By RD Nair
There is no gainsaying the fact that the government is duty-bound to do everything to safeguard the interests of Indian students in Australia who have been going through a harrying time. In the last three months several students have fallen victims to drunken goons and last week one was even stabbed to death. But it won’t be fair to dub Australia a racist country as yet.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has been in contact with the Australian authorities demanding protection for the students. The hue and cry about the failure of the host country to protect the students has become deafening. One can’t help compare it with the safety provided to citizens in our own country, leave alone foreigners. In any city of the country, not a day passes without one hearing about the hundreds of men, women and youngsters falling victims to criminals and murderers. Gangs of robbers freely loot shops and homes and the police arrive only to bring the dogs to do the detective work.
Every Indian is proud that the government is taking so much interest in the safety of Indians abroad but unfortunately the same concern and urgency is rarely visible, if the daily criminal happenings in the country are anything to go by. One can only wish that the home minister of the country too takes similar care in the case of the not-so-well-to-do local population.
Before stamping the Australians racist it would do well to be aware of what is going in our own country. I for one wouldn’t disagree with the Australian authorities that Indians living there were far safer than in their own country. But then it is also true that parents sending their wards abroad for higher studies get scared at the reports about attacks mounted on them.
The Australian authorities have been seen to be cooperative in every manner but we have to realize that it is impossible for any country to ensure protection of every foreigner working or studying in a vast country like Australia. The same goes for India also. Yet when External Affairs Minister SM Krishna sought immediate steps for the protection of Indian students, the Aussies had no hesitation on launching a special police operation for the purpose in August last.
The latest on the issue says the attacks have increased since the operation was withdrawn three weeks ago. India needs to take a realistic view before leveling charges of racism. Take a look at the facts: for one, there are millions of students of various nationalities studying in that country. And hundreds of them have been facing such attacks at various times.
Indian students number a little over 80,000. I would be a reluctant listener if anyone claimed it is possible to provide protection to them at any given time, studying as they are in various states of the country. Two, many students try to self-finance their studies by working at odd hours. Mostly, these are the ones at the receiving end since they travel alone late at night and tend to fall victims to marauding muggers, a common phenomenon all over the world, India included.
It would have been an altogether different scene if these attacks were organized efforts in a fashion similar to the infamous dot busters of the US and Germany. Their targets were Indians wearing bindi. Asians including Indians have faced similar attacks in various countries including Britain. Rarely has one come across similar incidents in Australia so far. And in some cases it has come to light that some Indians had been attacked by their own countrymen.
Similar attacks on students in Melbourne last year had even brought Australian ministers and officials to India with the assurance that everything was being done to put a stop to such incidents. At that time certain sections of society had claimed that they were doing it to protect foreign exchange flow that Indian students brought into that country. That such an argument had no basis was proved when Australian authorities rejected over one-third of the 21,120 who sought student visas in 2009-10. This is despite Australia getting tremendous financial advantages from the boom of Indian students there.
The procedure was tightened to keep out those unable to meet the costs involved in pursuing academics. Such students are usually compelled to take up part time jobs to finance their studies. Inevitably they fall into situations beyond the control of authorities. This is despite the fact that a recent study had forecast a sharp drop in Indians going for higher studies in Australia, resulting in a loss of a whopping A$ 78 million.
Indians working as student counsellors for Australian universities say one can avoid such situations by refraining from being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Many Indians living there have also vouched for the fact that Australians in general are a hospitable lot. They say attacks can and do take place against many people irrespective of their nationalities. Anybody, including locals, with expensive gadgets gets mugged. In this light wouldn’t it be too hasty to dub the incidents in Australia racist?
This is not to justify any irresponsibility or inaction on the part of the authorities in that country. As Krishna asserted, the Australian government is duty-bound to make thorough investigations and bring the culprits to book without any delay.