Firstpost Editor's Picks: NaMo TV row, Jet Airways crisis, Kamlesh Mehta on table tennis; today's must-read stories

**NaMo TV on Election Commission's radar: Look at reasons why channel continues to be on air** NaMo TV has come under the scanner for allegedly flouting the fourth rule, ie telecasting political content without prior certification of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC). However, NaMo TV is still on the air and telecasting Modi’s speeches. A little before noon on Friday, NaMo TV was telecasting a live speech of Modi at an election rally in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. And this can mean only two things: Either NaMo TV has received the approval of the MCMC or this is an absolute violation of the Model Code of Conduct. **_The Tashkent Files_ review: High on hysteria and hamming, Vivek Agnihotri's film comes off as a cheap trick** Vivek Agnihotri doesn’t have the finesse to craft a conspiracy thriller, let alone achieve the potency that we associate with confined-space dramas. The arguments that take place in the committee room resemble an angry Facebook comment chain that in the end arrives at no significant conclusion. Agnihotri packs in phrases like anti-national, presstitute, fake news, secularism – nearly everything that has been making headlines in this country over the last five years. **Kamlesh Mehta recalls how table tennis went from a monsoon sport to a summer of excellence in 2018** “If you want a video of mine, you can’t find it,” says Kamlesh Mehta, one of India’s most decorated table tennis champions. For a generation that copiously and frantically documents every little thing on social media this might seem like a hark back to the darker ages. It was the 1980s, and table tennis was still largely viewed as a recreational sport. It wasn’t yet bedecked with fancy taglines like ‘career option’ or ‘medal-winning prospect’ at multi-sport events. Forget video tapes and analytics, during Mehta’s playing years, the Indian players didn’t even have coaches and only a rudimentary understanding of physical fitness. Sitting in his 11Sports office, Mehta traces the gradual learning curve the game has undergone in the country. **Jet Airways crisis: Airline operated widebody planes to gain revenue in dollars, stops all international flights now** Till Jet Airways was pushed to the wall, the airline thus continued to operate its widebody fleet and its Amsterdam and London operations which help transfer passengers both inbound and outbound from partners at KLM, Air France, Virgin Atlantic and Delta. The skeletal schedule that the airline operates today sees less than 100 departures across its network. Compare that with market leader IndiGo, which is operating 100+ departures out of each of the metro cities, one knows how wide the gap is today. Via Francigena: Walking the 1,200-year-old pilgrim path in Tuscany Almost forgotten for centuries, the Via Francigena is undergoing a renaissance. In 2009, the Italian government decided to revive the Italian leg of the route based on the journal written by Sigeric, archbishop of Canterbury, on his way back from Rome in 990 AD. However, the revival was a bumpy ride. Roadblocks existed both in the landscape and mindscape. Over the past few years, a sensible modern route has been waymarked through Tuscany to avoid stretches of main road and hiking maps have been published.