Category Archives: policy

How Trump’s H-1B fee hike could affect US healthcare system

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**How Trump’s H-1B Fee Hike Could Affect the US Healthcare System**
*By Akash Pandey | Sep 20, 2025, 05:03 PM*

The Trump administration has announced a staggering increase in the annual fee for H-1B visas, raising it by $100,000. This drastic move is expected to have severe implications for the US healthcare system, where over 30% of medical residents are international graduates.

Currently, around 10,000 out of 43,000 residency positions are occupied by H-1B visa holders. With the new fee hike, hospitals may find it financially unfeasible to sponsor these visas for residents earning an annual salary of approximately $55,000. This could intensify the existing staffing shortages and ultimately compromise patient care.

**Staffing Crisis: Visa Costs Surge, Risking Patient Care**

Previously, H-1B visa fees were less than $5,000. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick commented on the change, saying, “No longer will you put trainees on an H-1B visa — it’s just not economic anymore.” The increase poses a significant challenge to hospitals that rely on international medical graduates to fill crucial residency roles.

**Application Impact: Program Now Feasible Only for High-Value Roles**

The policy raises costs so substantially that the H-1B program may now only be viable for high-value roles. It remains unclear whether the $100,000 fee will be charged upfront or on an annual basis. While visa quotas remain unchanged—65,000 for regular applicants and 20,000 for advanced degree holders—officials expect a sharp decline in applications due to the prohibitive costs.

**Business Impact: IT Firms Likely to Be Most Affected**

India, which accounted for 71% of H-1B approvals last year, stands to be heavily impacted. Major IT firms like Infosys, TCS, and Wipro, which send large numbers of junior and mid-level engineers to the US, may face significant challenges under the new fee structure.

To illustrate, Amazon leads with 10,044 H-1B visa holders, followed by TCS (5,505), 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).

**Opposition Response: Policy Draws Criticism**

The fee hike has sparked criticism from US lawmakers and immigration advocates. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi described the policy as “reckless,” warning that it could cut the US off from high-skilled talent essential for innovation and job creation.

Ajay Bhutoria, former advisor to President Joe Biden, cautioned that the increase might “crush small businesses and start-ups reliant on diverse talent” and push skilled workers to seek opportunities in Canada or Europe. This, he warned, could weaken America’s competitive edge in the global market.

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The $100,000 H-1B visa fee hike represents a significant shift in immigration policy with far-reaching consequences, particularly for the US healthcare and IT sectors. Its full impact remains to be seen but is expected to challenge both employers and skilled foreign workers across the country.
https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/world/us-healthcare-braces-for-impact-as-trump-hikes-h-1b-fee/story

Tribal farmers can lease land to private entities; govt to bring law: Minister

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Tribal farmers in Maharashtra will soon have the opportunity to lease their land to private entities for agricultural purposes or mineral excavation, enabling them to generate additional income, state Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has announced.

Currently, tribal farmers are not permitted to independently enter into lease agreements with private parties. However, a new law is set to change this, providing tribals direct access to private investment while safeguarding their land ownership rights.

Speaking to reporters in Gadchiroli on Friday evening, Bawankule stated, “A law will be brought soon. Under this policy, tribal farmers will be able to lease out their land directly to private parties for agricultural purposes or mineral excavation.”

To ensure transparency and fairness, all lease agreements will require the participation of the district collector. The minister added, “The minimum lease rent will be Rs 50,000 per acre annually or Rs 1,25,000 per hectare per year. Farmers and private parties can mutually decide on a higher amount.”

Additionally, tribal farmers will be allowed to enter into Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with private companies for mineral excavation if major or minor minerals are discovered on their land. They will receive monetary benefits based on the quantity of minerals extracted, either per tonne or per brass, although the exact compensation details are yet to be finalized.

Bawankule emphasized that tribal farmers will not have to approach Mantralaya in Mumbai for approvals; decisions can be made at the district collectorate level, streamlining the process.

Officials explained that this policy aims to secure a steady source of revenue for tribal communities while protecting their ownership rights. Previously, strict regulations to prevent misuse of tribal land often caused delays and made tribals dependent on state-level permissions.

This development marks a significant step toward empowering tribal farmers economically while ensuring their land rights remain intact.

