Dear Readers,
Nvidia’s board has opened an independent investigation into whether CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. The move follows a New York Times report alleging that a business executive with whom Huang had a close relationship passed information to Beijing.
The company shares slid sharply on Monday following this news.
Nvidia said its board had no reason to believe company secrets or US national security had been compromised.
In other news, Sashikumar Sreedharan, the former MD for India at Google Cloud, has joined AI company Sarvam as President and Chief Business Officer. He will also be on the company’s board. Sreedharan will run Sarvam’s business across enterprises and government and expand its work with digital-native companies, developers and partners.
Meanwhile, the India subsidiary of travel booking platform MakeMyTrip has received Sebi’s approval to launch an initial public offering (IPO). The proposed IPO is expected to comprise a sale of equity shares in MMT India by its parent MakeMyTrip and its wholly-owned subsidiary, ibibo Group Holdings (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
Lastly, 2026 is on track to be one of the four warmest years on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- How Bariflo uses AI to help factories treat wastewater
- How these Mothers of Courage are fighting to keep girls in school
Here’s your trivia for today: What was Henry Ford’s original design for a car called? (Scroll down for the answer)
In-focus
How Bariflo uses AI to help factories treat wastewater
Bariflo Cybernetics wants factories to get more use out of their wastewater treatment plants. The Odisha-based startup combines sensors, AI software, and automation to adjust treatment processes, aiming to reduce the energy and chemicals needed to clean water for reuse.
It recently secured Rs 2 crore in milestone-linked funding from energy innovation platform MC² Plus, an initiative led by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, and is preparing for a pilot with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), according to founder and CEO Mrityunjay Sahu. The funding comes as Bariflo moves from developing and testing its technology towards commercial deployments. That means persuading industrial customers to invest in upgrades that promise lower operating costs.
Key takeaways
- Founded in 2018, Bariflo initially focused on monitoring and cleaning municipal waterbodies. It subsequently explored aquaculture, including shrimp and fish farming, before concentrating on industrial wastewater treatment and reuse. It is now engaged in making existing treatment infrastructure smarter and more efficient.
- Bariflo’s proprietary IoT sensors monitor wastewater parameters such as pH, total dissolved solids, and flow. Its AI models use the readings to determine chemical dosage and treatment processes at different stages. This automates some decisions that operators would otherwise make manually and helps plants respond as the characteristics of incoming wastewater change.
- The company has conducted pilots with Indian Oil Corporation’s R&D centre in Faridabad. Its planned BPCL pilot will test treatment efficiency, energy consumption, and chemical use in an industrial setting. Founder Sahu hopes successful validation will pave the way for a commercial work order.
Social impact
How these Mothers of Courage are fighting to keep girls in school
Mothers of Courage, a documentary on girls’ education in Bihar, recently won the 2026 UN SDG Action Award in the Creativity category. It captures how women in rural Bihar are challenging social norms to keep girls in school.
Directed by Vandana R Jaikumar and produced by Butterfly Effect Media, the documentary was chosen from more than 7,000 applications from 190 countries and territories.
Key takeaways
- In rural Bihar, mothers are at the centre of a quiet revolution. They are negotiating with their families so their daughters can keep studying. Others are standing up for daughters-in-law who want to return to school. This quiet, stubborn conviction and resilience is the subject of the documentary.
- Mothers of Courage is part of Shikshagraha, a national movement to strengthen public education championed by Infosys Co-founder and former CEO S D Shibulal, and supported by Bengaluru-based non-profits ShikshaLokam and Mantra4Change.
- Urmila Kumari, State Head for Shikshagraha in Bihar, is the living embodiment of the movement. She has spent nearly three decades working for the rights and education of girls and young women. She says the UN recognition belongs to “thousands of women and adolescent girls whose courage and determination have driven the fight for girls' education and rights.”
News & updates
- New GCC: SplashBI, a Georgia (US)-headquartered enterprise data intelligence platform, has opened its global capability centre in Hyderabad. The company plans to invest over $100 million over five to seven years in infrastructure, technology and talent to scale the Hyderabad centre and strengthen its global product engineering and delivery capabilities.
- Age checks: Meta Platforms plans to expand its AI age-estimation technology globally to move millions more teens on Instagram into Teen Account protections, even if they have given birth dates showing they are adults. This comes as the company faces lawsuits alleging its platforms harm young users.
- AI guardrails: US President Donald Trump said the risks posed by artificial intelligence can be managed but signalled an openness to safeguards, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes that he “doesn’t mind guardrails.”
What was Henry Ford’s original design for a car called?
Answer: Quadricycle
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