Current affairs — 29 August 2026

A glacier collapse in the upper Himalayas dammed a tributary of the Bhote Koshi and then breached, sending debris-laden water down through Rasuwa. Nepal’s disaster authority issued a fresh warning because the blockage lake has not fully drained.

A reconstruction reaching back roughly nine centuries reports that El Niño events have intensified relative to the pre-industrial period, with the sharpest increase in recent decades.

India’s National Security Adviser travelled to China for the latest round of Special Representatives talks on the boundary question. Read it as movement from confrontation toward conciliation — not toward settlement.

The CISF signed a memorandum with the Drone Federation of India to strengthen counter-drone capability at vital installations, particularly in the aviation, nuclear and space domains. It is a capability pipeline, not a procurement deal.

A government fact-sheet set out the next phase of human spaceflight, deep-space exploration and launch-vehicle development, from Gaganyaan through the Bharatiya Antariksh Station to a Venus orbiter.

The rewritten direct tax statute replaces the Income Tax Act, 1961 with a shorter, reorganised law. There are no new taxes and no rate changes; the reform is about readability.

Telangana has directed officials to explore a joint venture between Singareni Collieries and Hutti Gold Mines, and to speed up exploration at a gold-copper block secured by auction in Karnataka.

Telangana is weighing elections for the remaining urban local bodies once a special intensive revision of electoral rolls concludes. Rural polls may follow, and the government is reportedly considering proceeding without the 42% BC reservation.

The Central Water Commission has convened a meeting to review technical and inter-State issues on the proposed Tummidihatti Barrage on the Pranahita. The dispute turns on four metres of barrage height and the submergence it implies.

Telangana recorded a rainfall shortfall for the season to late August, with roughly half its districts in the deficient band and August itself well below normal.