PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Contemporary Global Concerns — II

Discuss the importance of personal data protection in the context of human rights.

How the answer moves

The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.

Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R1 data protection seen as technical/commercial → actually a defence of privacy → UDHR+ Puttaswamy into Article 21 G3 privacy arecognised right → ina data-driven world exercised through control of personal data → protect data to protect the right
Body flow
data-driven world, data shapes choices/elections (Cambridge Analytica) → control of data = control of choices → surveillance curbs free expression (Snowden/NSA, China) → profiling + breaches enable discrimination (race/sex /religion, Equifax) → rights above market/profit (Dworkin — “rights are trumps”) → GDPR+ DPDP Act 2023 give legal form
Counter-view
developing countries lack comprehensive law → citizens exposed to multinational exploitation → right recognised in principle, unevenly realised
Conclusion routes
R1 data protection and rights organically linked → strong law a prerequisite for rights in digital globalisation @) privacy the gateway to freedom, dignity, equality → without data protection these rights turn insecure

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2019, Contemporary Global Concerns — II