*This article includes information sourced from third-party syndicated feeds. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for the dependability, trustworthiness, or reliability of the content. Mid-day management reserves the right to alter, delete, or remove content at its sole discretion without prior notice.*
https://www.mid-day.com/news/india-news/article/tribal-farmers-can-lease-land-to-private-entities-govt-to-bring-law-minister-23594956

How Trump’s H-1B fee hike could affect US healthcare system

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**How Trump’s H-1B Fee Hike Could Affect the US Healthcare System**
*By Akash Pandey | Sep 20, 2025, 05:03 PM*

—

The Trump administration has announced a staggering increase in the annual fee for H-1B visas, raising it by $100,000. This unprecedented hike is expected to have severe implications for the US healthcare system, where over 30% of medical residents are international graduates.

Currently, approximately 10,000 out of 43,000 residency positions in the United States are occupied by H-1B visa holders. With the new fee soaring from less than $5,000 to $100,000 annually, hospitals may be deterred from sponsoring these visas for residents who earn an average salary of around $55,000. This change threatens to exacerbate the existing staffing shortages in the healthcare sector, potentially compromising patient care.

“No longer will you put trainees on an H-1B visa — it’s just not economic anymore,” said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, highlighting the financial strain the fee hike places on medical institutions.

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### Impact on the H-1B Program

The drastic increase in visa fees makes the H-1B program financially feasible only for high-value roles, effectively sidelining many junior and mid-level workers. While the administration has not yet clarified if the new $100,000 fee will be charged upfront or annually, officials anticipate a significant decline in application volumes.

Notably, visa quotas remain unchanged, with 65,000 regular H-1B visa spots and 20,000 reserved for advanced degree holders. However, the soaring costs raise questions about how many employers will continue to utilize the program.

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### Business and Industry Effects

India remains the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas, accounting for 71% of approvals last year. The fee hike is likely to impact major IT firms such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Wipro, which send numerous junior and mid-level engineers to the US for ongoing projects.

Leading companies by number of H-1B visa holders include:

– Amazon: 10,044
– TCS: 5,505
– Microsoft: 5,189
– Meta: 5,123
– Apple: 4,202
– Google: 4,181
– Deloitte: 2,353
– Infosys: 2,004
– Wipro: 1,523
– Tech Mahindra Americas: 951

The increased fees could disrupt talent pipelines and project deliveries, especially for companies relying on cost-effective international talent.

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### Opposition and Criticism

The policy has drawn sharp criticism from US lawmakers and immigration advocates. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi condemned the move as “reckless,” warning that it could cut the US off from vital high-skilled talent essential for innovation and job creation.

Ajay Bhutoria, former advisor to President Joe Biden, expressed concerns that the fee hike could “crush small businesses and start-ups reliant on diverse talent,” pushing skilled workers to seek opportunities in Canada or Europe. This shift could significantly weaken America’s competitive edge in the global economy.

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### Conclusion

The Trump administration’s dramatic increase in H-1B visa fees poses serious challenges to various sectors, with the healthcare system and technology firms standing to be hit hardest. As visa costs surge, the future of international talent participation in the US workforce hangs in the balance, raising critical questions about the nation’s ability to maintain its leadership in innovation and quality healthcare delivery.

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*Stay tuned for more updates on immigration policies and their impact on the US economy.*
https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/world/us-healthcare-braces-for-impact-as-trump-hikes-h-1b-fee/story

International treaty protecting world’s oceans to take effect

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**Multinational Treaty to Protect Vast Expanses of the World’s Oceans Set to Become Law in January 2026**

*United Nations* — A groundbreaking multinational treaty aimed at protecting vast expanses of the world’s oceans is finally set to become law in January 2026. Environmentalists hailed the announcement made this Friday as a crucial step toward safeguarding fragile marine ecosystems.

The move by Morocco and Sierra Leone to join the UN treaty on the high seas pushed the number of ratifications past the required threshold of 60, enabling the treaty to be enacted as international law.

### Protecting Valuable, Fragile Marine Areas

The treaty seeks to protect biodiverse areas in international waters—those beyond countries’ exclusive economic zones. These high seas, covering more than two-thirds of the ocean, are teeming with plant and animal life vital to the planet’s health.

Conservationists emphasize the oceans’ critical role in creating half of the globe’s oxygen supply and combating climate change by absorbing a significant portion of carbon dioxide emissions produced by human activities.

