The Editorial Page: At Beijing summit, both Trump, Xi got what they came for. But Xi got a bit more 8 MoNDAY, MAY 18, 2026 JournAlIsm of CourAge NeW Delhi, laTe CiTy, 16 paGeS ₹7.00 (₹8 RaipUR, ₹15 SRiNaGaR) l www.indianexpress.com Da i ly F R o M : a h M e Da B a D , C h a N D i Ga R h , D e l h i , J a i p U R , Ko l K aTa , lU C K N o W , M U M B a i , N aG p U R , paT N a , p U N e , Va D o Da R a Happening today lA 21-member CAbinet led by Chief Minister V D Satheesan will take oath in Kerala, marking the return of the UDF government after a decade. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com business as usual By EP UNNY As rupee stares at 100 to a $, policymakers engage with a lesson from just three years ago Rupee kept artificially stable at 82-83 for two years in 2023 and 2024 Aanchal magazine & Siddharth Upasani New Delhi, May 17 AS ThE West Asia crisis continues to put pressure on the capital account, internal deliberations among policymakers in delhi and Mumbai over the last few weeks have underlined the counter effects of “artificial stabilisation” of the rupee that precededtheslidethatbeganin 2025. OnFriday,therupeefellpast the 96-per-dollar mark, hitting a new record low. The reason why the ghosts of the past have cometohaunttodayisthesteep slide in the exchange rate of the domesticcurrency.Therupeeis down 5.2% against the dollar since the war began in late February and the prospects of it breaching the psychological barrier of 100 has turned real. policymakers fear this may furtherhurtinvestorsentiment. “It’s like past ghosts are haunting us,” a top official told l slide-hold-slump:Howtherupeehasfared 70 80 84.0 (3 Oct 2024) 74.4 81.0 (22 Sept 2022) 90 100 3 Jan 2022 85.1 (19 Dec 2024) SoURCe: iNVeSTiNG.CoM The Indian Express. “If you see thelevelsfortheyears2023and 2024,therupeedidnotdepreciate much and forex was burnt to keep it stable. It was artificially held back for so long. The next psychological level is, of course, 100. And if it crosses 95.9 15 May 2026 that level, then it may slide further,” the official said. policymakers see the currency remaining under pressure going ahead, especially as the ability of interventions to defend any particular level are seen as limited. According to another person aware of the discussions, the forex market is now pricing in the depreciation that may have occurred in the earlier phaseofexchangeratestability, when interventions from the ReserveBankofIndia(RBI)had increased significantly. This period of stability has led to the currentfallintherupeeappearing steeper, the person said. “If you see the curve of rupee’s value over the last 2-3 years, it plateaued within a narrowrange.Theeffectsofthe long,artificialstabilisationthen are being felt now,” he said. After breaching the New Delhi, May 17 ThE TRAIn from Rudrapur to kota was already full when 25year-old yash gangwar and his cousinArthikboardeditonMay 14.TherewerenoACticketsleft. The region was in the grip of a heatwave,butthetwonEETaspirantscouldnotaffordtowait. “Wehadtoreturnimmediately. We had to start preparing again,” yash told The Indian Express from kota. Across the country, Tata Electronics & ASML sign MoU for semiconductor fab in Gujarat Shubhajit roy New Delhi, May 17 ElEvATIng ThEIR bilateral ties to a strategic partnership, Indiaandthenetherlandshave agreed on a five-year roadmap (2026-30), and signed as many as 16 pacts including agreements on semiconductors, critical minerals, migration andmobility,waterandrenewable energy. Meeting his dutch counterpart, 39-year-old Rob Jetten, at The hague, prime Minister narendra Modi said, “India is the youngest nation in the world and the fastest-growing major economy globally. you representthenewgenerationof leadership in the netherlands »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 l nsUI members protest against the neeT paper leak, at Vikhroli in mumbai, sunday. DeepaK JoShi Indians hit by drones near Moscow: One dead, 3 injured 120 drones headed to capital shot down: Russia; strikes justified, says Zelenskyy »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Chips to clean energy, India Ahead of retest, a scramble again for rooms, crash courses in Kota and Netherlands upgrade Beauticiankey ties to strategic partnership linkincase:proBe Vidheesha Kuntamalla One OF tHe LArGeSt DrOne AttACKS Manisha Waghmare, a beautician from pune, has emerged as a “common link” in the CBi’s NeeT probe, connecting students with teachers of reputed schools for tuition on a commission basis — and allegedly using these contacts to distribute the leaked