Firstpost Editor's Picks: Crop loan disbursement in poll-bound Aurangabad, repo rate cut, Joker movie review; today's must-read stories

**Andhra Pradesh, Telangana governments bullying media, promoting family-owned press to crush criticism** The ruling dispensations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have defanged and neutralised the mainstream media in the Telugu-speaking states. The latest development in this alarming trend is the recent arrest and imprisonment of a journalist-CEO of a major media house. The disquieting incident has not caused any discernible consternation among the public or in the press corps for a variety of reasons. **Only 39 percent of crop loan disbursement target met in poll-bound Aurangabad; farmers seek private lenders as banks, political parties play blame game** In May 2019, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave a nod to a Rs 4.24 lakh crore annual credit plan, which included a Rs 87,000-crore credit plan for agriculture. He urged the banks to give maximum loans to farmers by being sensitive in order to achieve the target. But the chief minister’s appeals have had little impact on ground. **RBI monetary policies have become a joke to individual borrowers and small businessmen; here's why** With the latest rate cut on 4 October, the Monetary Policy Committee/ the Reserve Bank of India has announced the fifth rate cut in this cycle by a cumulative 135 basis points (bps). One bps is one-hundredth of a percentage point. But, this exercise hardly means anything for the borrower who pays EMIs on home and auto loans or for small industries looking at bank lending for their business needs. **How _Joker_ explores the disappearance of a man and his inevitable reduction to a symbol of chaos** Joker, directed by Todd Phillips, is a feature-length requiem for the disappearance of a man and his inadvertent yet inevitable reduction to a symbol. Joker is set in the early ’80s. Gotham is a seedier, darker version of the New York of the time. Arthur Fleck is a nobody who will have power thrust upon him. But not before emptying him of all that made him decent and courteous, two things that he asked of people. **India vs South Africa: Proteas must channel Aussie Steve O'keefe's 2017 Pune heroics, follow Vizag batting template to bounce back** For a moment, it seemed as if it wouldn’t be the same old story of capitulation of the travelling batsmen to spin on Indian soil. For a moment, it seemed as if South Africa would be able to handle the big scoreboard pressure which very few teams have managed to. But then, they imploded in the second innings of the Vizag Test and all the hopes came crashing down. The resistance from the South African lower-order might have restored some confidence after a drastic collapse to 70/8 in the second innings, yet the collapse is bound to play on their minds as they head into the second Test at Pune.