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UPSC Mains Answer Practice — GS 2: Digital databases in electoral administration and India-China relations (Week 172)

UPSC Civil Services Mains Exam 2027: How can digitisation, Aadhaar and digital databases improve electoral roll revision while ensuring adequate institutional safeguards? What factors could strengthen or constrain India-China cooperation within BRICS? Check out our thought process.

Are you preparing for Civil Services Mains Exam 2027? Attempt a question on the use of digital databases in electoral administration in today's answer-writing practice. (File Image)

Written by: Nitendra Pal Singh

9 min readNew DelhiSep 16, 2026 01:09 PM IST First published on: Sep 16, 2026 at 01:09 PM IST

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QUESTION 1

Digitisation can reduce the administrative burden of electoral roll revision, but technological solutions cannot substitute for institutional safeguards. Discuss with reference to the possible use of Aadhaar and digital databases in electoral administration.

QUESTION 2

India-China relations have a direct bearing on the cohesion and future trajectory of BRICS. Examine the factors that could either strengthen or constrain cooperation between the two countries within the grouping.

UPSC Essentials Mains Answer Practice — GS 2 (Week 131)

QUESTION 1: Digitisation can reduce the administrative burden of electoral roll revision, but technological solutions cannot substitute for institutional safeguards. Discuss with reference to the possible use of Aadhaar and digital databases in electoral administration.

Relevance: The topic is important for GS Paper 2 – Indian Polity & Governance: Electoral reforms, Election Commission, electoral rolls and democratic participation. The question links technology-driven governance with Aadhaar, digital databases, privacy, inclusion and due process.

Note: This is not a model UPSC answer. It only provides you with a thought process which you may incorporate into the answers.

Introduction:

— Digitisation can make electoral roll modification faster, less expensive, and less reliant on recurrent physical verification. However, technology should supplement, not replace, legal and institutional safeguards.

— The recent debate over Special Intensive Revision (SIR) demonstrates the possibilities and limitations of Aadhaar-based electoral management.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in your answer:

Potential of digitisation and Aadhaar

— The present SIR includes comprehensive door-to-door verification and around ten lakh governmental officials. A computerised system might significantly cut ongoing administrative and financial expenditures.

— Aadhaar-based verification can assist discover duplicate entries, as well as deceased or non-existent entries, enhancing voting roll accuracy.

— Face authentication and digital matching allow voters to prove their identification remotely, avoiding the need for physical documents and frequent visits to government offices. Aadhaar-based authentication is already in use in Digi Yatra and Jeevan Pramaan.

— Digital verification might significantly lessen the paperwork load on migrants, the elderly, women, and economically marginalised groups, all of whom may struggle to produce historical papers.

— Properly constructed digital systems can create an electronic trail of verification and corrections, potentially increasing administrative accountability.

Why can technology not substitute institutional safeguards?

— Aadhaar verifies identification and domicile, but not citizenship. The Supreme Court has also ruled that the final determination of citizenship is made by the competent body under the Citizenship Act, not an electoral officer.

— Database errors, authentication difficulties, outdated information, and inaccurate linkages can exclude genuine voters. Recent SIR reporting has uncovered instances of anomalies in voter names and other information.

— Linking election information to a large biometric identity database requires stringent controls on data collection, purpose, access, and retention. The technology should not be used to aggregate superfluous data.

— Claims, objections, hearings, and appeals remain necessary protections. Recent SIR reporting has raised concerns about delays and procedural problems encountered by voters trying to restore their names.

Conclusion:

— A hybrid strategy would combine digital efficiency and institutional safeguards. Aadhaar-based authentication could be offered as an optional verification process, with those who are unable or unwilling to utilise it having access to manual alternatives.

— Digitisation can improve election administration efficiency, inclusivity, and auditability, but a clean electoral roll is ultimately an institutional consequence rather than a technological one. Aadhaar and digital databases can help with verification and de-duplication, but due process, human oversight, transparency, privacy protection, and open grievance redressal must remain the primary protections against unfair exclusion.

