Firstpost Editor's Picks: UBI's adoption, Hindu girls' conversion in Pakistan, Siegfried Aikman interview; today's must-read stories

**Rahul Gandhi's universal basic income promise: Why no country has adopted version of scheme yet** Universal basic income (UBI), until Rahul Gandhi’s promise of it on Monday, is a concept which has so far had little traction in our part of the world. Even though the rate of unemployment is high and poverty levels higher, the sheer number of people in India have made the promise of monetary support to one and all a distant dream. Although the scheme hinges on the basic premise of eliminating poverty, the overwhelming intricacies of employing a direct cash payment to an entire population has led to it being limited to some of the most prosperous countries and cities. Even there, it operates on an experimental basis. No country till now has adopted a full basic income. Japan men's hockey coach Siegfried Aikman speaks on India's obsession with changing coaches and more   Siegfried Aikman is the man who only six months back did what no team outside of Pakistan, India and South Korea had done ― win the men’s Asian Games hockey gold medal. Trailing 2-5 in the 4th quarter of the final against Malaysia, any coach would have given up, any team would have believed it was an impossible task. Aikman roused his boys. They drew level at 5-5, lost the lead again at 5-6, drew again, and beat Malaysia in the shoot-out. “The world rankings don’t show the calibre of the team,” says the coach of a team which sits at 18th spot. “It bothers the players. Rankings get sponsorships. Better teams invite us. When was the last time India invited us?” **Two Pakistani Hindu girls forced to convert to Islam: Imran Khan's intervention forces police to act** Abduction of two minor Hindu girls in Ghotki district of Pakistan’s Sindh province on the eve of Holi festival has brought forth yet again the issue of forced conversions of minority Hindu community, particularly young girls, in the Muslim-majority neighbouring nation. A video that went viral on social media showed the teenage girls’ father, Hari Lal, beat his chest in protest sitting on the ground while he claimed that the two sisters were abducted, married off to Muslim boys and forcefully converted to Islam. Pakistan minister Fawad Chaudhry told media persons on Sunday that Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken notice of the incident and ordered authorities to take “immediate steps” for recovery of the girls. In a recent development, police in Pakistan have arrested seven people who allegedly facilitated abduction and forced conversion of the sisters from Ghotki. **_Love, Death and Robots_: From _Blindspot_ to _Zima Blue_, all 18 episodes of Netflix animated series ranked** The eighteen short films comprising Love Death and Robots, the new Netflix animated series, are by turns humorous, dark, derivative, boundlessly imaginative, droll, and in at least one case, transcendental. As is wont with anthologies, the films differ in quality of storytelling, editing, direction and ambition. What unites them, however, is spellbinding animation that strives to push the envelope, often successfully flirting with photo-realism and achieving a satisfying marriage of form and content. This personal ranking of the short films that make up Love Death and Robots aims to keep the list, arranged in ascending order of quality, as spoiler-free as possible. **Assam's Rhino habitats are being overtaken by invasive plant species, will timely solutions be found** Rhinos are already suffering as Assam’s ecosystems are hit by these invasive plants. “First, they choke and smother native plants on which rhinos feed, leading to shrinkage of fodder in protected areas,” conservation biologist Bibhab Talukdar said. “Second, when species such as Mimosa, which is thorny, take over grasslands, it becomes difficult for rhinos to graze, which pushes the animals to stray out of the safety of the park and thus makes them vulnerable to poaching.” Senior agronomist DJ Rajkhowa said the best way to deal with the problem is to develop a plan that combines all available methods to control invasive plants.