On this page, you will find NCERT Class 8 Civics Chapter 9 Notes Pdf free download. CBSE Class 8 Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 9 SST Public Facilities will seemingly, help them to revise the important concepts in less time.

Public Facilities Class 8 Notes Social Science Civics Chapter 9

CBSE Class 8 Civics Chapter 9 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. Water is essential for life and for good health.

2. India has one of the largest number of cases of diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera. Over 1600, Indians, most of them children below the age of five, reportedly die everyday because of water-related diseases.

3. The deaths can be prevented if people have access to safe drinking water.

4. The Constitution of India recognizes the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21. In other words, there should be universal access to water.

5. The High Courts and the Supreme Courts have held that the right to safe drinking water is Fundamental Right.

6. Same as water there are other essential facilities that are needed to be provided to everyone, for eg. healthcare, sanitation, electricity, public transport, schools and colleges. These all are known as public facilities.

7. The important characteristic of the public facilities is that once it is provided, its benefits can be shared by many people.

8. One of the most important function of the government is to ensure that the public facilities are made available to everyone.

9. Though private companies provide the public facilities but they provide it with the purpose of profit-making and they provide facilities at a price that only some people can afford. This facility not available to all at an affordable rate.

10. Many people who cannot afford to pay for such facilities will be deprived of the opportunity to live a decent life.

11. The Right to Life that is guranteed in Constitution is for all persons living in this country.

12. There is no doubt that public facilities should be made available to all, in reality we see that there is a great shortage of such facilities.

13. The burden of shortfalls in water supply falls mostly on the poor. The middle class when faced with such shortages are able to cope up through a variety of private means.

14. Apart from the availability of water, access to safe drinking water is also available to some and this depends on what one can afford.

15. The supply of water per person in an urban area in India is about 135 litres per day.

16. A shortage of municipal water is often taken as a sign of failure of the government.

17. The facts say that:

  • Throughout the world, water supply is a function of the government.
  • There are areas in the world where public water supply has achieved universal access.
  • The cases where the responsibility for water supply was handed over to private companies, there was seen a steep rise in the price of water, making if unaffordable for many.
  • Within India, there are several cases of success in government water departments, though these are few in number and limited to certain areas of their work.
  • Public facilities relate to our basic needs and the Indian Constitutions recognizes the right to water, health, education, etc., a being a part of the Right of Life.
  • One of the major roles of the government is to ensure adequate public facilities for everyone.
  • But progress on this front has taken far from satisfactory.
  • There is a shortage in supply and there are inequalities in distribution.
  • The important fact is, that every citizen of the country has a right to these facilities, and this should be provided to all in an equitable manner.

Public Facilities Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Sanitation: 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 wastewater. This is necessary so as to avoid contamination.

Company: A company is a form of business set up by people or by the government. Those that are owned and promoted by individuals or groups are called private companies.

Universal access: It is achieved when everyone has physical access to a good and can also afford it. for instance, a tap connection at home will allow physical access to water, and if the price of water is low or is provided free, everyone will be able to afford it.

Basic needs: Primary requirements of food, water, shelter, sanitation, healthcare and education necessary for survival.