NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 12 Providing public goods

Q1.

What are the other areas where you can see the government being involved in the markets?

Answer

Beyond the four roles named in the chapter, the government turns up in the market in many other ways. Group them and the answer becomes easy to remember.

Role	Everyday examples you can see
As a buyer	Buys wheat and paddy from farmers for the food stores; buys textbooks, uniforms, medicines, vaccines, buses and defence equipment
As a seller and producer	Railways, post office, electricity boards, public sector banks, oil and steel companies, LPG and kerosene through ration shops
As a builder of market places	Lays out mandīs and regulated agricultural markets, weekly haat grounds, bus stands, cold storage and warehouses, roads and ports
As a rule-maker	Licences for shops; food safety inspections; stamping of weighing scales; printing of MRP; rules for medicine shops; pollution clearances for factories
As a protector of consumers	Consumer courts and helplines; action against adulteration and misleading advertisements; compulsory warning labels on tobacco
As a taxer	GST on goods and services; customs duty on imports — which changes what things cost in the market
As a protector of workers	Minimum wages, safety rules in factories and mines, limits on working hours, ban on child labour
As a supporter of small producers	Loans and subsidies for farmers, weavers and small industries; government e-marketplaces for artisans and small firms

Q2.

Are there areas where government intervention needs to be reduced? Discuss with family or relatives.

Answer

How to discuss this. This is a genuine debate, not a question with one right answer — so a good answer gives a clear position and the other side. The chapter itself supplies the balance: rules are needed so “consumers are not exploited”, but “too many rules can make it difficult for markets to function properly”.

Where people often say intervention should be reduced	Why	But be careful, because…
Too many licences and permissions to open or run a small shop or business	Delay and paperwork discourage new sellers; fewer sellers means less competition and higher prices	Some licences protect safety — a food stall or a chemist's shop cannot be unchecked
Price caps set too low	“If the price is too low, producers would not have any motivation to produce” — and the goods vanish from the shelves altogether	Remove the cap on life-saving drugs and the sick cannot afford treatment
Restrictions on where farmers may sell	A farmer free to sell to any buyer may get a better price than at one fixed mandī	The regulated mandī also protects the farmer from being cheated on weight and payment
Heavy rules on very small traders — a cart, a haat stall, a home baker	The paperwork can cost more than the trader earns	Basic hygiene rules must still apply where food is sold

Sample answer: “My uncle runs a small printing press. He said the rule he finds hardest is not any safety rule but the number of separate offices he must visit each year to renew permissions — three departments, the same information each time. He would keep every safety and pollution rule, but wants one online form instead of three visits. My grandmother disagreed about medicines: she said the price limit on heart medicines is the only reason my grandfather's treatment is affordable, and that it must never be removed. We ended up agreeing on a test: keep the rule if removing it would let someone be harmed or cheated; simplify it if it only costs time.”

NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 12 Providing public goods — THINK ABOUT IT