QUESTION 16
GS2
15 marks
Has digital illiteracy, particularly in rural areas, coupled with lack of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accessibility hindered socio-economic development? Examine with justification.
WRITE IN
11 min
250 words
What the examiner wants
Examine with evidence whether rural digital illiteracy and poor ICT access have held back socio-economic development.
ExamineGo into the details, test each point against evidence, and conclude on what it shows.
Demand-wise check
- 1Evidence of the divide: internet use, smartphone ownership, gender gap≈50 words
- 2Effects: exclusion from DBT, online education during COVID, e-markets (eNAM), telemedicine, jobs≈50 words
- 3Counter: UPI and Jan Dhan growth show rapid catch-up≈50 words
- 4Measures: BharatNet, PMGDISHA, local-language content, women's digital literacy≈50 words
Open in about 30 words and close in about 30.
Answer plan
DataEffects with examplesCounterpointMeasuresJustified conclusion
Where marks usually go
- Answering yes without justification, which the question asks for
- No NSS 75th round or NFHS-5 data on rural internet use and gender gap
Draw this
- Bar chart: urban vs rural internet use
Value addition
- DataNFHS-5: only 33% of women and 57% of men had ever used the internet; rural women were lowest at about 25%.NFHS-5 (2019–21)
- SchemePMGDISHA aimed to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate; BharatNet aims to connect all gram panchayats with optical fibre.MeitY / Department of Telecommunications
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 15 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Aditya Srivastava · AIR 1 · Page 15 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 38 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 11 ↗Same syllabus reference
Links open original public sources. MainsBuddy does not host these answer sheets.
Next: plan for one minute, write it in 11 minutes, then get it checked.