Economics [3 marks Question-Answer]

Under COPRA, a three-tier quasi-judicial machinery was set up for sowing of consumer disputes, as given below:
(i) District level courts - upto ₹ 20 lakhs
(ii) State level courts - ₹ 20 lakhs to ₹ 1 crore
(iii) National level courts - ₹ 1 crore and above.
If a case is dismissed in district court, the consumer can also appeal state and national level courts.

Five ways in which consumers are exploited:
Exploitation by Retailers
(i) Goods sold to consumers are sometimes not measured or weighted correctly.
(ii) Sometimes, sub-standard goods are sold to the consumers. In the name of genuine goods, duplicate goods are sold to them.
(iii) In costly edible items such as oil, ghee and spices, adulteration is made to earn higher profits.
Explotation by Producers
(i) The sellers sometimes do not provide the satisfactory after-sale service in case of many high cost durable items such as electronic equipments, cars etc.
(ii) Large companies sometimes give false and misleading information.