NCERT 8th Class (CBSE) Social Science: Government For Development

Question: Write a short note on the public and private sector industries.

Answer: The public sector comprises goods and services provided by the government for the benefit of the public. These goods and services are provided at comparatively cheaper prices are provided at comparatively cheaper prices than those offered by the profit-making companies. After independence, our government had set up heavy industries as these industries required a lot of investment. Hence, they were under the government’s control. Some public sector industries are Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Steel Authority of India (SAIL). The money invested in these industries comes from the taxes paid by the people and the profits made by these public sector units.

The private sector comprises business activities by private individuals where profit earning is the main motive. Industries like the Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Johnson & Johnson and Reliance are some private sector industries.

Question: What are the steps taken by the government to promote rural development?

Answer:

1. Education: The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was started in 2001. This programme encourages and promotes universal elementary education for all children in the age group of 6-14 irrespective of their caste and gender.
2. Sanitation: Incentive-based programmes like Nirmal Gram Puraskar (2002) have been launched to promote rural sanitation. In urban areas, recycling and reuse of sewage is encouraged.
3. Health:Several Primary and Community Health Centeres have been set up in rural areas. The National Rural Health Mission was started in 2005 to provide better healthcare facilities to the rural population throughout the country. Similarly, the National Urban Health Mission was launched to provide healthcare for the urban poor living in the slums.
4. Employment: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was launched in 2006. The scheme provides legal guarantee of 100 days employment every year to adult members of rural households below poverty line.
5. Housing: To improve the conditions of the poor in the urban slums, programmes like Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) and Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programmes (IHSDP) have been initiated. These aim to provide housing facilities, basic services and other civic amenities to the urban poor. In rural areas Indira Awaas Yojana was launched to meet the shortage of housing.
6. Rural development: The Bharat Nirman Plan was started for the development of rural areas in 2005. The objectives laid down in this plan are as follows:
   (i) Construction of all-weather roads to connect all villages.
   (ii) Provide telephones for communication.
   (iii) Provide clean drinking water.
   (iv) Provide electricity to rural households.
   (v) Construction of 60 lakh houses for the poor.