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Predicted Questions with Model Answers
Q1 (5 marks — 50 words): What is the Global Village concept? Who coined it and what does it mean for India?
Model Answer:
Marshall McLuhan (1962) coined Global Village — electronic media (TV, radio, internet) compress space and time, making the entire world function as a single interconnected community. For India: 700 million internet users by 2023; events like COVID-19 or Ukraine war simultaneously affect Indian markets, supply chains, and public discourse — demonstrating real-time global interdependence beyond physical geography.
(Word count: 52 — within range)
Q2 (5 marks — 50 words): Explain Arjun Appadurai's five global scapes.
Model Answer:
Appadurai (Modernity at Large, 1996) identified five disjunctive global flows: (1) Ethnoscapes — movement of people (migrants, refugees); (2) Mediascapes — flow of media images (Bollywood reaching 100 countries); (3) Technoscapes — technology diffusion (mobile internet); (4) Financescapes — capital movement (FDI: $83.6 bn to India, 2021–22); (5) Ideoscapes — ideological flows (democracy, human rights). These flows are asynchronous, creating complex "modernity at large."
(Word count: 52 — within range)
Q3 (5 marks — 50 words): What is Westoxication? Explain with an Indian example.
Model Answer:
Westoxication (Gharbzadegi) — coined by Iranian philosopher Jalal Al-e-Ahmad (1962) — describes the excessive, uncritical adoption of Western consumer culture and values by non-Western societies, eroding indigenous identity and traditions. Indian example: replacement of traditional cotton-khadi clothing with fast fashion brands; abandonment of local languages for English; preference for Western food chains over regional cuisine — sign of cultural subjugation, not genuine development.
(Word count: 53 — within range)
Q4 (5 marks — 50 words): How is Indian secularism different from Western secularism?
Model Answer:
Western secularism (France's laïcité, USA's First Amendment) strictly separates religion from state — religion is purely private. Indian secularism (42nd Amendment, 1976; Articles 25–28) means Sarva Dharma Sambhav — equal respect for all religions — with state authority to reform regressive religious practices (Hindu Code Bills 1955–56, abolition of untouchability Art. 17). India's model balances religious freedom with constitutional equality, not by exclusion but by inclusion and regulation.
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Q5 (5 marks — 50 words): What are the major social consequences of urbanisation in India?
Model Answer:
Urbanisation in India (31.1% in 2011, projected 40% by 2036) has multiple social consequences: (1) Weakening caste norms — city anonymity reduces caste surveillance; (2) Nuclear families replace joint families; (3) Gender equality gains — urban women's workforce participation: 23.8%; (4) Slum growth — 65.5 million slum dwellers (Census 2011); (5) New middle class formation; (6) Crime and anonymity — urban alienation rises.
(Word count: 51 — within range)
Q6 (5 marks — 50 words): What is modernisation? How does it differ from Westernisation?
Model Answer:
Modernisation (Eisenstadt, 1966) is the multi-faceted transformation of society — industrialisation, urbanisation, democratisation, secularisation, rational institutions — driven by modern values and technology. Westernisation (M.N. Srinivas) is specifically the adoption of British/Western customs, language, and institutions. Modernisation is a universal structural process; Westernisation is one cultural path to it. India can modernise through indigenous institutions without fully Westernising — Gandhian alternative development model.
(Word count: 52 — within range)