Five things to watch out for this weekend

Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh have called for a bandh on Saturday to protest the denial of special category status to the state by the NDA government. The ruling Telugu Desam Party - an ally of the BJP - is also demanding special category status and it has made known its stand to its ally, but the party is unwilling to take to the streets to force the issue.

Delhi Chief Minister and National Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal, will release a farmers' manifesto at Moga on Sunday. The party has termed the farmers' manifesto as a comprehensive document to cover all aspects affecting the Punjab farmer.

In a crucial test for high-speed train travel in the country, the Spanish Talgo train will aim to complete the Delhi to Mumbai journey in less than 12 hours. The train will depart the Capital at 14:45 hours on Saturday and is scheduled to reach Mumbai at 02:31 hours the next day. This trial run will be conducted at a maximum permissible speed of 150 kmph and a cant deficiency of 100 mm. Cant deficiency deals with the train’s speed on curves. According to Talgo, the total journey time with these parameters would be 11 hours and 46 minutes. The Rajdhani Express takes almost 16 hours on the stretch.

The Bombay Natural History Society’s bird count for the monsoon season would be held on Sunday under its initiative, Common Bird Monitoring Programme. BNHS has invited bird watchers, NGOs, ornithologists, and nature lovers to participate in the activity, which would be conducted in the three seasons across the country.

A two-day BRICS Wellness Workshop, organised by the AYUSH Ministry, will begin in Bengaluru on Saturday. The workshop is being organised to promote partnership in traditional medicine systems. The workshop will also include a session on the WHO strategy for traditional medicine.