Consumer Rights Class 10 Worksheet Economics Chapter 3

Multiple Choice Questions
Q1: When was the ‘Consumer Protection’ Act amended?
(a) In 1990 and 1992
(b) In 1992 and 1995
(c) In 1989 and 1991
(d) In 1991 and 1993
Ans: (d)

Q2: In the market place rules and regulations are needed for the production of:
(a) Sellers
(b) Suppliers
(c) Consumers
(d) Owners
Ans: (c)

Q3: When was the ‘Right to Information Act’ passed?
(a) In October, 2005
(b) In October, 2006
(c) In September, 2005
(d) In September, 2006
Ans: (a)

True/False
Q1: COPRA applies only to goods.
Ans: False

Q2: ndia is one of the many countries in the world which has exclusive courts for consumer redressal.
Ans: True

Q3: When a consumer feels that he has been exploited, he must fill a case in the district consumer court.
Ans: True

Q4: It is worthwhile to move to consumer courts only if damages incurred are of high value.
Ans: False

Q5: Hallmark is the certification maintained for standardization of jeweler.
Ans: True

Very Short Answer Type Questions
Q1: What do sellers usually do when there is a complaint regarding a good or service that had been bought?
Ans: They try their best to shift all the responsibility to the buyer.

Q2: When did the consumer movement come into being in an organised form in India?
Ans: It came into being in an organised form in the 1960s.

Q3: What are the details given on the packing of a commodity?
Ans: These details are about ingredients used, price, batch number, date of manufacture, expiry date and the address of the manufacture.

Q4: The consumer movement in India has led to the formation of various organisations. Name them.
Ans: Consumer forums or consumer protection councils.

Q5: How do organisations like consumer forums help consumers?
Ans: They guide consumers on how to file cases in the consumers court on many occasions. They also represent individual consumers in the consumer courts.

Q6: What is adulteration?
Ans: When some foreign matter, injurious to health, is mixed with any good or natural production, it is called adulteration. This is the most heinous crime against humanity.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1: Why COPRA is enacted in India?
Ans: Consumer Protection Act 1986 (COPRA) is enacted in India with following motives:

• To pressurize business firms.
• To correct unfair business conduct.
• To protect the interests of the consumers.

Q2: What do you understand by consumer protection?
Ans: By consumer protection we mean the protection of the consumers against the unfair and malpractices adopted by the businessmen. These may be grouped mainly into two categories.

• Government measures
• Voluntary measures

Q3: How do the logos ISI, Agmark or Hallmark help consumers?
Ans: These logos and certification help consumers get assured of quality while purchasing goods and services. The organizations that monitor and issue the certificates allow the producers to use these logos provided they follow certain quality standards.

Q4: Mention a few Organizations that provide certification of standardization in India.
What do you mean by ISO?
Ans: (i) BIS and ISI (ii) AGMARK (iii) HALLMARK
It means International Organization for Standardization which has its headquarter at Geneva. It does the Standardization work at the international level.

Q5: What is the need for consumer awareness?
Ans: The need for consumer awareness was felt because both the manufacturers and traders can go to any extent out of their selfishness. They can charge high prices, and resort to underweight and under measurement methods. Their lust for money may lead to loss of money and health of consumers.

Q6: Mention the consumer’s ‘right to choose’ with an example.
Ans: Any consumer who receives a service in whatever capacity, regardless of age, gender and nature of service has the ‘right to choose’ whether to continue to receive the service.
Example: Suppose you want to buy soap and the shop owner says that he can sell the soap only if you buy a shampoo. If you are not interested in buying the shampoo, your right to choice is denied. The consumer has every right to purchase only those things that he wants to purchase.

Q7: Describe the conditions in which markets do not work in a fair manner.
Ans: Markets do not work in a fair manner when producers are few and powerful whereas consumers purchase in small amounts and are scattered. This happens especially when large companies are producing these goods. These companies with huge wealth, power and reach can manipulate the market in various ways. At times false information is passed on through the media and other sources to attract consumers.

Q8: What is the three-tier quasi-judicial machinery in India under COPRA?
Ans: Under COPRA, a three-tier quasi-judicial machinery at district, state and national levels has been setup for redressal of consumer disputes.

• The district level court deals with the cases involving claims up to ` 20 lakhs.
• The state level courts take cases between ` 20 lakhs to ` 1 crore.
• The national level court deals with the cases involving claims exceeding ` 1 crore.

If the case is dismissed at district level court, the consumer can also appeal in state and then in national level courts. Thus, the act has enabled us as consumers to have the right to represent in the consumer courts.

