SATURDAY No emergency, just being careful: NASA 10 JANUARY, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard NASA CUTS ISS MISSION SHORT AFTER ASTRONAUT TAKES ILL IRAN PROTESTS KHAMENEI WARNS OF CRACKDOWN The space agency said on Thursday a crew of four astronauts aboard the International Space Station will return to Earth earlier than planned Iran signalled on Friday that security forces would crack down on protesters, directly challenging Donald Trump’s pledge to support them A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9  NEW DELHI  J8.00  2030 PAGES 12 IS TIME LIMIT NASA HAS SET TO BRING BACK THE ISS OUT OF ITS ORBIT ‘NOT ACCURATE’: INDIA REJECTS US CHARGE ON MODI NO-CALL J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi INDIA on Friday rejected claims by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that a long-pending India-US trade agreement collapsed because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not place a phone call to President Donald Trump and termed the characterisation of events “not accurate”. Responding to Lutnick’s remarks, the External Affairs Ministry said New Delhi and Washington have been engaged in sustained, detailed negotiations on a bilateral trade pact for over a year and remain committed to concluding a “balanced and mutually beneficial” agreement. The MEA also highlighted that Prime Minister Modi and President Trump spoke to each other eight times in 2025, covering a wide range of issues. “We remain interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies and look forward to concluding it,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. Lutnick, speaking on the AllIn Podcast, had claimed that the Trump administration was keen to finalise an early trade agreement with India after concluding a deal with the UK in May 2025. According to him, India was offered a limited window, “three Fridays” to close the deal, with the incentive of lower tariffs for early signatories under what he described as a “staircase” tariff framework. “It was all set up. But you had Country-wise US Treasury holding ($ bn) 1200 1,200 1000 JAPAN 800 UK 877.9 688.7 600 CHINA 200 ROMEO-JULIET CLAUSE IN POCSO ACT India voiced concern over the killing of a woman by a federal agent in Minneapolis in the US. “We are closely following it,” Jaiswal said. “We are concerned as we have a large Indian community in the US, including students, professionals and others.” RBI CUTS US TREASURY EXPOSURE FOR FIRST TIME IN FOUR YEARS 400 TEEN LOVE SC PROPOSES Minneapolis killing matter of concern to have Modi call President Trump. They were uncomfortable doing it. So Modi didn’t call,” Lutnick said. He further claimed that when India later indicated readiness to finalise a deal, it was too late. “Are you ready for the train that left the station three weeks ago?” he said, arguing that tariff terms had already hardened by then. Trade talks formally began in February 2025 and included several rounds of in-person discussions, including a visit by a US delegation led by Deputy US Trade Representative Rick Switzer in December. Trump imposed tariffs of up to 50% on Indian goods, including a 25% levy linked to India’s purchases of Russian energy . On energy sourcing, and the questions related to the proposed bill to raise tariff to 500% for energy ties with Russia, Jaiswal said India’s position was clear and guided by global market dynamics and the need to secure affordable supplies for its 1.4 billion people. INDIA 190.7 0 October 2024 to October 2025 B E N N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai IN what may be a strategic shift towards foreign exchange reserve diversification and non-dollar assets amid rising global economic and geopolitical risks, the Reserve Bank of India has cut 21% of its holdings of US Treasury securities. According to the US Department of Treasury RBI’s holding , of US bonds dropped from $241.4 billion on October 31, 2024 to $190.7 billion on October 31, 2025, marking a shift in forex strategy towards better asset diversification. The US follows October-September as its fiscal year. According to a Bloomberg analysis, this is the first annual dip in US treasury investments by RBI in the past four years. The drawdown comes despite relatively attractive yields in US bonds. During the period, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US bonds traded in 4-4.8% range. Experts say this steep reduction is not driven by yield considerations but by a reassessment of the allocation of reserves, which hovered around $700 billion in October. As part of diversification, RBI has been building its gold reserves. After a record 64 tonnes of gold buy in 2024, the central bank has been going slow in adding the yellow metal in 2025, which as of September-end stood at 880.8 tonnes. Gold’s share in the total foreign exchange reserves shot up to 13.9% by September, up from 9% in the year-ago