CIVICS:Ch 7- Public Facilities

Excercises

1.Why do you think there are so few cases of private water supply in the world?

Solution:

There are few cases of private water supply in the world, because:

1. Private company deals for profit in the market.sometime this cause protest and riots eg. In Bolivia

2. Water is an essential facility that needs to be provided for everyone.

3. The government provides water facilities to all at an affordable rate so that anybody will not be deprived of the opportunity to live a good life.

              OR

Q.1. Why do you think there are so few cases of private water supply in the world?

Ans.

i. Private companies throughout the world only operate for profit. To supply clean, pure water at affordable rate is not very affordable.

ii. The facilities provided by the private companies will not be affordable by all. A majority of the people would be deprived of the opportunity of availing the basic facilities and enjoying a decent life.

Q.2. Do you think water in Chennai is available and affordable by all? Discuss.

Ans. No, water is not available and affordable in Chennai by all.

i. Areas like Anna Nagar, where senior government officials reside, have tap water for a major part of the day. Even during water scarcity, a water tanker is arranged for them.

ii. Residents of Mylapore get municipal water once in two days.

iii. Madipakam gets water once in four days.

iv. The residents of Saidapet, a slum area do not have separate water connection of their own. The water comes only in common tap for 20 minutes twice a day.

v. The middle class and rich people can dig bore wells, buy water from tankers or even bottled water for drinking. The poor have the least access to water.

Q.3. How is the sale of water by farmers to water dealers in Chennai affecting the local people? Do you think local people can object to such exploitation of ground water? Can the government do anything in this regard?

Ans. The sale of water by farmers to water dealers in Chennai is affecting adversely the local people.

i. The ground water-level of surrounding towns and villages have dropped drastically resulting in the loss of drinking water to local residents.

ii. The private companies or water dealers pay farmers an advance for the rights to exploit water sources on their land. These companies are using a fleet of over 13,000 water tankers.

iii. Water has become short for agriculture resulting in less production of food grains.

Q.4. Why are most of the private hospitals and private schools located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas?

Ans. Private hospitals and private schools are located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas because:

i.  The infrastructural and modern facilities to run such institutes are not available in town or rural areas.

ii. The skilled and educated doctors and educationists reside in major cities and very few of them would like to shift to rural areas or towns.

×Q.5. Do you think the distribution of public facilities in our country is adequate and fair? Give an example of your own to explain.

Ans. No, I think the distribution of public facilities in our country is not adequate and fair.

a. In major cities, there are pucca houses but in villages most of the people are even living in Kuccha houses. This is not fair for the biggest democratic country of the world.

ii. There are so many areas and villages where good road, proper schools, hospitals, good sanitation conditions, proper supply of pure water and electricity are not accessible till date.

iii. Even good hospitals and schools are also located in major cities only.

 

×Q.6. Are all the public facilities shared equally by all the people in your area? Elaborate.

Ans. No, all the facilities are not shared equally by all the people in your area. Nearly 20 percent people are living below the poverty line. They do not have a access to pure and clean drinking water.

The rich people purchase sealed water bottles of branded companies. They have access to regular water supply through tap connections.

×Q.7. Data on some of the public facilities are collected as part of the Census. Discuss with your class teacher when and how the census is conducted.

Ans. Census is conducted every ten years. The last census was conducted in 2011.

The government appoints special people to collect data from door to door about population, occupation, access to public facilities. The data is compared with last figures and planned figures and suitable actions are taken.

Q.8. Private educational institutions-schools, colleges, universities, technical and vocational training institutes are coming up in our country in a big way. On the other hand, educational institutes run by the government are becoming relatively less important. What do you think would be impact of this? Discuss.

Ans. The impacts of privatization of education will be as follows:

i. The education will be more costly.

ii. However, the new techniques of education will be followed with modern instruments. The private companies, in the competition, try to lend better facilities.

iii. There will be more inequality in society because only people from richer strata/section will be able to afford to send their children to private institutions.

Extra question:
Question-1
Mention some public facilities that are provided by the government.

Answer:Public facilities provided by the government are:- Health care
Water
Sanitation
Transport
Education
Electricity
Roads
Question-2
Which Article in the Indian Constitution recognises the ‘right to water’?

Answer:The Constitution of India recognises the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21.
Question-3
What is Universal Access to water?
Answer:Every person, rich or poor, has the right to sufficient amount of water to meet their daily needs, at a price they can afford. This is known as Universal Access to water.
Question-4
What are the characteristics of Public facilities?
Answer:The benefits of public facility can be shared by many people. Government schools enable many children to get educated. The supply of electricity is essential for all households. Farmers can run pump sets to irrigate their fields; people open small workshops that run on electricity.
Public transport help people commute at an affordable price. Public parks and libraries provide recreation for the citizens. Health care and sanitation are essential for a healthy life.

Question-5.   Mention some public facilities that only the government can provide and maintain.
Answer:
Roads
Railways
Sanitation
Water supply
Electricity
Question-6
How does the government raise fund to provide public facilities?
Answer:The main source of income for the government is through the tax it collects from the citizens.
Some of the types of taxes the government collects are………..
Income Tax
Property Tax
Sales Tax
Excise Duty
Water Tax
Vehicle Tax
With the revenue from the tax collected, the government provides the public facilities mentioned earlier.
Question-8
What is a Government Budget?
Answer:The government plans its expenditure, making a clear statement on the amount of money it is going to spend on each facility.
This statement is called the ‘Government Budget’ and is presented in the Parliament and Legislature every year in the month February / March.
Question-9
What is sanitation?

Answer:Sanitation is measures taken up by the government to protect public health through proper solid waste disposal, sewage disposal, and cleanliness during food processing and preparation.
Question-10
Write a short note on Sulabh International.
Answer:Sulabh International is an Indian based social service organization which works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social reforms through education. Sulabh was founded by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak in 1970 and has 50,000 volunteers.
The organization constructs and maintains pay-&-use public toilets, popularly known as Sulabh Complexes with bath, laundry and urinal facilities being used by about ten million people every day.
There are more than 7,500 public toilet blocks and 1.2 million private toilets. The majority of the users of Sulabh facilities are from the poor working class.