March 30, 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 168

🗓️ THE WEEK THAT WAS

Should the Lok Sabha elections have a shorter timeframe?

Daily | 25 March 2024

The Election Commission of India (ECI) recently revealed the dates for polling and counting. The upcoming Lok Sabha elections will take place over seven phases spanning over a month. 44 days, to be exact. That’s a long schedule. Does the process need to be this long, or should it be much shorter? Would the latter be feasible? Read more on this here.

Has the Modi government helped or hurt the rural economy?

Daily | 26 March 2024

The past decade has been an interesting period for India’s rural sector. There have been some profound changes with modernisation and mechanisation. The pandemic caused a lot of upheaval with the migration of workers. Through all that and more, has the Union government uplifted the rural economy? Are things better off now than, say, a decade ago? We discuss it here.

Is Maharashtra’s decision to amend the RTE Act reasonable?

Daily | 27 March 2024

The Maharashtra government amended the Right to Education Act (RTE) to exclude private schools from reserving 25% of their seats for students from backward classes and castes. The government has defended this and other decisions that come with the amendments. Critics have argued this further disenfranchises families from poor backgrounds and goes against the law. We unpack this here.

Is the World Happiness Report flawed?

Daily | 28 March 2024

The term ‘happiness’ can be subjective. Yes, a general state of happiness might be a common trait among a lot of people. But it still seems complex to identify, aggregate, and rank countries based on how happy their citizens are. Nevertheless, since we have the report and index, the question is, how airtight is the methodology and ranking? Is it fundamentally sound or is it flawed? Find the debate here.

Can Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) survive Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest?

Daily | 29 March 2024

We’re only a few weeks away from the Lok Sabha elections. The timing of Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest has raised eyebrows as the AAP and Kejriwal have staunchly rejected any wrongdoing. While the BJP continues to deny political interference through investigative agencies like the ED, the question is, what’s next for the AAP? Can the party survive going into the polls? More on this story here.