Class 8 NCERT Polity Chapter 9

Public Facilities
Public facilities: They are associated with our basic
needs such as water, electricity, public transport, etc.

Universal access: Universal access is achieved when

everyone has physical access to a good condition or
can also afford it.

Sanitation: Provision of facilities for the safe disposal

of human urine and feces.

Company: A company is a form of business set up by

people or by the government.
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Public facilities are the facilities provided to the people by the
government. They are important to sustain and lead a
comfortable life.
Water and the People of Chennai:
• Mr. Ramgopal lives in Anna Nagar, Chennai. This area
looks lush and green with lawns maintained by generous
spraying of water.
• Likewise, in an apartment where Mr.Subramaniam lives
water supply is inadequate. They have to spend Rs
500-600 per month to buy water.
• Siva lives in Madipakkam, Chennai. She gets water once in
4 days. For drinking, she buys bottled water.
• Water as a public utility is available in different quantity to
different people.
• Safe drinking water comes under the fundamental right of
an individual and it is the responsibility of government ot
avail it to its citizens. Instagram
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Water as Part of the Fundamental Rights to Life:
• Water is essential for life and for good health.
• India has one of the largest numbers of causes of
water-related diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery,
cholera. More than 1600 Indians, mostly children below
the age of five die every day because of water-related
diseases.
• The Constitution of India recognizes the right to water
as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21.
That means there should be “universal access” to
water.
• The High Courts and Supreme Court have held that the
right to safe drinking water is a Fundamental Right.
• Verdicts given by courts make it as the responsibility of
government to ensure the supply of fresh drinking
water. Instagram
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Public Facilities:
Things like electricity, public transport, schools,
and colleges, etc.which are necessary for
survival are known as public facilities.
Public facilities are provided so that its benefits
can be shared by many people.
This is the responsibility of government to
make public facilities available to every
individual and no one should be discriminated
just on the basis of social or economic division.
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The Government’s Role:
• One of the most important functions of the government is to
ensure that these public facilities are made available to
everyone:
• Making provision for education & setting up of schools &
colleges.
• Improving health & sanitation facilities.
• Ensuring equal distribution of food throughout the country.
• Improving the means of transport
• Maintenance of public utility works like post offices,
railways and roads
• Private companies operate for profit in the market. Public
facilities are related to people’s basic needs.
• The main source of revenue for the government is the taxes
collected from the people and the government is empowered
to collect these taxes and use them for such programmes.
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• For instance, to supply water, the government has to incur
costs in pumping water, carrying it over long distances,
laying down pipes for its distribution, treating the water for
impurities and finally collecting and treating wastewater.
• It meets these expenses partly from the various taxes that it
collects and partly by charging a price for water. This price is
set so that most people can afford a certain minimum
amount of water for daily use.
• One of the most important tasks of government is to ensure
the availability of resources to everyone.
• By making the administration strict and effectively
implementing the schemes government can help
underprivilaged.
• The government by utilising the revenue collected in better
social schemes and using the resources in better manner
can ensure the well being to maximum of the population.
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Water supply to Chennai: is it Available to All:
• Water supply in Chennai is marked by shortage. Municipal supply
meets only about half the needs of the people of the city, on an
average.
• The burden of shortfalls in water supply falls mostly on the poor.
• In search of Alternatives, the scenario of shortage and acute crisis
during the summer months is common to other cities of India.
• A shortage of municipal water is often taken as a sign of failure of
the government.
• Throughout the world, water supply is the responsibility of the
government. There are very few instances of private water supply.
• In this era of industrialisation, water pollution has become a major
problem.
• To avail the clean drinking water to a large population can be
done through the technology advancement which needs
investment by the government.

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Conclusion:
• Public facilities are related to our basic needs and the
Indian Constitution has recognised the right to water,
health, education, etc. as being a part of the Right to
Life.
• The major role of the government is to ensure
adequate public facilities for everyone.
• Public facilities provided to everyone give rise to better
living indices and help any country to get recognised at
international level in terms of development.
• The success of any government is also acknowledged
through the facilities and basic needs provided to all
the individuals.
• These facilities finally become the building blocks of
the development of a nation.
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1. Why do you think there are so few cases of private
water supply in the world?

Answer: Water is a basic necessity. Hence, universal

access to safe drinking water is necessary for a standard
quality of life. It needs to be provided to everyone – either
free of charge or at affordable rates. But, as private
companies work towards the singular goal of maximizing
profits, there was a steep rise in the price of water in cases
where the responsibility for water supply was handed over
to private companies. This made water unaffordable for
many. Cities saw huge protests with riots breaking out at
various places. This forced the government to take back
the service from private hands. Therefore, only a few cases
of private water supply exists in the world.
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2. Do you think water in Chennai is available to and affordable by
all? Discuss.

Answer: Water is not equally available to all citizens in Chennai.

Water in Chennai is supplied by the municipality, which fails to
meet the demand 100%.

Some areas get regular water supply, while many areas get erratic
supply of water. People from the middle class and upper class
buy packaged drinking water or water from tankers.

The burden of water supply shortage falls mostly on the poor, as

they cannot afford the expense of tanker or packaged water.
Those who live close to the storage points get more water, while
colonies further away receive less supply.

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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 groundwater? Can the
government do anything in this regard?

Answer: Due to the shortage of water, private companies have

got an opportunity and are selling water to cities by buying it
from places around the city. In Chennai, water is taken from
nearby towns like, Karungizhi Palur and Mamandur villages to
the north of the city, using a fleet of over 13,000 water tankers.
Every month, the water dealers pay an advance to farmers for
the rights to exploit water sources on their land. This way, the
water that is taken away is not just creating a deficit for
agriculture purpose but also increasing the shortage of drinking
water supplies in the villagers. As a result, the level of ground
water has dropped drastically in all these towns and villages.

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

Answer Most of the private schools and

hospitals are located in the cities, rather than
in towns or villages. Because their sole
motive is maximum profit, the services they
offer are costly and are affordable only by the
affluent dwellers in the city.

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

Answer While there is no doubt that public facilities should be made available
to all, in reality, we see that there is a great shortage of such facilities. The
distribution of public facilities in our country is neither adequate nor fair. For
example, the Delhites avail all public facilities like healthcare and sanitation,
water, electricity, schools, colleges and public transport.

But if we go to places a few kilometers away such as Mathura or Aligarh,

people have to face grave crises for these facilities. Water shortages and
Electricity cut-offs are part of the normal routine of life in those places. Public
transport is also not properly developed.

Compared to the metros and large cities, towns and villages are under-
provided. Compared to wealthy localities, the poorer localities are under-
serviced.

Handing over these facilities to private companies is not an answer. The

important fact is that every citizen of the country has a right to these facilities,
which should be provided to all in an equitable manner. Instagram
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6. 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 the impact of this? Discuss.

Answer Education is a basic need and there should be universal

access to education. But, as the main motive of private education
institutes is earning profits, they charge high fees which are
affordable only by the affluent section of the society. Thus, the
right to quality education is only fulfilled for the rich class. Similarly,
if government education institutes are not up to the mark, then
weaker sections are again deprived of quality education. This, in
turn, results in the disparity of quality education between the rich
and the poor.

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