Government and Public Facilities Notes PDF

Government and Public Facilities - Notes Polity Copyright © 2014-2023 TestBook Edu Solutions Pvt. Ltd.: All rights reserved  Download Testbook App Government and Public Facilities...

Government and Public Facilities - Notes Polity Copyright © 2014-2023 TestBook Edu Solutions Pvt. Ltd.: All rights reserved  Download Testbook App Government and Public Facilities Chapters Covered Chapter 3: What is Government( 6th) Chapter 2: Role of the Government in Health(7th) Chapter 3: How the State Government Works(7th) Chapter 7: Public Facilities(8th) Government Every country needs a government to make decisions and get things done. They also deal with social issues and other important things like running postal and railway services. The government is also in charge of protecting the country's borders and maintaining peaceful relations with other countries. Also, in times of any disaster, is in charge of organizing aid and assistance for the affected people. Government Level:The government works in three different levels: Locally (ie in the area of ​your village or town) at the state level (covers the entire state like Haryana or Assam) and At the national level (pertaining to the whole country). Law and Government:The government makes such laws which all the people living in the country have to follow. It can not only take decisions but also implement it. The decisions that the government can take, similarly people can also take some steps if they feel that a particular law is not being followed. Types of Government The Government is the main agency of the state. It comprises several members belonging to political and administrative wings. It exercises certain legislative, executive and judicial powers based on the constitution and the laws. There are three organs in government, namely – Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. These organs carry out the activities of the state. Governments are classified under Unitary, Federal, Parliamentary and Presidential forms. SUBJECT | Polity 1 of 11  Download Testbook App Do You Know? Monarchy is the oldest form of government in the United Kingdom. In a monarchy, a king or queen is the Head of State. The British monarchy is known as a constitutional monarchy. This means that, while The Sovereign is Head of State, the ability to make and pass legislation resides with an elected Parliament. Unitary Form of Government A unitary system of government, is a sovereign state governed as a single entity. The central government is supreme, and the administrative divisions exercise only powers that the central government has delegated to them. In a Unitary form of government all authority and power vested in a single centre examples of Unitary Form of governments are England, France, Japan, Sri Lanka. Federal Form of Government The classification of governments into unitary and federal is based on the nature of relations between the national government and the regional governments A federal government is one in which powers are divided between the national government and the regional governments by the Constitution itself and both operate in their respective jurisdictions independently. US, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Argentina have the federal form of government. In a federal model, the national government is known as the Federal government or the Central government or the Union government and the regional government is known as the state government or the provincial government. Parliamentary Form of Government Modern democratic governments are classified into parliamentary and presidential on the basis of the nature of relations between the executive and the legislative organs of the government. SUBJECT | Polity 2 of 11  Download Testbook App The parliamentary system of government is the one in which the executive is responsible to the legislature for its policies and acts. The presidential system of government, on the other hand, is one in which the executive is not responsible to the legislature for its policies and acts, and is constitutionally independent of the legislature in respect of its term of office. The parliamentary government is also known as cabinet government irresponsible government or Westminster model of government and is prevalent in Britain, Japan, Canada, India among others. Why the framers of the Indian Constitution adopted for the Parliamentary Form of Government?: Familiarity with the System Preference to More Responsibility Need to Avoid Legislative—Executive Conflicts Nature of Indian Society: India is one of the most heterogeneous States and most complex plural societies in the world. Hence, the Constitution makers adopted the parliamentary system as it offers greater scope for giving representation to various sections, interests and regions in the government. This promotes a national spirit among the people and builds audited India. Presidential Form of Government The Presidential Form of Government is also known as a non-responsible or non- parliamentary or fixed executive system of government basically built on the principle of separation of power, and is prevalent in the USA, Brazil, Russia, Sri Lanka among others. SUBJECT | Polity 3 of 11  Download Testbook App Do you know? Women's Suffrage Movement: The women's struggle to vote strengthened during World War I and came to be called the women's suffrage movement because the word suffrage usually means the right to vote. American women got the right to vote in 1920, while in Britain women got the right to vote on equal terms with men a few years later in 1928. Rivers can also become a source of conflict between states. The Cauvery water dispute is a famous river water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The water stored in the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam in Karnataka is used to irrigate several districts and meet the needs of the city of Bengaluru. The water stored in the Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu is used