Consider the following statements about education and health services in India:
(A) Expenditures on education and health make a substantial long-term impact and cannot be easily reversed.
(B) Individual consumers of education and health services do not have complete information about their quality and costs.
(C) Expenditure on education and health is carried out by the union and state governments, but not by local governments.
(D) The Constitution of India mentions the functions to be carried out by each level of government.
(E) The government leaves private providers of education and health services free to set their own standards and prices.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (A), (B) and (D) only
(A) Expenditures on education and health make a substantial long-term impact and cannot be easily reversed. — Correct. Once a child joins a school that does not give the required services, much damage is done before the child is shifted. That is why government intervention is essential.
(B) Individual consumers of education and health services do not have complete information about their quality and costs. — Correct. This gap lets the providers gain monopoly power and exploit the consumers.
(C) Expenditure on education and health is carried out by the union and state governments, but not by local governments. — Incorrect. All three tiers spend on education and health: union, state and local governments (municipalities and village panchayats).
(D) The Constitution of India mentions the functions to be carried out by each level of government. — Correct. That is why all three tiers share the spending on education and health.
(E) The government leaves private providers of education and health services free to set their own standards and prices. — Incorrect. The government has to make sure that private providers keep to the standards it lays down and charge the correct price.
NCERT (2026-27): “4.5 State of Human Capital Formation in India … We know that India is a federal country with a union government, state governments and local governments (Municipal Corporations, Municipalities and Village Panchayats). The Constitution of India mentions the functions to be carried out by each level of government. Accordingly, expenditures on both education and health are to be carried out simultaneously by all the three tiers of the government. … Expenditures on education and health make substantial long-term impact and they cannot be easily reversed; hence, government intervention is essential. For instance, once a child is admitted to a school or health care centre where the required services are not provided, before the decision is taken to shift the child to another institution, substantial amount of damage would have been done. Moreover, individual consumers of these services do not have complete information about the quality of services and their costs. In this situation, the providers of education and health services acquire monopoly power and are involved in exploitation. The role of government in this situation is to ensure that the private providers of these services adhere to the standards stipulated by the government and charge the correct price. …” |