Public Facilities

• What are public facilities — why they are different from private goods.
• Why the government must provide them; market failure argument.
• Right to water: case study — Chennai water crisis.
• Sanitation: India's open defecation problem and Swachh Bharat Mission.
• Electricity: access and inequality.

What are public facilities?

Public facilities = services or goods provided to all citizens regardless of ability to pay.

Examples: drinking water, sanitation, public hospitals, schools, roads, electricity, public transport.

Key characteristic: non-excludable — you cannot easily exclude someone from using them (e.g., a road); and non-rival — one person's use doesn't reduce availability for others (e.g., street lighting).

Why can't the market provide public facilities?

• No profit motive: providing clean water to slums or remote villages is not profitable.
• Inequality: if only the rich can afford water/electricity, the poor suffer preventable illness and miss school/work.
• Positive externality: a vaccinated person protects others too — the market under-provides such goods.
• Basic rights: clean water, sanitation, healthcare are linked to the right to life (Article 21).

Therefore, the government must ensure access — even if it means subsidising or providing directly.

Right to Water — Case Study: Chennai

Water supply in Chennai:

• Many wealthy areas get piped water from the metro water board.
• Poor areas and slums often do NOT get regular piped supply.
• Residents buy water from private tankers at very high prices — sometimes 5–10× the piped water rate.
• Time spent fetching water (often by women and girls) = time lost from school, work.

Conclusion: when the government fails to provide water, the poor pay MORE than the rich for worse-quality water.

Contrast: cities like Porto Alegre (Brazil) achieved near-universal piped water through a participatory municipal government — shows it is possible when political will exists.

Sanitation in India

Swachh Bharat Mission (2014):

• Goal: build toilets in every rural home; make India open-defecation-free (ODF) by 2019.
• Government subsidised toilet construction.
• Behaviour change campaigns.
• By 2019, government declared 600 million+ toilets built; ODF status achieved in rural areas.
• Criticism: some toilets built but not used; water supply not ensured alongside toilet; sustainability questioned.

Electricity

• Electricity is essential for — lights, fans, refrigerators, pumping water, running small businesses, charging phones, studying at night.
• India has massively expanded electricity access: from ~55% households (2001) to ~96%+ (2019, PM Saubhagya scheme).
• Quality problem: many rural areas get electricity for only a few hours a day; voltage fluctuations damage appliances.
• Cost: poor households spend a high share of income on electricity; kerosene often used as backup.

Inequality in public facilities

Government initiatives

Constitutional backing

• Article 21: right to life → courts interpret to include right to clean water, sanitation, environment.
• Directive Principles (Article 47): state shall raise the level of nutrition and public health.
• Supreme Court rulings: held that right to water is part of right to life (multiple judgments).

• What are public facilities? Why can't the market provide them adequately?
• Why do poor areas in Chennai end up paying more for water than rich areas?
• What is the Swachh Bharat Mission? What are two criticisms of it?
• Name two Constitutional provisions related to public facilities.
• Name three government schemes related to water, sanitation, or electricity.

Open the Practice tab for graded questions on Public Facilities.