Fear of Punishment = Discipline. Is it?

The above picture conveys the message: A student getting punished for some mistake by the teacher.

Though I still don't remember if schools allow it today or not, but back in the days, a naughty student used to get a beating. Sometimes need not be naughty but a small ignorant "mistake" could be tantamounted to be mischief and punishment would be given. Why I am justifying so much? I maybe have been a victim once or twice that I recall of...But that's not what I am thinking now. It is this fact, do I remember the mistake? Don't think so, because it was a small erroneous part.

So is punishment a correct way of enforcing discipline? The answer is a bit tricky. Yes, military schools and boarding schools have a high degree of discipline to be maintained and any deviation from that results in HUGE and HARSH punishments. {Saying first hand, as have been in military schools}. Now they make REAL DISCIPLINED MEN, no doubt. But the system, the rules are perfect. No one escapes it. Hardly is there any flaw or exception.

Why I am thinking about all this?

Well, the answer is simple: Look around the current noise in social media, news etc. It's all about huge fines the government has levied on motorists. This article is not pro-govt. or pro-user. But only a basic question: Is this the right solution?

When despite having such harsh punishments are not a deterrent to rapes, murders, acid attacks and when we do not have any clear mechanism to instill fear amongst people against these deeds, then leveraging fine to the tune of INR 25k or 30k, in a country where the per capita income per month is around INR 10k looks horrendous.

Why?

Because rather than strengthening the public transportation service, ensuring strict license issuance, good roads - dividers, markers, crossings, signalings etc. etc. government is just jumping way ahead rather than providing the necessities. It should for once ensure, there is the ideal infrastructure, ideal rules - where one can't escape the law of land being someone's Son/Nephew etc, or by etching "Govt. of ____","PSU Vehicle", "Party Worker","President of _____ Association" etc.

Remove the "PRIVILEGED" people from the roads. Provide necessary infrastructure and then punish those flouting rules. Also, it needs to bring back the violation based system for a hefty penalty. REASON: What do I pay my driver at the end of the month, if I get a challan for a minor erroneous driving? In the era of Swiggy's and Zomato's, when most of the "jobs" are being created for delivering goods from "Chinese" funded websites with meager salaries, isn't this pushing them into debt trap??

I understand a lot of thinking must have gone into this, from the ministry level, so many AAYOG's and Think-tanks. But if the common public is staying in fear of fine despite bad infrastructure, bad public transportation, explosive fuel tax, bad economic growth, then something grossly wrong has been done or implemented with.

Hope authorities come to a conclusion, where citizens are made to abide law - not out of fear, but as a responsibility.