A government’s role is only to provide defence capability and urban infrastructure (roads, water supplies, etc.). All other services (education, health, social security) should be provided by private groups or individuals in the community. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Many economists suggest that the

government

acts as an invisible hand in market driven economies and have a crucial role to play for

betterment

Suggestion

the betterment

of a country.

However

, few free market economists are of

opinion

Suggestion

the opinion

that

government

Suggestion

the government

has no business to be in business. A

government

gets

large pool

Suggestion

a large pool

of fund via various direct and indirect taxes levied on its citizens.

Hence any

Accept comma addition

Hence, any

projects which require very large initial capital can be delivered by

government

Suggestion

the government

without any external support.

For example

, building national highways to connect

major cities

Suggestion

the major cities

of the country, developing ports or airports to handle large volume of passenger traffic as well as cargo or building dams will require huge initial capital investment that private players may not be able to provide on their individual capacity.

Additionally

, projects which

carries

Suggestion

carry

national security interests cannot be completely handed over to private companies. On the other side, private players may bring high level of efficiency and transparency for the projects they may take over.

Hence

, services like setting up the

education

Suggestion

educational

institutes, building and running hospitals, providing banking services, etc.

can

Suggestion

Can

be built and operated by private organisations with much better end user experience.

However

, private organisations run their businesses for profit motive.

Hence

, if private players would get

free hand

Suggestion

a free hand

to run the services, it could lead to exploitation of users availing those services.

Moreover

, it is

moral duty

Suggestion

the moral duty

a moral duty

of the

government

to provide essential services to all the citizens irrespective of their financial capabilities or social status. To achieve

this

goal, if the

government

run

Suggestion

runs

the services, it could subsidise them for

economically backward class

Suggestion

the economically backward class

an economically backward class

of the society.

For example

,

government

could provide free education, subsidised healthcare and housing for people having income less than average per capita income of the country.

However

, private companies might be

least interested

Suggestion

less interested

in subsidising any of the services provided by them. To summarize, it is always better for the

government

to focus on projects which are capital intensive and aimed towards building social infrastructure and providing national security. At the same time, private players should focus on

delivery

Suggestion

the delivery

of services which demands better efficiency and transparency. Despite of saying that,

government

should always have the right to oversight and evaluate the projects having larger social implications; even if they might be run by private organizations.