‘Monitor rogue elements,check racist attacks Down Under’

At a time when the Indian students Down Under have every reason to feel insecure,Union minister for Overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi interacted with non-resident Indian students from Symbiosis International University (SIU) and said that he has made specific suggestions to the Australian High Commission to check the alleged racist attacks on Indian students. Some of these suggestions include keeping a check on agents who send students abroad and rounding up anti-social elements in places like Melbourne where most of these attacks took place .

“In a meeting with Australian High Commission we suggested that they should take preventive steps. Considering that students are allowed to work for four hours a day and get decently paid for the same,many agents lure Indians to acquire students’ visa and work. These students do not enroll in any university,but study in vocational education training (VET) centres that are not affiliated to any university,” said Ravi adding that these students are the most vulnerable. He said that Australian embassy has reduced the number of visas being granted to Indian citizens. Ravi added that his ministry has sought a report on the arrests made by the Victoria police in these attacks,which is expected soon.

Ravi was also present at the convocation ceremony of the fourth batch of Masters Programme in MIT School of Governance (MITSOG) on Friday. Addressing the students,he said excellent projects like National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) come under criticism for improper implementation. “It is time the youth should bring management skills and efficient delivery of results in governance,” he said. Also present for the convocation ceremony were member of legislative council Ulhas Pawar and Dr Shrikant Paranjpe.

Later in the day,Ravi held an interaction with about 100 NRI and People of Indian Origin (PIO) students of SIU. He mooted the Foreign Universities Bill and added that he plans to move a new legislation to establish universities for children of NRIs and PIOs. “Fifty per cent of the seats in these universities will be reserved for children of NRIs and PIOs,while the rest will be for Indian students,” he said. Ravi said that it is difficult for children of NRIs to study in India considering the shortfall of universities and colleges.

Around 100 NRI-PIO students from Symbiosis including those from Tanzania,UAE and Muscat participated in the interaction.