Hinglish

Collective Responsibility Towards Infrastructure

Class 7 Social Science · Chapter 19: Infrastructure: Engine of India's Development · NCERT Exploring Society: India and Beyond section 19.6

Learn

Beyond physical structures, social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, police and fire stations, courts, parks and libraries supports people's wellbeing. Yet challenges remain: littered roads, stained walls, scribbled monuments, potholes, and weak systems for waste, sewage, traffic and drinking water. Damaging public property hurts everyone. Infrastructure should also be sustainable, using clean energy like solar panels and eco-friendly materials, protecting wildlife (alarms when animals cross railway tracks), and designed for children, the elderly and disabled persons.

Caring for infrastructure is an old idea. Kauṭilya's Arthaśhāstra set road widths, about 16 m for royal highways and roads to ports and villages, 8 m for forest and city roads, 2.5 m for chariot roads, and fixed severe penalties for breaking a reservoir dam and fines for damaging park hedges or blocking paths to water. Today the government can fine offenders, but citizens matter just as much: use public property responsibly and report damage like potholes or broken streetlights. Ishaan's class wrote a "Community Responsibility Pact" for their school corridor.

Explore: helping or harming?

  1. Sort each action.

Remember

  • Social infrastructure supports wellbeing; infrastructure should be sustainable and inclusive.
  • From the Arthaśhāstra to today, protecting public infrastructure is a shared duty.

Quick check

Which of these is social infrastructure?

  1. a public library
  2. an oil pipeline
  3. a wind farm
  4. a sea port
Answer

a public library. Schools, hospitals and parks are other examples.

Think about it

What changes would make your school more eco-friendly?

One answer

Solar panels on the roof, rainwater harvesting, compost pits for food waste, LED lights, more trees and plants, and separate bins for dry and wet waste.

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.