Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by choosing the correct/most appropriate options:

While economic inequalities have grown exponentially over the last few decades, we have also witnessed social democratization that has been silent and uneventful. Democratization has happened due to the spread of education, the growing reach of the market and a ‘communication revolution’ that includes social media, and renewed legitimization of democracy through the principle of ‘one vote, one value’. Such social equalization has not, however, contributed in any substantial sense to distributive justice, much against the assumption that the shift from ‘equality to difference’ will also account for economic equality. Populism is an expression of this anomaly of growing social mobility sans economic equality.

Democratization can be seen on many fronts. New technology has replaced old social divides. Today, for instance, photography is not about ‘capturing’ a moment; it is about ‘creating’ one using filters and also the instant mobile phone cameras. It is not about who can be a great photographer, but who chooses to be one. Nothing is rare, everything is common. How do we celebrate the common? Populism has shown us a way — narrativizing the common and creating a spectacle of the everyday.

Markets have created new modes of consumption. David Harvey refers to Netflix as a non-exclusive consumption that can be consumed simultaneously. It breaks the gap between high and low cultures. The poor can make do with look-alike fashion (consider markets being flushed with Gucci bags on the streets), as long as they follow and understand fashion trends. Relative educational opportunities have spread through the private sector and English education now looks within reach. For instance, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has made the English medium mandatory in government schools. Education in English for the next generation is now a universal aspiration, but without good public education, affordability and quality. Democracy has renewed the legitimacy of bringing about effective changes and voter turnout has been increasing, even as policy consensus around neoliberalism has been near complete. On the day of voting, the rich and the poor carry the same value in their power to decide.