Patanjali Ramdev: The state-sponsored evil
The true colour of saffron-clad Baba Ramdev who mesmerized people emotionally with his Ayurveda, culture, and yoga offerings and became a mega industrialist by grabbing all the facilities provided by the government is getting slowly exposed now. Ramdev is showing his true colours when the country is struggling like never before and the medical fraternity has pledged itself to the fight the pandemic. His attitude that he will not hesitate to sacrifice the country’s interest for his selfish gains has come out in the open.
When the country is literally fighting a war against the Coronavirus, Ramdev has backstabbed the country. Having benefitted immensely from public resources and various subsidies offered by the government, he is now turning against the country. The government is wrangling its hands, helpless, and unable to take action against Ramdev who is spreading lies and rumours against doctors who are protecting the country putting their lives at risk. How the country has benefitted with Ramdev’s yoga or his company, Patanjali, is still a mystery. His industry is not just restricted to the health sector but has grown across several commercial sectors such as garments, security, and running resorts under the garb of offering ‘Swadeshi’ services and he has obtained extensive government facilities for these industries. He is the main beneficiary of several facilities that the government has provided for Ayush.
That Patanjali has entered into an understanding with the Army shows how deep rooted Ramdev’s commercial interests are. But Patanjali attained notoriety for supplying sub-standard food items to the Army. The quality of his products have been questioned repeatedly. The Army junked Patanjali’s amla juice after it was confirmed in the laboratory that it was sub-standard and issued a show-cause notice to the company.
Ramdev, who is facing allegations over the mysterious death of his yoga guru, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. A section of the media suspected that Rajeev Dikshit who was actively involved in the Swadeshi movement and was a staunch believer of Patanjali had to give up his life for the same reason.
Many alleged that Dikshit’s death was not due to natural causes. Eventually, Ramdev had to issue a clarification in the media about this. There are also allegations that Ramdev mixes Allopathy medicines with Ayurveda. In fact, during the UPA regime, a controversy erupted over the use of human bones and skull in Patanjali medicines. Ramdev’s political face got exposed through the ‘Chudidhar episode.’ When his conspiracy to create chaos through protests against the then UPA government came out in the open, he tried to escape wearing a woman’s chudidhar but the police succeeded in identifying and arresting him.
An agitated Ramdev then made public statements that ‘I will build an army against the government’ and ‘I will convert the Ramlila Maidan into Ravanlila Maidan.’ If the present government was in office then, he would have been permanently in jail for issuing such anti-national statements against the government. Ever since the Modi-led government came to power , Ramdev’s Patanjali has made hundreds of crores of rupees in the name of ancient system of medicine, Ayurveda, cow urine, and other such fads. Money that had to be spent for the public health system has been wasted on Ramdev’s Patanjali.
Today, when the Uttar Pradesh government is unable to fight the Coronavirus, it has given permission for a 455-acre Patanjali park. Not just this. About Rs 6,000 crore subsidy has been granted for this park. If the Uttar Pradesh government had instead spent this amount on government hospitals, the state would not have found it difficult to fight the Coronavirus pandemic. If one were to look at the role of Patanjali in the battle against the Coronavirus, it shows ‘zero achievement.’ Now, Ramdev is indulging in spreading false allegations against allopathy medicine in an effort to introduce his medicines into the market.
He is misleading people by spreading false news that about 10,000 doctors have died after getting vaccinated. Previously, Ramdev, who had spread lies that he has found out medicines against the Coronavirus and had become a butt of joke before the world, is now indulging in anti-national activities by spreading lies against the Corona warriors. The Indian Medical Association has not only filed a Rs 1,000 crore defamation case against him but also insisted that a sedition case be filed against him. It is ironical that our system that arrests innocent people for not wearing masks is pretending to be deaf in the Ramdev issue. Videos have now emerged where Ramdev has challenged the government to arrest him saying ‘nobody can arrest me’.
The government should immediately file a case of sedition against Ramdev who is living off government subsidies, cheating the people in the name of ancient system of medicine and quackery, and now misleading the people in the time of the Coronavirus that might have dangerous consequences. Otherwise, people who believe Ramdev to be an Ayurveda doctor might not get vaccinated and be responsible for spreading the Coronavirus. It should immediately withdraw all subsidies provided to Patanjali and arrest Ramdev for his misinformation campaign against the health sector. At the same time, an investigation should be conducted against him in all cases where he has cheated people in the ‘Swadeshi’ garb. Ramdev’s aide Balakrishna who has levelled false allegations against IMA should also be arrested and the government should immediately conduct a re-investigation of all criminal cases against him.
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Texas halts H-1B visas at state universities, agencies; to affect Indians
Houston (US) (PTI): Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies and public universities to immediately halt new H-1B visa petitions, tightening hiring rules at taxpayer-funded institutions, a step likely to impact Indian professionals.
The freeze will remain in effect through May 2027.
The directive issued on Tuesday said that the state agencies and public universities must stop filing new petitions unless they receive written approval from the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor's order, in a red state that is home to thousands of H-1B visa holders, comes as the Trump administration has initiated steps to reshape the visa programme.
“In light of recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa programme, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that programme to ensure American jobs are going to American workers, I am directing all state agencies to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions as outlined in this letter,” Abbot said.
Institutions must also report on H-1B usage, including numbers, job roles, countries of origin, and visa expiry dates, the letter said.
US President Donald Trump on September 19 last year signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricted the entry into the US of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of USD 1,00,000.
The H1-B visa fee of USD 1,00,000 would be applicable only to new applicants, i.e. all new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, including those for the FY2026 lottery.
Indians make up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with China in the second spot. The major fields include technology, engineering, medicine, and research.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with 5,505 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon (10,044 workers on H-1B visas), according to the USCIS. Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
Texas public universities employ hundreds of foreign faculty and researchers, many from India, across engineering, healthcare, and technology fields.
Date from Open Doors -- a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the US -- for 2022-2023 showed 2,70,000 students from India embarked on graduate and undergraduate degrees in US universities, accounting for 25 per cent of the international student population in the US and 1.5 per cent of the total student population.
Indian students infuse roughly USD 10 billion annually into universities and related businesses across the country through tuition and other expenses – while also creating around 93,000 jobs, according to the Open Doors data.
Analysts warn the freeze could slow recruitment of highly skilled professionals, affecting academic research and innovation.
Supporters say the directive protects local jobs, while critics caution it could weaken Texas’ competitiveness in higher education and research.
The order comes amid broader debate in the US over skilled immigration and state-level interventions in federal programmes.
H-1B visas allow US companies to hire technically-skilled professionals that are not easily available in America. Initially granted for three years, these can be extended for another three years.
In September 2025, Trump had also signed an executive order ‘The Gold Card’, aimed at setting up a new visa pathway for those committed to supporting the United States; with individuals who can pay USD 1 million to the US Treasury, or USD 2 million if a corporation is sponsoring them, to get access to expedited visa treatment and a path to a Green Card.
