The Catch Up: 29 August

3 Things

This is the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
Today is the 29th of August and here are the headlines.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee today said that a ‘malicious disinformation campaign’ has been unleashed against her over her speech made on Wednesday at the students rally.” She added, quote “Not uttered a single word against students or their movement, I have spoken against BJP because they are trying to create anarchy.” Meanwhile, the BJP is all set to sit on a dharna near Kolkata’s Esplanade today. This comes a day after the party called a 12-hour bandh in the state to protest against the alleged police action on protesters during the Nabanna Abhijan.
Amid incessant rain in Gujarat, a runway side wall of the Rajkot International Airport collapsed today. Rescue operations are underway across the state, where the rain fury has claimed about 35 lives since Monday. The Army and Indian Coast Guard have been evacuating people from flood-affected districts. Meanwhile, after remaining closed for almost two days, the NH 27 which is one of the two lifelines of Kandla and Mundra ports in Kutch has been reopened for vehicular traffic on Thursday morning as floodwaters receded in the area.
The IMD said today that a cyclone is likely to develop over the north Arabian Sea, off Gujarat coast tomorrow. The cyclone is most unlikely to affect Indian coasts, as the prevailing deep depression over Saurashtra-Kutch would have moved away to the north Arabian Sea by tomorrow. If realised, this will be only the second cyclone to develop in the Arabian Sea since August 1964. Upon intensifying into a cyclone, it will acquire the name Asna, christened by Pakistan.
Former BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India ex-president Brij Bhushan Singh sought the quashing of all criminal proceedings against him over allegations of sexual assault of wrestlers before the Delhi High Court today. He argued that there was “a hidden agenda” behind the complaints against him as he was the president of WFI at the time. The 1,500-page chargesheet against Singh for alleged sexual harassment, assault and stalking of six women wrestlers had included statements of at least 22 witnesses from across four states, including wrestlers, a referee, a coach and a physiotherapist.
Australia’s Education Minister Jason Clare on Tuesday announced plans to introduce a National Planning Level to cap the number of new international students at 2.7 lakh for the calendar year 2025 which is pending parliamentary approval. This cap marks the lowest intake in the past five years, and a significant decrease from the 5.61 lakh international students who started their studies in 2023. The announcement comes merely a month after a hike in Australia’s visa processing fee came into effect on 1st of July.
This was the Catch Up on 3 Things by The Indian Express.