Class 8 Civics Chapter 9 Public Facilities Extra Questions and Answers are provided here. These Extra Questions with solution are prepared by our team of expert teachers who are teaching in CBSE schools for years. Extra questions for Class 8 Civics Chapter 9 will help you to properly understand a particular concept of the chapter.

Public Facilities Class 8 Civics Extra Questions and Answers

Short Answer Type Questions

1. Mention few public facilities that are also provided by private companies.

Answer: School, colleges, healthcare and transportation

2. State the reason for the maximum death among children in India.

Answer: Maximum death among children in India is caused by water-related diseases.

3. Which article in the Indian Constitution recognises the right to water?

Answer: The Constitution of India recognises the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21.

4. Mention some public facilities that are provided by the government.
Or
Give some examples of public facilities that are provided by the government.

Answer: Public facilities that are provided by the government are healthcare, sanitation, electricity, public transport, roads, schools and colleges.

5. Besides water, what are the other public facilities which come under Right to Life?

Answer: The Indian Constitution recognises the right to water, health, education etc. as being a part of the Right to Life.

6. Which age set of children should get compulsory education according to RTE?

Answer: The Indian Constitution guarantees the Right to Education for all children between the ages of 6-14 years.

7. Is right to safe drinking water a fundamental right?

Answer: Yes. Right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use.

8. State the role of government in public facilities.

Answer: One of the most important functions of the government is to ensure that these public facilities are made available to everyone.

9. Why should government be responsible for providing public facilities?

Answer: Government should be responsible for providing public facilities in order to ensure that these public facilities are made available to everyone.

10. Mention some public facilities that only the government can provide and maintain.

Answer: Some public facilities that only the government can provide and maintain are roads, railways, sanitation, electricity and water supply.

11. What is a government budget?

Answer: 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.

12. What do you mean by universal access to water?

Answer: Universal access to water means that it is the right of every person, whether rich or poor, to have sufficient amounts of water to fulfil his/her daily needs at a price that he/she can afford.

13. Why do you think there are so few cases of private water supply in the world?

Answer: Water is a basic necessity for all. Hence, a private company cannot be in a position to supply water at a rate which is affordable to all people. Due to this, there are very few cases of private water supply in the world.

14. What is sanitation?

Answer: Sanitation refers to the provision of facilities for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces. This is done by construction of toilets and pipes to carry the sewerage and treatment of waste water. This is necessary so as to avoid contamination.

15. Describe Right to water.

Answer: The Constitution of India recognises the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21. This means that it is the right of every person, whether rich or poor, to have sufficient amounts of water to fulfil his/her daily needs at a price that he/she can afford.

16. Why does a lack of proper sanitation affect women and girls more acutely?

Answer: Lack of proper sanitation affects women and girls more acutely because they often have to wait until dark to go to the toilet. To avoid the need for such frequent toilet use, women often drink less, causing severe health impacts.

17. What is company?

Answer: A company is a form of business set up by people or by the government. Those that are promoted and owned by individuals or groups are called private companies. For example, Tata Steel is a private company whereas Indian Oil is a company run by the government.

18. What do you think would happen if the government withdraws from the task of supplying water?

Answer: If the government withdraws from the task of supplying water it would lead to an increase in the price of water because the private enterprises would not be willing to do it at a lower cost. It would lead to great unrest in the country.

19. Do you think that lack of access to proper sanitation facilities affects peoples’ lives? How?

Answer: Yes, lack of access to proper sanitation facilities indeed affects the lives of the people adversely. Lack of such facilities leads to Cholera, typhoid and also respiratory and skin problems. Lack of proper sanitation facility can also leads to death of adults and infants.

20. Why is water considered as a part of the fundamental right to life?

Answer: Water is essential for life and for good health. Not only is it necessary for us to be able to meet our daily needs but safe drinking water can prevent many water-related diseases. Thus, water is considered as a part of the fundamental right to life.

Long Answer Type Questions

1. Do you think the distribution of public facilities in our country is adequate and fair? Give an example of your own to explain.

Answer: Distribution of public facilities in our country is not adequate and fair. Compared to the metros and large cities, towns and villages are under-provided. Compared to wealthy localities, the poorer localities are under-serviced.

2. Write a short note on ‘sulabh’.

Answer: Sulabh, a non-government organisation, has been working for three decades to address the problems of sanitation facing low-caste, low-income people in India. It has constructed more than 7,500 public toilet blocks and 1.2 million private toilets, giving access to sanitation to 10 million people. The majority of the users of Sulabh facilities are from the poor working class.

3. Why are most of the private hospitals and private schools located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas?

Answer: The private hospitals and private schools are opened with the sole motive of earning profit. They charge high amount of money from their customers. The hefty amount of money; charged by such hospitals and schools; can only be affordable for people in major cities. Thus, most of the private hospitals and private schools located in major cities and not in towns or rural areas.

4. What are the characteristics of Public Facilities?
Or
What is the importance of public facilities?

Answer: The important characteristic of a public facility is that once it is provided, its benefits can be shared by many people. For instance, a school in the village will enable many children to get educated. Similarly, the supply of electricity to an area can be useful for many people: farmers can run pumpsets 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.

5. Do you think water in Chennai is available and affordable by all? Discuss.

Answer: Water supply in Chennai is marked by shortages. Municipal supply meets only about half the needs of the people of the city, on an average. There are areas which get water more regularly than others. Those 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 borewells, buying water from tankers and using bottled water for drinking. Apart from the availability of water, access to ‘safe’ drinking water is also available to some and this depends on what one can afford.

6. How does the government raise funds to provide public facilities?
Or
Where does the government get money for the 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 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 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.

7. How is the sale of water by farmers to water dealers in Chennai affecting the local people? Do you think local people can object to such exploitation of ground water? Can the government do anything in this regard?

Answer: The shortage of water has opened up opportunities for private companies in a big way. Many private companies are providing water to cities by buying it from places around the city. In Chennai, water is taken from nearby towns like Mamandur, Palur, Karungizhi and from villages to the north of the city using a fleet of over 13,000 water tankers. Every month the water dealers pay farmers an advance for the rights to exploit water sources on their land. This is water taken away not just from agriculture but also from the drinking water supplies of the villagers. Ground water levels have dropped drastically in all these towns and villages as a result. Hence, the local people can object to this trade of water.

Yes, it is the government who can sort out this problem. The government needs to help the people of the city by providing them adequate water.

8. Private educational institutions – schools, colleges, universities, technical and vocational training institutes are coming up in our country in a big way. On the other hand, educational institutes run by the government are becoming relatively less important. What do you think would be the impact of this? Discuss.

Answer: Private educational institutions- schools, colleges, universities, technical and vocational training institutes are coming up in our country in a big way. On the other hand, educational institutes run by the government are becoming relatively less important. This will have a multifarious impact on India, in the long run. Private institutions levy very high fees, which only affluent people can afford. So the quality education can be availed by only rich people. If educational institutions run by government are not up to the mark, the weaker sections of the society are deprived of quality education.

If people stop using educational facilities provided by the government, the latter will soon become redundant. Poor people cannot afford to educate their children in private institutions; consequently, this trend will only serve to heighten the gap between the rich and the poor.