India’s rapid economic rise stands in stark contrast to the everyday civic hurdles that continue to burden millions of people, problems that many developed nations largely solved decades ago.

From erratic electricity supply and toxic air quality to chaotic road behavior and chronic noise pollution, these challenges are not rooted in resource scarcity or technological limitations. Instead, they stem from systemic inefficiencies, poor enforcement, and infrastructure gaps—issues that are fundamentally man-made and entirely solvable with the right intent and governance.

This stark divide became the focus of a viral post on X (formerly Twitter) by Akash Tiwari, Coursera’s AI and Innovation Strategy Leader, who recently returned to India after several years in Ireland. His reflections echo a growing sentiment among returning professionals who find themselves grappling with civic issues never encountered abroad.

“Going back to India has brought so much trouble in my life, that I never had to worry about in Ireland,” Tiwari wrote. He then listed three everyday pain points that have repeatedly disrupted his routine.

1. Unreliable electricity: “I am in Kanpur, and on average there is a power cut for 4-5 hours every day. We have no electricity even at the time of writing this,” he said. By comparison, he recalled that during his more than three years in Dublin, he experienced a single 15-minute power cut, scheduled a month in advance for a meter change. The contrast, he suggested, highlights not only the infrastructure disparity, but also the structural inefficiencies that Indians have come to accept as normal.

2. Air quality and pollution: Tiwari pointed to India’s persistently low AQI levels, especially in northern cities, where winter pollution makes global headlines every year. Although Ireland maintains consistently clean air due to strict environmental regulations and disciplined enforcement, many Indian cities routinely rank among the most polluted in the world.

3. Traffic chaos and honking culture: The daily grind of navigating unruly traffic, endless honking and poor lane discipline, he said, adds another layer of stress that citizens of many developed countries simply don’t face. For Tiwari, and many others returning from abroad, the behavioral gap is as glaring as the infrastructure gap.

“These are man-made, artificially created subjects,” he wrote. “They shouldn’t be there in the first place. And people could focus on other important things in life.”

Tiwari’s post has sparked discussions about whether India’s civic malaise is the inevitable price of urban scale, population and density, or whether it reflects deeper behavioral and policy failures. Experts often argue that India does not have the capacity to fix these problems; rather, it struggles with implementation, prioritization and accountability.