Despite their importance, these waters face multiple threats, including pollution, overfishing, and the emerging challenges posed by deep-sea mining. This new industry is exploring previously untouched seabeds for valuable minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and copper.

### Binding Rules to Conserve Marine Biodiversity

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stated, “Covering more than two-thirds of the ocean, the agreement sets binding rules to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity.”

Currently, only about one percent of high seas waters have legal protections. The new treaty aims to change that by establishing comprehensive safeguards for roughly 60 percent of the world’s oceans that lie outside any national jurisdiction.

The treaty is expected to take effect in 120 days. However, Lisa Speer, director of the International Oceans Program at the US-based Natural Resources Defense Council, noted that it may take until late 2028 or 2029 before the first marine protected areas are officially established.

### Coordinated Global Efforts and Ongoing Challenges

Once the treaty is in force, a dedicated decision-making body will collaborate with existing regional and global organizations that oversee various ocean activities. These include regional fisheries bodies and the International Seabed Authority—a key forum where nations are negotiating rules for the deep-sea mining industry.

While no commercial mining licenses have yet been issued for high seas waters, some countries have begun or are preparing to explore mineral resources within their own exclusive economic zones.

The treaty also introduces principles for sharing the benefits derived from marine genetic resources collected in international waters. This issue had been a major sticking point during years of complex negotiations.

Developing countries, which often lack funding for research expeditions, advocated strongly for fair benefit-sharing to avoid being sidelined in what is considered a lucrative future market, particularly for pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

### Toward Global Ratification

As of mid-September, 143 countries had joined the treaty. Ocean conservationists are now urging more nations to ratify it to ensure the treaty’s effectiveness.

Rebecca Hubbard, head of the High Seas Alliance coalition, stressed, “It’s really important that we move towards global or universal ratification for the treaty to be as effective as possible.” She encouraged small island states, developing countries, and even landlocked nations to participate.

### Potential Obstacles

Ratification efforts may face resistance from major maritime and industrial powers. For instance, Russia has neither signed nor ratified the treaty, citing objections to certain provisions. Meanwhile, the United States signed the treaty under President Joe Biden, but it remains unlikely that the administration under former President Donald Trump would seek to ratify it.

### Conclusion

The enactment of this treaty marks a significant leap toward the sustainable and equitable management of the world’s oceans. Protecting the high seas is essential not only for marine biodiversity but also for the health and well-being of the global community.

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*Follow us on social media for more updates on environmental news and ocean conservation.*
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/international-treaty-protecting-worlds-oceans-to-take-effect/articleshow/124009294.cms

We have EdTech, but is it the right one?

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To prepare for the future, investing in human capital is key, and early childhood education (ECE) can offer the highest returns. Betting on this, non-profits across India are decentralising education using technology and innovation.

Indian children born today will enter the workforce as young adults by 2047. By that time, India will have largely won the battle for universal school enrolment. The challenge that beckons next is universal school learning—imparting high-quality education that creates opportunity for all and provides the human capital needed for a developed India by 2047.

Economics Nobel Laureate James Heckman’s work on human capital emphasises the high return on investment in early childhood education. Early interventions enhance cognitive and non-cognitive skills critical to long-term success. The well-known Heckman Curve shows that, across all stages of education, the highest economic returns come from the earliest investments in children.

To raise the collective intelligence of the nation, there is a strong case for investing heavily in ECE by increasing its share of the Samagra Shiksha budget to 5% (up from around 2% currently).

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### Leveraging Technology to Scale Quality Education

The ubiquity of smartphones in India today offers a never-before-seen opportunity to rapidly scale high-quality educational inputs to children across the country, regardless of their socio-economic status. A recent survey reported smartphone ownership of 1.5 per household in urban India and 1.3 in rural India.

This simple idea holds great power, and educational non-profits have begun work precisely on this front, with efforts that are only set to expand.

For instance, Rocket Learning, a non-profit launched in 2020, has developed interactive and highly engaging educational content delivered over WhatsApp to teachers, parents, and children. Every day, micro-WhatsApp groups send low-income teachers and parents contextualised content in the local language. This content can be used for play-based activities with children in classrooms or at home.

These activities take less than 20 minutes and involve readily available materials. Research shows that greater parental involvement in children’s education leads to improved academic performance. Rocket Learning reinforces this sense of participation by encouraging parents and educators to share images and videos back to the WhatsApp groups, creating a shared learning community.

