Public Facilities
Answer the following questions:
Q. No. 1) What are public facilities?
Answer –
There are some essential facilities that are needed to be provided for everyone. Such facilities are called public facilities.
One important characteristic of a public facility is that once it is provided, its benefits can be shared by many people.
Some of the public facilities are the availability of water, healthcare and sanitation, electricity, public transport, schools and colleges.
Q. No. 2) Why should the government be responsible for providing public facilities?
Answer –
As public facilities are so important, someone must carry the responsibility of providing these to the people. This someone only can be Government, not the private entity as private companies operate for profit in the market and in most of the public facilities, there is no profit to be had. So, the government should be responsible for providing public facilities.
Q. No. 3) Where does the government get money for public facilities?
Answer –
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 providing public facilities.
Q. No. 4) Why are most of the private hospitals and private schools located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas?
Answer –
Private schools and private hospitals operate for profit and to make a profit, they charge high for their service, which can’t be afforded by most of the people of the town and rural areas easily.
So, most of the private hospitals and private schools are located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas.
Q. No. 5) Name some water-borne diseases and mention ways to prevent water-borne diseases.
Answer –
Diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, etc
Q. No. 6) What is the importance of the supply of electricity?
Answer –
The supply of electricity to an area can be useful for many people –
- farmers can run pump sets 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.
Q. No. 7) What is the standard set by the Urban Water Consumption for the supply of water per person?
Answer –
According to the standard set by the Urban Water Commission –
- The supply of water per person in an urban area in India should be about 135 litres per day (about seven buckets).
- 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.