SATURDAY 14 NOVEMBER, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard AFTER MASSIVE GLOBAL OUTAGE, MICROSOFT RESTORING SERVICES CHINA FIRM GOT BANNED NVIDIA CHIPS, SAYS REPORT A Chinese company founded by Alice Huang, the alleged spy for Beijing at the centre of the scandal surrounding Nvidia, obtained banned AI chips PAGE 9 EXPRESS READ Kangana booked for Gandhi remark Himachal Pradesh Police registered an FIR against BJP MP from Mandi Kangana Ranaut on Friday. She is accused of targeting the Gandhi family with “highly inflammatory insinuations” regarding the deaths of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and Sanjay. P4 Teen gang-raped in U’khand, 4 held Four men have been arrested for allegedly gang-raping a 16-year-old girl in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, police said on Friday. The case has drawn political attention after reports that one of the accused had contested a student union election for the president’s post. Ranchi jail inmate forced to wear sari An undertrial inmate at Central Jail in Ranchi allegedly was forced to wear a sari, apply makeup and take intoxicating substances while being in custody. An FIR was registered following a complaint by the victim’s father on Thursday. Microsoft said on Friday it was working to get back its services amid an outage that disrupted public services and businesses globally INDIGO, AKASA AIR EMAIL SERVICES HIT ■ A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI J8.00  ■ PAGES 12 Delhi corners Dhaka with water diplomacy India plans to let Ganga Water Sharing Treaty expire, but will release water as goodwill gesture 54 J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi THE Centre plans to let the India-Bangladesh Ganga Water Sharing Treaty expire when the 30-year pact concludes next month. However, water sharing will continue for now as per existing terms, officials aware of the matter told this paper. India intends to demonstrate goodwill by maintaining the same volume of water allocation to Bangladesh as per the existing treaty even after its lapse. The water card is apparently a diplomatic tool to enhance bilateral relations. The treaty was signed on December 12, 1996 to govern the sharing of Ganga water between India and Bangladesh, particularly around the Farakka Barrage during the lean season. The agreement was scheduled to be renewed with mutual consent after 30 years. Sources said the Centre wants to renegotiate the terms to obtain additional water to meet India’s developmental initiatives. These include supporting operations at Kolkata’s Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, meeting the water requirements for NTPC’s thermal power plant, and addressing salinity issues in the Sundarbans and other regions. The current arrangement stipulates that each country receive 35,000 cusecs of water alternately for 10 days during the lean season, which runs from March 11 rivers flow into Bangladesh from India. A few of them are governed by bilateral treaties 35,000 cusecs for 10 days each during lean season is the current bilateral arrangement 5,000 cusecs additional water sought in lean season to maintain India’s port, NTPC to May 11. ty was hurting their states’ interIndia needs 40,000 cusecs of ests, also attended the meeting. water to keep its developmental “We need at least 5,000 cusecs work on at the Kolkata port. In extra water to flush out sedithis context, the Central Water ments at Kolkata Port in the lean Commission presented the tech- season and also to stop saline innical details to the Ministry of trusion in Sundarban deltas and External Affairs last month. adjoining agricultural suitable “ We were areas,” said the asked to give all official. PRESS technical details Taking a dig at CLUSIVE Bangladesh’s poa n d p re s e n t a tions associated litical confrontawith the Treaty tion with India, and how India can get more wa- an MEA official said: “On any ter during the lean season,” said treaty made in good faith, it is the an official. Officials of West Ben- duty of the lower riparian state gal and Bihar governments, to respect the upper riparian which complained that the trea- state to maintain that faith.” MP cops in chase of Nigerian narco gangs using expired visas, fake IDs A N U R A A G S I N G H @ Bhopal A train journey to Mumbai, three Nigerian women, and a routine check led investigators to another troubling discovery: how long had they been living in India without valid immigration papers? A series of narcotics investigations involving African nationals in Madhya Pradesh has revealed that several foreign nationals arrested or detained in connection with suspected drug trafficking have allegedly been found staying in India with expired visas, no valid travel documents or inadequate proof of their immigration status. The latest instance came in October, when three Nigerian women were detained from a  In India, airline IndiGo said its email support services were impacted, while Akasa Air said its email services were experiencing delays. Air India, however, said its flight operations remained unaffected Microsoft said it did not have any indication that the global outage was caused by any kind of malicious activity or threat actors | P10 Mumbai-bound train at Bhopal’s Rani Kamlapati station. They were not carrying drugs, but subsequent questioning by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials reportedly uncovered serious discrepancies in their immigration records. The eldest of the three was identified as Adetokunbo Adunni. The other two were Kela Christine and Nikechi Princess, sources said. “The visa of the eldest woman had expired in 2018, while the other two did not possess even a single valid travel document,” sources said. The women were shifted to Talaiya police station, which houses a detention facility for foreign nationals found to be staying illegally in India. The Bhopal case is not an isolated one. In another operation, a Ghanaian woman arrested after the seizure of cocaine was also allegedly found to be staying illegally in India. A third case involves a Senegalese national who entered from Nepal. Narcotics probes have widened with African nationals, especially Nigerians, figuring prominently in several of them. US promises India trade tariff edge over rivals P U S H P I TA D E Y @ New Delhi THE US has promised to give India a comparative tariff advantage over its competitors under the proposed trade deal, a senior official said on Friday The legal . text of the agreement will include safeguards to ensure that the US cannot impose additional tariffs beyond its commitments once the deal is concluded, the official added. The US team visited India in the first week of November for discussions. India’s major competitors include Vietnam, Bangladesh and Brazil, with which the US is actively engaged in tariff discussions and trade negotiations. Vietnam currently faces 12.5% Students get a voice in DU women safety watch AQI hits ‘severe’ category for first time this season E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE B O S K Y K H A N N A @ Bengaluru FOR the first time, Delhi University has included student representatives in its Committee on Women Safety and Security giving elected student lead, ers a direct role in