September 16, 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.

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🗳️ POLL RESULTS – Week 142

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🗓️ THE WEEK THAT WAS

Is Vivek Ramaswamy’s candidacy good for the Indian diaspora?

Daily | 11 September 2023

While winning over predominantly white voters might be a hard crack, Vivek Ramaswamy has reached the #3 position in the Republican primaries behind “India’s friend Doland Trump” and the incumbent Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Taking Ramaswamy’s best-case scenario where he manages to trump Trump and DeSantis, what does an Indian-origin president mean for the large Indian diaspora in the US? Read more on this here.

Does the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill offer ‘true decolonisation’?

Daily | 12 September 2023

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, one of the decolonizing troika of India’s legal system, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 11, 2023. The Bill repeals the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) which is the principal law on criminal offences. With the aim to “decolonise India’s legal system” from laws oriented toward the British administration’s needs, the government has taken up a Herculean task. However, the proposal has been criticised for being hurried and looked at as the Hindi belt’s attempt at ‘re-colonising’ the South in the name of decolonisation. We discuss it here.

Should AI be part of the education sector?

Daily | 13 September 2023

Since the advent of ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become integral to our daily lives impacting industries one might never have thought possible before. As such, its natural progression has also got to be in the education sector. While numerous college students deputise their pending essays to AI tools as you read this, threats of AI have also emerged necessitating a thorough consideration of AI’s inclusion in education. We unpack this here.

Does India need to reconsider its Palm Oil plans?

Daily | 14 September 2023

As the Indian economy moves towards atmanirbharta in all sectors, the government aims to achieve self-reliance in edible oil production by using what it is touting as the magic crop: Palm. The National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP) aims to encourage oil palm plantations on a large scale by roping in corporate bodies. However, the ecological effects of this contentious crop raise the question of Forex Loss versus Forest Loss. Find the debate here.

Is big pharma stalling NMC’s patient-friendly reforms?

Daily | 15 September 2023

Last month, the NMC mandated all medical practitioners to prescribe generic drugs instead of branded equivalents. The NMC sees this as a proactive, patient-centric decision. The medical fraternity strongly disagrees. Is the latter a hindrance to patient-friendly reforms? More on this story here.