Shikaripur Morarji school students to attend R-Day celebrations in New Delhi as guests
Shivamogga: Two class 10 students of Morarji Desai Residential School at Churchigundi in Shikaripur taluk, M S Yashavath and Shankar, will participate in the 77th Republic Day programme, to be held at the Red Fort in New Delhi on January 26, as guests.
According to Deccan Herald on Friday, the students earned the honour after their school emerged as the only institution from Karnataka to win a national-level competition organised by NITI Aayog.
Guided by second division assistant M V Tejaswi Kumar, the students developed a multi-purpose agricultural equipment machine using the school’s Atal Tinkering Lab. The model integrates 12 agricultural equipment, including sowing machines, pesticide spraying, drip irrigation and other equipment, have been installed in a single machine.
Second division assistant M V Tejaswi Kumar, who guided the students, and Principal Suma B S will fly to Delhi soon to be part of the event. They can sit with the guests and watch the parade at the Republic Day programme.
They are scheduled to meet Union Minister of Education and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan.
Through NITI Aayog, Atal Tinkering Labs have been set up in 10,000 government and private schools in the country. Students are selected for the Republic Day programme based on the quality and innovation of projects developed in these labs.
Out of 10,000 projects, 1,000 schools were selected in the first phase, and this school secured 86th position. Later, the project was reviewed by the Engineering College in Jaipur. Later, it was selected as the best project in Karnataka.
Further development of the project has been entrusted to Mangaluru-based Nitte Engineering College, which will work with the students from February 16 to 18.
The Morarji School students, teachers and parents have congratulated the students for their achievement.
Shivamogga MP B Y Raghavendra said the students’ success would inspire others. “The good use of the Atal Tinkering Lab has brought me joy. I will try to expand the laboratory to more schools in the district,” he said.
Principal Suma B S reportedly said the lab was set up in the school in 2020. Tejaswi Kumar, who has done a PhD, is interested in developing ideas into models.
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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.
