QUESTION 5(a)
GS4
10 marks
The current society is plagued with widespread trust-deficit. What are the consequences of this situation for personal well-being and societal well-being? What can you do at the personal level to make yourself trustworthy?
WRITE IN
7 min
150 words
What the examiner wants
Explain how trust deficit harms personal and social well-being and what you can do to be trustworthy.
ExplainMake clear how and why it happens: causes, process, and an example for each point.
Demand-wise check
- 1Personal effects: stress, loneliness, broken relationships, suspicion, lower cooperation≈30 words
- 2Societal effects: higher transaction costs, weak institutions, low tax compliance, polarisation, fake news, people avoiding courts and police≈30 words
- 3Personal steps: keep promises, consistency between words and actions, transparency, admit mistakes, respect confidentiality, reliability in small things≈30 words
- 4Ripple: trustworthy individuals build trusted institutions≈30 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
Trust deficit contextPersonal effectsSocietal effectsPersonal actionsConclusion
Where marks usually go
- Mixing personal and societal effects instead of separating them
- Generic advice like 'be honest' without concrete behaviours
Draw this
- Flowchart: low trust → high transaction costs → weak institutions → lower welfare
Value addition
- ThinkerFrancis Fukuyama's 'Trust' (1995): high-trust societies build large efficient institutions.Fukuyama, 1995
- ReportEdelman Trust Barometer tracks public trust in government, business, media and NGOs every year.Edelman
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 23 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Vidushi Singh · AIR 13 · Page 5 ↗Same syllabus reference
- G Sanjana · AIR 55 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
Links open original public sources. MainsBuddy does not host these answer sheets.
Next: plan for one minute, write it in 7 minutes, then get it checked.