Civic Sense
A new consciousness is dawning upon us as a nation. Incredible India campaign has just released a television advertisement that shows Amir Khan urging Indians not to litter the public places, not to spit on roads and not to pee in public places. This is a welcome, timely and much needed initiative.
As we travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari or Gandhinagar to Guwahati, we find the roadsides or public places littered with garbage, people spitting and peeing in public places. This leaves us with a feeling that the whole country has been turned into a garbage dump. How have we allowed this state of affairs as a nation? It is truly a matter of concern. This has happened when India has been rising at unprecedented economic growth rates during the past decade.
We Indians are personally very clean people. We brush our teeth and take a bath everyday and wash our hands before eating. We keep our houses speck clean. But when it comes to public places, as people we are simply unable to keep our streets, our railway stations, hospitals, or places of worship clean. This is the state of affairs everywhere in India including hundreds and thousands of villages, towns, mega-cities as well as in the streets of the national capital New Delhi. We simply have very poorcivic sense or social ethics.
What is Civic Sense? Civic Sense encompasses unspoken norms of society that help it run smoothly without someone tripping on somebody else’s toes. Civic Sense is all about having consideration for a fellow human being. It means being polite, showing consideration to elderly, women, children and disabled people, driving in one’s lane without honking, throwing one’s garbage in dustbins, smoking only at designated places. The list can go on.
Why is Civic Sense needed? The WHO report shows that India leads the world in number of deaths resulting from road traffic accidents. 126 thousand people lost their lives in road accidents in India in 2009. According to the National Crimes Records
As we travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari or Gandhinagar to Guwahati, we find the roadsides or public places littered with garbage, people spitting and peeing in public places. This leaves us with a feeling that the whole country has been turned into a garbage dump. How have we allowed this state of affairs as a nation? It is truly a matter of concern. This has happened when India has been rising at unprecedented economic growth rates during the past decade.
We Indians are personally very clean people. We brush our teeth and take a bath everyday and wash our hands before eating. We keep our houses speck clean. But when it comes to public places, as people we are simply unable to keep our streets, our railway stations, hospitals, or places of worship clean. This is the state of affairs everywhere in India including hundreds and thousands of villages, towns, mega-cities as well as in the streets of the national capital New Delhi. We simply have very poorcivic sense or social ethics.
What is Civic Sense? Civic Sense encompasses unspoken norms of society that help it run smoothly without someone tripping on somebody else’s toes. Civic Sense is all about having consideration for a fellow human being. It means being polite, showing consideration to elderly, women, children and disabled people, driving in one’s lane without honking, throwing one’s garbage in dustbins, smoking only at designated places. The list can go on.
Why is Civic Sense needed? The WHO report shows that India leads the world in number of deaths resulting from road traffic accidents. 126 thousand people lost their lives in road accidents in India in 2009. According to the National Crimes Records