Just in case you were wondering what else has happened in India and the world apart from NCB’s interrogation of Bollywood actors, we bring to you a weekly roundup of other important news.

1. Almost 400 long-finned pilot whales were found dead in what is believed to be Australia’s largest stranding on record.

Since Monday, 21st September, hundreds of long-finned pilot whales have been found beached on Tasmania’s west coast. Reports suggest that rescuers had managed to save 50 by Wednesday, and they were trying to help the remaining estimated 30 whales.

BBC

2. In a recent ruling, Bombay HC set free 3 female sex workers and said that women have the right to choose their vocation.

The court observed that prostitution is no offence under the law and an adult woman has the right to choose her vocation and cannot be detained without her consent. The 3 sex workers were detained at a women’s hostel in Bombay.

shethepeopletv

3. A global team of researchers has evaluated the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem as endangered.

The researchers evaluated the Sundarbans ecosystem using the framework developed by the IUCN to assess an ecosystem’s risk of collapse and concluded that ongoing threats such as climate change and reduced freshwater supply may further imperil this ecosystem.

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4. The CAG has found that the Centre violated the GST laws and retained funds that were meant to be used to compensate states for loss of revenue.

According to a report by CAG, the Centre retained ₹47,272 crore of the GST compensation cess during the financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19. It further said that the Centre used this money for other purposes, which led to overstatement of revenue receipts and understatement of fiscal deficit for the year.

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5. A woman mysteriously disappeared from her home in Bengaluru by using an ambulance in order to get away from her abusive husband.

While the woman fled 3 weeks ago, she recently returned to the city and told the police that she hired two men from Bihar, paid for renting the ambulance and also bought the PPE kits from her savings.

Quint

6. Parliament passed a bill to remove cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities.

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, which was approved by the lower house earlier, was approved by a voice vote in Rajya Sabha on 23rd September.

The amendments to the 6.5 decade-old law provides that stock holding limit on commodities will only be imposed under exceptional circumstances like national calamities, famine with a surge in prices. The Minister of Consumer Affairs said that the stock limit conditions imposed through the law were hindering investment in the agriculture infrastructure.

NDTV

7. A company with no models or working prototypes ready was given the government contract to manufacture ventilators, paid for from the PM CARES fund.

In early April, Trivitron Healthcare, a Chennai-based medical technology company, got government orders to build 7,000 basic and 3,000 advanced ventilators, paid for from the PM CARES fund. But when Trivitron got the order, neither of their basic nor advanced ventilator models existed. The total value of the order was nearly ₹373 crore.

Huffpost

8. Post Covid recovery, a businessman decided to work as a ward boy because he wanted to serve patients.

35-year-old Subhash Baban Gaikwad, worked as a business partner at a security agency and earned around ₹60,000 per month. He tested Covid positive in June and after his complete recovery, he now serves as a ward boy in Bhosari hospital in Pune.

Speaking to the Indian Express, he said:

It was a godsend opportunity. I did not mind the low pay. My intention is to serve humanity, patients who are going through nightmare.

9. The home ministry has decided to offer separate quota for families of terror attack victims in medical courses.

The home ministry has conveyed to all states about allocation of MBBS and BDS seats from the central pool to the spouse and children of terror victims and made it clear that no separate examination will be conducted and selection will be made only on the basis of marks obtained by the students in NEET and possessing necessary education qualification.  

Republic World

10.  Over 200 academics, authors and filmmakers have put out a joint statement demanding the Central government to release former JNU leader and activist Umar Khalid.

The signatories include some prominent names like Noam Chomsky and Mira Nair from the United States, actor Ratna Pathak Shah, authors Amitav Ghosh, Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy, and journalist and social activist P Sainath.

In the statement released this Thursday, they said:

We call on the Government of India to free Umar Khalid and all those falsely implicated and unjustly incarcerated for protesting against the CAA-NRC that denies equal citizenship rights and to ensure that the Delhi Police investigates the Delhi riots with impartiality under the oath they took as public servants bound by the Constitution of India.
The Print

11. In a historic move, married women in Botswana finally gained the right to own land.

Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi amended the 2015 Land Policy which stopped wives from owning land if their husbands already owned property. The policy only considered unmarried women or the wives of men who did not already own land eligible for land rights.

Now you know what you’ve missed hearing about.