for crops grown in the delta region of that state. Functions of Government: In a democracy, it is the people who choose their representatives as the members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and thus, it is the people who have the main authority. The members of the ruling party form the government and some members are appointed as ministers. People in power like Chief Minister and Minister take action. They do this through various departments like Public Works Department, Agriculture Department, Health Department and Education Department etc. They also have to answer questions asked in the assembly and convince the people asking questions that appropriate steps are being taken. At the same time, newspapers and media discuss the issue widely and the government has to respond, for example, by holding press conferences. The government decides to make new laws for the states. Role of Government in Health Sector Health: Health means our ability to remain free from diseases and injuries. Apart from illness, there are other factors that affect our health such as lethargy, inactivity, anxiety or prolonged fear. Health Care in India: In order to prevent and treat diseases apart from providing care and services to a patient, There is a need for proper health facilities like centres, hospitals, SUBJECT | Polity 4 of 11  Download Testbook App laboratories for testing, ambulance services, blood banks etc. Health workers, nurses, qualified doctors and other health professionals from these establishments advise and diagnose us for the treatment of diseases. Public and private health care services:Health care facilities are divided into two categories: Public Health Services/Public Health Care System: The Public Health Service is a chain of health centers and hospitals run by the government. It has the potential to take care of the health of a large part of its population spread over hundreds of thousands of villages. They are linked together so that they cover both rural and urban areas. There are health centers at the village level where there is a nurse and a village health worker. They are trained to deal with common diseases andPrimary Health Center (PHC)"The work is done under the supervision of doctors. Such a center covers several villages in a rural area. one at the district levelDistrict Hospital" which is all healthOversees the centres. There are many government hospitals in big cities and also special government hospitals. Healthcare is called 'public' for a number of reasons, as explained below: The government has set up hospitals and health centers for all. Medical facilities are provided at low cost so that the poor can also get treatment. Action has to be taken to prevent the spread of diseases like Diarrhea, Chikungunya etc. The government should protect the right to life of every person. According to our constitution, it is the primary duty of the government to ensure the welfare of the people and to provide health care facilities to all. Private Health Facilities:A wide range of private healthcare facilities exist in our country. There are privately owned hospitals and nursing homes. Private health facilities are not owned or controlled by the government. Patients have to pay a lot of money for every service they use. Equity in the health care system:In India, private services are growing faster than public services. It is the responsibility of the government to provide quality health services to all its citizens, especially the poor and underprivileged. It is important to work on infrastructure as well as public health facilities to improve the health status of our people. To understand this better, let us take two examples. Kerala Experience:In 1996, the Government of Kerala allocated 40% of the total budget of Kerala to Panchayats. This made it possible for the village to ensure that proper planning was done for water, food, women's development and education. Health centers were also improved. Costa Rica Approach:Costa Rica is considered one of the healthiest countries in Central America. Several years ago, Costa Rica decided not to have an army. This helped the Costa Rican government to spend money that the military would have spent on health, SUBJECT | Polity 5 of 11  Download Testbook App education and other basic needs of the people. The Costa Rican government provides basic services and facilities to all Costa Ricans. Should we pay tax to the government? The government uses tax money to provide many public services for the benefit of all citizens. Few services like defence, police, judicial system, highways etc benefit all citizens. Tax funds for development programs and services for needy citizens like education, health care, employment, social welfare, vocational training etc. The tax amount is used for relief and rehabilitation in case of natural calamities like flood, earthquake, tsunami etc. Space, nuclear and missile programs are also funded from revenue collected in the form of taxes. The government provides some services especially for the poor who cannot afford to buy them from the market. One example is health care. PUBLIC FACILITIES Water as Part of the Fundamental Right to Life Water, which is essential for life and good health, is necessary to meet our daily needs- safe drinking water also prevents many water-related diseases. Over 1,600 Indians, most of whom are children below the age of 5, die every day because of water-related diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera and so on. Access to safe drinking water can help prevent these deaths. Right to water is a part of the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution. Hence, it is the right of every person, whether rich or poor, to have sufficient amounts of water to fulfill his/her daily needs at a price that he/she can afford. In other words, there should be universal access to water. Even both the High Courts and the Supreme Court have held in certain cases that the right to safe drinking water is a Fundamental Right. This was confirmed