India has one of the largest & most complex education systems in the world, with 26.5 crore children going to 15 lakh schools taught by 95 lakh teachers. In order to ensure learning outcomes for all children are met Central Square Foundation or CSF has been working with State governments dedicatedly towards system-led reforms to ensure quality access to school education in schools across India.On the occasion of Teacher's Day that is 5th September, The Indian Express in association with CSF is curating a series of conversations with educators and experts in the field on the importance of achieving Foundational Learning in a child’s future learning journey.Make sure to tune in this Thursday morning. The conversation will follow our regular 3 Things episode and will be available on our website indianexpress.com and everywhere you get your podcasts.

Now, on with the show

This is the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.Today is the 3rd of September and here are the headlines.

The West Bengal Assembly unanimously passed the newly drafted anti-rape Bill today. After it was tabled this morning, CM Mamata Banerjee spoke in favour of the Bill and hailed it as “a model and historic”. She also said that a special unit of the state police — ‘Aparajita Task Force’– will be set up once the Bill becomes a law. The ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024’  proposes capital punishment to rape convicts if their actions result in victims’ death or send them into a vegetative state.However, BJP leader and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari proposed amendments to the Bill which were not accepted by the House. The two-day special session of the Assembly has been called by the TMC government in the wake of the rape-murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last month.

Three crew members of an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) have been missing since Monday night after their helicopter made a hard landing and ditched into the sea off the Porbandar coast in Gujarat while they were on a mission to address a medical emergency on board a tanker. In a statement posted on its official X account, the Indian Coast Guard said the helicopter took off at 11 pm on Monday in response to a distress call from Hari Leela, an Indian-flagged oil tanker while it was sailing at sea off Porbandar coast. ICG said there were four crew members on board the helicopter, and one of them was rescued, a massive search and rescue operation has been launched to find the others.

A day after a mob vandalised around a dozen shops owned by Muslims in Chamoli’s Nandanagar following an allegation that a 25-year-old man from the community made an obscene gesture toward a minor girl, the Chamoli police Monday lodged an FIR against 300 unidentified people. According to the FIR, the mob specifically targeted a particular community, instilling fear and insecurity among women, children, and men residing in the affected houses.

Nine alleged Naxals were killed today in an encounter with security forces on the inter-district border between Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada and Bijapur districts, police said. A joint team of District Reserve Guards (DRG) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had begun an operation in the area on Monday, after receiving information on the presence of around 40 Naxals from the West Bastar division. An SLR, a .303 rifle, and a 315 bore rifle were among the items recovered from the site of the encounter.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against growing calls for a ceasefire in Gaza on Monday, despite massive protests in Israel and increasing pressure from US President Joe Biden. He also emphasized his commitment to the hostages, stating, “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me…No one will preach to me on this issue.” He also implored the international community to maximise pressure on Hamas for the hostage exchange ceasefire.

This was the Catch Up on 3 Things by The Indian Express.