Views of Indian Australians

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We are supporting Australian Republican Movement

Sydney, NSW

25th Feb, 2016

Our friend, and Chair of the Australian Republican Movement, Peter FitzSimons, wrote to me, exhorting Australians of Indian heritage, to join and support Australian Republican Movement.

I am a staunch Republican, and know, from my interactions & discussions, that a great majority of members from Indian Australian community are Republicans too.

You can start showing your support with signing this petition. https://www.change.org/p/australia-deserves-an-australian-head-of-state

Remember that India opted for one of its own to become the President of India, instead of having the British Monarch as the Head of the nation at the time of its independence on 15th August, 1947.

It’s about time!

Yadu Singh

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Peter FitzSimons wrote;

I write to you now as Chair of the Australian Republican Movement, though some call us “BUTTER” because we are on a “ROLL!”

 

But I digress . . .

 

We Australian republicans received some wonderful news over the weekend with Newspoll indicating that support for an Australian Head of State had jumped to 51 per cent! 
 
A majority of Australians now support the historic move toward a republic and we’ve barely even started campaigning yet. You beauty!
 
There is, of course, plenty of work still to be done. One area in particular that the Australian Republican Movement is looking to improve upon is in the diversity of our support.
 
One of the best arguments we have going for us is the fact that our system of government should, in every facet, reflect the multicultural, cosmopolitan nation we have become. To make this case even more powerful – we need to ensure that the ARM’s own supporter base reflects Australia in all its brilliant diversity.
 
This is where you come in.
 
Anecdotally, we know that the Indian community is one of the most, if not the most, proudly republican  communities in the country. And why wouldn’t you be? With a thriving democratic tradition, borne of one of the world’s most famous and successful independence movements, India has become the kind of mature and free-standing republic that we  can all be rightly proud of. 
 
It is exactly this kind of success story that we are trying to emulate now. I often like to say that to win their republics, the French had to storm the Bastille and the Americans had to forge the Delaware River to take on the Brits. I should add to this the fact that Gandhi and his followers had to march 400 kilometres from Ahmedabad to Dandi and endure many other privations . . .
 
We Australians only have to get up off the couch and get involved! 
 
And this is what I am asking of you today. If you really believe in the injustice of hereditary rule, if you really believe that a nation can only be truly great with one of its own as Head of State, then JOIN US at https://goo.gl/jVwReA.
 
Let’s show our fellow Australians that the republican cause derives its supports from all corners of this wide, brown land and from all backgrounds and walks of life.
Thank You

Peter FitzSimons AM
Sydney

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Dr Yadu Singh

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India should not be used by anyone as a launch pad for sea voyage to Australia!

Sydney, 29th July, 2014

Boat people Boat people2 Indian Flag

I am perturbed with some commentary whereby some people including Senator Sarah Hanson-Young are casting indirect aspersion on how India treats refugees. (http://tinyurl.com/k239hsr) Points are being made that India is not a signatory county to UN Refugees Convention. Some of them have mentioned even terrorist group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and A-Sham) in the same paragraph. ISIS executes people in cold-blood, and is hurting and subjugating people from religions other than their Sunni sect of Islam. This, even indirect aspersion, is inappropriate and offensive. India is not ISIS and can not even be remotely equated with it.

India is a vibrant and the biggest democracy of the world. It has rule of law with free judiciary and totally free media. It has refugees from Sri Lanka, Burma, Bangladesh, China and many other countries. It has a proud and long history of welcoming persecuted people from all corners of the world. Parsis (Zoroastrians) left Persia because they were persecuted. Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans exiles have lived in India for several decades without any persecution or troubles. India treats refugees humanly and with care. India may not be a signatory to UN Refugees convention, but its treatment of those who claim refuge is exemplary. UNHCR (United Nation’s High Commission for Refugees) itself has said this about  India many times. India lets UNHCR do the assessment about people’s refugee status, which is fair,  appropriate and prudent.

Raising concerns about India’s credentials as a caring society is objectionable.