period. In 2025, RBI made only modest direct purchases of gold to the tune of 4 tonnes till September, but significantly increased its domestically held reserves by repatriating over as much as 64 tonnes from overseas vaults. China, too, reduced its treasury holding by 9.3% to $688.7 billion during the year. The crew includes NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke along with Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. NASA did not identify the ill astronaut or the medical issue, citing privacy. The crew member with the ‘serious medical condition’ is stable. Dr James Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, said it was not an emergency, but NASA was being careful MEGA PROTEST MARCH West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leads a protest march against the ED’s searches linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC, in Kolkata on Friday | PTI | P8 Top court has asked the government to consider adding a love clause to the stringent Act in order to stop its misuse and exempt ‘genuine adolescent relationships from the stronghold of this law’ | P7 HC stays film release, no Pongal Govt brings in box parking concept to fight city chaos outing for Vijay’s Jana Nayagan A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai HOURS after a single judge of the Madras High Court on Friday directed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to forthwith grant certification to actor-politician Vijay’s film Jana Nayagan, a two-judge bench stayed that order, stalling the release of the film that was expected to hit the screens on Friday for Pongal. The next hearing will be on January 20. The first division bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan granted the interim stay while hearing an urgent appeal filed by the CBFC against the single judge’s order. The division bench observed that the CBFC, the respondent in the writ petition, ought to have been granted reasonable time to file its counter-affidavit. It held that the writ court should not have displayed urgency in deciding the matter when substantive questions of law had been raised, particularly on the powers of the CBFC chairperson to refer a film to the revising committee after the examining committee had CBFC NEW WEAPON OF BJP: STALIN CHENNAI: Hours after the Madras HC order, CM M K Stalin, without specifying the issue, condemned the CBFC. “After CBI, ED and the I-T, the Censor Board has become the new weapon of the BJP-led union government,” the CM said in a post on X. recommended certification. Issuing notice to the KVN Productions LLP the two-judge , bench directed the production house to file its response and posted the matter for hearing on January 20. Appearing for CBFC, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General A R L Sundaresan submitted that the single judge had not afforded the board adequate time even to file a counter-affidavit. Mehta contended that the single judge had moulded reliefs that were not sought in the writ petition by ordering t h e i m m e d i at e g r a n t o f certification. He also pointed out that the chairperson’s order dated January 6, 2026, referring the movie to the revising committee had not even been challenged by the producers. THE Delhi Police has identified 56 locations across the national capital for roadside box parking on the directions of Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena. It is likely to ease traffic movement and reduce congestion along busy roads and markets. The move follows a spate of complaints received by the Delhi Traffic Police regarding traffic jams, primarily caused by haphazard parking in markets, prompting the L-G to direct the police commissioner to identify problem stretches and create adequate parking facilities. Box parking—a system of constructing designated spaces on roadsides for organised, single-vehicle parking—on the roads would also help reduce vehicular pollution and man- Chicken in the air to keep skies clear on R-Day A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi AS fighter jets slice low across Delhi’s winter sky this Republic Day a quieter operation will , be underway on the ground — one involving 1,275 kilograms of boneless chicken and a calculated effort to keep black kites fed and away . To prevent bird hits during the Republic Day air show, the Delhi Government’s Department of Forests and Wildlife has planned a meat-feeding exercise to manage the movement of black kites, birds known to circle open spaces and food sources that sometimes overlap with flight paths. According to an official, an estimated 1,275 kg of boneless chicken will be used to divert the birds from aircraft routes during the celebration. The department has already invited quotations for meat supply . Highlighting the change this year, the official said, “Earlier, buffalo meat was used for this purpose. This year, chicken meat