CM Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar court arrest protesting against MGNREGA scrapping
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy D K Shivakumar, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, along with party legislators and MPs, were on Tuesday taken into preventive custody after they decided to march towards Lok Bhavan as part of "Raj Bhavan Chalo" protest.
The protest was against the Centre's move to replace MGNREGA with VB-G RAM G.
The Congress leaders were stopped by police when they attempted to proceed towards Lok Bhavan, alleging that the Union government was dismantling the rural employment guarantee framework and curtailing the rights of Panchayats.
The leaders boarded a bus deployed by the police outside the venue after delivering their speech and courted arrest.
Addressing protesters before being detained, Siddaramaiah said this 'Ram' in VB-G RAM G is not Dasharath Ram or Seeta Ram. It stands for Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajivika Mission (Gramin).
He said MGNREGA was a right to livelihood and employment, introduced by the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, and accused the Centre of trying to destroy it.
"MGNREGA was the right of the people, but not any more. Around five crore people, including the differently-abled, were getting employment in the rural areas. The Centre now wants to decide what work should be done, whereas earlier it was done by Panchayats," Siddaramaiah alleged, adding that the role of Panchayats had been severely curtailed.
The chief minister further claimed that each Panchayat was earlier getting around Rs one crore. Now they will be deprived of it.
"We will fight until VB-G RAM G is revoked and MGNREGA is re-established. VB-G RAM G does not guarantee employment the way MGNREGA did," he said.
Accusing the BJP of attacking rural India, Siddaramaiah said, "Gandhiji said unless villages develop, the nation cannot develop. By scrapping MGNREGA, the BJP has killed Mahatma Gandhi once again."
He called upon people for agitation in every village across the state.
Surjewala, who is also Karnataka in-charge, alleged that the Centre was bent on scrapping the rural employment guarantee scheme. "The Union government wants to dismantle MGNREGA. I urge the Karnataka government to rename Panchayat centres as 'Mahatma Gandhi Kendra'."
Shivakumar warned of political consequences for the BJP, saying, "By scrapping MGNREGA, the BJP has invited trouble for itself. People in rural areas will not accept VB-G RAM G, and they will not pardon the BJP for repealing the employment guarantee law."
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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.