Coming to the current issue of 157 boat people (all likely to be Sri Lankan Tamils) who were intercepted by Australian Navy just outside its Maritime zone about a month ago, it is clear that the Boat has come from Indian Shores. From all the information, it is clear that they are all Sri Lankan Tamils, who were in a refugee camp near Pondicherry, South India. India is affected in multiple ways and is a concerned party. Its shores were used as the launching pad for this boat to Australia. India needs to know who these people are and how did they use Indian shores for launching  the voyage to Australia.

It is a security issue for India. India has an ongoing issue with Pakistan, from where terrorists enter Indian territories to perpetrate terrorist attacks in India. I am not saying that the boat in question is carrying terrorists, but not being concerned and alarmed with this type of voyage will render India a hypocrite. India has a right to figure out who these people are and what is the exact composition of these people.

Australia and India are friendly countries, and have strategic relations. I am pleased that Australian Minister for Immigration & Border Control, Scott Morrison, visited India recently and had a discussion with Indian Foreign Affairs Minister, Smt Sushma Swaraj. He was able to get an undertaking from Indian Govt that it will take back these people if they are Indian citizens and residents. That is a huge achievement for Australia.

India will not, and should not, allow its territories to be used as the launch pad for things which are against any other nation. In this case, it is the stated policy of Australia that they do not want to entertain illegal maritime arrivals. Current Federal Govt took the policy of “Stop the boats” to people during 2013 election and received a mandate. Previous Govt led by Julia Gillard/Kevin Rudd too had this policy. Offshore processing of illegal maritime arrivals has been the policy of Govts of both political persuasions.

Australia can not afford to have the repetition of 5000 people arriving every month, claiming refugee status. We do not have the money to afford their accommodation, food, health and education. Our national Budget is in deficit and our economy is in stress. We have to look after our elderly, homeless and less fortunate people first. We have to look after our disadvantaged people first.

Australia should accept its fair share of refugees, but there is no way it can afford an unlimited number of people who want to come to our shores with refugee claim. Australia is a caring and generous society, but there is a limit to it.

I am concerned that some people decide to come to Australia from countries where they were not facing persecution. India is definitely one such country. There is no persecution programme for anyone in India. Indians generally, free Indian  media and independent judiciary will not let this happen either.

About the people in the Boat, who have now been brought to Curtin Detention Centre, I am not sure that they faced any persecution in India. Based on the prevalent governance and political system, it is unlikely they faced any persecution in India. They were living in the area ie Tamil Nadu, which is the homeland of Tamils in India.

This fact alone makes it likely that they are economic refugees, not genuine refugees.

If there is any Indian national in this group of people, then they should be sent back to India without any delay, because their claim for refugee status will be bogus, preposterous and baseless.

Australia has all the rights to refuse to accept economic refugees. Australia has all the sovereign rights to control flow of illegal maritime arrivals. Australia in fact has an undeniable responsibility to look after its disadvantaged people before allocating billions on people who are not Australia’s primary responsibility.

I see no problem in Australia working with India to figure out who these people are, where they have come from and why have they come to our shores in this manner.

Australia has full rights to send them to the country from where they have come from if they are not genuine refugees.

Australia has a well-stated and bipartisan policy of offshore processing and not settling illegal maritime arrivals in Australia. Australia does not encourage illegal maritime arrivals. It has been working with nations in the region to stop the illegal maritime arrivals. This is the first boat which has been allowed to land on our shores in over 7 months, presumably to allow sufficient time to Indian officials to process information and cross-check it.

Australia is within its rights to work with nations in our region to achieve the stated policy goals. I am in full support of these goals. I know many others, in fact a majority of Australians, are in support of these goals.

Finally, India should not allow anyone, under any circumstance, to use its shores or territories as a launch pad for voyage as “illegal maritime arrival” to Australia or any other country!

Dr Yadu Singh

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Views of Tim Wilson, Australian Human Rights Commissioner, on section 18c of Racial Discrimination Act!

