Firstpost Editor's Picks: New Zealand shooting; GDP data; keeping kabaddi alive; today's must-read stories

New Zealand mosque shooting: Here's what we know of suspected shooter who described himself as 'kebab removalist', arrests made so far Even though there is no official confirmation about the motives of the three suspects arrested in the New Zealand mosque shootings, preliminary media reports and one of the suspects’ ‘self-declaration’ of sorts suggests Islamophobic and anti-immigrant undercurrents to the deadly attack. Describing himself as a ‘white man from a regular family’, one of the suspected shooters, who also live-streamed the dastardly attack, revealed that he is 28 and worked as a “kebab removalist”. To regain India's data credibility, govt should withdraw faulty GDP back series, release NSSO job numbers Perhaps more than the concerns of slowing growth, what is probably hurting the Indian economy even more now is the widening trust deficit on country’s official data, particularly on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and employment/unemployment. In a letter released on Thursday, 108 economists and social scientists called for the restoration of “institutional independence” and integrity to the statistical organisations in India freeing critical data releases from the clutch of damaging ‘political interference’. MiG-21 Bison shooting down F-16 attests to IAF's combat prowess; procuring next-gen aircraft key to maintaining edge Although the man-machine combination of the IAF pilot and the MiG-21 Bison, which shot down a superior F-16 fighter jet, but India needs to recognise and accept the fact that the MiG-21 is six decades old. The IAF need the right aircraft in the right numbers and at the right time in order to retain the prestigious ranking and the qualitative edge it enjoys today. How a small Madhya Pradesh village is striving to keep kabaddi's legacy afloat despite institutional apathy Rohna is a dot on Madhya Pradesh’s map. But the small village in Madhya Pradesh has a rich history of kabaddi and given a dozen or so national-level kabaddi players. The sport has also brought about a social change as well with the village giving up the old custom of ‘mrityu bhoj’ after a young kabaddi player died recently. Still, it struggles to keep the sport ticking in the region due to lack of support. Sarnath Banerjee on subverting 'truth-manufacturing industries' with fiction, and the therapeutic power of imagination “In this age of truth-manufacturing industries, falsehood reigns in the form of fake news, propaganda and internet trolling. I am skeptical of people who offer ‘Truth’ with a capital T. If you push forward a point emphatically, persistently and loudly enough, you can create your private truth,” says graphic novelist and artist Sarnath Banerjee, who is out with his latest book, Doab Dil (Penguin Randomhouse India). The book takes us into history — alternating fact and fiction to create a narrative that is compelling, informative and visually stunning.