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The United States is set to initiate a pilot program in December for the domestic renewal of certain categories of H-1B visas, a move that will particularly benefit a substantial number of Indian technology professionals. The H-1B visa is utilized by US companies to hire foreign workers with specialized skills in fields that demand theoretical or technical expertise.

This program, limited to an initial 20,000 participants, comes after the announcement of the plan by the White House during the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June. Julie Stufft, deputy assistant secretary of state for visa services, stated in an interview that the demand for U.S. visas remains high in India, and the aim is to reduce wait times for visa appointments.

Key Opposition leaders including former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday, pitched for a “larger role” for party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s in the upcoming 2024 elections, at an event to release a book titled “Mallikarjun Kharge: Political Engagement with Compassion, Justice, and Inclusive Development.” Opposition leaders also resolved to strengthen the unity of the INDIA bloc , with some airing views that Kharge should lead the block.

Gandhi announced Kharge is “best suited to lead the Congress Party in this historic battle for India’s soul”, days before the results of the five assembly elections—dubbed as the semi-finals to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls—come out.

In the midst of the Taliban's claims to take control of the Afghan embassy in Delhi, Afghan diplomat Zakia Wardak has staunchly asserted her allegiance to the Afghan republic.

Wardak, who has been serving as the consul general of Afghanistan in Mumbai for several years, emphasised, "We are working under the flag of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan."

In an interview with WION, she clarified the purpose of their efforts, stating, "Firstly, to support Afghans residing in India, and secondly, to seize every opportunity beneficial to the people of Afghanistan during these challenging times."

As rescue teams gained momentum in their efforts to save 41 workers trapped for over two weeks in the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi after a part of it collapsed on November 12, Congress on Tuesday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and predicted the latter would welcome the trapped workers with a green flag outside the tunnel. 

The Congress on Tuesday posted a cartoon of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with green flag on X with the caption, "Kuch camera vagera lagwaye, to sahib ke darshan ho jaaye (install some cameras so that we can have a sight of Saheb)".

As the massive 17-day rescue operation in the Silkyara tunnel successfully ended on Wednesday and all 41 workers walked out of the entrapment healthy, the rescuers were in the limelight receiving all the praises for their restless hard work and grit. PM Modi in his message saluted the spirit of all the people associated with the rescue operation and said everyone involved in the mission set an amazing example of humanity and teamwork. Many government agencies with their huge forces were deployed in the unpredictable terrain of the Uttarakhand tunnel 24X7 though the last mile was achieved by the rat-hole miners. And Munna Qureshi who was the first one to reach the workers has been hailed as the hero of the operation.

Munna Qureshi is a 29-year-old rat-hole miner working in a Delhi company -- a trenchless engineering services company that clears sewer and water lines. He was one of the dozens of rat-hole miners who were brought to Uttarakhand on Monday to remove the last 12 metres of debris.

Rat-hole miners were the last resort of the rescue operation after the US-made auger machine was extracted from the tunnel after it went kaput. Rat-hole mining is a method of taking out coal by digging small pits -- but it was banned in 2014 as a coal-extracting method for being unscientific.

Munna Qureshi said he removed the last rock on Tuesday evening and saw the 41 trapped workers. "They hugged me, cheered in applause and thanked me profusely," Munna Qureshi said.

Monu Kumar, Wakeel Khan, Feroz, Parsadi Lodhi and Vipin Rajout were the other rat-hole miners who reached the trapped men subsequently after their arduous operation. The men inside waiting long for a breakthrough from the other side erupted in joy and lifted the miners. "They gave me almonds," one of the miners said. The miners stayed there for half an hour before the NDRF came to take the trapped men.

(With inputs from agencies)