Water which was available freely some 15 years ago is now bottled and sold for a cost. This process is called.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Commodification
Option (1) Sale — Incorrect. A sale is the simple act of selling a thing for money. It does not describe the change by which something that was never sold before becomes a thing bought and sold.
Option (2) Marketing — Incorrect. Marketing is the work of promoting and selling a product: bottled water is marketed by many companies under innumerable brand names. Marketing sells the bottles; the process by which free water became a saleable product is something else.
Option (3) Commodification — Correct. Commodification occurs when things that were earlier not traded in the market become commodities. Bottled water is a familiar example: water packed in sealed plastic bottles and sold under many brand names is a new phenomenon, not more than ten or fifteen years old, though water was once never sold.
Option (4) Capitalism — Incorrect. Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and organised to accumulate profits within a market system. The growth of capitalism spreads markets into new spheres of life, but the name of this process is commodification, not capitalism.
NCERT (2025-26): “Commoditisation and Consumption … The growth of capitalism around the world has meant the extension of markets into places and spheres of life that were previously untouched by this system. Commodification occurs when things that were earlier not traded in the market become commodities.…” “Activity 4.2 … Commoditisation or commodification – these are big words that sound very complicated. But the process they refer to is a familiar one and it is present in our everyday life. Here is a common example – bottled water. In cities and towns and even in most villages now it is possible to buy water packed in sealed plastic bottles of 2 litres, 1 litre or smaller capacity. These bottles are marketed by a wide variety of companies and there are innumerable brand names. But this is a new phenomenon, not more than ten or fifteen years old.…” |