NCERT Class 8 Political Science Chapter 9: Public Facilities YouTube Lecture Handouts

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Water Issues

• Prosperous Areas – Abundant water for spraying in & around bungalows – if shortage is there – immediate water tanks are made available

• Other Areas – Borewell water (brackish – not potable) – water purification systems

• Further other Areas – People get bottled water – water once in 4 days

• Slums – common tap (water available for 20 minutes – twice a day – maximum limit per family is 3 buckets) and common toilets – long hours for water

Water as Fundamental Right

• Essential for life

• Safe drinking water – prevent water related diseases

• About 1600 child below 5 years die everyday because of water related diseases

• Constitution of India recognises the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21

• 2007: Andhra Pradesh High Court - hearing a case based on a letter written by a villager of Mahabubnagar district on the contamination of drinking water by a textile company that was discharging poisonous chemicals into a stream near his village (Collector ordered to supply 25 liters of water to each person)

Public Facilities

• Healthcare

• Sanitation -68% households in India have access to drinking water & 36% have access to sanitation

• Electricity

• Public Transport – Buses to metros (Rs. 11,000 crore in Delhi), Mumbai Suburb – 65 lakh passengers commute daily

• School and Colleges

• Benefits can be shared by many people

Government’S Role

• Someone to carry responsibility to provide it to people – Government

• Private companies operate for profit - Chapter “Story of Shirt” in Class 7

• Water tanks by private companies - private companies provide public facilities but at a price that only some people can afford

• Those who can’t pay will be deprived – Govt. takes care

• Central Govt. spends on interest, defence, subsidy, economic services, social services, grants, police etc.

• Budget is presented in Parliament – expense of government & how much it plans to spend

• Sources of revenue – comes from taxes, charges of water price

Water Supply

• Closer areas – more water

• Far areas – lesser water

• Municipal supply meets only half of the need

• Shortfall burden- falls on poor

• Middle Class – dig Borewell, buy bottled water, buy tankers

• Universal access to ‘sufficient and safe’ water

• Water coming to urban areas from nearby places – ground water levels have dropped in nearby places

Water Alternatives

• Water is increasingly being filled by an expansion of private companies who are selling water for profit

• Great inequalities in water use

• Supply of water/person in urban area – 135 l/day (about seven buckets) as by Urban Water Commission in India – for slums it is less than 20 l/day (one bucket) & for luxury hotels it is 1,600 l/day (80 buckets).

• Shortage of municipal water – sign of govt. failure

• There are areas in the world where public water supply has achieved universal access - Porto Alegre, Brazil – lower infant deaths – average price is low & poor is charged at half the rate – working of department is transparent and they vote on priorities

• Water handed to private companies witnessed huge rise in price – protests in Bolivia

• Water department in Mumbai raises enough money through water charges to cover its expenses on supplying water

• Hyderabad – increased coverage & performance in revenue collection

• Chennai – initiates for rainwater harvesting – used service of private companies to operate – on contract

Sanitation

• Sulabh, NGO for 3 decades - to address the problems of sanitation facing low-caste, low-income people in India.

• Constructed more than 7,500 public toilet blocks and 1.2 million private toilets, giving access to sanitation to 10 million people.

Conclusions!

• Poor localities are underserved

• Handing over to private companies might not be a solution

• Provide rights on equitable manner

-Mayank