bengaluru l sunday l september 21, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l late city EDITION actor Mohanlal to be conferred Dadasaheb Phalke Award The Malayalam actor will be honoured with the country’s highest recognition in cinema for his ‘iconic contributions’ to the field His work has set a gold standard: Ministry The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting praised Mohanlal for setting a golden standard in Indian film history through his “unmatched talent, versatility, and relentless hard work”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the actor’s cinematic and theatrical brilliance across mediums is truly inspiring and called him “the leading light of Malayalam cinema” ■ Sep 23 350 films in career spanning four decades ■ In a rich career spanning four decades, he has acted in more than 350 films across Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada Known for his natural acting style and versatility, Mohanlal has won two National Film Awards for best actor and nine Kerala State Film Awards. He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2019 When mohanlal will be presented the Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2023 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI I don’t want you! Historically, the US was letting in the bottom quartile, earning $66,000 a year, often needing government assistance. It was illogical. This programme will now only admit people at the very top. If someone is that valuable, companies can pay $100,000 a year. If not, they can hire an American 2.8L Indian jobs on the line as Trump slaps $1L H-1B fee workers reporting a median annual salary of $1,23,600. Nasscom, the apex body of India’s The Trump administration on Satur- technology industry, said the steep inday imposed a fee of $1,00,000 per year crease in H-1B visa fees will have a ripon each H-1B visa holder, dealing a body ple effect on America’s innovation ecoblow to the 2,83,397 (71%) skilled tech- system and the job market. “It will also nology workers from India, as per 2024 impact Indian nationals working in the data. At 71%, India was the largest ben- US on H-1B visas for both global and Ineficiary of H-1B last year, while China dian companies. India’s technology was a distant second at 12%. services companies will face business “We need great workers, and this continuity challenges for onshore pretty much ensures that that’s what’s projects,” it said. going to happen,” Trump said at the Nasscom also flagged the timeline for Oval Office as Commerce Secimplementation, since the retary Howard Lutnick stood Only for new new rules apply to anyone enby The new rule would raise . tering the US after 12.01 am on applicants the cost of sponsoring an InSeptember 21. “A one-day In a late night dian H-1B worker from the deadline creates considerable clarification, an current $215 to a staggering uncertainty... Policy changes unnamed White $100,000 per year or up to of this scale are best intro$600,000 over a six-year visa House official told duced with adequate transiperiod. The administration the New York Times tion periods,” it added. says the fee is designed to en- that the $1,00,000 IT services exports to the sure that only “extraordi- H-1B visa fee will US generate around $100 bilapply only to new lion in revenue for India, and nary” workers are let in. applicants TCS accounted for over Trump’s latest move could 5,505 H-1B visas granted for disrupt this (see box). fiscal year 2025 (October 2024-SeptemAnother concern is wage pressure in ber 2025), followed by Cognizant (3,700), India’s IT industry if employees return. Infosys (2,004), LTIMindtree (1,807), and Yogeesha Channabasappa, an IT conHCL Tech (1,728). In 2025, TCS was the sultant, said, “With more people comsecond-largest recipient of H-1B visas peting for India-based roles, wage after Amazon, which received approv- growth may flatten in the short run.” als for 10,000. Although the announcement came Pew Research notes that since 2010, a after Indian markets had closed, it joltmajority of H-1B approvals each year ed Infosys’ American Depository Rewent to workers born in India. It added ceipts, which fell 3.41% to $16.97 on the that since fiscal 2012, about 60% or New York Stock Exchange. Wipro’s more of H-1B workers approved each ADRs declined 2.10%. Analysts expect year held computer-related jobs. In the ripple effect to spill over when In2023, the share was 65%, with these dian markets open on Monday  . P13 S a n a l S u d e v a n / D i pa k M o n d a l @ Chennai/New Delhi CM sets Oct 31 deadline to make city pothole-free E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Bengaluru Enraged over negative media reports highlighting the poor condition of roads, inconvenience to motorists and pedestrians, and protests by residents against the government, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday war ned engineers coming under Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) limits and set October 31 as deadline to make Bengaluru pothole-free. He fixed the responsibility of supervising and completing the work on chief engineers, and said there is no coordination between BMRCL, Bescom, B DA and BWSSB. “The GBA chief commissioner and heads of these departments should hold a review meeting once a week. Municipal commissioners, chief engineers, superintendent engineers and executive engineers should be on the field and monitor and ensure that the quality of work is not compromised,” he said. Steps have been taken to appoint a technical coordination officer to coordinate with all the five corporations, he added. At the meeting, waterlogging and traffic jams on Outer Ring Road was discussed. A decision was taken to fix traffic at Iblur Junction, Agara, Veeranna Palya, Nagawara and Hebbal at a cost of Rs 400 crore. P2 —Howard Lutnick, US Commerce Secy Top H1B beneficiaries IT firms 2025 5,005 Cognizant 3,660 Infosys 2,004 LTIMindtree 1,807 HCL 1,728 Wipro 1,523 TCS U.S. revenue for major Indian IT cos % US revenue TCS Infosys HCL Tech Wipro Tech  Mahindra 48% 58% 66% 63% 51% Stunned techies scramble to US, scrap fly