February 24, 2024

Good morning. Every Saturday, we publish the results of polls from feature stories that were published the past week. We also give a brief overview of the topics that were discussed.

🗳️ POLL RESULTS – Week 163

🗓️ THE WEEK THAT WAS

Were the latest Bharat Ratna announcements political?

Daily | 19 February 2024

Sometimes, the decision to confer the Bharat Ratna award could come at an opportune time. That’s exactly what’s been debated ever since the BJP government announced the latest posthumous recipients – former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, and agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan. The opposition called it a purely political stunt ahead of the elections. Is it? Read more on this here.

Is Alexei Navalny’s death a blow to Russia’s democratic movement?

Daily | 20 February 2024

Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison. While the circumstances and cause surrounding his death will hopefully be known, the question now is, what becomes of the push for democratic reform in Russia? World leaders put the blame squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime. Does this signal the beginning of the end of Navalny’s or any pro-democracy movement? We discuss it here.

Can a Netflix-like model help India’s edtech sector?

Daily | 21 February 2024

Online learning has become somewhat ubiquitous, at least in urban India. The sector isn’t exactly free of hardships, financial or otherwise. Why not a subscription or Netflix-like model? Give people access to reliable educational content and generate revenue. We unpack this here.

Will the Global Plastics Treaty be effective?

Daily | 22 February 2024

175 UN member nations have agreed to negotiate a global and legally binding treaty to tackle the entire life cycle of plastic. The Global Plastics Treaty is expected to be finalised by the year-end. However, given some countries’ hesitations about certain aspects of the negotiations, would the final treaty and its text be effective against the plastics menace? Find the debate here.

Will the SC’s electoral bonds verdict make any difference?

Daily | 23 February 2024

The Supreme Court recently struck down electoral bonds, calling them unconstitutional and violating the right to information. The verdict was met with almost universal praise – for transparency and democracy. However, while it’s good that electoral bonds are no more, does it solve the issue of dark money in politics? Does it make a concrete difference? More on this story here.