Public Facilities

Excercise

Q.1. Why do you think there are so few cases of private water supply in the world?
Answer: There are very few cases of private water supply in the world because water is an essential amenity. Water supply is a public facility that every government must provide to all citizens of a State. In cases where water supply was placed in the hands of private companies, the prices of water rose, making it unaffordable to the masses. This resulted in riots, protests and violent demonstrations in countries like Bolivia. Hence, it has been deemed best that the government must handle water supply services.
Q.2. Do you think water in Chennai is available to and affordable by all? Discuss.
Answer: Water in Chennai is not available to and affordable by all. Availability of a good, regular water supply is proportionate to the level of income one earns, in this city. Senior government officials in areas like Anna Nagar can get a whole water tanker arranged for themselves; most areas like Mylapore get water once in two days; in Madipakkam, people buy bottled water for drinking purposes but the situation is the worst in slums. Here, water supply runs for barely an hour everyday from a single tap serving over thirty families for all their water needs.
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?
Answer: The sale of water by farmers to water dealers in Chennai is affecting the local people in various ways:

• The water they are taking away is for irrigation of agriculture. Because of this exploitation irrigation and so, agriculture is bound to suffer.
• This water is also for general supply and drinking purpose of the villagers.
• As a result of the heavy exploitation of water, the ground water levels dropped drastically in these areas.

Yes, the local people can object to such heavy exploitation of ground water since it is a public facility or nature’s gift on which everyone has equal right and so nobody can sell or take away exclusively.

The Government needs to play a crucial role to find out a suitable alternative in this regard. Our Constitution recognizes many of the public facilities including access to safe drinking water, as being a part of the Right to Life. So, the Government must see that these rights are protected so that everyone can lead a decent life.
Q.4. Why are most of the private hospitals and private schools located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas?
Answer: The distribution of public facilities in our country is inadequate and largely unfair. For example, urban areas are provided with and consume more electricity than villages or townships. Most metropolitan cities consume vast amounts of power for market-places, multiplexes and air-conditioning while villages and towns bear huge power-cuts even in summer so much so that there is no electricity available to them for domestic purposes too. This is a gaping gap in the distribution of just one of the public facilities provided by the government.

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.
6. Take some of the public facilities in your area, such as water, electricity, etc. Is there scope to improve these? What in your opinion should be done? Complete the table.

S.No	Is it available?	How can it be improved?
Water
Electricity
Roads
Public Facilities

Answer:

S.No	Is it available?	How can it be improved?
Water	Available but not sufficient	Constructing separate water tanks and making water supply available to all villages and for 24 hours.
Electricity	Available but low voltage	Making electricity supply available 24 hours by keeping a check on electricity theft so that good voltage is maintained and its conservation
Roads	Available	No improvement needed. But if there are no proper roads, then the construction of new roads, more flyovers and highways will be of help
Public Facilities	Not Sufficient	Public transport is good, but better connectivity to more areas in the city can be achieved by introducing new buses and increasing the frequency of buses.

7. Are the above public facilities shared equally by all the people in your area? Elaborate.

Answer: No the above-mentioned facilities are not shared equally in the areas. Water supply is not shared equally by all the people. The slum dwellers have to manage with a single water tap, where each house in a middle-class locality has a separate connection for water. While people of middle-class homes buy water from tankers to meet their needs, those in slums cannot afford it. However, other facilities, like electricity, road and public transport are shared equally by all.
8. Data on some of the public facilities are collected as part of the Census. Discuss with your teacher when and how the Census is conducted.

Answer: Census is conducted after every ten years. It counts the entire population of the country. It also collects detailed information about the citizens like their age, schooling, occupations, etc.

9. 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.