[MyLife_MyCar]

While a small segment of our population is aware of their surroundings and know how to behave in public, we really need a change in our education system so that coming generations can understand this from an early age.

Now, I’m not talking about a complete overhaul, but inclusion of a couple of subjects with more weightage, namely:
1. Road safety
2. Moral science (this itself can cover many many topics)

Unless these skills/knowledge are inculcated into children, the rate of improvement will be very slow as they will grow up looking at their parents and neighbours, most of whom already flout the rules thinking that all this is normal! (arre, ye sab chalta hai!)

[navin_v8]

Like most have mentioned here, the only solution for this is to work on the grass root level. Meaning good manners, general behavior, public etiquettes, courtesy, being helpful, rationality, safety, etc. has to be taught from childhood itself. And no it is not just the responsibility of the school or the government but more so of the parents/relatives. No change happens soon, especially in a demographic like ours. Optimistically, it will take a few more decades to achieve even 25% of what we envision.

For example: I have imbibed the culture of safety in my nephew wherein he has a habit of wearing helmet, gloves, knee and elbow guards while riding his bicycle. It should always be one step at a time so that the kid does not get overwhelmed.

[srvm]

The topic of this thread is closely linked to this older thread (Are Indian tourists terrible? Or simply misunderstood?).

Nothing has changed significantly in our society in the last decade.
Following Queue system, following traffic rules, throwing garbage in designated bins, keeping public places clean & litter free etc - these are all simple things. But a typical Indian thinks these are for others to follow but somehow not applicable for himself/herself.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by kochup

A probable reason is a combination of our huge population with diverse economic backgrounds vying for limited resources because of which all of us (most) are in a competition from the day we are born. Because of this competition, any sign of goodwill, courtesy etc. are counted as weaknesses and are exploited.

This. This is the reason.

Blaming everything on population would seem like a lame excuse, but that is one of the root causes. Add to that the concentration of population in few cities. Also for people to behave in a civic manner, there should be proper civic amenities to speak of. Not getting on a crowded bus may mean waiting for another 15-20 minutes and possibly getting a pay cut. Elbowing others out to to get what we need plays out to be doing it everytime everywhere, even in places where there is no rush and everyone will be served.

Our political system, british raj era baggage, license raj era baggage, sense of entitlement, economic system, everything. Problem is there is moral science and civic etiquette taught in class. But when the kids come to the real world, there isn't much for them to emulate.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

We probably need a hard iron fisted RULER to bring in discipline. Sure, some freedom will be lost, but the discipline will be worth it.

What if public civility, and traffic discipline is not the priority of the hard iron fisted RULER? BTW, many democracies have achieved excellent public civility & traffic discipline. So, the type of government is moot here.

Indians keep their property clean, on par with anybody in the world. It is the various Indian governments (center, state, village level) who are *not* maintaining the property they own, clean. So these governments need to work towards keeping the public areas as clean as homes.

[Noctis]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

We probably need a hard iron fisted RULER to bring in discipline. Sure, some freedom will be lost, but the discipline will be worth it.

It still won't work in India because our "rulers" and their kin take pride in being able to break the rules themselves and get special treatment over the average joe.

We have seen from the recent Taycan crash or the IAS fraud as to how little regard the elites have for laws and regulations. If the little control people have left in the form of elections is taken away, this country will decent into an authoritarian hell.

[Col Mehta]

The biggest cause of worry for me is the "education" that young minds receive from their parents and elders. I drive my grandson to school every morning and it's just incredibly disheartening to see people with children driving without helmets, running red lights and worse - driving on the wrong side of the road, endangering everyone. This sickness, this reckless behavior is widespread, regardless of the age or gender. In this country, it seems almost everyone is shameless, full of apathy and indifferent to their own safety and the safety of others. Just too much of freedom and sense of self-entitlement, and no one really cares or gives a damn about the law and regulations.

Children will inevitably learn these "skills" from their elders and carry their legacy, no matter how great the school education system maybe. I don't know if this vicious cycle will ever be broken.

[Oxy]

And then we cry when there's racism towards us in foreign nations.

Check this out. Indians going to Canada as international students and leeching off benefits meant for poor Canadians.

https://youtu.be/BISFOw5TfUw

[Raghu M]

I'll not blame the public entirely. All these should be taught right from early age in the schools. When you don't have subjects like Moral Science, Human Values, Road Safety and Traffic, then the outcome is pretty obvious. The problem is, most of the people do not even know that something they are doing is a mistake in public space. Answering nature's call in public for example - no one tells you early in school/home that it's a bad habit.

[RaghuVis]

Many comments here point to education, upbringing, societal role and culture as the primary reason for uncivil behavior.

We often overlook a point here. The same people will behave the opposite when outside India, especially in countries with steep fines for any mess you create.

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by RaghuVis

Many comments here point to education, upbringing, societal role and culture as the primary reason for uncivil behavior.

We often overlook a point here. The same people will behave the opposite when outside India, especially in countries with steep fines for any mess you create.

The same person who goes to Dubai or Singapore becomes a master class driver/rider! They also follow all the rules and by laws without a single instance to trying to break the law!

[MT_Hyderabad]

My biggest problem are line breakers, as it was captured already, I would like to add my second problem on the list:

You enter a public transport or waiting area and everyone has two seats to themselves. One for their butt, the second for their bag's butt. Thankfully, I don't use public transport like metro or buses much, but waiting area on airports are filled with such morons. An example from a metro below:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=E7LlHtYM..._A05D-vPthQyZu

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Indians keep their property clean, on par with anybody in the world. It is the various Indian governments (center, state, village level) who are *not* maintaining the property they own, clean. So these governments need to work towards keeping the public areas as clean as homes.

What is very different in India compared to many other countries I have visited, is that, Indians might keep their own property clean, but they don’t care at all about public places. We were appalled about well to do families who would leave a trail of litter in the park, just drop a can on the pavement when done with it and so on.

These days you will find litter almost anymore. It’s something that in just about all main cities around the world is on the rise. But India is in a class of its own I’m afraid.

Nobody seems to take responsibility for their own litter as soon as they are outside their own home. It seems as if nobody has any sense of civic duty. You clean up after yourself. In your own place, in somebody else’s place and in public spaces.

We were taught to never ever litter. When we went to a park or a beach we would clean up the spot where we were. Gather up all the litter, either put it in bins provided, or when those were full, or not available, we would take out litter home to dispose off.

[vsathyap]

All this can be summarised in 2 words "Me first".

Until this is sorted, we will always be a bunch of people with "As long as I get what I want, to hell with the others" sort of mindset and it shows everywhere.

[Rodie09]

The biggest put off I find even amid educated employees in IT companies - they enter the elevator with their backpack on the shoulder hitting in other person's face, but they don't care at all. Why can't they keep their damn bags in their hands in the elevators.

This one really gets me every time in elevators, specially in offices.