out plan s l a l i t h a @ New Delhi THE abrupt announcement by the US to levy an annual fee of `88.13 lakh on H1-B visa holders from September 21, with a mere 36-hour window, stunned Indian techies living in the US as well as those planning to visit the country . Plans to travel outside America or in the return direction have been abruptly cancelled or advanced by hundreds of them and their families. While many cancelled plans to travel at the last minute while waiting to board flights to India, several others already in India are scrambling to return amid lack of clarity as the US fiat comes weeks before Indian professionals and their families travel to India for Diwali and other holidays. Atal Agarwal, founder of OpenSphere, an AI company that offers Global Mobility Services for Immigrants, told this paper from Canada that he was inundated with messages for help from Indians in the US. “Never in modern history has a policy affecting 500K+ highly skilled workers been implemented with a 48-hr notice ... Airports are flooded. Flight prices are skyrocketing.” Airfares from New Delhi to the US were in excess of $4,500 on a private airline’s portal. Communication sent to staff by Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft urged employees to stay put in the US while asking those outside to return before the deadline. Individuals on H-1B visas told a news agency anonymously that the underlying emotion among H-1B visa holders and families right now is “a crazy sense of panic and worry”. Vokkaliga seers want caste survey deferred E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru Even as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stuck to his guns of conducting the Socio-economic and Educational Survey known as caste survey from Monday the Vokkaliga , , , community leadership, including Adichunchanagiri Mutt head Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, here on Saturday issued a warning to the government, saying the survey is being carried out hastily for only fifteen days without addressing grievances Guv writes of the community . to CM Kumaraswamy said if the governGovernor ment continues with the census, it will Thaawarchand create problems in future and trigger Gehlot advised unrest in society. “The new survey Chief Minister will be worse than the previous one Siddaramaiah to conducted by the Kantharaju commistake a relook at sion. It will cause unrest in the state, including Christian and Congress will face the conseidentifiers like quences,” he warned while speaking ‘Kumbara to reporters after taking part in the Christian’ and meeting of community leaders con‘Kuruba Christian’ vened by Sri Nirmalanandanatha in the survey | P4 Swamiji. He said, “We have also discussed the framework for a future struggle under the leadership of seers if the government does any injustice to the community in the survey The government has done every. thing to cause unrest in the state. The consequences of this will be seen in the days to come.” CONTINUED ON P4 express read Has humanitarian consequences: MEA SIT to probe ‘voter deletions’ in Aland j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi INDIA on Saturday said it is closely studying the full implication of the US decision to impose a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas, warning that the move could cause “humanitarian consequences” and disrupt families. In a measured response, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “The full implications of the measure are being studied by all concerned, including by Indian industry which has , already put out an initial analysis clarifying some perceptions related to the H1B program.”  P9 W I T H T H I S I SS U E Thinking Inside the Bot PLUS 12 PAGES INDIA vs pakistan Sports can no longer be a tool of diplomacy? s w a r o o p s w a m i n at h a n @ Chennai Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Agha OVER the last few months, there has been a growing clamour for the Indian cricket team to refuse to play Pakistan and it grew before their first match in Asia Cup group stage. India comfortably won the game — there is honestly a noticeable difference in the skill levels of both teams — but what caught the eye was what happened on the sidelines. India’s refusal to shake hands or exchange pleasantries, a kind of sporting brotherhood. After the match, Suryakumar Yadav expressed his solidarity with the families affected by the attack in Pahalgam in April. Following that attack the sporting relations between India and Pakistan nosedived. An Indian cricket team twice boycotted Pakistan in a meet in England. The Pakistan hockey team — usually habitual travellers to India — skipped the Asia Cup earlier this month; relationships are not the same anymore. Even in a heightened state of tension, sport has been used as a diplomatic tool to try and put peace at the forefront. From 1987, when Pakistan president, Zia-ul-Haq, travelled to India to watch a Test featuring the two countries to 1996, when the two teams joined forces to play a game in Sri Lanka to show it was safe. On Sunday, India and Pakistan will meet again at the Asia Cup. If there’s another round of snubbing extended hands, it may well be a new normal.  More on P15 Bengaluru: The state government on Saturday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged attempt to delete 6,018 names from the voters’ list in the Aland constituency of Kalaburagi district, ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections. According to the government order, the SIT has been vested with police station powers, and the case registered at the Aland police station will be transferred to it | P5 Chips or ships, make them in India, says PM Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday declared that large ships will now be officially recognised as infrastructure, a landmark policy shift aimed at revolutionising India’s maritime sector and positioning the nation as a global shipping hub. Modi stressed that peace, stability, and global growth depend on India’s self-reliance, boldly asserting, “Chips or ships, we must make them in India.” | P10