A Battle to Win their Trust

The public safety survey reveals a nation neither wholly secure nor entirely anxious but rather existing in a curious state of in-between—a patchwork quilt of confidence and concern

- By Vikram Singh

If public safety is a state of mind, then India’s mindscape is a collage of contradictions, paradoxes and flickering hopes. The first-ever Gross Nati onal Behaviour survey, conducted by the India Today Group in collaboration with How India Lives, sets out to quantify not just what we do, but how safe we feel while doing it. Of course, one might debate the sample size and methodology, but this survey has the potential to spark a national conversation on the conduct and civic sensibilities that define a truly developed nation. The survey reveals a nation neither wholly secure nor entirely anxious, but rather existing in a curious state of in-between—a patchwork quilt of confidence and concern that defies simple characterisation.

Kerala, the verdant coastal state known for its near-universal literacy and robust social indices, sits atop the public safety rankings. Yet even in this paragon of safety, contradictions emerge. While only 10 per cent of Keralites report feeling unsafe in their neighbourhoods—the lowest figure nationwide—the state demonstrates a curious anomaly: an overwhelming 96 per cent express discomfort with stray dogs in their vicinity. This aversion appears well-founded, as Kerala recorded a staggering 316,000 dog bite cases in 2024, more than doubling from 135,000 in 2017. One might say that in Kerala, the threat is not from one’s fellow citizens but from their feral four-legged counterparts.