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Why is India so filthy? | The Ugly Indian | TEDxBangalore

TEDx Talks · 4.9M views · 2014-10-27 · 17:34

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Overview

A TEDxBangalore talk by The Ugly Indian, an anonymous collective, asking why Indians tolerate filthy public spaces. It describes their volunteer approach of quietly cleaning up spots and turning the tragedy of the commons into a victory.

On Hacker News

HN points to it when discussing litter and civic neglect in India, as an example of anonymous citizen-led cleanup.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2014–2025

Topics

Transit, cities & urban planningSocial issues & cultureEnvironment, agriculture & food systems
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tragedy of the commonsindiaurban planningvolunteeringtedx

What people said

herbst · 2018-08 · Recommendation

It's a little bit unrelated but the ugly Indian explains a bit about exactly this issue Indians seem to have, in a interesting Ted talk. [VIDEO]

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thatloststudent · 2025-03 · Reference

"The Ugly Indian" [1] (a ragtag group of anonymous citizens) usually does that in India. In reality, though, these kinds of issues are only really seen as a minor inconvenience at most. Anecdotally, most middle-class people in here frown upon chewing tobacco, so I assume the government thinks that as long as they keep it relatively clean, nobody would think of dirtying it with their paan stains. [1] - [VIDEO]

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restalis · 2014-11 · Criticism

"What's the message? If you see a problem, you will go fix it, nobody stops you, you can actually make a change, don't waste your time complaining."¹ When it's about public space, isn't it actually your place to demand such changes from the the public institutions that actually have the authority and responsibility for its maintenance? ...and also to complain when the institutions in question don't do their job? The filth is just a symptom, not a cause. The message quoted above calls for a kind of civic action that will only detract the needed attention from addressing the real problems of the system. ¹ [VIDEO] EDIT: Adding the link to the quoted message.

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Sources

Video by TEDx Talks, played through YouTube.

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