BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l august 11, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION new u.s. visa rules: firms to pay a bomb for extending l-1s, h1bs Large employers now have to pay a fee of $4,000 for H-1B and $4,500 for L-1 applications for extension of visas of their employees takes effect from september 9 rocky road ahead for indian it firms Earlier, these fees were applicable only for initial H-1B and L-1 petitions or if the applicants changed jobs. The 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee, applicable to employers with 50 or more employees in the US if more than 50 per cent are in H-1B or L-1 nonimmigrant status, takes effect from September 9, as per the Department of Homeland Security ■ ■ Organisations filing routine extension requests for same employee will now face additional filing costs. Amended petitions not needing an extension of status are exempt from the expanded fee For an IT services firm managing several thousand onshore Indian engineers on H-1B or L-1 status, the new rule hands a huge expense $157.3 mn is the annual revenue that the fee hike will generate for the u.s. 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 Decks clear for Sanjeeb Panda as next DGP A s i s h M e h ta @ Bhubaneswar Odisha government on Monday promoted senior IPS officers Sanjeeb Panda and YK Jethwa, both of 1994 batch, to the DG rank. In a notification, General Administration and Public Grievance department said the two additional DG-ranked officers are promoted to the grade of DG of Police in level16 pay matrix with immediate effect and are posted in-situ until further orders. Panda is currently head of the anti-naxal operations unit while Jethwa is director of Batons, tear gas mark march of Ranchi students AT LEAST four students and one policemen were injured during a clash near the Jharkhand Assembly on Monday, when police used water cannons, tear gas and batons to stop students protesting against alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations, officials said. The clash took place after the protesters breached multiple barricades near the Vidhan Sabha. This is for the first time in the history of Jharkhand that protesting students reached so close to the state assembly . Though the administration had erected multiple barricades and deployed a large police contingent to stop the protesters from reaching the Assembly, the students waded through the barriers. They dismantled seven to eight barricades near Jagannath Temple before resuming their march. Ranchi Rural SP Gaurav Goswami said police had to use batons after some protesters at- tempted to reach the final barricading, where prohibitory orders under Section 163 were already in force. The students are adamant on their demands of cancellation of the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) (Preliminary) Group 1 examination and a CBI inquiry into the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Gradua t e L e v e l ( J SS C C G L ) examination. Student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, who has been on a hunger strike for nine days, reached the protest site in an ambulance and participated in the march on a stretcher. “The reverse of the word ‘yuva’ (youth) is ‘vayu’ (air), and no one can stop the air,” Mahto said. “The government is trying to suppress our voice by using water cannons and tear gas shells. This is reprehensible,” Mahto said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi condemned the use of force against students protesting in Jharkhand and called on the state government, of which Protesting ‘illegal’ shrimp farms, two paddy farmers attempt suicide at DM’s meet A s h i s S e n a pat i @ Bhubaneswar Two paddy farmers allegedly attempted to end their lives by consuming poison during a public grievance hearing at the Rajnagar tehsil office in Kendrapara district on Monday, in protest against the alleged failure of authorities to demolish illegal shrimp farms. The illegal farms have rendered their agricultural land barren and uncultivable, they alleged. The incident occurred while district collector Raghuram R Iyer was presiding over the grievance redressal hearing and listening to petitions from residents. The two farmers, identified as Ganesh Mohanty (55) of Dholamara and Ramkrushna Mandal (54) of Talachua village near Bhitarkanika National Park, suddenly attempted to consume poison. However, police personnel present at the spot intervened and prevented them from taking the extreme step. Police seized two bottles of poison from the duo, Rajnagar police station IIC Chandrika Mohapatra said. The farmers had earlier approached the authorities several times, alleging substantial crop losses due to illegal shrimp farming activities in With DGP YB Khurania set to retire on August 16, the UPSC panel will meet again to finalise the three names for the post. Panda’s name is likely to feature in the senior most officers’ list – Sources Set up 2 spl Shah ready to debate students’ stir; courts for Cong adds temple theft to demand Manipur violence: SC Student leader Devendra Nath Mahto (above) during the march towards the Jharkhand assembly; and police personnel deploy water cannons (top) to disperse student protesters | PTI Deepti Gaur Mukerjee new higher edu secy Senior bureaucrat Deepti Gaur Mukerjee was on Monday appointed the new Higher Education Secretary. She succeeds Vineet Joshi, who was appointed last month as the Secretary in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj | P7 Congress is a part, to hear the protesters out and resolve their issues immediately . Meanwhile, the state CID on Monday arrested former JPSC Chairman L Khiangte in connection with alleged irregularities in 14th Combined Civil Services Examination. Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a late night post on X said, “I assure you (protesters) that action will be taken on your demands with utmost seriousness and sensitivity... let us resolve this issue together through dialogue.” P R EETH A N A I R @ New Delhi THE Parliament stand-off continued on Monday even after the government offered a debate and Home Minister Amit Shah’s reply on the student protests and police action, with the Congress insisting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi reply to a discussion on the donation theft at the Ayodhya Ram temple. While Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi demanded that Shah disclose who authorised the use of pellet guns against the protesters, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju hit back saying Shah will give a proper reply but the Opposition should not try to run away from the discussion by disrupting House proceedings. Speaking to reporters after the Business Advisory Committee meeting, Rijiju said the government is ready for a full-fledged discussion in the Lok Sabha on the student protests and police action across the country and Shah will reply to the debate, provided the Opposition promises to listen peacefully . Congress is shifting goalposts: Nadda Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s charges, Union Health Minister JP Nadda said the Congress is repeatedly shifting goalposts to disrupt Parliament. He said the Opposition party’s demand moved from a debate on NEET paper leak, a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the student protests, and then to the Ram temple trust issue Shah has not been seen in the House in the ongoing session even though he has been regularly coming to Parliament House complex. On a question whether the issue of alleged theft of donation will also be discussed, he said the Uttar Pradesh government’s probe through a special investigation team and several other steps are going on. Responding to the government’s offer that Shah will speak in Parliament, Rahul said the question was never about whether Shah can give a speech in Parliament on ‘general issues’. “The question was that Home Minister Shah has to make it clear who authorised the shooting of our children in Delhi. He is the home minister; pellet guns were fired,” Rahul said, asking Shah to come clean on whether he gave the firing orders or not. Talking to the media alongside party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul said if Shah ordered it, he is culpable; if he didn’t know, he is incompetent, adding Shah “should go” either way . Rahul added that Modi must apologise for the police action during the protests. The third issue, he said, is the Ayodhya donation theft. Kharge said the Opposition wanted a discussion on these issues but the government did not say anything for 15 days, which shows it did not want a discussion. e x p r e s s r ead Rapid job growth drives reverse migration: CM Bhubaneswar: Odisha has started witnessing reverse migration as employment opportunities, driven by rapid industrial and sectoral development, have increased significantly over the past two years, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said on Monday | P3 their area. They claimed that contaminated water discharged from the farms was flowing into adjoining agricultural fields, damaging the soil and crops and causing a sharp decline in yield. “We ran from pillar to post, from the collector to the DFO of Bhitarkanika National Park, seeking redressal of our grievances. But all our efforts proved futile. The rich and influential shrimp cultivators have gone unpunished as officials allegedly connived with them. As a last resort, we decided to end our lives,” the farmers said. “I used to cultivate paddy on my land. But my land recently lost its fertility after a shrimp farm owner started releasing effluent from his nearby gherri to my agricultural fields,” Ganesh said.  Continued on P5 Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday unanimously adopted resolution reaffirming that ‘Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu’ must be sung first at all functions, including government, educational or other institutional events | P5 U D AYA N K ISH O R E @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday asked authorities concerned to consider setting up two trial courts to exclusively deal with cases arising out of the 2023 Manipur violence. