Unit Five: Social and Political Life
Unit Five: Social and Political Life
Unit Five: Social and Political Life
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Economic Presence
of the Government
Teacher’s Note
This unit discusses the role of the government in providing public facilities as well as in implementing
laws that apply to market, factory and the working conditions of people. The aim is to allow
students to understand the ways in which this role of the government is linked to concerns addressed
in our Fundamental Rights. It is this link to rights that provides a connection to similar issues
raised in earlier chapters. Also the discussion in the Class VI and VII textbooks on livelihoods and
markets respectively can also be used to provide a context for discussions in Chapter 10.
Chapter 9 uses water as the primary example to discuss public facilities. It is important that the
student understand quite clearly what is meant by the idea of public facilities and why the
government needs to play a crucial role in their provision and, therefore, take overall responsibility.
The idea of equity, or the equal availability, affordability and quality of water for all, is one of the
key issues related to public facilities that the chapter highlights. In the classroom discussion, it is
crucial to separate the discussion on the importance of the government’s role in providing public
facilities from their current unequal provision. This means that the fact that persons currently get
different amounts of water should not be viewed as a reason for the government not being able to
provide public facilities.
Chapter 10 discusses the central role of the government in regulating economic activities. This is
largely done through laws and the chapter focuses on the importance of implementing existing
laws as well as making new laws to protect the rights of workers, consumers and producers in the
market. The Bhopal gas tragedy is discussed as an example of the lax enforcement of the laws. It
is quite likely that students might have not heard of this tragedy and it would be helpful to have
them research this and perhaps create a wallpaper or skit on this for the entire school. The websites
indicated at the end of the book could be used for additional reference material. The Bhopal gas
tragedy also marked the moment in which ‘environmental’ issues became intrinsically linked to
laws on the economy and the chapter briefly discusses this as well. The idea of accountability of
the manufacturer as well as the government to the workers and the citizens at large is one of the
key ideas underlying this chapter.
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Public Facilities
Chapter 9
ANNA NAGAR
Ramagopal
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Public Facilities
MADIPAKKAM
Siva
MYLAPORE
Subramanian
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Water and the People of Chennai
Senior government officials like Mr Ramagopal live
in Anna Nagar, Chennai. This area looks lush and
green with lawns maintained by a generous spraying
of water. Bungalows here have tap water for major
part of the day. On days when the water supply is
inadequate, Mr Ramagopal speaks to a senior official
whom he knows in the municipal water board and a
water tanker is easily arranged for his house.
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Water as Part of the Fundamental Right
to Life
Water is essential for life and for good health. Not only is it
necessary for us to be able to meet our daily needs but safe
drinking water can prevent many water-related diseases. India
has one of the largest number of cases of diseases such as
diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera. Over 1,600 Indians, most of
them children below the age of five, reportedly die everyday
because of water-related diseases. These deaths can be
prevented if people have access to safe drinking water.
There have been several court cases in which both the High “... right to water entitles
Courts and the Supreme Court have held that the right to safe everyone to sufficient,
drinking water is a Fundamental Right. In 2007, the Andhra safe, acceptable,
Pradesh High Court restated this while hearing a case based physically accessible and
on a letter written by a villager of Mahbubnagar district on affordable water for
the contamination of drinking water. The villager’s complaint personal and domestic
use”
was that a textile company was discharging poisonous chemicals
United Nations (2002)
into a stream near his village, contaminating ground water,
which was the source for irrigation and drinking water. The
judges directed the Mahbubnagar district collector to supply
25 litres of water to each person in the village.
Public Facilities
Like water, there are other essential facilities that need
to be provided for everyone. Last year you read about
two other such facilities: healthcare and sanitation.
Similarly, there are things like electricity, public
transport, schools and colleges that are also necessary.
These are known as public facilities.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)
www.in.undp.org
2019-20
The important characteristic of a public facility is that once
it is provided, its benefits can be shared by many people.
For instance, a school in the village will enable many
children to get educated. Similarly, the supply of electricity
to an area can be useful for many people: farmers can run
pumpsets to irrigate their fields, people can open small
workshops that run on electricity, students will find it easier
to study and most people in the village will benefit in some
way or the other.
The Government’s Role
Given that public facilities are so important, someone must
carry the responsibility of providing these to
the people. This ‘someone’ is the government. One of the
most important functions of the government
is to ensure that these public facilities are made
The Indian Constitution guarantees the Right to available to everyone. Let us try and understand why the
Education for all children between the ages of
6-14 years. Equity in the schooling facilities
government (and only the government) must bear this
available to all children is an important aspect responsibility.
of this Right. However, activists and scholars
working on education have documented the We have seen that private companies operate for profit in
fact that schooling in India continues to be
highly unequal. the market. You read about this in the chapter on
the ‘Story of a Shirt’ in your Class VII book. In most of
the public facilities, there is no profit to be had. For
example, what profit can accrue to a company for keeping
the drains clean or running an anti-malaria campaign? A
private company will probably not be interested in
undertaking such work.
But, for other public facilities such as schools and hospitals,
private companies may well be interested. We have many
of these, particularly in large cities. Similarly, if you are
living in a city, you will have seen private companies
supplying water through tankers or supplying drinking
water in sealed bottles. In such cases, private companies
provide public facilities but at a price that only some people
can afford. Hence, this facility is not available to all at an
The government needs to play an active role in providing
affordable rate. If we go by the rule that people will get as
adequate access to proper health facilities for the entire much as they can pay for then many people who cannot
population. This includes the eradication of preventable afford to pay for such facilities will be deprived of the
diseases like polio as shown in the above photograph.
opportunity to live a decent life.
