Digital Literacy and IT Law

DIKSHA, PFMS, GeM, the IT Act and the digital-governance platforms this paper asks about.

Where candidates lose marks on this

1. Reversing RAM and ROM. RAM is volatile — its contents vanish when the power goes. ROM is non-volatile — it retains its contents. Anchor it to experience: unsaved work is lost in a power cut because it was in RAM.
2. Getting the byte wrong. 1 byte = 8 bits. Four bits is a nibble. And 1 KB = 1024 bytes, not 1000 — the "1000" option is planted in almost every paper.
3. Treating a browser and a search engine as the same thing. Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari are browsers (software on your device). Google, Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo are search engines (services you reach through a browser). "Google Chrome" contains both traps in one name.
4. Confusing Bcc with Cc. Cc addresses are visible to every recipient; Bcc addresses are hidden from everyone. To mail 400 parents without leaking their addresses, use Bcc.
5. Mixing up virus, worm and Trojan. Virus needs a host file and a user action. Worm is standalone and self-replicates across networks with no user action. Trojan disguises itself as legitimate software and does not self-replicate. The description in the question always contains exactly one of these three signatures.
6. Believing Section 66A still exists. It was struck down in its entirety by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015) as violative of Article 19(1)(a). It was not amended, not diluted, not restored. (In the same case Section 69A was upheld.)
7. Thinking HTTP is the secure one. HTTPS is secure — the S stands for Secure, the traffic is encrypted, and the browser shows a padlock. Plain HTTP sends data as readable text. Never type a password on an http:// page.
8. Swapping the audiences of DIKSHA and SWAYAM. DIKSHA = school education, Classes 1–12, teachers and students, QR-coded energised textbooks. SWAYAM = MOOCs from Class 9 to post-graduation, with certification. And SWAYAM PRABHA is the DTH television channel bouquet, not an online course platform.
9. Using a relative reference where an absolute one is needed. A1 changes when the formula is copied; $A$1 stays fixed. In a percentage column dividing by a single "maximum marks" cell, that cell must be written $L$1 — otherwise every row divides by a different, wrong cell.
10. Confusing the compiler with the interpreter. A compiler translates the entire program at one go and reports all errors together; an interpreter translates and executes one line at a time and stops at the first error. (Bonus pair from the same family: an assembler translates assembly language, and firmware is software stored permanently in a hardware chip.)

Where this is taught

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