Wednesday, April 24

Tag: NRI

US President Donald Trump suspends H-1B visas till year end
USA

US President Donald Trump suspends H-1B visas till year end

US President Donald Trump has issued a proclamation to suspend issuing of H-1B visas, which is popular among Indian and Chinese workers, along with other foreign work visas for the rest of the year. Trump said the step was essential to help millions of Americans who have lost their jobs due to the current economic crisis. Issuing the proclamation ahead of the November presidential elections, Trump has ignored the mounting opposition to the order by various business organisations, lawmakers and human rights bodies. The proclamation that comes into effect on June 24, is expected to impact a large number of Indian IT professionals and several American and Indian companies who were issued H-1B visas by the US government for the fiscal year 2021 beginning October 1. They would now have t...
Spelling Bee canceled for first time since WW-II
USA

Spelling Bee canceled for first time since WW-II

For the first time since World War-II, the prestigious spelling bee tournament, which has been dominated by Indian-Americans over the years, has been cancelled for 2020 in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The competition, which is only open to students in elementary and middle school, will return on June 1, 2021. However, the eighth graders who qualified this year for their last try at the national title won't be able to participate next year, spelling bee officials said in a statement on Tuesday. "Our hearts go out to the spellers who won't get their final shot at winning because of the pandemic and the difficult decisions it is prompting us to make. They are now part of a widely expanding group of children and adults who are missing out on opportunities due to the coronavirus," s...
Indian-origin girl in UK gets 162 IQ points, more than Einstein
INSPIRATIONAL

Indian-origin girl in UK gets 162 IQ points, more than Einstein

LONDON: A 12-year-old Indian-origin girl in England, who secured two points higher than geniuses Albert Hawking in the British Mensa IQ test, has been invited to join the coveted society as a member. Rajgauri Pawar appeared in the British Mensa IQ Test in Manchester last month, and scored 162 - the highest possible IQ for someone under the age of 18. She has been invited to join the coveted Mensa IQ test with the highest possible score. Pawar of Cheshire county is among the one per cent of those who sit in the Mensa test and achieve the maximum mark, with the 'genius' benchmark set at 140. She secured 162, two points higher than Einstein and Hawking. She is one of only 20,000 people to achieve the score worldwide, Mensa said. "I was a little nervous before the test but it wa...
Cisco to Acquire Indian Origin CEO Led Startup For $610 Million
ACQUISITION

Cisco to Acquire Indian Origin CEO Led Startup For $610 Million

American technology giant Cisco has said it will pay USD 610 million in cash to acquire a networking start-up led by an Indian-origin software industry veteran. Cisco will buy Viptela, a privately held software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) company based in San Jose, a move that will expand its portfolio. Viptela CEO Praveen Akkiraju, a University of Madras and Harvard Business School alumnus said, "the companys fabric, as it relates to SD-WAN and cloud networking, fits in as an important piece of Ciscos Enterprise Networking strategy which is driving an industry-wide transition to a software centric architecture and business model." Viptela was founded by 2012 by former Cisco engineers, some of them hailing from the Indian sub-continent. Cisco will buy Viptela for USD 610 mil...
Indian American CEO Ordered to Pay $135K to Former Worker
USA

Indian American CEO Ordered to Pay $135K to Former Worker

An Indian-American CEO has been ordered to pay USD 135,000 to her former domestic worker after a Labour Department investigation found she underpaid and mistreated her. Himanshu Bhatia, CEO of Rose International and IT Staffing, will have to pay her former live-in domestic service worker back wages and damages under the terms of a consent judgement entered into the US District Court for the Central District of California. Ads by ZINC The judgement, entered on April 11, resolves a complaint filed by the US Department of Labour in August last year. An investigation by the departments Wage and Hour Division found that Bhatia willfully and repeatedly violated federal labour laws minimum wage and record keeping provisions from July 2012 to December 2014. The complaint alleged that...
16-yr-Old NRI Student Invents Low-Cost Hearing Aid
Story

16-yr-Old NRI Student Invents Low-Cost Hearing Aid

A 16-year-old Indian-American boy has created a low-cost hearing aid costing USD 60 to help those who cannot afford expensive devices. Technology that could help hearing-impaired individuals have come along with over the years with items such as phones for hearing impaired and other items. Mukund Venkatakrishnan of Kentuckys Louisville city worked on the device for two years and presented it at the Jefferson County Public Schools Idea Fest and recently won first place the Kentucky State Science and Engineering Fair. The device, which can be used with even the cheapest set of headphones, is built to first test hearing by playing several different sounds at seven different frequencies through headphones. It then programs itself to be a hearing aid, amplifying volume based on the test r...