Q 1 – Where were Amu and Kumar travelling through?
Ans. Amu and Kumar were travelling through Chennai in a bus.
Q 2 – What did Amu and Kumar observe while travelling through Chennai?
Ans. They observed that water facilities are available in different parts of Chennai.
Q 3 – How is water essential?
Ans. Water is essential for life and for good health.
Q 4 – Under which article does the Constitution of India recognize the Right to water?
Ans. The Constitution of India recognises the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21.
Q 5 – What did the judge direct the Mahbubnagar district collector?
Ans. The judge directed the Mahbubnagar district collector to supply 25 litres of water to each person in the village.
Q 6 – Where is the government budget presented?
Ans. The government budget is presented in the parliament.
Q 7 – What is meant by Basic Needs?
Ans. Primary requirements of food, water, shelter, sanitation, healthcare and education are necessary for survival.
Q 8 – What is the quantity of water supply in India in an urban area?
Ans. The supply of water per person in an urban area in India is about 135 litres per day.
Q 9 – Who does the responsibility of water supply belongs to throughout the world.
Ans. Throughout the world the water supply is the responsibility and function of the government.
Q 10 – Define Basic Needs.
Ans. The primary requirement of food, water, shelter, sanitation, healthcare and education necessary for survival are Basic Needs.
Q 11 – Where is the suburban railway’s located?
Ans. In Mumbai.
Q 12 – Why it is noticed that there are great inequalities in water use?
Ans. It is fact that there is a great in-equalities in water use. Because the supply requirement of water in urban areas of India should be about 135 litres (About 7 Lac buckets) per day. It is said to be a standard set by the urban water commission. But people living in slums get availed with less than 20 litres a day per person. On the side, as much as 1600 Litres (80 buckets) of water per day is supplied at the same time to luxury hotels.
Q 13 – What is the condition and statistics of water diseases in India?
Ans. India has one of the largest numbers of cases of diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera over 1600, Indians, most of them children below the age of five reportedly die every day because of water disease in India.
Q 14 – What are the other public facilities other than water that are needed to be provided to everyone?
Ans. Same as the water there are other essential facilities that are needed to provide to everyone. For example, healthcare, sanitation, electricity, public transport, schools and colleges. These all are also known as public facilities.
Q 15 – Define Sanitation.
Ans. Provision of facilities for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces. This is done by construction of toilets and pipes to carry the sewage and treatment of wastewater. This is necessary so as to avoid contamination.
Q 16 – What is the scenario, of public water supply in Porto Alegre? ’
Ans. Porto Alegre is a city in Brazil. Though there are many poor people in this city, what is remarkable is that it has a far lower number of infant deaths as compared to most other cities of the world. The city’s, the water department has achieved universal access to safe water and this is the main reason behind the lower number of infant deaths.
The average price of water is kept low, and the poor are charged half the basic rate. Whatever profit the department makes is used to improve the water supply. The working of the water department is transparent and people can have a direct say in deciding which projects the department should take up. Through a process of public meetings, people hear what the managers have to say and also vote on their priorities.
Q 17 – Mention some public facilities that are provided by the government.
Ans. Public facilities provided by the government are:- Health care
Water
Sanitation
Transport
Education
Electricity
Roads
Q 18 – What is Universal Access to water?
Ans. Every person, rich or poor, has the right to a sufficient amount of water to meet their daily needs, at a price they can afford. This is known as Universal Access to water.
Q 19 – What are the characteristics of Public facilities?
Ans. The benefits of the public facility can be shared by many people. Government schools enable many children to get educated. The supply of electricity is essential for all households. Farmers can run pump sets to irrigate their fields; people open small workshops that run on electricity.
Public transport helps people commute at an affordable price. Public parks and libraries provide recreation for the citizens. Health care and sanitation are essential for a healthy life.
Q 20 – Mention a few public facilities that are provided by private companies.
Ans. Schools and colleges
Hospitals
Transportation
The above-mentioned facilities are provided by the government and private companies. We can find many private educational institutions in cities. Long-distance buses are operated by private companies; similarly, there are many Private Hospitals that provide health care for the citizens.
Q 21 – How does the government raise funds to provide public facilities?
Ans. The main source of income for the government is through the tax it collects from the citizens.
Some of the types of taxes the government collects are………..
Income Tax
Property Tax
Sales Tax
Excise Duty
Water Tax
Vehicle Tax
With the revenue from the tax collected, the government provides the public facilities mentioned earlier.
Q 22 – What is a Government Budget?
Ans. The government plans its expenditure, making a clear statement on the amount of money it is going to spend on each facility.
This statement is called the ‘Government Budget’ and is presented in the Parliament and Legislature every year in the month of February / March.
Q 23 – What is sanitation?
Ans. Sanitation is measures taken up by the government to protect public health through proper solid waste disposal, sewage disposal, and cleanliness during food processing and preparation.
Q 24 – Write a short note on Sulabh International.
Ans. Sulabh International is an Indian based social service organization that works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social reforms through education. Sulabh was founded by Dr Bindeshwar Pathak in 1970 and has 50,000 volunteers.
The organization constructs and maintains pay-&-use public toilets, popularly known as Sulabh Complexes with bath, laundry and urinal facilities being used by about ten million people every day. There are more than 7,500 public toilet blocks and 1.2 million private toilets. The majority of the users of Sulabh facilities are from the poor working class.
Q 25 – Do you think the water in Chennai is available and affordable by all? Discuss.
Ans. 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 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
Q 26 – Why are most of the private hospitals and private schools located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas?
Ans. 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.
Q 27 – Why do you think there are so few cases of private water supply in the world?
Ans. Water is an essential public facility that, needs to be provided for everyone without considering the aspect of profit or loss. But, the private companies operate mainly for-profit motives. They hardly care whether the product is within the reach of every person or not. Therefore, there are few cases of private water supply in the world. Since water is an essential facility, it becomes important for the government to ensure that this public facility is made available to everyone.
Q 28 – How is the sale of water by the farmer 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
Ans. Due to the sale of water by farmers to water dealers, the groundwater levels have dropped drastically in all these towns and villages. Local people are facing severe shortages of water. Local people can object to such exploitation of groundwater. Being, a natural resource, underground water should not be overused. The government can penalize the farmers as well as water dealers.
Q 29 – Why are most of the private hospitals and private schools located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas?
Ans. Private hospitals and private schools are located only in major cities as the services they offer are very costly and only the affluent city dweller will be able to afford it.
Q 30 – Do you think the distribution of public facilities in our country is adequate and fair? Give an example of your own to explain.
Ans. The distribution of public facilities in our country is not adequate and fair. For example, in Delhi, all public facilities like water, healthcare, sanitation, electricity, public transport, schools, and colleges are available. But if we go a few kilometres away, for example, Mathura or Aligarh the public facilities are not adequate. Electricity cut-offs, water shortages are normal routines of life. Public transport is also not properly developed.
Q 31 – Are the above public facilities shared equally by all the people in your area? Elaborate.
Ans. Yes, the above public facilities are shared equally by all the people in our area.
Q 32 –Which Article in the Indian Constitution recognises the ‘right to water?
Ans. The Constitution of India recognises the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21