January 7, 2023

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 106

🗓️ THE WEEK THAT WAS

The Battle Against Bottles: Prohibition of Alcohol in Bihar

Daily | 3 January 2023

The recent hooch tragedy in Bihar, where the official death toll rose to 38, unleashed waves of criticism against the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 (BPEA). Chief Minister Nitish Kumar doubled down on his war against the bottle by refusing to compensate the victims’ families in the state assembly. Is the liquor ban a disaster, as claimed by many, or has it done well in Bihar? Read more on this here.

Supreme Court verdict on demonetisation – Did they get it right?

Daily | 4 January 2023

While the government and the supporters of demonetisation stood by the decision and continue to this day, its detractors, including opposition parties, said the move has been detrimental to the Indian economy. Almost immediately, there were legal challenges to demonetisation. Now the Supreme Court has had its say stating the decision was legal. Was the verdict correct? We discuss it here.

Merger of Film Divisions into NFDC – The Right Move?

Daily | 5 January 2023

The NFDC has financed some excellent movies in the past, such as Satyajit Ray’s Ghare-Baire, and Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! However, its film production capacity plummeted over the years due to a severe shortage of funds. With this in mind, is the latest merger the drop of a guillotine on India’s film heritage, or will it give the NFDC and the erstwhile units a new lease on life? We unpack the issue here.

Is India on track to become a green hydrogen hub?

Daily | 6 January 2023

Recently, the government cleared ₹19,744 crores in incentives for green hydrogen with a projected production capacity of 5 million tonnes by 2030. While this is a noble pursuit, is India ready to begin this shift? How will the existing sectors reliant on fossil fuels be convinced? We debate here.