Firstpost Editor's Picks: Rafale deal, Priyanka Gandhi and Congress' past, and Berlinale 2019; today's must-read stories

If Rafale deal was squeaky clean, why not allow JPC or CBI to launch inquiry and clear government's name? If the defence minister did not know about the stage the deal had reached, it could only mean that some people in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) knew about it and had informed Anil Ambani. It is hard to imagine that everyone in the PMO knew about it; going by the need-to-know principle, just a very small number of very senior personnel would have known. Whatever that number may have been, the responsibility for the ’leak’ to Anil  Ambani rests with the prime minister. Priyanka is not Indira Gandhi; Congress leader must cast aside hangover of past to make meaningful impact Perhaps nostalgia is the last resort of a dying politics. And the Congress seems to be doing exactly that in Uttar Pradesh. Those finding a canny resemblance between Indira and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and flaunting it as her political asset are literally clutching at straws in the face of a storm. The argument that Priyanka would mobilise voters (60 percent of whom are below 35 years of age) on the basis of her facial resemblance to her grandmother is as absurd as it gets. **In Maharashtra's Kalambi village, a charpoy weaver strives to save his art form amidst caste discrimination** For the past seven decades, Dhondiram Khavle has been hand weaving charpoys in Kalambi village of Miraj taluka in Maharashtra’s Sangli district. When I ask him how he learned the art form, he replies, “I kept observing my father and grandfather when they were working. I didn’t even move. How will someone not learn when there’s no other work?” **Berlinale 2019 hosts impressive line-up of Indian female talent, from Rima Das, Zoya Akhtar to Udita Bhargava** The career trajectories of these women offer insights into what it means to be a woman director in India today. Speaking on the topic, Das admits her journey into films has been different since she didn’t have a film background, nor did she work as an assistant director to make her way to the director’s chair. She claims it wasn’t an easy passage. **Digital mode of transactions will take some time to gain currency; domination of cash will persist** Demonetisation was introduced for various reasons and as a secondary outcome was to lead to the reduction in the use of cash for transactions.As this was supplemented with Goods and Services Tax (GST) which sought to integrate the informal economy with the formal structure, the demand for cash was expected to come down. However, tradition has been stronger and has ensured that the demand for currency remains intact.