paper. The CBi has identified Manisha Mandhare, an expert on NTa’s question-setting panel for NeeT-UG 2026, as one of the “masterminds” in the case. P 7 a building damaged in krasnogorsk, in the moscow region. ReUTeRS Shubhajit roy New Delhi, May 17 An IndIAn worker was killed and three others were injured inadroneattackintheMoscow region, the Indian embassy in Russia said Sunday. This was one of Ukraine’s largest drone strikes on Russia which killed at least four persons,includingthreenearMoscow, and wounded a dozen others, local authorities said. nation Page 7 ‘In Kerala, preparations for the next election will start... people used to say we won’t win in Bengal, but we did’ Pm narendra modi with netherlands Pm rob Jetten in The hague, saturday. on sunday, the Pm arrived in sweden, where he held talks with his swedish counterpart Ulf kristersson. aNi IndIa reJecTs dUTch Pm remarks on Press, mInorITIes, P 5 PrALHAD JOSHi, UNioN MiNiSTeR oF CoNSUMeR aFFaiRS, FooD aND pUBliC DiSTRiBUTioN; NeW aND ReNeWaBle eNeRGy Page 13 FiLeS reVieW PLeA AFter DeLAY 4 years on, Govt plugs cost escalation loophole Despite top court raps, Jharkhand does not in Jal Jeevan projects Harikishan Sharma secure Saranda’s prized E. explained sal forests, jumbo herds Check back in place New Delhi, May 17 A kEy safeguard to regulate spending under Jal Jeevan Mission, the Centre’s showpiece rural tap water scheme, has been reinstated in new rules to govern the initiative — plugging a gap that had led to cost escalations in projects far beyond official estimates. The safeguard, called “Tender premium”, refers to the additional amount quoted by a project bidder that is higher than the government’s estimated cost. It was part of the original rules for the scheme drafted in 2019, and ef- A dilution of rules in 2022 allowed states to use Central funds to cover inflated bids for projects under the showpiece rural tap water scheme. The latest rules reinstate a check on such spending. fectivelymeantthatstateswere not allowed to use Central funds to cover the additional amount. »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Jay mazoomdaar New Delhi, May 17 dISREgARdIng SUpREME Court remarksovermisleading the bench, and despite assurances by two of its own senior officials who made personal appearances before the court, Jharkhand has filed a review petitionagainsttheapexcourt’s reiterated order directing it to notify Saranda’s elephant forests as a wildlife sanctuary. One of the country’s most significant sal forest landscapes, Saranda is a biodiversity hotspot. But deforestation and mining in the region have increasingly pushed elephant herdsintoneighbouringstates. After the state missed multiple deadlines, the Supreme Court, on november 13, 2025, gave Jharkhand three monthstonotifythesanctuary. Instead, the state filed a review petition on February 14 after a delay of two months. »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 l fIrsT recorded InsTance of WesTern hoolock gIbbon UsIng arTIfIcIal canoPy brIdge oVer raIl lIne A bridge too far? India’s only ape species gets helping hand, but needs bigger steps Jay mazoomdaar through which the historic, recentlyelectrifiedlumding–dibrugarh railway line passes. ThEFIRSTinstancegloballyof however, while this is the awesternhoolockgibbonusing first documented case of a giban artificial canopy bridge over bon crossing a railway line a railway line was recorded in using a purpose-built canopy Assam’s hollongabridge,similarstrucpage 1 par gibbon Sanctutures have been dearyrecently,offering ployed globally over cautious optimism the past two decades for the survival of India’s only to reduce the impact of habitat ape species. fragmentation. At the same Only an estimated 120–130 time,studiescautionthatartifiindividuals survive in the 21-sq cial canopy bridges are not a km sanctuary in Jorhat »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 New Delhi, May 17 anchor a Western hoolock gibbon uses an artificial canopy bridge over a rail line in hollongapar gibbon sanctuary in assam’s Jorhat district. Wii New Delhi While at least 22 Indians are estimated to have died since the start of the Russia-Ukraine began in February 2022, this is possibly the first Indian casualty in the Moscow region. “One Indian worker has lost his life and three others have been injured in a drone attack in the Moscow region earlier today. Embassy officials have visitedthelocationandmetthe injuredworkersinthehospital,” »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Fire in Delhi-bounD rajDhani in MP’s ratlaM; no one hurt