Public Facilities
Class 8 · Social Science
4 ideas in Class 8 Social Science, explained in plain words, with games and quizzes to practise.
Unequal water supply in Chennai
Part of: Thirst is not shared equally
In one southern metro, four homes face four water worlds. A senior officer's leafy colony enjoys taps most of the day and summons a tanker with one phone call. A flat cluster gets pipes every second day and leans on salty borewell flow for flushing and washing. A tenant uphill waits four days and buys sips in bottles. A domestic worker's hut lane shares one corner tap for thirty homes, twenty minutes twice a day, three buckets each.
Why it matters. It shows the child that shortage bites the poor hardest and that fairness of supply matters.
Try it in two minutes
- Recall the officer colony with taps most of the day plus a tanker on call.
- Recall the flat cluster with pipes every second day and salty borewell flow for flushing.
- Recall the tenant waiting four days and the lane sharing one corner tap.
- Ask the child who suffers most when summer turns the flow into a trickle.
Try at home. Ask at home where your water comes from and note pipe days versus tanker days for a week.
Water as part of the Right to Life
Part of: Water belongs to life itself
Safe water keeps bodies healthy and blocks bouts of loose motions, cholera and dysentery, which still strike lakhs of Indians yearly. The founding charter reads the Right to Life, Article 21, as holding a sip for all: each person, rich or lean of purse, deserves enough water for daily needs at a bearable cost. Top benches have upheld this reading; after a village letter about mill waste spoiling a stream, one High Court told the district head to deliver twenty-five litres daily to every villager.
Why it matters. It links the child to a right that guards health and lets courts defend thirsty villages.
Try it in two minutes
- Recall that safe sips block bouts of loose motions, cholera and dysentery.
- Recall Article 21: each person deserves enough water at a bearable cost.
- Recall the village letter case where judges ordered daily litres for all.
Try at home. List every use of water in your home for one morning and mark which needs fully safe water.
Why the government provides public facilities
Part of: Why only the state can carry it
Shared services like power lines, buses, schools, clinics and piped water lift whole streets at once: one village school opens books for many girls and boys. Gain-chasing firms skip jobs that earn nothing, such as clearing drains or fighting mosquitoes, and when they do sell water or beds, only paying homes gain. So the state must carry the duty, raising funds mainly through taxes voted in the yearly budget and fixing water tariffs low for a basic daily share.
Why it matters. It teaches the child why taxes and fair tariffs keep basics within every family's reach.
Try it in two minutes
- Recall one school lighting many homes and one power line feeding pumps, shops and study lamps.
- Recall that sellers chase gain, so drains and mosquito drives find no buyers.
- Recall taxes voted in the yearly budget and low tariffs for a basic daily share.
Try at home. Spot one shared service near home and ask who pays for it and who can use it.
Fair water and sanitation for all
Part of: Making the flow fair
City pipes meet only half the thirst, so dealers pump farm belts with tanker fleets, pay growers advances, and sink wells across nearby towns. Norms ask about one hundred thirty-five litres a head each day, yet lane dwellers stretch under twenty while grand hotels pour sixteen hundred. One Brazilian city shows a fix: public taps for all, half rates for the poor, gains ploughed back, and open meetings where users vote works. Clean toilets matter too; one home-grown group has raised thousands of shared blocks plus lakhs of home loos.
Why it matters. It helps the child judge sellers, back saving, and prize clean toilets for health.
Try it in two minutes
- Recall dealers pumping farm belts with tanker fleets and sinking nearby wells.
- Recall the norm of about seven buckets a head against one bucket in lanes and eighty in grand hotels.
- Recall half rates for the poor, open vote meetings, and the home-grown toilet drive.
Try at home. Count buckets your home uses in a day and compare with the one-bucket and seven-bucket marks.
What your child will practise
- Fair water and sanitation for all: Ocean Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Unequal water supply in Chennai: Explorer'S Map Quest (Collect the Answer)
- Unequal water supply in Chennai: Jungle Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Water as part of the Right to Life: Ocean Puzzle (Clue Puzzle)
- Why the government provides public facilities: Time Travel Sort (Sort It Out)
- Quiz: Fair water and sanitation for all (8 questions)
- Quiz: Unequal water supply in Chennai (8 questions)
- Quiz: Water as part of the Right to Life (8 questions)
- Quiz: Why the government provides public facilities (8 questions)