Chapter 9 Public Facilities

Chapter 9 Public Facilities

Question 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.
2. In the water facility, there is no profit or very less profit.
3. Private companies do not take interest in undertaking no profit or low-profit work.

Question 2.
Do you think the water in Chennai is available and affordable by all? Discuss.
Solution:
Water is not equally available to all citizens in Chennai. Certain areas like Anna Nagar get copious water while areas like Saidapet receive very little water. Municipal supply meets only about half the needs of the people of the city, on an average. Areas that are close to the storage points get more water whereas colonies further away receive less water. The burden of shortfalls in water supply falls mostly on the poor.

The middle class, when faced with water shortages, are able to cope through a variety of private means such as digging bore wells, buying water from tankers, and using bottled water for drinking. The wealthy have safe drinking water, whereas the poor are again left out. In reality, universal access to ‘sufficient and safe’ water, in Chennai, is still a dream.

Question 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?
Solution:
The sale of water by the farmer to the water dealers in Chennai affects the local people as this water is for irrigation as well for drinking for them. So the agricultural crops, as well as people, suffer. Moreover, groundwater levels have dropped drastically.

• Local people can and should object to such exploitation of groundwater.
• The government on their part should restrict the use of groundwater by the individual farmers according to their needs and make strict laws against overuse.

Question 4.
Why are most of the private hospitals and private schools located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas?
Solution:
Because of the following reasons:

• In major cities life is fast. People could not wait for hours together standing in long queues as they have to do in government hospitals.
• They can afford it as they have money to spend.
• City people are more ambitious.
• They expect better facilities in private hospitals and private schools.
• In private schools, infrastructural facilities are more.

Question 5.
Do you think the distribution of public facilities in our country is adequate and fair? Give an example of your own to explain.
Solution:
1. Distribution of public facilities such as the right to water, health, education, etc. in our country is not adequate and fair.
2. Major role of government is to ensure adequate public facilities for everyone.
3. But progress in this regard is far from satisfactory.
4. There are inequality and irregularity in the distribution of water supply.

• Compared to the metropolitan and big cities, towns and villages are provided low water supply.
• In comparison to wealthy localities, the poorer localities are under-serviced.
• People living in slums suffer a lot. They are provided with a very low water supply.

Examples

• The posh colonies of Delhi like Anand Niketan have all modern facilities and these facilities are sophisticated.
• Public facilities are lacking in unauthorized colonies.

Question 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.
Solution:

• The government would withdraw from these activities or parents will send their children to private schools.
• Private agencies will be given a boost.
• The money would play an important role.
• Children from the deprived sections of the society would be at loss.
• Less qualified teachers would work in private institutions.
• Malpractices will be encouraged.