Above the Fold: Top stories of the day
1. Days after militants in Manipur killed 18 men from the Indian army, the government announced special operations forces had killed around 15 to 20 insurgents of the groups believed to be responsible for the attack.
2. The Home Ministry continues to tighten the noose on non-governmental organisations, having now cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration of more than 4,000 organisations since May.
3. The Delhi vs New Delhi fracas continues, with former Delhi Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar in questioning for an allegedly fake degree while the two governments are still shuffling bureaucrats around like chess pieces.

The Big Story: Dead scribe
Uttar Pradesh police have filed a First Information Report naming one state minister and five others for their alleged involvement in the death of a journalist from burns. Jagendra Singh, the journalist, was reportedly set on fire during a police raid after he had attempted to expose the UP minister Ram Murti Verma's alleged involvement in mining and illegal occupation of land. Singh's family, based in Shahjahanpunr, claim he was set on fire by a policeman after he posted his stories about Verma on Facebook.

According to his family, his reports on the alleged illegal involvement of the minister were based on Right To Information reports and had caused such of a stir that the authorities were hounding him. He was first attacked on April 28, Singh's son claims, and this time set on fire during the police raids.

The authorities claim that a First Information Report had been filed against Singh as well, for allegedly attempting to kidnap a local in the city, which is why the police raid was being conducted against him. According to the Station House Officer of Kotwali, where the FIR was registered, Singh started pouring kerosene on himself when the police entered the house, though they were trying to "pacify him".

The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
The poor example created by criminal elements within the political class in Uttar Pradesh is what allows Goonda Raj to flourish.

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Politicking & Policying
1. The government has decided against allowing Foreign Direct Investment of a significant amount in e-commerce, in the belief that it will allow local companies to grow and serve consumers better.
2. Among the 12 Maoists killed by state and central police forces in an operation in Jharkhand's Palamau district on Mondays were four children, the Indian Express reports.
3. Unnamed Home Ministry officials are now being openly dismissive of the Maran family in Tamil Nadu, saying they will only give clearances to Sun TV and its various radio channels if the ownership changes.
4. Meanwhile, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry has asked the Home Ministry to explain what "economic security" means in this case, since that was the reason for the denial of clearance to Sun.

Giggle

Punditry
1. With the Seventh Central Pay Commission set to submit its report on updating and increasing pay for government workers by the end of August, AK Bhattcharyya in the Business Standard says that the finance minister needs to be prepared for a policy that could cost as much as 5% of India's Gross Domestic Product.
2. Salil Tripathi in Mint says India's annoyance with the foreign funding of Non Governmental Organisations is a sign of weakness, not strength.
3. The evidence that marital rape is not only prevalent but widespread is overwhelming, write Kanika Sharma and Aashish Gupta in the Hindu, and yet without a law against it, women who have been raped can have little hope.

Don't Miss
Anthony Wrigley examines the parameters of experiments on humans and its ethical bounds.
Unethical practice can still occur where this hasn’t been properly thought through – especially when it comes to exposing study participants risk through placebos. In 2014, a trial for an experimental vaccine for rotavirus in India was heavily criticised for giving more than 2,000 children a placebo. In 1997, one US government-funded trial into preventing HIV spread from pregnant women to their babies saw them given a placebo instead of a known drug that was effective in prevention.