Firstpost Editor's picks: Vijay Mallya's extradition, corruption in MP farm loan waiver, Chelsea's struggles; today's top stories

Vijay Mallya's last throw of the dice: Liquor baron's hopes of avoiding extradition in hands of UK appeals court The once “king of good times” is pinning his hopes on a last throw of the dice to save himself from doing time behind bars. Embattled liquor and aviation tycoon Vijay Mallya has chalked up plans to initiate a lengthy appeal process against the UK government’s order to extradite him to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore in India. The word of the appeals court would effectively be the last as the Supreme Court in Britain takes up only matters of law of wide public interest. Rs 30,000cr for pilot's kin? Rahul Gandhi not alone; 'paying off the dead' part of Indian mindset that cares least for safety Rahul Gandhi may well have been crass and thoughtless in his comments about saving Rs 30,000 crores from he Rafale deal and giving them as comfort pills to the families of Indian Air Force pilots who die in crashes. But, he is not alone. It is the official Indian way to ameliorate grief and loss and whether it is on the civvy street or the military the next of kin of those who have lost their lives are given this financial comfort. Just to illustrate the point. In 2017, a Mi-17 V5 helicopter fell near the Chinese border likely due to metal fatigue. All seven on board were killed in the incident. Does anyone recall the conclusions of the inquiry? That is it. There is no follow-up. No calling to account. And no step forward. Perhaps Rahul is right: cold cash is all there is to offer. Congress farm loan waivers: MP farmers seethe over the flawed implementation of scheme, banks' dubious calculations The Congress’ farm loan waiver scheme’s calculation is simple: any loan up to Rs 2 lakh taken before 31 March, 2018, is eligible for the waiver. So, for example, if a farmer has taken a loan of Rs 5 lakh, the state government will pay off Rs 2 lakh to the bank concerned, while the rest will have to be cleared by the farmer. However, alleged corruption has made the scheme’s implementation a mess, and not a single farmer has been able to get a waiver so far. And so, something that should have brought them relief is actually giving them sleepless nights. Premier League: Chelsea's systemic faults resurface against Manchester City as Maurizio Sarri struggles for answers Chelsea, not anywhere close to being title contenders this season, were ‘a mere nine points off the top of the league table’ according to Guardiola, still possessing an outside chance to make a late run for the Premiership but after the ninety minutes at Etihad, not only did Sarri’s team drop down to sixth position, questions were also raised about the Italian’s future and the club hierarchy’s abject lack of planning. Mythology for the Millennial: The rise and fall of Sarama, dog of the gods, or why you should feed your neighbourhood stray Sarama was the first dog, the godly dog, a Doggess if you will, who lived with all the other gods up in Indra’s court. Somewhere along the way, as Hindu mythology evolved, Sarama’s image began to change too. No longer was she the Noble Dog, instead, she’s the goddess who steals fetuses away from the womb, one of the several evil spirits who preys on human children.