Q9: How does consumer awareness help our society?
Ans: The awareness of being a well-informed consumer arose out of consumer movement and active participation of people through their struggles over a long period. Before this movement, consumers were being exploited in a number of ways. Sometimes they were becoming the victims of hoarding and black marketing while sometimes shopkeepers sold them adulterated food. But these practices ceased to exist after the consumer movement. The movement empowered the consumers by giving them certain rights such as right to be informed, right to choose, etc. Now the consumers have every right to purchase only their things that they want to purchase.
Consumer awareness helps in making our society highly sophisticated.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1: What are the different forms of consumer exploitation?
Ans: The different forms of consumer exploitation are:

• Less weigh.
• Defective goods.
• Provide poor services.
• Impure quality of products/goods.
• High prices: sellers usually charge a price higher than the prescribed retail price.
• Duplicate Articles.
• False or incomplete information, misleading consumers.
• Lack of safety devices which cause harm to the consumers.
• Adulteration: Mixing or substituting undesirable materials in food items etc.
• Unsatisfactory after sale service: supplies do not provide satisfactory behavior.
• Large companies with huge wealth, power and reach can manipulate in the market.

Q2: What are the factors responsible for the consumer exploitation?
Ans: The following factors are responsible for the consumer exploitation:

• Limited information - For a correct decision and choice about a product, a consumer needs full information about the price, quality, durability, composition, etc of the Product. In the absence of full and correct information, a consumer may get exploited.
• Limited supplies- when the supply of goods is less than their demand, the prices may go high and may also encourage the tendency of hoarding. As a consequence, consumers will get exploited.
• Limited competition-when there is limited competition with regard to production i.e., when producers are few and can control and restrict the supply of a product there is a possibility of manipulation in prices.
• Low literacy-Illiteracy causes ignorance, which leads to exploitation of consumers. The level of awareness in our country is generally low.

Q3: What are consumer protection councils?
OR
What are consumer forums?
Ans: These are voluntary organizations locally known as consumer forums or consumer protection councils. The main activities of the consumer forums or consumer protection councils are:

• They guide consumers on how to file cases in the consumer court.
• They may represent individual consumers in the consumer courts.
• They create awareness among the people.

These voluntary organizations receive financial support from the government for the above purposes.

Q4: Describe salient feature of Consumer Protection Act of 1986. How did it enhance the powers of the redressal machinery of India? 
Ans: Salient features of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 are:

• It applies to all goods and services.
• It covers all the sectors whether private, public or cooperative.
• It gives various right to the consumers.
• It also established consumer protection councils at the central and state levels to promote and protect the rights of the consumers.
• It provides a separate three tier quassi judicial machinery at the national, state and district levels.

The Act provides for the establishment of consumer disputes redressal agencies of district, state and national levels for the protection and promotion of consumer interests and to redress their grievances in a speedy, simple and inexpensive manner. The agencies are required to dispose of each complaint within three months. At the national level, it is called the national consumer commission, which is the apex court under the Act, and function at Delhi.

• At the state level, it is called the state consumer commission.
• At the district level, it is called district forum.

These courts look into grievances and complaints of the consumers against the traders and manufacturers and provide the necessary relief and compensation. The district level court deals with the cases involving claims up to Rs. 20 lakhs, the state level courts between Rs. 20 lakhs, and Rs. 1 crore and the national level court deals with cases involving claims exceeding Rs. 1crore.

Q5: Explain the main causes for the increase in the prices. Give two arguments in favour of regulating the rising prices.
Ans: Cause for rise in prices in India are:

• When cost of production goes up because of the increase in the prices of raw materials, the increased cost is added to the existing price levels.
• When people have more income in their hands, their demand for goods and services increase. If this increase is not met by increase in supply of goods and services, there is shortage. This increases the price of goods and services.
• The government keeps on raising the process of number of commodities (e.g., petroleum) from time to time. All these revisions in the administered prices have contributed to the price rise in recent years.
• Hoarding by producers, wholesalers especially when production goes down in the country, aggravates scarcity conditions and pushes up the price level.
• Imposition of indirect taxes like excise and custom duties, and sales tax gives an opportunity to trading class to raise the prices.
• Increase in population creates pressure on the demand for goods and services which in turn becomes the cause for price rise.

Two arguments in favour of regulating the rising prices are:

• Sometimes, traders whose main aim is to earn profit raise the prices by illegal ways.
• If there is no increase in wage for workers who are also consumers in the market, they cannot buy the goods. This creates problem for the people.

Q6: Attempt a brief note on COPRA.
Ans: COPRA - 'Consumer Protection Act 1986' was passed by the parliament in 1986 (and came into force with effect from July 1, 1987) for the protection of the consumers from unscrupulous producers and dishonest traders.
Salient features of the Consumer Protection Act are as follows:

• Applies to all goods and services unless specifically exempted by the Union Government.
• Covers all the sectors whether private, public or cooperative.
• Provisions of the Act are compensatory in nature.
• Enshrines the consumer's rights related to safety, information choice, representation, and redressal and consumer education.
• Empower consumers seeking discontinuance of certain unfair and restrictive trade practices, defects or deficiencies in service, and stopping in services, or withdrawal of hazardous goods from the market.