discussions on campus safety. The inclusion of the president and secretary of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) marks a departure from the committee’s earlier composition. Their presence is expected to give student representatives a platform to flag concerns and participate in talks on women’s safety . According to a notification issued on Friday the university , has formed the committee with 13 members, besides president Yash Dabas and secretary Riya DELHI’S air quality slipped into the “severe” category for the first time this season on Friday morning, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) touching 403 and a thick blanket of smog reducing visibility across several parts of the capital. Of the 58 monitoring stations that reported data at 8 am, 33 recorded ‘severe’ air quality 24 , were in the “very poor” category and just one registered ‘moderate’ pollution levels. IIT-Delhi again recorded the worst AQI reading in the city at 452. It remained toxic throughout the day but the 24-hour av, erage settled at 373 in the “very poor” category P3 . SOMEWHERE in a forest, a bureaucratic rulebook imagines a forester in a tiger mask and striped work robes, doused in big-cat urine and faeces, moving towards an orphaned cub. Conservationists say the picture is less wildlife science and more indignity . The instruction comes from the National Tiger Conservation Authority under the Union Min, istry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change. Its ‘standard operating procedure’ for handling orphaned or abandoned cubs and old, injured tigers in rewilding (rehabilitation) centres says handlers must wear a tiger mask and striped clothing “smeared with tiger urine and faeces” to mini- @ New Delhi Chhawadi. The panel will be headed by the university’s proctor. The new committee also includes joint proctor Geeta Sahare and the principals of Hansraj College, Miranda House, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Sri Venkateswara College and S P M College, along with other university officials. Assistant librarian Girish Kumar has been appointed member secretary . Earlier, India set up a panel to examine the restoration and future management of the Teesta Barrage Project in West Bengal. This move came amid growing Chinese involvement in Bangladesh’s plans for the Teesta river. An estimated 54 transboundary rivers flow into Bangladesh from India. Experts see the need for multiple treaties to govern these rivers. Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina claims she wants to return home in December. New Delhi may use the water treaty as leverage to negotiate the proper handling of Hasina, who is known for a proIndia approach. general duties on its exports to the US under Section 301, while Bangladesh faces a 10% duty. Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 grants the Office of the United States Trade Representative the authority to take retaliatory action against foreign gover nment policies or practices that violate US trade agreements. India and the US have been negotiating the trade deal since it was announced in February 2026. During the negotiations, the US imposed an additional 10% ad valorem import duty on Indian goods under Section 301, effective July 24, 2026. The final tariff framework will depend on the outcome of the ongoing Section 301 investigation. ‘Taxpayers fund stats body with little oversight’ P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi SANJEEV Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, on Friday backed the Centre’s proposed overhaul of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) Bill on grounds that the premier institution relies on taxpayer funding but its governance rests with a 1,200-member society with little public oversight. However, Opposition members, including Congress MP P Chidambaram and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sougata Roy strongly opposed the overhaul at the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, sources said. Introduced in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session, the bill was sent to the standing committee after objections from the Opposition and the academic community alleging it would undermine the ISI’s autonomy , . In his submission, according to sources, Sanyal told the panel only five of the institute’s 33 council members are from the govWhat is the ISI ernment, adding that the institute bill about? is audited by an approved auditor The Indian and had no direct oversight by the Statistical Institute Comptroller and Auditor General. Bill, 2026, seeks to “Two review committees have replace the ISI Act of pointed out that a Council with 33 1959 and convert members is too large. The second the Kolkata-based review committee (1983) proposed institute, founded in 12 and the fourth review committee 1931, from a (2021) proposed 19. Both asked for a registered society majority of external members in into a body order to avoid conflict of interest corporate, with the and ensure independent oversight. President as Visitor. Peer bodies like IITs have around The bill was brought nine members while IIMs and IISto the LS in the ERs have 11 members. A worrying Monsoon session sign is the recent drop in NIRF ranking,” sources quoted him as saying. Sanyal said leaving decisions on reform to a management elected by serving faculty or to the society’s general body risked a conflict of interest. Roy said repealing the ISI Act, 1959 and converting the institute into a statutory body corporate would concentrate power in the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Chidambaram and Roy also objected to replacement of the 33-member Council, which includes elected representatives of teaching and nonteaching staff, with an 11-member Board of Governors (BoG). Former NITI Aayog vice-chairperson Suman Bery told the panel the bill gives the proposed BoG excessive powers, which could make it harder for the ISI to attract and retain a top director. He said this could affect efforts to bring talent back to India from overseas. HANDLING OF CUBS Tiger waste on human bodies angers activists Stiff opposition The Karnataka forest department had proposed to create one rewilding centre in Bhadra Tiger Reserve, but the plan was dropped following opposition from locals. The forest department is now scouting for another location mise human imprinting “to the extent possible”. Wildlife experts called the directive ‘inhuman’. The row has sharpened because Karnataka has approved its first rewilding centre. Critics say if the rule is in force at Madhya Pradesh’s Kanha Tiger Reserve, home to the first rewilding centre, it must stop. Some conservationists said they will approach courts if it is enforced. Fo r m e r s t at e wildlife board member S Girijashankar wrote to Karnataka Forest, Environment & Ecolog y Minister Ramalinga Reddy stating that , tigers rely on highly sophisticated olfactory au, ditory and cognitive cues and cannot be fooled by a human disguise. He said the inhuman process in the SOP must be stopped. Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Bishwajit Mishra said the SOP contains many rules, and not all of it can be followed. The smearing rule is not followed at any rescue centre, he said.