in 2007, when the Andhra Pradesh High Court restated this while hearing a case based on a letter written by a villager of Mahabubnagar district on the contamination of drinking water. SUBJECT | Polity 6 of 11  Download Testbook App The villager’s complaint was that a textile company was discharging poisonous chemicals into a stream near his village, contaminating groundwater, which was the source for irrigation and drinking water. The judges directed the Mahbubnagar district collector to supply 25 liters of water to each person in the village. Do You Know? The Indian Constitution guarantees the Right to Education for all children between the ages of 6-14 years. Equity in the schooling facilities available to all children is an important aspect of this Right. However, activists and scholars working on education have documented the fact that schooling in India continues to be highly unequal. “... right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use”…….United Nations (2002) Public Facilities Other essential Public facilities apart from water provided to everyone include healthcare and sanitation. Things like electricity, public transport, schools and colleges are also necessary. The main important characteristic of a public facility is that once it is provided, its benefits can be shared by many people. 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 and 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. In most of the public facilities, there is no profit to be had. Hence, a private company will probably not be interested in undertaking such work. However, for some public facilities such as schools and hospitals, private companies may be interested. In a city, some private companies also provide water through tankers or supply drinking water in sealed bottles- not available at affordable rates- living by rule that people will get SUBJECT | Polity 7 of 11  Download Testbook App as much as they can pay for will ensure that many people who cannot afford to pay will be deprived of the opportunity to live a decent life. Public facilities relate to people’s basic needs. 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. Where does the government get money for public facilities? Every year you must have heard the government budget being presented in the Parliament. This is an account of the expenses the government has made on its programmes in the past year and how much it plans to spend in the coming year. In the budget, the government also announces the various ways in which it plans to meet these expenses. 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 distribution, treating the water for impurities, and finally, collecting and treating wastewater. 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. Sanitisation Besides safe drinking water, sanitation is a must in prevention of water-borne diseases. However, the sanitation coverage in India is even lower than that of water. Official figures for 2011 show that 87 percent of the households in India have access to drinking water and about 53 percent have access to sanitation (toilet facilities within the premises of residence). Once again, it is the poor both in the rural and urban areas who lack access to sanitation. Sulabh, a non-government organisation, has been working for nearly five decades to address the problems of sanitation facing low-caste, low-income people in India. It has constructed more than 8,500 community toilet blocks and 1.5 million household toilets, giving access to sanitation to 20 million people. The majority of the users of Sulabh facilities are from the poor working class. Sulabh enters into contracts with municipalities or other local authorities to construct toilet blocks with government funds. Local authorities provide land and funds for setting up the services, whereas maintenance costs are sometimes financed through user charges (for example, Rs. 2 is charged for use of the latrines in the cities). In Search of Alternatives SUBJECT | Polity 8 of 11  Download Testbook App 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 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. A shortage of municipal water is often taken as a sign of failure of the government. Some people argue that since the government is unable to supply the amount of water that is needed and many of the municipal water departments are running at a loss, we should allow private companies to take over the task of water supply. According to them, private companies can perform better. Consider the following facts: Throughout the world, water supply is a function of the government. There are very few instances of private water supply. There are areas in the world where public water supply has achieved universal access. In a few cases, where the responsibility for water supply was handed over to private companies, there was a steep rise in the price of water, making it unaffordable for many. Cities saw huge protests, with riots breaking out in places like Bolivia, forcing the government to take back the service from private hands. Within India, there are cases of success in government water departments, though these are few in number and limited to certain areas of their work. The water supply department in Mumbai raises enough money through water charges to cover its expenses on supplying water. In Hyderabad, a report shows that the department has increased coverage and improved performance in revenue collection. In Chennai, the department has taken several initiatives for harvesting 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’. SUBJECT | Polity 9 of 11  Download Testbook App Public Water Supply in Porto Alegre 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 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. 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. SUBJECT | Polity 10 of 11  Download Testbook App 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 facilities finally become the building blocks of the development of a nation. SUBJECT | Polity 11 of 11