As the dignified people of our country, we have the rights to perform any activity in public leaving some exceptions as per the Constitution. Anybody can dance anywhere, or perform any sort of art in public. As it is our land, we can freely say aloud and express our voices. And this is the responsibility of an individual to make space for welfare of other people around as well in library, stations, roads, parks and neighbourhood. Keeping in mind that due to own actions inconvenience is not caused to others is called civic sense. At a library one should keep silence so that everybody can concentrate into their books. Not playing music loudly at night understanding that neighbours might get disturbed.
In government offices, one must be patient enough to stand in queue and wait for other people to get their work done. One should also respectfully convey with the staff when in need of assistance. Outside their households, people are often seen throwing garbage from windows or balconies into nearby areas which, of course, leads to littering (this one is so popular that a famous television advertisement we might remember in which some teenagers were playing cricket in a street and a woman dropped some garbage from her house into the dustbin which did litter the place, was made signifying this common ill practice.) Such habits degrade society. Many can afford to litter the ground near their house but should dump into nearby arrangements. While travelling in public transport it is a good habit to make sure you keep your seat ensuring the next passengers do not have to face any problem. I believe civic sense isn’t something to inculcate in somebody rather it is a self-intention to help others. However, people have to come up with ideas to develop some.
Cleanliness
Although the major contributions are of common people, government is not less responsible. While there has been installation of proper toilets, we lack proper dustbins at public places leaving people with least options to dispose of garbage. Because there is no system for segregating there is little progress towards environmental welfare. Besides, governments in India get criticized for allowing businesses of tobacco products which are not only injurious to health but also costs crores of hard earned public tax money to clean the stains. Instead, they can focus on nutritional items at the same price.
The first phase of cleanliness I believe is self. It is how a person keeps him or her clean and hygienic. The same person also takes accountability about messing his or her surroundings. It is a way of showing self- respect to oneself that wherever one goes keeps own self and the place clean. In a country like India, according to my perspective people who lack such way of living are the population responsible for dirtiness in places in general.
For some change in habits of people, mass volunteership can be anticipated. NGOs and government organisations can hold cleanliness drive urging people efficiently to cooperate and participate in cleaning public places. Participating in such missions might help the public know the do’s and dont’s and the value of hygiene. For my belief is many people usually do not do something because they haven’t gotten themselves into it. Once or more, one does a task with dedication then the next time it becomes easier. More importantly, it gives the sense of achievement or makes people understand their own selves better about how they can do it themselves. Consequently, through the initial successes people shall understand that though it has become easy to keep clean, to maintain it gets tougher. Learning from these lessons, I perceive that people will realise the importance of cleanliness and rather than criticizing authorities, take it as their own responsibility.
In the same manner, in today’s world of information, these campaigns can be joined through online medium. This initiative can and is already making huge contribution to cleanliness. When people see around themselves that there are somebody who are working toward a right cause, it encourages them too. This global platform of internet also has the power to make the change that normally is difficult. It may solve the problem of cleaning a polluted river and forest or any form of topography by funding through online support from around the world. Some popular ones are Plogmanofindia and Vanimurthy.
Traffic
Following neat and clean roads people shall like to properly use zebra crossing and road signals. Though it does not justify people to disobey rules. At busy market places a lot of people are seen standing or cars, motorcycles and autorickshaws are parked almost on half of roads which make the traffic congested.
An idea of NGO gives an idea for the solution. Few members of the organization might gather and follow the traffic rules in big number. If the members perform actions in groups like crossing roads according to signals, they might attract public around to follow them. And the team can urge people to use zebra crossing at proper signals, volunteer them to make space at roads or guide them to use footpaths and tracks meant for cycles.
Considering about people’s problem related to your vehicle might be a bit different for you who might not realise. Such as during parking in a running traffic or at night, turning on indicators is a good practice to people to get cautious about you. However, there are times you are at fault. Like unnecessarily honking over a traffic waiting for the road signal to go green. Or not letting enough space while parking for other vehicles to flow.
If human made systems like road rules might not give you hints, you might ask yourself whether any sort of problem is stand for or not. Other ways could be to observe your surroundings and learn from them or ask somebody for help. Longer solutions may include joining an online community for road civic sense.
Monuments and historical sites
Imagine the surroundings are clean. Roads are quite efficient. People gracefully follow rules. All such little habits chain up to bring about new forms of discipline and manners. If public living in such a manner is allowed to witness the legacy of historical places, they can be well preserved. Such sites are an important source of information about our history.
We, as the descendants of our historical lineages ought to protect and preserve sites of historical significance. Examples like the famous temples in Hampi in Karnataka and Ashok Stambh in Bihar are among the most important historical sources of information to name a few in the world. And to mention there are a lot more monuments and memories of the past history in and around India which makes us curious about them. Some natural sites age to Cretaceous period like one in Ghughua Fossil Park in Madhya Pradesh and Mondra Fossil Park in Jharkhand and Tiruvakkarai Fossil Wood Park in Tamil Nadu which are rich in fossil deposits. Yet people get eager to ruin these properties to satisfy themselves. Uncaring attitude by some tourists like scratching their names on walls or polluting the sites impacts the visual and cultural integrity of the monuments and the natural sites.
About people with such lack of civic sense a perception about them can be that they do not know the value of something that is built or has been preserved. This realization can be made if they are asked to build something or to maintain or beautify something like a plant. It is then these people will value the efforts it takes to prevent any damage to sites and the fact that if it is deteriorated it might not be undone. That might prove to be a drawback in the pursue of knowing our past. Hence if children are encouraged to building and beatifying at an early age they possibly grow up as good citizens.
Digital civic sense
Apart from physical spaces and its responsibilities, we also have digital area. As the time passes and new technologies emerge, different aspect of life get a birth. One such aspect is social media. Today, people have preferred it as a platform to share their thoughts with everybody. In fact, it has a huge potential to influence people. One person if praises you in real life, it would mean a big compliment. But it is worth noticing that online platform might be of different nature. Where in person you could gather one compliment, if you post something online, even twenty likes might feel less for you. That is because we tend to follow many accounts which we don’t know personally. Neither do people who follow back know you. However social media understood its role to be liked by the lens of human nature – to be curious about other people’s lives. Hence people have so many online acquaintances to know about other people.
Conclusively, there is high chance that social media likes diminish wisdom of people . Some people risk their lives for likes. If any accident occurs, it will not only harm them but can trouble other people as well. While others go in public and do not think that their actions may be inappropriate for other sections of society. Few can post fake content to get likes and comments on their post. What they might think no one would believe them; there can always be people who for any reason could misunderstand it as true. That can lead to detrimental consequences.
Therefore, creators risking their lives or performing absurd actions; better would be to think twice before just thinking about getting likes. Public choices to avoid such content determines this kind of stupidity stops. It is advisable for viewers to not believe everything online and check the facts themselves. Same applies to content creators for making verified and true content. As humans all people should be advised by news and public discussions that online misinformation can be dangerous.
Of all the responsibilities we take to improve our lives, civic sense comes automatically on the list of social skills. It is not a teaching that is taught. It is neither a rule to be followed nor a request. A feeling that cares about others is civic sense. It is a sense that guides us to one of the ultimate goals of humans – to help each other.
By: Harshik
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