Firstpost Editor's Picks: Lok Sabha passes amended UAPA Bill, Karnataka political crisis, GDP debate; today's must-read stories

**Lok Sabha passes amended UAPA Bill: Amit Shah defends provision to declare person as terrorist; Mahua Moitra, Owaisi call it 'anti-people'** The Lok Sabha passed an amendment to the UAPA, 1967, which defines terrorist acts and specifies officers who can investigate cases under it. The proposed legislation provided fodder for political acrimony, and was passed in the Lower House despite strong objections by several Opposition leaders. Home Minister Amit Shah said the provision in UAPA (Amendment) Bill to designate a person suspected to have terror links as terrorist is necessary to root out terror. TMC MP Mahua Moitra said that the proposed legislation seeks to designate individuals as terrorists without due process. In a similar vein, AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that there should be no tolerance towards miscarriage of justice. **What next for Karnataka: BS Yeddyurappa likely to return as chief minister as Congress-JD(S) combine pins hopes on bypolls** BS Yeddyurappa is likely to be back as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, after having held the post for merely 56 hours in May 2018 immediately after the Assembly election result. The 15 rebel MLAs have sought four weeks’ time to appear before Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar in connection with the plea for their disqualification from the state Assembly. The defeat in the trust vote has cast doubts on whether the Congress-JD(S) alliance will continue. The alliance had been a strained one, and prior to the Assembly election, the two parties had in fact bitterly opposed each other during the campaign. **Why Kaushik Basu’s assessment on GDP debate and his prescription to cure economic slump are confusing** Having stated that the economy is staring at a slowdown phase, noted economist Kaushik Basu has some interesting recommendations for the Narendra Modi government to “ward off short-run risk and strengthen long-run sustainable development”. Usual prescriptions — higher household investments, infrastructure push, more focus on education, etc — recommended by the economists from time to time. But with one exception — Basu proposes dilution in the roadmap to fiscal consolidation. **Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships gold medallist Harmeet Desai opens up on his triumph and journey** The last one year has been fruitful for Harmeet Singh, who started playing table tennis from age of seven. He clinched two medals at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2018, a men’s team gold and a bronze in men’s doubles. The sweet taste of success, however, come at a cost. “I did not eat any ice-cream till the Asian Games 2018,” he said, before happily admitting, “I started eating a little bit after that. I keep on eating it every now and then.” **_Avengers: Endgame_ — Comparisons to _Avatar_ aside, its box office collection is nowhere near the worldwide record** The average price to buy a movie ticket in the US hit $9 last year, up from less than a quarter in 1939, when ‘Gone with the Wind’ came out. As a result, Endgame drops to 16th place and Avatar slips to 15th with $877 million in adjusted ticket sales. Gone with the Wind, released in 1939, meanwhile, vaults to first place with $1.8 billion in adjusted ticket sales. IMDb, however, makes a valiant effort to calculate sales internationally with the varying inflation rates in every country. Based on its estimates, Gone with the Wind is the worldwide box office leader with $3.4 billion to $3.8 billion in global sales. James Cameron’s Titanic comes next at $3.2 billion to $3.4 billion, followed by Avatar with $3.2 billion.