SECTION B
Essay
125 marks
Digital economy: A leveller or a source of economic inequality.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic asks whether digital payments, platforms and online markets reduce inequality by opening access, or deepen it by rewarding those with skills, capital and connectivity. The examiner expects attention to the digital divide, platform power and gig work, and to public digital infrastructure as India's answer.
ThesisThe digital economy levels access but not outcomes: public digital infrastructure has widened inclusion, while platform concentration and skill gaps can widen inequality unless regulated.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Access: low-cost digital payments brought street vendors and villagers into formal finance, a levelling effect
- 2Digital divide: gaps in smartphones, internet access and digital literacy across gender, region and age decide who benefits
- 3Platforms: network effects let a few firms dominate markets and data, concentrating wealth
- 4Labour: gig work offers flexible income but little security, creating a new precarious class
- 5Public infrastructure: open, interoperable systems can counter monopoly and spread gains
- 6Rights: internet access and data protection are becoming conditions for economic participation
Counter-view
- Some argue inequality is driven by education and assets, not digital tools. The essay should agree but show digital systems amplify existing gaps unless access and skills are deliberately spread
Open and close
- Open: Open with a vegetable seller in Patna scanning a QR code for a two-rupee payment, while across town a delivery rider is logged out by an app for a low rating with no one to appeal to
- Close: Conclude that digital economy levels society only when access, skills and platform rules are designed for the weakest user
Where marks usually go
- Praising digital India without discussing inequality
- Treating the digital divide as purely about internet access, ignoring skills and power
- Ignoring gig workers and platform concentration
Examples that fit
- CaseUPI, launched by NPCI in 2016, let small merchants accept digital payments at almost no cost, a strong levelling example.National Payments Corporation of India
- DataNITI Aayog estimated India had about 7.7 million gig workers in 2020-21 and projected 23.5 million by 2029-30, showing scale and precarity.NITI Aayog, India's Booming Gig and Platform Economy, 2022
- CaseRajasthan's Platform Based Gig Workers Act, 2023 created a welfare board funded by a fee on platforms, an attempt to share gains.Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act, 2023
- CurrentThe Open Network for Digital Commerce, launched in 2022, aims to break platform monopolies by letting small sellers trade across apps.ONDC, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
- ThinkerShoshana Zuboff argues that big tech extracts behavioural data as raw material, creating new concentrations of power.Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (2019)