(Sources: India needs a smarter SIR. Aadhaar can help, Ex-Aadhaar head: Asking people to prove citizenship is State’s failure, On SIR, listen to digital governance and Aadhaar pioneer, Supreme Court upholds SIR, says ‘intended to secure free and fair elections’, A better way to clean up the electoral roll — use Aadhaar)

Points to Ponder

What are the limitations of using Aadhaar for electoral verification?

Related Previous Year Questions

Is the right to vote a fundamental right? Discuss the position of the Election Commission of India while undertaking the revision of electoral rolls. Can it also examine the question of citizenship of voters (2026)

Discuss the role of the Election Commission of India in the light of the evolution of the Model Code of Conduct. (2022)

QUESTION 2: India-China relations have a direct bearing on the cohesion and future trajectory of BRICS. Examine the factors that could either strengthen or constrain cooperation between the two countries within the grouping.

Relevance: The topic is important for GS Paper 2 – International Relations: India-China relations, BRICS, emerging world order and multilateral diplomacy. The topic examines how bilateral strategic competition and economic interdependence influence cooperation in multilateral groupings.

UPSC Mains Answer Practice — GS 2

Note: This is not a model UPSC answer. It only provides you with a thought process which you may incorporate into the answers.

Introduction:

— India-China relations have a considerable impact on BRICS because both are important members whose bilateral tensions and areas of convergence influence the group’s cohesiveness and trajectory.

— The recent stabilisation of ties has opened space for cooperation, but strategic, economic, and geopolitical divisions persist.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in your answer:

Factors that could strengthen cooperation

— Both advocate for greater representation of emerging and developing countries in global governance structures.

— The BRICS provide a platform for India and China to work on issues affecting developing countries.

— Trade and economic interdependence provide incentives for collaboration in fields such as development financing, trade, and technology.

— Both demand more leeway as major powers’ geopolitical and economic competition heats up.

— Improved India-China relations and renewed high-level contact can foster BRICS collaboration. Climate change, development, technology, and multilateral institution reform all provide opportunities for effective cooperation, notwithstanding bilateral tensions.

Factors that could constrain cooperation

— The unsolved boundary dispute, as well as the fallout from the 2020 border crisis, continue to undermine strategic trust.

— The competition for influence in Asia, as well as disputes over regional security, continue to be key restraints.

— India’s concerns about the trade deficit, market access, and limits on investment and technology imports may hamper economic cooperation.

— India has positioned BRICS as a broad platform for collaboration rather than an anti-Western bloc, whilst China has urged for a greater role for BRICS in altering the existing international order.

— India’s relations with the United States, Europe, and its Indo-Pacific partners diverge from China’s strategic approach to the US-led international system.

Conclusion:

— The trajectory of the BRICS will be determined in part by India and China’s ability to manage their strategic differences while keeping areas of common interest. Stabilised bilateral connections can open up more opportunities for cooperation, but unresolved border, economic, and geopolitical differences will continue to dictate the limitations of such cooperation.

(Sources: BRICS summit: What trajectory of China-India ties means for the grouping, Explained: Why you can’t put all of BRICS in the anti-West box, Xi at BRICS, and what China vs America means for India, BRICS meet: Focus on talks with China over tech import, investment curbs, China wants to create a BRICS open-source AI ecosystem. Where does India fit?)

Points to Ponder

What factors can facilitate greater India-China cooperation within BRICS?

How does economic interdependence shape India-China engagement?

Related Previous Year Questions

“BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings (2026)

‘China is using its economic relations and positive trade surplus as tools to develop potential military power status in Asia’. In the light of this statement, discuss its impact on India as her neighbour. (2017)

Previous Mains Answer Practice

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 172)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 171)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 170)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 171)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 170)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 171)

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