This way to Australia

And for the aspiring ones,foreign minister SM Krishna’s ‘advice’—after reports of attacks on Indian students—asking them not to go to Australia for “frivolous” courses,doesn’t cut much ice.

Twenty one-year-old Karambir Kang from Jalandhar admits he isn’t looking at a career in academics. “To be honest,for most of us applying in a college in Australia,it’s a way to get permanent residency.”

After completing his graduation,Kang decided a stint in Australia would set him up in life. “I am not academically bright. If I was good at studies,I could have very well stayed in India and made my career. But where are the opportunities for me here? Rather than wasting Rs 7 lakh of my parents’ money on getting an engineering or management degree from fake private colleges,I would rather spend this money to get to Australia. The private engineering degree may not get me a job but if I were in Australia,at least I can make money and send it back home.”

So,students like Kang are happy to enroll in small courses in Australia after which they stay back,picking up small-time jobs as driver,berry pickers,watchmen and baby sitters in Australia. Twins Gurmeet and Harmeet Aujla who returned from Australia after completing a two-year vocational course in December and are now getting married—to NRIs—say they are glad they went abroad. “I did a so called ‘serious’ course from India. I got a first class in MA History from a local government recognised college but I didn’t get a job. I went to Australia,did vocational courses and took up part-time jobs like babysitting and picking berries. But today I can speak in English,I saved some money and have a bigger skill set.”

Twenty two-year-old Amanjot Kaur,a sprightly girl from Ludhiana,says,“There is a saying in Punjabi,baari barsi khatan gaya si,khatke lyaanda ki?” Loosely translated,it exhorts a person to leave the comfort of home for 12 years to make his fortune. “In the absence of adequate opportunities in Punjab,we have to go out. Everyone wants to go Australia simply because it’s easy to gain entry there,” she says.

But now,some parents are uneasy. “My parents were concerned. In fact,they visited Sydney late last year where my cousin is studying hotel management. Only then were their worries put to rest,” says Amanjot.

Kang’s father shrugs off the anxieties. “Attacks on people from UP and Bihar in Mumbai haven’t stopped them from migrating to Mumbai,have they? As long as there are no jobs in Punjab,the youth will continue to go to Australia or wherever it’s easy to go,” he says.

So the queues at the immigration offices are showing no signs of disappearing. As Kamal Soni of First Immigration in Jalandhar says,“Parents have some apprehensions in sending their wards to Australia now,but that doesn’t mean the desire to go abroad has gone down.”

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UPKAR SINGH always wanted to go abroad. And in 2004,he finally did.

In a photograph of his that hangs at his parents’ house in Jalandhar,he bears a striking resemblance to India’s ace spinner Harbhajan Singh. Upkar,in fact,is a distant nephew of Harbhajan.

“Upkar always wanted to go abroad and in 2004,Harbhajan helped him out,putting him in touch with an immigration agent based in Hyderabad,” says his father Jagjit Singh. Upkar went to Melbourne and enrolled in a course in hospitality management. After completing it,he started driving a cab in Melbourne,sending home money to refurbish their old house and for the weddings of his sisters. Then last May,a day after he took the nationality test,a requirement in Australia for getting permanent residency,he was found dead. His death certificate puts the cause of his death as “unascertained”.

“My boy’s death was a tragedy but equally distressing has been the attitude of the Australian authorities. It is more than seven months since he died and they have still not been able to arrest the culprits. They say Upkar committed suicide on a railway track but barring one scar on his head,there were no injuries on his body. He talked to us one day before his death and showed no sign of depression,” says Jagjit Singh,a small-time property dealer.

Upkar’s was one of the first reported deaths from Australia. Since then,there have been reports of other attacks,most of them on people who belong to Punjab.

Last February,Mangat Garg and Rekha Garg were at home when they heard their 23-year-old son Razat had died in Melbourne,where he worked in an ice cream factory. The police say Razat committed suicide but his parents who flew to Australia say they saw “evidence contrary to the police theory”.

“Police said Razat committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a moving train. But when we collected his belongings,there was not even a stain of blood on his wallet. But an expensive chain and bracelet that he always wore were missing,” says his mother.

While India has alleged racism as the motive behind these attacks,Australia has denied the charges. The truth,perhaps,lies somewhere in between.

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THE rush to Australia began sometime at the start of this millennium. For a student to gain permanent residence in Australia,what is required is a minimum of a two-year study course and clearing a skill assessment exam.

