Firstpost Editor's Picks: PM's militaristic rhetoric, CJI sexual harassment allegations, rising unemployment; today's must-read stories

Projecting Narendra Modi as hawkish PM is BJP's 2019 poll plank: Militaristic imagery and rhetoric has replaced talk of vikas Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often used the plank of militaristic nationalism to propel his poll narrative. Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman’s face has been a constant presence in BJP’s poll rallies. What becomes clear in all these speeches is no longer just the desire to put forward a macho image of India under Modi’s leadership. While this is evident, there’s a greater thrust on pushing the idea of Modi as something of a ‘wartime prime minister’, who unlike his apparently weak-willed predecessor, is willing to do what needs to be done in defence of his country. Amid sexual harassment charges against CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Chelameswar's 'remote control' theory makes a comeback Apprehension of attempts being made to remote control the judiciary echoed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, when a bench of justices Arun Mishra, Rohinton F Nariman, and Deepak Gupta assembled to hear advocate Utsav Bains. It was a clear hint that Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi was being targeted for his attempt to clean the system. As a result, there will be two parallel investigations: one by the in-house committee against the allegations of sexual harassment against the CJI and the other by a special team to investigate the “larger conspiracy” theory. CMIE data shows unemployment rate crossed 8% in first three weeks of April; where are the jobs disappearing? India will have to accelerate its manufacturing sector growth if it wants to create more employment opportunities; now read this with the unemployment figures. Coming back to unemployment figures, the CMIE had said that at 7.2 percent, the country’s unemployment rate in February was the worst in at least 29 months when labour force dwindled 25.7 million since September 2016. Going by the data available so far, April could be worse. Asian Athletics Championships 2019: Clumsy baton exchanges during relay events prove costly for Indian teams It was the 4x400m mixed relay team which had the best chance to add to India’s two gold medals so far. It went close but could not transform many months of preparation to performance on the track. Its silver was good but it could have made it a gold medal-winning effort with just a slight improvement in baton exchange. It is more possible that coach Bukharina, with her focus on the IAAF World Relay Championships in Yokohama and the IAAF World Championships in Doha later this year, will take the team back to the drawing board. From Iron Man 3 to Captain Marvel: How MCU complicates the idea of the Alien — of who belongs and who doesn't While it is surely tempting to read the movies with the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a straight out fight between those who belong versus those who do not, a closer look reveals that things are far more complicated. Thor is a great example. The idea of who we are, and the question of belonging becomes all the more complicated. The movie reveals that we as humans, and the idea of morality is itself like a carefully constructed Russian doll, with layers stacked upon layers. And the question of Us-versus-Them is not that simple binary anymore.