NCERT Notes for Class 12 Economics Chapter 8 INFRASTRUCTURE

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Class 12 Economics Chapter 8 INFRASTRUCTURE

NCERT Notes for Class 12 Economics Chapter 8 INFRASTRUCTURE, (Economics) exam are Students are taught thru NCERT books in some of the state board and CBSE Schools. As the chapter involves an end, there is an exercise provided to assist students to prepare for evaluation. Students need to clear up those exercises very well because the questions inside the very last asked from those.

Sometimes, students get stuck inside the exercises and are not able to clear up all of the questions.  To assist students, solve all of the questions, and maintain their studies without a doubt, we have provided step-by-step NCERT Notes for the students for all classes.  These answers will similarly help students in scoring better marks with the assist of properly illustrated Notes as a way to similarly assist the students and answer the questions right

NCERT Notes for Class 12 Economics Chapter 8 INFRASTRUCTURE

Class 12 Economics Chapter 8 INFRASTRUCTURE

WHAT IS INFRASTRUCTURE?

  • Infrastructure provides supporting services in the main areas of industrial and agricultural production, domestic as well as foreign trade and commerce.
  • These services include roads, railways, ports, airports, dams, power stations, oil and gas pipelines, telecommunication facilities, schools and colleges, health system including hospitals, sanitary system including clean drinking water facilities and the monetary system including banks, insurance and other financial institutions.
  • Infrastructure can be classified in to two categories — economic and social.
  • Infrastructure associated with energy, transportation and communication are included in the economic category whereas those related to education, health and housing are included in the social category.

RELEVANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE

  • The efficient working of a modern industrial economy depends on Infrastructure.
  • Modern agriculture also largely depends on it for speedy and large-scale transport of seeds, pesticides, fertilisers, and the produce using modern roadways, railways and shipping facilities.
  • Agriculture production also depends on insurance and banking facilities.
  • Infrastructure contributes to economic development of a country both by increasing the productivity of the factors of production and improving the quality of life of its people.
  • Inadequate infrastructure can have multiple adverse effects on health.

THE STATE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN INDIA

  • Traditionally, the government has been solely responsible for developing the country’s infrastructure.
    1. But it was found that the government’s investment in infrastructure was inadequate.
  • The private sector also in joint partnership with the public sector has started playing a very important role in infrastructure development.
  • Some economists have projected that India will become the third biggest economy in the world a few decades from now.
    1. For that to happen, India will have to boost its infrastructure investment.
    2. Development of infrastructure and economic development go hand in hand.

ENERGY

  • Energy is a critical aspect of the development process of a nation. It is, of course, essential for industries.
  • Sources of Energy:
    1. There are commercial and non-commercial sources of energy.
    2. Commercial sources are coal, petroleum and electricity as they are bought and sold.
    3. Non-commercial sources of energy are firewood, agricultural waste and dried dung.
    4. These are non-commercial as they are found in nature.
  • Commercial sources of energy are generally exhaustible while noncommercial sources are generally renewable.
  • Non-conventional Sources of Energy:
    1. Both commercial and noncommercial sources of energy are known as conventional sources of energy.
  • There are three other sources of energy which are commonly termed as non-conventional sources — solar energy, wind energy and tidal power

Power/Electricity

  • The most visible form of energy, which is often identified with progress in modern civilization, is power, commonly called electricity.
    1. It is a critical component of infrastructure that determines the economic development of a country.
  • In India, in 2016, thermal sources accounted for 67 per cent of the power generation capacity.
    1. Hydel power accounted for 14 per cent, while nuclear power accounted for only 2 per cent.
  • India’s energy policy encourages two energy sources — hydel and wind.

Some Challenges in the Power Sector:

Some of the challenges that India’s power sector faces today are :

  1. India’s installed capacity to generate electricity is not sufficient to feed an annual economic growth of 7–8 per cent.
  2. State Electricity Boards (SEBs), which distribute electricity, incur losses. This is due to transmission and distribution losses, wrong pricing of electricity and other inefficiencies.
  3. Private sector power generators are yet to play their role in a major way.
  4. There is general public unrest due to high power tariffs and prolonged power cuts in different parts of the country.
  5. Thermal power plants, which are the mainstay of India’s power sector are facing shortage of raw material and coal supplies.

Health and State of Health Infrastructure:

  • Health is a vital public good and a basic human right.
  • Health is not only absence of disease but also the ability to realise one’s potential.
  • Health is the holistic process related to the overall growth and development of the nation.
  • Development of health infrastructure ensures a country of healthy manpower for the production of goods and services.
  • Health infrastructure includes hospitals, doctors, nurses and other paramedical professionals, beds, equipment required in hospitals and a welldeveloped pharmaceutical industry.
  • The government has the constitutional obligation to guide and regulate all health-related issues, such as medical education, adulteration of food, drugs and poisons, medical profession, vital statistics, mental deficiency and lunacy.
  • The Union Government evolves broad policies and plans through the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare.
  • At the village level, a variety of hospitals, technically known as Primary Health Centres (PHCs), have been set up by the government.
  • In India large number of hospitals run by voluntary agencies and the private sector.
  • In recent times, private sector has been playing a dominant role in medical education and training, medical technology and diagnostics, manufacture and sale of pharmaceuticals etc.
  • Owing to the liberalisation measures, many non-resident Indians and industrial and pharmaceutical companies have set up super-specialty hospitals to attract India’s rich and medical tourists.

Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM):

  • It includes six systems: Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Naturopathy and Homeopathy (AYUSH).
  • ISMs have huge potential and can solve a large part of our healthcare problems because they are effective, safe and inexpensive.

Indicators of Health and Health Infrastructure—A Critical Appraisal:

  • The health status of a country can be accessed through indicators, such as infant mortality and maternal mortality rates, life expectancy and nutrition levels, along with the incidence of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
  • One study points out that India has about 17 per cent of the world’s population but it bears a frightening 20 per cent of the global burden of diseases (GBD).
  • GBD is an indicator used by experts to gauge the number of people dying prematurely due to a particular disease, as well as, the number of years spent by them in a state of ‘disability’ owing to the disease.
  • In India, more than half of GBD is accounted for by communicable diseases such as diarrhoea, malaria and tuberculosis.
  • Every year around five lakh children die of water-borne diseases. The danger of AIDS is also looming large.
  • Though 70 per cent of India’s population lives in rural areas, only one-fifth of its hospitals are located in rural areas. Rural India has only about half the number of dispensaries.
  • The PHCs located in rural areas do not even offer X-ray or blood testing facilities.
  • Villagers have no access to any specialised medical care, like paediatrics, gynaecology, anaesthesia and obstetrics.
  • The shortage of doctors in rural areas still persists.
    1. While one-fifth of these doctor graduates leave the country for better monetary prospects, many others opt for private hospitals, which are mostly located in urban areas.

Women’s Health

  • Women constitute about half of the total population in India.
  • They suffer many disadvantages as compared to men in the areas of education, participation in economic activities and healthcare.
  • The deterioration in the child sex ratio in the country from 927 in 2001 to 914 in 2011 points to the growing incidence of female foeticide.
  • More than 50 per cent of married women in the age group of 15–49 years have anaemia and nutritional anaemia caused by iron deficiency which has contributed to 19 per cent of maternal deaths.
  • Abortions are also a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in India.
  • All citizens can get better health facilities if public health services are decentralised.
  • Success in the long-term battle against diseases depends on education and efficient health infrastructure.
  • The role of telecom and IT sectors played a vital part for creating efficient health infrastructure in our country.
  • The effectiveness of healthcare programmes rests on primary healthcare.

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