Click to play videoThere are worries that the stadiums, roads and hotels may not be ready in time for the Commonwealth Games in October 2010. But Home Minister P Chidambaram believes that apart from infrastructure, the behaviour of Delhiites too has to improve.
Chidambaram said on Monday that before Delhi hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Delhiites must learn to behave properly. He claimed that they are rude, mannerless, don't obey traffic rules, and foreign visitors are often shocked by how badly behaved they are.
CNN-IBN's Face The Nation debated: Chidambaram asks Delhiites to behave: Are Indians ill-mannered?
The panel of experts included columnist Anil Dharkar; brand expert and CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults, Harish Bijoor; and sociologist Ashis Nandy.
At the beginning of the debate, 88 per cent agreed that Indians are by nature rude and ill-mannered, while 12 per cent disagreed.
North India: Republic of Rudeness?
Nandy kickstarted the debate by saying the behaviour issue was a nation-wide problem but particularly true about the Northern region of India where such reckless and rude behaviour was witnessed.
"In Delhi there is a large influx of people who are in the city for the first time and have not imbibed the civic norms. To them the city feels impersonal and anomic. They think they can get away with anything," he said.
Bijoor agreed that big cities were ruder in nature than smaller towns because there was a lack of ownership of the city. "Cities by definition are admixtures of people who come from different cultures," he said.
He also strongly advocated that people exploited democracy and when stopped from inappropriate behaviour they argued and put forth the fact they lived in a democracy and could do as they please. He further agreed with Nandy on the point that it was in fact that North Indians were particularly ill-mannered.
"At the end of the day there is a big divide in the country and when we talk about Delhi and the NCR region, it is a particularly rude area. It comes from the political culture at play as Delhi is the capital of all politics," he said.
However, Dharkar disagreed with Nandy and Bijnoor saying Bombay was more rude than Delhi adding that people were rude irrespective of living in big cities or small towns.
Though Dharkar agreed with Nandy on the point that people were rude because they were still living in the village culture, he also elaborated that the lack of infrastructure was another cause for rudeness.
"If you are waiting for a bus and if you miss it, you have to wait another half-an-hour, so you are going to push and shove. If there is no toilet you can't hold on forever and even if there is one, it's dirty and the outdoors is much cleaner," he said.
Bijoor agreed with Dharkar on the lack of infrastructure in cities, which led to breaking of rules.
"What the NDMC has done for Delhi or the other bodies have done in pathetic. It's like water finds its own level, if there is enough facilities people would use them," he said.
Rich in money, poor in manners
Dharker put forth a point of the rich and educated being ill-mannered. He said they had no civic sense and didn't follow traffic rules. "They drive big cars but they don't observe any lane discipline. They are rude and they cut in front of you," he said.
Nandy disagreed with Dharkar. He said Delhi has one of the highest per capita accident rate but it is the Delhiite who lacked manners on roads more than a Mumbai resident.
"Delhi once known to be a polite city has undergone gone a massive attitude change. And once a hospitable and polite Delhiite is now rude," he said.
Nandy said Delhi in 1947 underwent a major change when refugees came and made it their home. "Delhi became a city of the uprooted and these people had lost everything and lost trust in everything. Hence it is the anger they have with which they target anyone," he stated.
Time to teach manners
Germany and China conducted training courses before the Beijing Olympics and the Football World Cup to teach its citizens how to behave in a city.
Though Nandy praised Germany and China's efforts to train its citizens to behave, he didn't agree that the training would work in Delhi. "It won't help as even the training will be used instrumentally," he said.
Bijoor said that though he agreed with the Home Minister's statement, it would simply become a controversy. "This will turn into a city versus non-city talk," he said.
And though Dharkar agreed that there was a definite case for stricter policing in our cities, he said the focus should be more on the kind of people we are. "When we see there are norms being followed we follow them. When Indians go abroad they use dustbins and follow rules," he said.
Nandy agreed with Dharkar and said that we were different people at home and different outside because there was lack of ownership towards the city. "We keep our home spotlessly clean but not our surroundings," he said.
He concluded the debate by saying that what Delhi and other urban cities were experiencing was a syndrome called Amoral Familism - where we care about our families and our homes but not about our surroundings.
Final SMS/Web poll: Chidambaram asks Delhiites to behave: Are Indians ill-mannered?
Yes: 95 per cent
No: 5 per cent
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