In a huge blow to lakhs of Indian students, the US Department of Education revoked the recognition of the largest accreditor of private or for profit colleges, Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS).

The ACICS Council has accredited about 250 SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) certified colleges and schools. With the revocation of recognition of the Council, lakhs of Indian students who have graduated from the ACICS listed institutions are denied an extension of the optional practical training (OPT) from the 12th of December.

This means that the international undergraduate and graduate students students might also be required to migrate to other colleges as their institutions will not be eligible for OPT extension in future as they have lost their accreditation.

However, students with F-1 status, who have completed or have been pursuing their degrees for more than 9 months, are allowed to work by way of getting Optional Practical Training (OPT) to complement their field of studies, and extends for a period of 12 months, working for a US company.

Those who graduate from a US institution with a degree in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) can apply for an extension of their OPT for an additional 2 years.

Already, the US immigration and customs officials have started rejecting applications of the F-1 visa holders, who graduated from these 250 institutions and who had applied for OPT extensions, forcing them to study for another degree from an accredited college in the US if they want an OPT extension.

Even though ACICS is no longer a federally recognised accrediting authority, the US department of education will continue to provisionally certify ACICS-accredited institutions for continued participation in the federal student aid programmes for up to 18 months, which allows institutions to seek accreditation from another federally recognised accrediting agency.

Hyderabad: YSR Congress has come down heavily on AP CM for his remarks on Polavaram describing it as his dream project and the false claim of owning up the project though he took it up for personal gains discarding state interests.

Botsa Satyanarayana said that Chandrababu Naidu telling that Polavaram has been his dream project is ridiculous as it was he who tried to scuttle it while YSR had moved to all posts to get clearances and laid the foundation stone in 2005.

Blatantly telling that he has sacrificed special status for Polavaram is the height of insane thinking as Polavaram was included in the State Reorganisation Act with Centre taking responsibility for executing the work in full.

There was absolutely no need for him to take up Polavaram from the hands of Centre unless he has an ulterior motive of nepotism and kickbacks. Special status is beneficial to all the people of the state but taking the Polavaram project from the hands of Centre only benefits his own coterie and contractors.

Now claiming that Polavaram has been his dream project opens yawning gap between his words and deeds as the project was never talked about during his nine-year term earlier and when YSR had taken up the project, it was Chandrababu Naidu who had met the Chief Ministers of neighboring states with an open agenda of stalling the project.

Special status has been sacrificed by Chandrababu Naidu to take over the Polavaram project from the Centre only to allocate contracts to his favored few and get kickbacks, he said.

Veteran top producer of Tollywood, Aswini Dutt shared his views on various issues in ‘Open Heart’ program conducted by a news channel recently. Having disclosed the close bonding between Chiranjeevi and his, the senior producer said, “I wanted to contest in elections as an MP in 2004. Hearing my request Chiranjeevi garu conveyed my wish to Chandrababu garu. And the response from the CM was great. I was offered Vijayawada MP ticket then.”

Political analysts, however, felt CBN had done that favour to Chiranjeevi as the latter was not in active politics then. “As and when Chiranjeevi launched PRP, CBN thought of every possible strategy to checkmate Chiranjeevi and tried to apply it through his pro TDP media and sending coverts in PRP. Moreover, he prompted AP NGOs to agitate against union ministers during state’s bifurcation.” analysts informed.

Further they added, “Having been intolerant with the craze generated on ‘Khaidi Number 150’, CBN denied permission for the conduct of pre release event of the film in Vijayawada and Guntur. He maybe worrying if Chiranjeevi shatters his hopes of winning the election battle again in 2019. All these factors led unrest on CBN which made him committing unwanted blunders.”

The Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh which had looked invincible is now in utter shambles following the internal strife between father and son. This could not have come at a more opportune time for the BJP.

UP‘s Assembly election schedule has been released and post-demonetization, the public in UP could so easily have gone against the BJP. But added to the split in the Samajwadi Party now is another significant factor.

MIM led by the Owaisi brothers is going to contest the Assembly elections in UP in Muslim majority regions. Muslims have generally voted for the SP in UP but with the arrival of MIM and a weakened SP, there may be huge shifts to MIM.

And most important of all, the Owaisi brothers have a tendency to rake up communal feelings with their vitriolic speeches.

In such a scenario, the Hindus of UP may forget all their demonetization woes and choose to back the BJP which would be smart enough to capitalize on anything retrograde said by the Owaisis.