Chimple is another example—an Android app developed in India that uses games to instil foundational literacy and numeracy through a teacher-directed, at-home learning model. Using the app, teachers can remotely assign content for children to practise based on the week’s teaching plan.

In a pilot study involving Class 1 and 2 students in Haryana, the treatment group saw a 50% improvement in test scores over the year with just 10 minutes of daily Chimple usage. Similar improvements were recorded in English, with low-performing learners benefiting even more.

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### The Emerging Role of Generative AI in Education

As students advance to higher grades, new learning opportunities can be reinforced by generative AI, a powerful tool for Personalised Adaptive Learning (PAL).

Conventional classrooms often offer rigid, one-size-fits-all approaches. PAL, however, allows students to learn at their own pace and in their own space, making engaging, immersive, and interactive learning accessible, even in the remotest locales.

Children from elite backgrounds have an edge due to access to individual high-quality coaches who quickly resolve their problems. PAL can universalise such access.

Educational non-profit Central Square Foundation (CSF) is working with Khan Academy to contextualise Khanmigo—India’s AI-powered personal tutor designed for low-income contexts. State governments are beginning to integrate PAL into their school systems. Andhra Pradesh, for example, has pioneered PAL as part of its World Bank-aided Supporting Andhra’s Learning Transformation (SALT) programme.

The use of PAL to bridge educational divides will only grow in the future.

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### Broad AI Applications Beyond PAL

PAL is not the only AI use case in education. AI can generate learning content itself—scripts, rhymes, worksheets, and illustrations created using large language models (LLMs) save time and boost creativity.

AI can translate and dub across languages, simplify animation, and personalise audio with voice cloning. It can also drive data analysis by using incoming messages to draw nuanced insights into the effectiveness of specific educational programmes.

CSF has partnered to build an AI-powered Teacher Coach for government school teachers that provides actionable feedback and identifies effective levers for measurable improvement in classroom practice.

AI tools also reduce teachers’ workloads by grading large volumes of student work rapidly—what once took five minutes can now be done in 20 seconds. They provide nuanced understanding of student performance and actionable insights, enabling teachers to engage more students effectively.

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### Ensuring Quality and Inclusiveness in EdTech

India’s EdTech sector is already large and bound to grow further. But it is critical to identify which solutions are relevant, useful, and able to evolve from serving the privileged few to becoming universally enabling.

To evaluate the many available EdTech options, CSF has developed, jointly with IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi, an evaluation index that helps governments and other users make quality-led, evidence-informed choices regarding EdTech procurement—especially for schools serving low-income students.

This index, called **EdTech Tulna**, defines quality standards for good EdTech. It creates exhaustive toolkits and training for decision-makers to apply these standards when evaluating EdTech products and publishes product reviews to drive demand and shape supply.

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### Governance and Regulatory Innovations to Elevate Education Quality

Beyond EdTech innovations, governance and regulatory reforms can dramatically uplift quality.

Currently, school regulation is heavily input-focused. The priority must shift towards measuring educational outcomes, which should be reported transparently, publicly, and regularly.

Such transparent data allows parents to choose the best schools for their children and “vote with their feet,” creating pressure to improve quality. It also allows the best schools to emerge as exemplars, whose best practices can be replicated elsewhere.

Countries such as the UK (Office for Standards in Education – Ofsted), Dubai (Knowledge and Human Development Authority – KHDA), and Chile (Sistema de Medición de la Calidad de la Educación – SIMCE) have successfully implemented such transparency models to improve school quality.

India’s National Education Policy (NEP 2020) proposes the creation of a **State School Standards Authority (SSSA)** to set standards and publicise each school’s level based on these standards.

For SSSAs to be effective, they must operate independently of education departments and other government bodies, impartially assessing quality in all schools—public or private. NEP 2020 recommends shifting school regulation from being overly restrictive (especially on private schools) to a “light but tight” approach.

SSSAs should regularly report school quality and make this data publicly accessible.

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### Towards a Brighter Educational Future

Every child in India deserves the chance to reach their full potential. With new technologies and enabling reforms, India is well on its way to fulfilling that dream.

*The writer is founder-CEO of The Convergence Foundation and founder chairperson of Central Square Foundation.*

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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/we-have-edtech-but-is-it-the-right-one/articleshow/124009353.cms