January 27, 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 159

🗓️ THE WEEK THAT WAS

Is China’s Digital Silk Road (DSR) a threat to India?

Daily | 22 January 2024

Launched as a part of the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the DSR is arguably China’s primary channel for its foreign policy outreach in the digital sector. The goal is to improve regional and international connectivity while shaping China’s influence across geographies. Given its wide-reaching ambitions, is the DSR a threat to India? Read more on this here.

Do high-speed rail projects make sense for India?

Daily | 23 January 2024

In recent years, there has been an impetus for trains that can travel faster. Whether it’s Vande Bharat or the bullet train project, the government sees high-speed rail as essential to complement and contribute to India’s growing economic prowess. But, are they viable for India? Are their enormous costs justified? We discuss it here.

Is Ram Mandir a blow to Indian secularism?

Daily | 24 January 2024

The temple’s past is contentious, to say the least. Is the Prime Minister’s involvement in such a blatantly religious event in a secular country appropriate? India is a secular republic and should aspire to remain so. Does the Ram Mandir extravaganza undermine that? We unpack this here.

Should the Free Movement Regime between India and Myanmar be intact?

Daily | 25 January 2024

India has a porous border with Myanmar, with the Free Movement Regime (FMR) allowing people from both sides to pass without travel documents. That’s supposedly coming to an end with the government announcing that the border will be fenced and the FMR scrapped. Did the government make the right call? Find the debate here.

Does the Rabbit R1 signal the end of smartphones?

Daily | 26 January 2024

What if there’s about to be a world where there’s no smartphone? What if it’s a small device that does a bunch of functions just using voice commands? That’s the Rabbit R1. Will it go beyond smartphones? Or will it become just another voice assistant like Alexa? More on this story here.