is that we barely flinch anymore. The lack of civic sense in Indian society is not a problem that arrived overnight. It is an epidemic that has slowly infected our national consciousness.

Even after decades of development, our basic sense of civic responsibility is shockingly lacking. It is a strange paradox. A country that can send missions to Mars cannot keep its streets clean. People who take pride in their temples, mosques, gurdwaras, and churches have no problem leaving garbage outside these places of worship. People who complain loudly about issues in society will still throw wrappers, plastic, or leftover food onto the streets without a second thought.

The tragedy of India’s civic decline is not that we do not know better. It is that we simply do not care.

Civic sense is not taught in classrooms. It is absorbed through the environment, through imitation, through what we see others doing. And when what we see around us is chaos, we begin to normalize chaos. Children grow up watching their parents argue with traffic cops, bribe officials, litter streets, and disregard queues. By the time they reach adulthood, the idea of civic discipline feels alien, even foolish. Everyone does it this way becomes the ultimate justification. And that one sentence, casual, defensive, shameless, is the root of half our social........

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