Rising temperatures heighten risk of forest fire: Minister Khandre directs precautions
Bengaluru (PTI): Ahead of the Ratha Saptami festival, Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre on Friday urged officials to stay vigilant and take precautions as rising temperatures heighten the risk of forest fires.
Ratha Saptami, also known as Surya Jayanti, marks the day when the Sun—the primary source of energy for all life—changes its course, shifting from the southeast to the northeast. This year, the festival falls on January 25.
Chairing a video conference with forest and wildlife department officials, Khandre directed the use of drone cameras for monitoring wherever available, intensification of patrolling, and heightened alertness in sensitive areas.
"Strict vigilance must be maintained to prevent damage to forest resources due to fires," he said.
The minister also asked officials to ensure that wildlife does not face a shortage of fodder and drinking water during the summer and to supply water to forest ponds using solar pumps connected to borewells.
A statement from Khandre’s office noted that during festivals such as Shivaratri, Ugadi, and Deepavali, devotees of Lord Mahadeshwara traditionally undertake padayatras along forest routes to reach Male Mahadeshwara Hills.
In this context, the minister directed that drone cameras be installed along footpaths and stairway routes to maintain continuous surveillance.
He also instructed the formation of teams comprising forest personnel, home guards, and local staff to assist devotees along these routes.
Officials have been asked to write to the Male Mahadeshwara Hills Development Authority and the district administration to bear the expenditure required for these arrangements.
According to the statement, devotees from Mandya, Mysuru, Ramanagara, Bengaluru, and other districts cross the Cauvery River, reach Basavanakatte in Hanur taluk, and then walk through forest routes via Shagya, D M Samudra, Ellemala, Mallayyanapura, Kaudalli, Vadakehalla, Konanakeri, and Talubetta to reach the hill shrine.
With an increase in wildlife population, such padayatras have become potentially dangerous, it added.
Khandre instructed officials to counsel devotees without hurting their sentiments and warned against staying overnight on forest fringes or in habitations inside forests.
Referring to the recent incident in which a youth, Praveen from Cheeranhalli village in Mandya district, was killed in a leopard attack last Wednesday, the minister urged devotees to use buses or cars to seek the deity’s darshan.
Khandre added that a note has been sent to the chief secretary to form a special team comprising district administration officials, district police, and forest department personnel to implement all necessary precautionary measures.
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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.
