Public facilities are
the facilities provided to the people by the government.They are important to
sustain and lead a comfortable life.
Water and the People of Chennai:
- Mr Ramgopal lives in Anna Nagar, Chennai. This area
looks lush and green with lawns maintained by a generous spraying of
water.
- Likewise, in an apartment where Mr Subramaniam lives
water supply is inadequate. They have to spend Rs 500-600 per month to buy
water.
- Siva lives in Madipakkam, Chennai. She gets water once
in 4 days. For drinking, she buys bottled water.
- Water as a public utility is available in different
quantity to different people.
- Safe drinking water comes under the fundamental right
of an individual and it is the responsibility of government ot avail it to
its citizens.
Water as Part of the Fundamental Rights to Life:
- Water is essential for life and for good health.
- India has one of the largest number of causes of water
related diseases such as diarrhoea ,dysentery, cholera. More than 1600
Indians, mostly children below the age of five die everyday because of
water-related diseases.
- The Constitution of India recognizes the right to water
as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21. That means there
should be "universal access" to water.
- The High Courts and Supreme Court have held that the
right to safe drinking water is a Fundamental Right.
- Verdicts given by courts make it as the responsibility
of government to ensure the supply of fresh drinking water.
Public Facilities:
- Things like electricity, public transport, schools and
colleges, etc.which are necessary for survival are known as public
facilities.
- Public facilities are provided so that its benefits can
be shared by many people.
- This is the responsibility of government to make public
facilities available to every individual and no one should be
discriminated just on the basis of social or economic division.
The Government’s Role:
- One of the most important functions of the government
is to ensure that these public facilities are made available to everyone:
- Making provision for education & setting up of
schools & colleges.
- Improving health & sanitation facilities.
- Ensuring equal distribution of food throughout the
country.
- Improving the means of transport
- Maintenance of public utility works like post offices,
railways and roads
- Private companies operate for profit in the market.
Public facilities are related to people’s basic needs.
- 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 such programmes.
- For instance, to supply water, the government has to
incur costs in pumping water, carrying it over long distances, laying down
pipes for its distribution, treating the water for impurities and finally
collecting and treating waste water.
- It meets these expenses partly from the various taxes
that it collects and partly by charging a price for water. This price is
set so that most people can afford a certain minimum amount of water for
daily use.
- One of the most important task of government is to
ensure the availability of resources to everyone.
- By making the adminisration strict and effectively
implementing the schemes government can help underprivilaged.
- The government by utilising the revenue collected in
better social schemes and using the resources in better manner can ensure
the well being to maximum of the population.
Water supply to Chennai: is it Available to All:
- Water supply in Chennai is marked by shortage.
Municipal supply meets only about half the needs of the people of the
city, on an average.
- The burden of shortfalls in water supply falls mostly
on the poor.
- In search of Alternatives, the scenario of shortage and
acute crisis during the summer months is common to other cities of India.
- A shortage of municipal water is often taken as a sign
of failure of the government.
- Throughout the world, water supply is the
responsibility of the government. There are very few instances of private
water supply.
- In this era of industrialisation water pollution has
become a major problem.
- To avail the clean drinking water to a large population
can be done through the technology advancement which needs investement by
the government.
Conclusion:
- Public facilities are related to our basic needs and
the Indian Constitution has recognised the right to water, health,
education, etc. as being a part of the Right to Life.
- The major role of the government is to ensure adequate
public facilities for everyone.
- Public facilities provided to everyone give rise to
better living indices and help any country to get recognised at
international level in terms of development.
- The success of any government is also acknowledged
through the facilities and basic needs provided to all the individuals.
- These facilites finally become the building blocks of
the development of a nation.
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