Having won two seats in Maharashtra Assembly elections, the MIM is keen on transforming itself into a pan-India party. And a strong showing in UP would definitely realign political equations across the nation.

It is an open secret that YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is an out and out Christian, displaying his immense faith in Bible. But he is also a politician; so he has to project himself as a secular person praying at all temples.

On Friday, Jagan turned a true Bhakt of Lord Siva, when he had a darshan of Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy at Srisailam temple.

He wore typical Hindu-style attire — dhoti and kurtha, sported Vibhuti smeared across his forehead and performed Abhishekam for the Lord. He was also given divine blessings by the temple priests.

This is not the first time that Jagan has sought to appeal the Hindus. He visited Tirumala temple in the past but his lack of declaration of Christian faith triggered a controversy.

He also performed yagnams and performed special prayers at Godavari and Krishna Pushkarams. Apparently, he has realised that his Christian faith is being cashed in on by the Telugu Desam Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party combine in the elections. That is why, he is trying to prove to the world that he believes in all faiths.

One does not know how many political parties and individuals have taken power star and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan seriously, when he took up the cause of kidney patients of Uddanam area in Srikakulam and addressed a public meeting there.

But Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu seems to have taken Pawan Kalyan’s fight very seriously.

As the deadline fixed by Pawan Kalyan for the Naidu government to respond to the woes of Uddanam kidney patients came to a close on Friday, the chief minister reacted sharply and came up with some sops.

Naidu declared that those who had suffered damages to kidneys in Uddanam area would be treated as physically challenged and they would be given life-time pensions.

He instructed the Medical and Health department as well as Panchayat Raj department to take up the issue on war-footing and work on the remedial measures.

Calling for an international debate on Uddanam kidney ailment mystery, the chief minister said the government would take all steps to do intensive research on the disease and find out a permanent solution to the crisis.

“I have asked the scientists to discuss such issues on international forums like Indian Science Congress and come out with a solution,” he said.

In a fresh jolt to the H-1B visa aspirants, to US Congressmen Republican Darrell Issa and Democrat Scott Peters reintroduced a bill in the Congress to prevent the use of H-1B visas.

The latest move is part of the world’s super power’s constant battle against outsourcing of American jobs to foreign workers, especially from the Indian IT industry in the watch of President elect Donald Trump, who had initiated the ‘Protect and Grow American Jobs Act’ mission during his election campaign.

If the bill is passed, workers possessing an H-1B visa would have to pay a minimum of $100,000, up from $60,000 currently. The bill will also remove the Master’s degree exemption to the cap on the number of visas available.

The same bill was introduced by Darrell Issa in July last year but it had failed to pass. Another bill introduced by a US Congresswoman regulates the use of the H-1B visas and issue limited work permits rather than the existing lottery system.

It looks like the ‘Lady Luck’ has worked out extremely well for the senior cricketer and left hand batsman Yuvraj Singh. Soon after battling over cancer, Yuvi was to grab his place in ODI format but he failed to pile up his career with a some bad performances.

But, the senior is again making his comeback into the team after putting up a great show for Punjab in Ranji trophy. Also, his marriage with British model Hazel Keech seems to have brought some luck for him.

The MSK Prasad-led BCCI team, on Friday, selected the ODI and T20 teams for upcoming England series with Virat Kohli as captain. The three ODIs and three T20 games will begin from 15th January in Pune. Apart from Yuvraj Singh, fast bowler Ashish Nehra is also making a comeback this tournament.

The 15-member squad for ODI series include: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), MS Dhoni, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, J Bumrah, Bhuwaneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav.

The Supreme Court yesterday asked the Ministry of Women & Child Development to check for the contradictions and exceptions in the provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the IPC on the question of sexual abuse of a minor wife.

Acting on a petition filed by an NGO named Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) in which the NGO has claimed that while any sexual offence against a child below the age of 18 years is an offence, the exemption II under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code allows sex with a wife not being under 15 years of age.

The Court directed the NGO to send its petition to Women & Child Development Secretary, saying that the Ministry would treat the petition as a representation and examine the legality of the provision raised in it.

According to the Sections 3 & 5 of POCSO Act aggravated penetrative sexual assault on girls up to the age of 18 years as minor and Section 6 lead to punishment not be less than 10 years and even life imprisonment in some cases.

However, exception II in Section 375 reads, “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being below 15 years, is not a rape.”