will be used for the first time. Our effort is to strike a balance between wildlife management and the smooth conduct of the Republic Day celebrations.” Approximately 20 kg of meat will be used at each of the 20 locations, bringing the total SOURAV ROY daily meat use to about 400 kg. The tender specifies that the meat must be supplied in 20- to 30-gram pieces, packed in fivekg packets, with daily consignments going up to 51 packets. While the document does not mention cost, a shopkeeper at the Ghazipur Chicken and Fish Market said boneless chicken is currently selling at around `350 per kg. “At this rate, purchasing 1,275 kilograms of boneless chicken would cost approximately `4.46 lakh. However, in bulk, prices may vary depending on the order size,” officials pointed out. The meat-throwing exercise is held every year ahead of the air show, in coordination with the Air Force. Its purpose is straightforward but critical: preventing bird strikes, which pose a serious risk to low-flying aircraft during aerial displays. UTTARAKHAND Hill yes! How thousands are reverse migrating N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun THE migration pattern that hollowed out Uttarakhand’s villages for decades is showing signs of reversal. As per an estimate, 6,282 people have returned across 13 districts in five years, swapping jobs abroad and in Indian cities for entrepreneurship back home. Among those are 169 who left 27 countries including China, Dubai, France, Australia and the United States to establish ventures in agriculture, tourism and animal husbandry, said Dr S S Negi, Vice Chairman of Uttarakhand Migra- tion Mitigation Commission (UMMC). About 39 per cent have turned to agriculture and horticulture, data shows, while tourism and homestays account for 21 per cent, animal husbandry 18 per cent, and small businesses like shops and restaurants make up a further 6 per cent of returnee ventures. “In Uttarkashi, returnees are successfully marketing millets online,” said Dr Negi, the commission’s vice-chairman. “The experience these people bring is invaluable. We expect this reverse migration trend to accelerate significantly .” Tehri district recorded the highest number of returnees, many leveraging global exposure to tap local resources in ways their migrant parents never imagined. Whether the trickle meta- morphoses into a flood depends partly on state support. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered ‘Pravasi Panchayats’ (migrant councils) at district level this year, which are forums where returnees can discuss both successes and challenges. For its part, UMMC is drafting plans for these panchayats to institutionalise what remains a fragile trend in a state that loses thousands to urban migration annually . “These entrepreneurs aren’t just setting up businesses; they’re instilling hope across the rural landscape,” a source from UMMC said. age smooth traffic flow on these stretches. Under the move, people will be able to lock their spaces for a fee. The total capacity created through box parking will stand at 2,984 vehicles. Out of the 56 identified sites, boxes have already been marked on 50 locations by the Delhi Police using its own resources. Out of these identified roads, 46 fall under the Public Works Department, four under the Delhi Development Authority, three under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and three under other agencies. Fourteen locations have been identified in the East district, 11 in the North, 10 in South, nine in Central Delhi and six each in West & New Delhi districts. These locations include Vikas Marg, Mayur Vihar Phase II, Ansari Road, etc. Parliament from Jan 28, Budget Feb 1 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE Budget session of Parliament is likely to commence on January 28 with the Union Budget possibly being tabled on February 1, a Sunday . Officials, citing the tentative schedule finalised by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, said on Friday that President Droupadi Murmu will address a joint sitting of the two Houses on January 28. The customary address of the President takes place on the first day of the first Parliament session of a year. The two Houses will not meet on January 29 due to Beating Retreat ceremony . Parliament will sit on January 30 when the Economic Survey is expected to be tabled. On January 31, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will not meet. The Union Budget is set to be tabled on February 1. After discussions on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address and Union Budget, Parliament will adjourn for a month-long recess on February 13. It will reconvene on March 9 and the session will conclude on April 2. The Budget session is likely to be stormy, with the Opposition set to target the government over US tariffs and the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in various states.