It was a win-win situation for Indian students wanting to migrate abroad and for private businesses in Australia who smelt a business opportunity. Over the next few years,several private vocational colleges from Australia came visiting India—and Punjab. In their zeal to woo students,the checks and formalities they conducted on potential migrants were minimal. As students from India and elsewhere flocked to Australia,education emerged as the country’s third largest foreign exchange earner. Australia is said to be earning close to $16 billion annually from foreign students.

In 2001,the number of Indian students going to Australia was pegged at 10,461. That year,China topped the list of international student enrolments at 26,844. In 2008,the number of students from India to Australia jumped to 97,035 and India became the second country,after China,on the list of countries sending students to Australia. Indian students now make up almost 18 per cent of Australia’s total foreign student population while those from China make up 23.5 per cent.

In the ten years since Naresh Gulati set up his firm Oceanic Consultants in Chandigarh,he has sent about 9,500 students to Australia. “There are two factors at play here. Australia was so upbeat about the foreign exchange earning potential that their policy initially appeared to be to get as many students as possible. This policy found immediate takers in Punjab,where the average youth has an inherent desire to settle abroad. This led to the proliferation of dubious private vocational centres in Australia and unscrupulous agents in India,” says Gulati.

Private Australian colleges,says Gulati,pay huge commissions to these “agents”,sometimes even up to 30 per cent per admission. So,students who could cough up Rs 7 to 8 lakh started enrolling in huge numbers in courses such as cookery and hair dressing,offered by educational centres interested in making a quick buck. The quality of students,of course,was of little consequence. “In fact,before 2008,anyone could sponsor an Indian student in Australia,which made things easier for agents. But in September 2008,the Australian government introduced a condition under which only the sibling,parents or grandparents of a child could sponsor a student in Australia. After that,the numbers dropped,” says Gulati.

Not all new immigrants to Australia could fit in in their new surroundings. Harjap Singh Banghal,an immigration lawyer from Jalandhar,says,“Lax rules often meant that people who hadn’t even passed high school or came from villages ended up in Australia. It gave birth to a cultural problem. These boys found themselves in an alien environment,some didn’t even know the language.”

Banghal points to a Punjab link in the recent spate of attacks. “I am not discounting the fact that attacks on Indians are taking place in Australia and that most of the boys who were killed were innocent. But there are many boys from this part of India who wear gold chains,carry expensive cell phones and idle around. On a recent visit to Sydney,I saw a whole bunch of kids from Punjab standing in front of a Burger King joint,making catcalls at girls passing by. Playing blaring music in trains,gathering in groups and talking loudly at public places and making no effort to assimilate in the local society,doesn’t endear them to locals,” he says.

There have been cases of frauds as well. Last December,a letter by Peter Vardos,First Assistant Secretary,Migration and Visa Policy Division,Australian Government,to Dr Glenn Withers,Chief Executive,Universities Australia,shows a recent forensic analysis of applications conducted by the Australian High Commission in Delhi. It found that 50 per cent of the cases had at least one fraudulent document. The letter says,“A high proportion of current Indian student applications are in the vocational education and training sector and predominantly come from two states within India—Gujarat and Punjab.”

In October 2009,a racket was busted in Jalandhar where fake identities were being used for the tests conducted by the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

The Australian government is now tightening the screws. Between July and October 2008,of the approximately 22,000 Indian student visa applications,20,000 were approved. But for the same period in 2009,the refusal rate was as high as 40 per cent—only 12,463 application of a total of 20,000 were approved.

The approval rates for students from China and Brazil don’t show such a dramatic drop. In fact,for China,which sends almost an identical number of students to Australia,the approval rate went from 85 per cent to 90 per cent. For Brazil,it has stayed at about 98 per cent.

For the situation to become normal,Indians in Australia hope the attacks discontinue and also that Indian students learn to assimilate into Australian society.

Narinder Singh from Phagwara immigrated recently to Australia,via a popular route. His wife was working in Australia and he went as her dependent. He says,“There are certainly some groups of hooligans who are now targeting Indian students. But more importantly,we would request the people of our community to show responsible behaviour too.”

Indian youth often behave badly in public places,says Singh,citing a recent concert in Sydney by Babbu Mann,a popular Punjabi singer. “He attracted a huge crowd but the behaviour at display of our boys at concert was reprehensible. As unemployment rises,there is a swelling resentment against all immigrants. Bad behaviour gives local goons a pseudo excuse to attack innocent people. Rather than decking themselves in gold,flaunting iPods and getting drunk,we should do well to take a cue from Chinese immigrants,who are very discreet,” says Singh.