GIST
Is the classroom full of bad students or is the classroom without a teacher or an indifferent teacher?
The social media spotlight on India has resulted in an unraveling. With cameras in every nook and corner, the real India beyond a writer’s perceptions, assumptions and imaginations is now out for everyone to see. Indians staying here are so used to these conditions that when they’re spoken about in the international arena, it makes us feel excessively scrutinized. You have the rich Indians and the poor Indians, both sharing space and resources in the vast ancient unequal society with many different divisions governed by a modern constitution that has been written to guide the said society into a more equal and connected tomorrow. For all its faults, the republic of India is the most equal state of power this land has ever seen. But even about 8 decades of its inception and rule why does the Indian society seem to be in a limbo and its streets and surroundings so chaotic and unbecoming?
“The government can’t do it all, the citizens do not have civic sense“
The above statement is often seen repeated by Indians everywhere in a desperate attempt to disassociate themselves from the masses at fault. In ideal conditions, the statement is true and in our case this makes it worse because the people have been manipulated to use this truth as a shield instead of a torch.
The government can’t do it all, but has it done the bare minimum? Has it done its maximum?
I’ll leave that for you to answer.
The citizens do not have civic sense, why do they not have civic sense?
What is civic sense? A google search tells me, “the awareness and practice of good behavior, social ethics, and responsibility towards one's community,ensuring a clean, safe, and harmonious society by respecting public property, following rules (like traffic laws), maintaining cleanliness (using bins, not littering), and showing consideration for others.”
responsibility towards one's community is the foundation of it all.
For a large number of Indians the Indian republic is the first ever community they’re actually part of in a real sense. History, time and the society elite have failed the vast population of this land, rendering them without a community, year after year for millennia. How much civic sense do you have if you do not understand,
That having walked the streets freely, is a privilege?
That having swam the rivers with friends, is a privilege?
That just as much as having drank the water from a village well, is a privilege?
That having had a mother and a father tell you right from wrong, is a privilege?
Now if you do believe that the vast number of Indian people have been reprieved of the many privileges, for thousands of years, what does your civic sense suggest the Indian republic must do for these affected people?
You are correct. Educate them and show them the life of a community!
The government must develop infrastructure (if it ever does it in time). It must aggressively take up education of the population on the much talked about civic sense at all levels. It must support both the infrastructure and the education with adequate manpower, strict and professional enforcement of the law. The actions of the government must be such that every infringement on part of the citizen brings them closer to the community, remembering that the idea is to ensure no such infringement takes place eventually. To top all this off, the population must see direct evidence of the successful results of their civic sense at intervals to reinforce their allegiance to the community and the law.
If all of these are already prescribed in our constitution in ways, would that mean the government is responsible for the poor civic sense of the citizens?
For if there’s an unruly child, its usually because, there’s no parent, or, a bad one.
And the next time, your civic sense might compel you to reconsider your blame.