Social Studies [4 Mark Questions]

Several poor people in the city work as domestic servants as well as work for the Corporation, keeping the city clean. Yet the slums in which they live are quite filthy. This is because these slums seldom have any water and sanitation facilities. The reason often given by the Municipal Corporation is that the land in which the poor have set up their homes does not belong to them and that slum-dwellers do not pay taxes. However, people living in middle-class neighborhoods pay very little in taxes compared to the amount of money the corporation spends on them in setting up parks, street lighting facilities, regular garbage collection etc. Also as you read in this chapter, the property taxes collected by the Municipality makes up only 25-30 percent of its money.
Why do you think it is important that the Corporation should spend more money on slum localities ? Why is it important that the Municipal Corporation provide the poor in the city with the same facilities that the rich get ?

How does the Municipal Corporation earn the money to do its work?

An Event Box :
The city of Surat had a plague scare in 1994. Surat was one of the dirtiest cities in India. Houses, hotels and restaurants would dump their garbage into the nearest drain or street which made it very difficult for sweepers to collect and transfer the garbage into selected dumps. In addition to this, the Municipal Council did not collect the garbage as often as it should have and this led to the situation getting worse. The plague spreads through the air and people who have the disease have to he isolated. In Surat, several people lost their lives, and over 300,000 deserted the town. The scare of the plague ensured that the municipal council completely cleaned up the city. To this date, Surat continues to remain the second cleanest city in India after Chandigarh.
1. Do you know when and how often garbage gets collected in your neighbourhood ?
2. Do you think it is the same for all neighbourhoods in the city ? Why not ? Discuss.

Question Box :
How does the Municipal Corporation get its money ?

Rehana's house was the closest and they ran and told her mother what had happened. Rehana's mother said, "I don't really know these things in great detail but I do know that it is the Municipal Corporation of the city that takes care of replacing lights. The best person to ask would be Yasmin Khala. She just retired from the Municipal Corporation. Go and ask her, and Rehana come back home soon."
Yasmin Khala lived in the same lane and she and Rehana's mother were good friends. The children ran to Khala's house and when she opened the door they began to tell her what had happened all at once! When they asked about the street light, Yasmin Khala laughed and said, "There is no one person that you can pay the money to. There is a big organisation called the Municipal Corporation that takes care of street lights, garbage collection, water supply, keeping the streets and the market clean."
"I've heard about the Municipal Corporation. They've put up signs around the city to inform people about Malaria," said Mala.
"Yes, you are quite right. The Municipal Corporation is also responsible for ensuring that diseases do not break out in the city. It also runs schools, hospitals, and dispensaries. And makes gardens and maintains them," said Yasmin Khala. Then she added, "Our city Pune is a big city and so here it is called a Municipal Corporation. In smaller towns, it is called a Municipal Council."
List at least four different tasks that the Municipality does :

One lazy Sunday afternoon Mala and her friends Shankar, Jehangir and Rehana were playing a game of cricket in the street.
Shankar had bowled a good over and although he nearly managed to get Rehana out, she was still batting. Frustrated, he bowled a short ball and hoped she would hit it for an easy catch. Instead, Rehana hit the ball so hard and so high that the street light broke.
Rehana screamed, "Oh no, look what I've done!" Shankar said, "Yes! we forgot to make a rule that if you break the street light you are automatically out." But Mala, Jehangir and Rehana were more worried about what had happened and they told Shankar he'd better stop thinking about the wicket. Last week they had broken Nirmala Mausi's window and had spent their pocket money to have it replaced.
1. Would they have to dish out money again from their pockets ?
2. But who would they pay this to ?
3. To whom did the lights on the streets belong ?
4. Who changed them ?