GS Paper III — Q6
What is the technology being employed for electronic toll collection on highways? What are its advantages and limitations? What…
What is the technology being employed for electronic toll collection on highways? What are its advantages and limitations? What are the proposed changes that will make this process seamless? Would this transition carry any potential hazards? (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें
राजमार्गों पर इलेक्ट्रॉनिक पथ-कर संग्रह करने के लिए कौन-सी प्रौद्योगिकी अपनाई जा रही है? उसके क्या-क्या लाभ और क्या-क्या सीमाएँ हैं? वे कौन-से परिवर्तन प्रस्तावित हैं जो इस प्रक्रिया को निर्बाध बना देंगे? क्या यह परिवर्तन कोई संभावित खतरे लेकर आएगा? (उत्तर 150 शब्दों में दीजिए)
Model answer
Drafted with AI by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key. How we build rubrics and answers.
Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) in India employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology through FASTags under NPCI’s National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) program. Toll plaza readers use radio waves to read the vehicle’s passive tag and deduct tolls directly from a linked account.
Advantages and Limitations: RFID reduces plaza congestion, cuts vehicular fuel wastage, plugs revenue leakages, and fosters digital payments. However, it faces operational bottlenecks including tag reading malfunctions, double charging, interoperability gaps across state highways, high physical infrastructure costs, and friction for non-tag users.
Proposed Transition: To make transit seamless, the government is moving to barrier-free tolling: Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) combining FASTag with ANPR cameras, which went live for the first time on 1 May 2026 at the Choryasi toll plaza on NH-48 in Gujarat, and, as the next step, GNSS/GPS-based satellite tolling through On-Board Units, for which rules were notified in 2024. This calculates tolls dynamically based on exact distance traveled via On-Board Units (OBUs), eventually eliminating physical toll plazas entirely.
Potential Hazards: This transition introduces severe privacy and mass surveillance concerns regarding continuous location tracking, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, high implementation costs for retrofitting OBUs, and digital exclusion. Safeguards under the DPDP Act, 2023 are vital for secure execution.
How this answer will be evaluated
Framework: GS3 Technology: why it matters, use, benefit, risk, policy
What earns full marks: Precise tech ID, balanced pros/cons, specific hazards, and clear policy context.
Evaluation rubric
Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.
- The answer Name the technology used for electronic toll collection, its advantages and limitations, the proposed changes for seamless tolling, and any hazards of the transition. 10 marks · 150 words
explain— definition/context → points in order → small example → short close
Must cover
- Technology: passive RFID FASTag under NPCI's NETC, linked to bank/wallet accounts; mandatory since Feb 2021
- Advantages (less waiting, fuel saving, revenue transparency, data) and limitations (read failures, blacklisting, wrong deductions, plaza still needed, non-FASTag friction)
- Proposed changes: ANPR + FASTag Multi-Lane Free Flow (first live 1 May 2026, Choryasi plaza, NH-48 Gujarat); GNSS-based distance tolling with OBUs (rules notified 2024)
- Hazards: location privacy and surveillance, cyber-security, GNSS spoofing/signal loss, enforcement of unpaid tolls, cost of OBUs, digital exclusion; DPDP Act safeguards
Loses marks
- Missing one of the four sub-questions
- Treating GNSS tolling as already nationwide
- No hazards discussed
Earns more
- FASTag annual pass (Aug 2025) for private vehicles
- Pay-per-km fairness vs flat plaza fees
- Data governance and grievance redress
Extra mark
- International examples (e.g., Germany's truck toll, Singapore ERP)
What "Explain" is asking you to do
Make the working of something clear — what sets it off, what follows from what, and what it produces. Explain is the Commission's mechanism word: it dominates the technical papers and the “explain why” stems, where the marks sit in the causal chain and not in the label.
Structure that answers it
State what it is → the initiating condition → the chain of cause, step by step → an instance where it plays out → what the chain produces
Where marks are lost
Describing what something looks like instead of why it works that way. Naming the stages without linking them reads as description too.
Practice this exact question
Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.
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