Markets Around Us
1. In what ways is a hawker different from a shop owner?
Answer: A hawker provides door to door service. He sells his goods by calling out the names
of his items. He generally owns a thela which we may call a movable shop and keeps in it
different items of our everyday use. He sells his goods at minimum profit.
A shop owner runs his shop at one fixed place. Whenever, we need any thing we go there and
purchase it. Here, we get things at somewhat costlier rate.
2. Compare and contrast a weekly market and a shopping complex on the following:
3. Explain how a chain of markets is formed. What purpose does it serve?
Answer: Goods are produced in factories, Goods are also produced in farms and in homes. But
we are not required to go to factories or farms to buy goods of our need, because the
producers are not interested in selling us small quantities. The wholesale traders do this job.
They are the people who come in between the producer and the final consumer. They first buy
goods in bulk. Then they sell these goods to the retailers, who finally sell this to the
consumers.
From the above instance we come to the conclusion that from factories to final consumers a
chain is formed, which we may call a chain of markets. We can better understand it through
the flow chart given below:
It serves great purpose. It maintains flow of money. It makes easy availability of various items
of our daily use. It also promotes co-ordination in society
4. ‘All persons have equal rights to visit any shop in a marketplace.’ Do you think this is true
of shops with expensive products? Explain with examples.
Answer: Yes, it is equally true of shops with expensive products. As consumers we can visit
any shop. Even though we have no money in our pockets. The shop owner is bound to show
the articles which the customer asks him to show. He cannot force the customer to buy any
article. It totally depends upon him whether he buys any thing or not. We can understand it
more clearly through an example. Kavita and Sujata went to Ansal Mall out of curiosity. While
wandering here and there they enter a shop all of a sudden. They have no plan to buy anything.
They look some branded dresses and move away,
5. ‘Buying and selling can take place without going to a marketplace’. Explain this statement
with the help of examples.
Answer: This is the age of Internet. It has changed the mode of everything. We can now make
on-line purchases with the help of credit cards. We can place orders through the Internet and
the goods are delivered at our place.
In clinics and nursing homes we usually notice medical representatives waiting for doctors.
These medical representatives are also engaged in selling goods. Thus, buying and selling
takes place in different ways, without going to the market.
VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. Why is a weekly market called so?
Answer: A weekly market is called so because it is held an a specific day of the week.
2. Why is there a competition among the shops in the weekly market? [V. Imp.]
Answer: In the weekly market there are many shops that sell the same goods. This creates
competition among them.
3. Who is Scuneer? What does he do?
Answer: Sameer is a small trader in the weekly market. He buys clothes from a large trader
and sells them in six different markets in a week.
4. Give some examples of roadside stalls.
Answer: Vegetable hawker, fruit vendor, mechanic.
5. How are shops in the neighbourhood useful?
Answer: These types of shops are close to our home and we can go there any time. As the
buyer and seller know each other these shops also provide goods on credit.
6. Where are goods produced?
Answer: Goods are produced in factories, on farms and in homes.
7. Why do we not buy directly from the producer? [V. Imp.]
Answer: It is because the producer is not interested in selling goods in small quantities. 9*
8. Who is a retailer? [Imp.]
Answer: A retailer is a small trader who buy goods from the wholesale trader and sells this to
the consumer.
9. Who is Aftab?
Answer: Aftab is a wholesaler in the city. He purchases vegetables in bulk and sells them to
hawkers and shopkeepers.
10. How are buyers different people?
Answer: There are many buyers who cannot afford evan the cheapest of goods. While others
frequently visit malls and buy different items.
11. What is done in the wholesale markets?
Ans. This is where goods first reach and are then supplied to other traders.
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. Write in brief about shopping complexes and malls.
Answer: Shopping complexes and malls are usually found in urban areas. These are large
multi-storeyed air-conditioned buildings with shops on different floors. These shops sell both
branded and non-branded goods. Fewer people visit malls because they sell costly items. Only
well-to-do people can afford to buy these items.
2. What is the job of a wholesale trader? [V. Imp.]
Answer: A wholesale trader buys goods from the producer in large quantities. He then sells
them to other traders, say small traders. These small trader sell different items to the final
consumer. Thus, the wholesale trader establishes link between the producer and the
consumer. It is through these links of traders that goods reach faraway places.
3. How are shop owners in a weekly market and those in a shopping complex very different
people? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Both are undoubtedly different people.
(a) The shop owners in a weekly market are small traders who run their shop with little money.
On the other hand the shop owners of a shopping complex are big parties. They have a lot of
money to spend on their shops.
(b) What these two types of shop owners earn is also not equal. The weekly market trader
earns little compared to the profit of a regular shop owner in a shopping complex.
4. Write a brief note on ‘Aftab—the wholesaler in the city’.
Answer: Aftab is a wholesaler of vegetables. His work usually starts around 2 o’clock in the
early morning. This is the time when vegetables reach the market or mandi and with them start
the activities. The vegetables come in trucks, matadors, etc. and soon the process of auctions
begins. Aftab participates in this auction and decides what he will buy. He buys vegetables in
bulk. After that he sells them to hawkers and shopkeepers who usually come to him around
six in the morning.
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. Do you see equality in the market? If not, why not? Explain with examples.[V. Imp.]
Or
Write in brief on ‘market and equality’.
Answer: We do not see equality in the market. Big and powerful business persons earn huge
profits while small traders earn very little. For example, the shop owners in a weekly market
and those in a shopping complex are two different people. One is a small trader who has little
money to run the shop. Whereas the other has a lot of money to spend on the shop. The
earning of these two people is also unequal. The weekly market trader earn little profit whereas
the shopping complex owner gains huge income.
Not only the shop owners are different people, but also the buyers. In the market we see
different types of buyers There are several buyers who Eire not able to afford even the
cheapest of goods white others are busy shopping different luxurious items in malls.
Thus, we see no equality in the market place.