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said that one court will be for CBI cases, while another will try cases lodged by NIA. “Our concern is whether these courts are dealing exclusively with CBI and NIA cases arising out of the Manipur violence, or whether they are also dealing with other cases,” the bench said. It directed the state and Central security agencies to ensure that probe agencies carry out their investigations without interruption. “With respect to law and order, the CBI and NIA shall be facilitated so that they are able to carry out investigation uninterruptedly,” said CJI Surya Kant. Before this order, cases of the 2023 Manipur violence were being heard in the SC, the HC bench at Gauhati and local courts in the state. The bench took note of Centre’s submission that the CBI filed final reports in 27 of 31 Manipur violence cases, while NIA filed chargesheets in 15 of 30 cases. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the issue after a video of two women being paraded without clothes amid the violence went viral. Meeting with UNC State song first at all events, TN Assly affirms Ramakrushna Mandal (left) and Ganesh Mohanty (right) with their petitions venes the meeting, Panda’s name is likely to feature in the senior most officers’ list. Though 1990 batch officer Sudhansu Sarangi along with RP Koche and Susanta Nath (both of 1993 batch) are in the race, in the last meeting of the UPSC panel, the government had reportedly sought to withdraw the integrity certificate of one of the officers. However, that step apparently has been dumped by the government, sources said. Instead, one of the three officers is likely to go on central deputation, paving way for Panda. Pa r liame n t deadl o ck Police use water cannons on agitators, CM appeals to resolve issue with dialogue M uk e s h ra n j a n @ Ranchi state vigilance. and with today’s promotion, The timing of the promo- decks are clear for Panda to be tions is significant as appointed as the next it comes in the midst police chief of the of the ongoing selecstate. tion of the next diWith incumbent rector general of poDGP YB Khurania set lice (DGP) of the to retire on August 16, state. the UPSC panel will The first meeting meet again to finalise of the Union Public the three names from Service Commission which the state govSanjeeb Panda (UPSC) empanelment ernment will select committee on August the DGP Once the em. 7 had remained inconclusive panelment committee recon- view from the top A girl looks up as she readies National flags for sale ahead of Independence Day, in Bhubaneswar on Monday | DEBADATTA MALLICK Manipur CM Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Monday reviewed security situation along the National Highways, even as a state government delegation held a meeting with the United Naga Council (UNC) to cajole it to lift “economic blockade” for resumption of bus services Govt willing to consider JPC route for FCRA bill P R EETH A N A I R @ New Delhi Facing mounting opposition from political parties, church leaders and civil society organisations, the government may consider referring the contentious Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for detailed scrutiny before taking it up in Parliament, sources said. Neither the FCRA Bill nor the proposed Delimitation Bill figured in Monday’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting despite speculation that the government could take up the legislation in the remaining days of the Monsoon Session. This newspaper reported on Saturday that the government had not listed the two bills for the BAC meeting on Monday . Opposition sources told this paper that the government has proposed referring the bill to a JPC but they will insist that the legislation be DMK calls for withdrawal of the bill The bill has drawn strong pushback from DMK, whose support is crucial for the government for the Delimitation Bill. A delegation led by DMK MP P Wilson met Home Minister Amit Shah and urged him to withdraw the bill and repeal Section 15 of the existing law withdrawn altogether. On Saturday, NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule said foreign funding can’t always be viewed with suspicion, and urged the Centre to withdraw the bill or refer it to a JPC. She said her party opposes it in its present form. A delegation of eight NCP (SP) MPs met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, but it was not clear whether they raised the FCRA issue. The FCRA Amendment Bill, 2026, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25 this year; however, it was put on hold after strong push back from various stakeholders. On Sunday Mizoram Chief , Minister Lalduhoma and leading Christian organisations urged the Centre to refer the bill to a JPC. The Congress and other opposition parties said they will strongly oppose the bill if the government takes it up in Parliament.