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Clearly, this is not a desirable option. Public facilities relate to As Amu and Kumar ride
people’s basic needs. Any modern society requires that these around Chennai...
facilities are provided so that people’s basic needs are met. The
Right to Life that the Constitution guarantees is for all persons
living in this country. The responsibility to provide public facilities,
therefore, must be that of the government.
Centrally Sponsored
Scheme
Whose point of view do you
Central Sector Scheme
9 p.
10 p. Source: Union Budget 2018-19 agree with?
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Q
1. What are public facilities? Why should the government be responsible for providing
public facilities?
2. The government can get private companies to deliver some of the public facilities. For
instance, contracts for building roads are given to private contractors. Distribution of
electricity in Delhi is done by two private companies. However, the government must keep
a close watch on these and ensure that they fulfil their commitment to reach these
facilities to all people and at affordable prices.
Why do you think the government must assume the overall responsibility for public
facilities even when it gets private companies to do part of the job?
3. Look at your water bill and find out what the minimum rate is for municipal water in
your area. Does the rate increase as the use of water increases? Why do you think the
government charges a higher rate for greater use of water?
4. Find out the various kinds of taxes people pay to the government by talking to a salaried
person, a person running his or her own factory/business and a shopkeeper. Share your
findings in the classroom with your teacher.
Corporation Tax
19 p.
Source: Union Budget 2018-19
Buses are the most important forms of public
transport over short distances. It is the main link
to the workplace for majority of the working
people. With rapid urbanisation, the public bus
system even in the major cities has not been able
to keep up with the demand.
As an alternative, the government has planned
ambitious metro rail projects for Delhi and other
metropolitan cities. Rs 11,000 crore was spent
from the government budget for the construction
of the first segment of the metro-rail in Delhi
using the latest technology. People have pointed
out that this massive expenditure could have
been avoided if only a fraction of this amount
was spent on upgrading the public bus system.
Would you agree? What do you think could be
the solution for other regions of India?
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Water Supply to Chennai: Is it Available
to All?
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. In the rest of this chapter, we will read
about the provision of water, which as we have seen, is a
public facility of great importance.
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In Search of Alternatives
The situation in Chennai is not unique. A similar
scenario of shortages and acute crisis during the
summer months is common to other cities of
India. The shortage in municipal water is
increasingly being filled by an expansion of
private companies who are selling water for
profit. Also common are the great inequalities
in water use. The supply of water per person in
an urban area in India should be about 135 litres
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)
www.in.undp.org
per day (about seven buckets) – a standard set by the Urban
Water Commission. Whereas people in slums have to make do
with less than 20 litres a day per person (one bucket), people
living in luxury hotels may consume as much as 1,600 litres (80
buckets) of water per day.
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2. There are areas in the world where public water
supply has achieved universal access. (see Box
below)
4. Within India, there are cases of success in government water Discuss the main ideas in the
departments, though these are few in number and limited to above section. What do you
certain areas of their work. The water supply department in think can be done to improve
water supply?
Mumbai raises enough money through water charges to cover
its expenses on supplying water. In Hyderabad, a report Do you think it is also
shows that the department has increased coverage and important to conserve
resources like water and
improved performance in revenue collection. In Chennai,
electricity, and to use more
the department has taken several initiatives for harvesting public transport?
rain water to increase the level of groundwater. It has also
used the services of private companies for transporting and
distributing water but the government water supply
department decides the rate for water tankers and gives them
permission to operate. Hence they are called ‘on contract’.
Mumbai’s suburban railway is well-functioning public transport system. It is the densest route in the world, attending to 65 lakh passengers
daily. Extending over a distance of 300 kilometers, these local trains allow people living far away from Mumbai to find work in the city. Note
that the high cost of housing in cities makes it impossible for an average worker to live in the city.
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Extending Sanitation Facilities
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The Census of India, 2001 puts rural household electrification at 44 per cent,
leaving around 78 million households still in the dark.
Conclusion
Public facilities relate to our basic needs and the Indian
Constitution recognises the right to water, heath, education
etc as being a part of the Right to Life. Thus one of the
major roles of the government is to ensure adequate public
facilities for everyone.
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Exercises
1. Why do you think there are so few cases of private water supply in the world?
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?
4. Why are most of the private hospitals and private schools located in major cities and not in
towns or rural areas?
5. Do you think the distribution of public facilities in our country is adequate and fair? Give an
example of your own to explain.
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.
Water
Electricity
Roads
Public Transport
7. Are the above public facilities shared equally by all the people in your area? Elaborate.
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.
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.
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GLOSSARY
Sanitation: Provision of facilities for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces.
This is done by construction of toilets and pipes to carry the sewerage and
treatment of waste water. This is necessary so as to avoid contamination.
Company: A company is a form of business set up by people or by the government.
Those that are promoted and owned by individuals or groups are called private
companies. For example, Tata Steel is a private company whereas Indian Oil is a
company run by the government.
Universal access: Universal access is achieved when everyone has physical access
to a good and can also afford it. For instance, a tap connection at home will allow
physical access to water, and if the price of water is low or is provided free,
everyone will be able to afford it.
Basic needs: Primary requirements of food, water, shelter, sanitation, healthcare
and education necessary for survival.
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