India needs own secure operating system; H1-B visa worries mount

India will need to work on a secure operating system. H1-B visa process likely to become non-transparent.

India should plan own operating system

The Indian government needs to have a secure operating system of its own due to growing security threats to sensitive data from new age hackers, IANS reported.

Many countries have moved away from the traditional Android and iOS platforms and were building OS specifically built for usage within and by the country, the report said. 

An example is the Russian government acquiring 75% stake in customised platform Aurora OS which was built based on Finnish firm Jolla’s Sailfish OS. Russia claims to now use Aurora OS to build a closed and safe digital ecosystem to be used across its corporates and state-owned companies, the report said.

India could largely benefit from a similar plan, and the time was ripe for the Indian government to join the bandwagon, the report added. 

Indian companies worried about H-1B visa process becoming less transparent

Indian companies are now worried that the process of getting US visas would get non-transparent in the wake of news of regulations to the H-1B visa issuing process, The Economic Times reported.

The Office of Management and Budget had completed a review of proposed regulations from the Department of Homeland Security(DHS), the report said.

The proposal said employers would be mandated to register employees whom they want to sponsor an H-1B visa permit for but a lottery system would shortlist the work permit, prior to which no applications for the visa would be accepted.

It was reported earlier that the rate of rejections of H-1B visas had increased drastically owing to the Trump administration allegedly wanting to hire more locals. Reports also said the DHS did a review for increasing the fee for visas, which could come into effect by April 2020.

Semiconductor giant Micron to quadruple Indian R&D operations

US chip making giant Micron Technology, valued at over $30 billion, will be quadrupling the strength of its Indian R&D department, The  Hindu Businessline reported. 

Micron’s current operations in Hyderabad also serves as a support for designing storage products, the report said.

“Micron goes wherever the talent is. Just like we have expanded in Singapore in recent years, there is a strong pool of talent in India as well. Our market opportunities are growing and we need to tap the top talent pool in all major geographies,” Sanjay Mehrotra,  CEO, Micron told  The Hindu Businessline.