Firstpost Editor's Picks: Om Birla as LS Speaker, encephalitis in Bihar, recapitalisation of public sector banking; today's must-read stories

Om Birla is Lok Sabha Speaker: Initially frowned upon, Narendra Modi’s unconventional political experiments changing course of Indian polity The Opposition seems to be singularly lacking in the ability to read the political Narendra Modi accurately. Encephalitis in Bihar: Lack of proper preventive measures make brain fever recurrent disease, but causative agents continue to elude doctors Despite efforts of the Government of India, the burden and mortality of AES cases have not decreased, and definitive causative agents are yet to be pinned down. Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan interview: Paddlers credit UTT, TTFI for rise of table tennis in India; target Olympics glory in Tokyo Better days are ahead for table tennis in India with the talented crop of Manav Thakkar, Archana Kamath and others waiting in the ranks to take the sport by storm. PSB recapitalisation: Why Narendra Modi govt must look at outright privatisation of state-run banks rather than experimenting with taxpayers’ money No amount of recapitalisation will ever be enough to revive the public banking sector because bad lending practices will continue to rule the roost in the Indian banking universe.