As protests increase in the US against outsourcing of jobs to India, especially in the information techonolgy sector, US has cut down issuance of H-1B visas for overseas professionals, and a legislator has asked five companies to reveal how many Indians they are employing.

During the first three quarters of fiscal year 2002, 60,500 people were approved to begin employment in H-1B status, while the limit in the period was 195,000, according to a release from the immigration authorities, who has now come under the Department of Homeland Security.

By comparison, as of June 30, 2001, 130,700 were approved by the Immigration and Natural Services to begin employment in H-1B status.

During the first nine months of fiscal year 2002, 159,000 H-1B petitions were filed for initial or continuing H-1B employment compared with 270,000 and 220,000 for the same period in 2001 and 2000 respectively.

Petition filings declined by 41 per cent between the first nine months of FY 2001 and the first nine months of FY 2002.

In total, 147,600 petitions were approved during the first three quarters of FY 2002, of which 42,700 were filed prior to October 1, 2001.

Meanwhile, Connecticut Republican Congresswoman Nancy Johnson has requested the chief executives of five leading American insurance companies -- Aetna Inc, CIGNA Corp, The Hartford Financial Services Group, The Phoenix Cos Inc and Travelers Property Casualty Corp -- to reveal how many Indian citizens they are employing in information technology.

The request came in the wake of allegations that the companies are abusing the H-1B visa programme.

In her letters to the companies, Johnson also wanted to know if the number of Indian employees in information technology has grown during the past two years and how many information technology workers have been laid off.

Wanting to know more about outsourcing of jobs to India and other nations, Johnson met with constituents last month who were complaining about the loss of jobs for Americans because of the import of foreigners and export of jobs overseas. India was singled out, because its professionals are employable due to their proficiency in English.

"The Congresswoman's interest in this is to see that Connecticut jobs are protected and that the law is followed," Brian S Schubert, Johnson's press secretary was quoted as saying, though there is not the slightest suggestion that the insurance companies are in violation of the law.