On the basis of your understanding of the following paragraph and the related studied concepts.
An electric dipole is a pair of equal and opposite point charges q and -9 separated by a distance '2a'. The total charge of the electric dipole is obviously zero but the field of the electric dipole at a point is non-zero because electric fields due to + qand - q charges at the point do not exactly cancel out. Electric field of a dipole, at large distances, depends on the product 'qa'. So we define a term dipole moment vector `vecp` of an electric dipole as `vecp = q(2a)` and its direction is along the line from q to + q charge. The dipole field at large distances fall off as `1/r^3`. Further, the magnitude and direction of the dipole field depends not only on the distance r but also on the angle between the position vector `vecr` and the dipole moment `vecp`.
Concept of electric dipoles is very significant for different materials. In most molecules, the centres of positive charges and of negative charges exactly coincide and their dipole moment is zero. However they develop a dipole moment when an electric field as applied. Such molecules are termed non-polar molecules. But in some molecules, the centres of positive charges do not exactly coincide with that of negative charges and the molecules has a permanent dipole moment even in the absence of an electric field. Such molecules are called polar molecules. Various materials give rise to interesting properties and important applications in the presence or absence of electric field.
Is the electric field due to a charge configuration with total charge zero necessarily zero ? Give an illustration in support of your answer.

Explanation

Not necessarily zero. As an illustration net charge of an electric dipole is zero but its electric field at a point is finite.