Sydney, 19th June, 2014

I met Tim Wilson, Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission, at an event to celebrate Israel’s 66th Independence Day recently. Our brief chat was focused on Section 18c of Racial Discrimination Act. He has some views in regards to this and its impact on Freedom of Speech. When informed that I have a Blog and have written a post (http://tinyurl.com/pqfv8ct) which has also been published by many newspapers (http://tinyurl.com/qcs2gvv, http://tinyurl.com/ldnwkar, http://tinyurl.com/qd6xjjv) with my views arguing why Section 18c should not be repealed, he expressed his interest to write his views on my Blog. I agreed to have his views as a “Guest Blogger”.

Here are Tim Wilson’s views, which have been reproduced without any changes.Tim Wilson Australian Human Rights Commissioner

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It is not in anyone’s interests, especially minorities, to undermine Australia’s liberal democratic values, impose censorship or encourage inequality before the law.

Australia is a great country. Like all countries it is on a long journey to become a more perfect society.

People come to Australia from across the world because it offers a liberal democracy and respects the human rights of individuals to stand up, speak out and seek out opportunities. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you came from.

Everyone in Australia is expected to treat others equally and with respect, and that includes treating everyone equally under the law.

Equality before the law is a basic human right. It is also an important principle for minorities. Inequality before the law rarely favours minorities.

If there is anything that is likely to lead to resentment between different sections of multicultural Australia, it is that laws treat some more favourably than others.

Yet, that is precisely what the current wording of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act does.

Coupled with the importance of free speech, that is why so many people support changes to the law. Supporters range from academics, to politicians, newspaper columnists, to representatives of minority communities and civil rights activists.

The current Racial Discrimination Act has always been controversial.

It was preceded by three significant national inquiries that dealt with tackling racism. None of the three recommended that Section 18C should exist in its current form. The then Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission expressly recommended against laws of this kind.

Under Section 18C it is unlawful to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” a person on the basis of their race.

The current laws go much further than hate speech laws in India which focus on the promotion of disharmony between groups in the community.

Australia’s laws have a chilling effect on free speech and can lead to censorship.

The debate is not about if we should change the law, it is about how the law should be changed.

The Attorney-General, George Brandis QC, has put forward an exposure draft of a possible reform.

The proposal is not final. Feedback from members of the general community is being considered for inclusion to improve its current wording and identify shortcomings.

The principle objective of the Attorney-General’s proposal is to shift the focus from stopping speech that people simply do not like, toward outlawing vilification and abuse.

Australia’s law sets an incredibly low bar on restricting free speech. The bar is set so low the standard in the law is based on the emotional response that people have to speech they don’t like.

Free speech is a basic human right. It is afforded to everyone. From a human rights perspective, the basis of limiting free speech is when it comes into conflict with other core human rights. No one likes hearing things they find offensive. But there is no right to not hear offensive speech.

By comparison, we know that censorship is dangerous. Censorship is rarely used as a tool against the majority, its axe normally falls on minorities.

But the problem with the law isn’t just about the type of speech that is censored, it is also how it is censored.

The test to see whether speech offends, insults, humiliates or intimidates is highly subjective. It is not based on the standard of a reasonable Australian based on all of the circumstances.

The test is based on the attitudes of a person within the group mentioned. That means the test shifts depending on what is said. That is not fair.

That is why the Australian Human Rights Commission accepted the proposal of the Attorney-General in his exposure draft to amend the Racial Discrimination Act that the test should be based on the attitudes of an average Australian.

So long as the test takes regard of all of the circumstances, the Attorney-General’s revised test is much fairer than the current law. It would also make the Racial Discrimination Act more consistent with other anti-discrimination laws.

The Racial Discrimination Act does not operate like any other anti-discrimination laws. For example, the Sex Discrimination Act does not have a test like 18C. The Sex Discrimination Act does not restrict public speech on the basis of gender or sexuality that is offensive or insulting.

The Sex Discrimination Act targets harassment in the workplace where one person clearly has  a power relationship over another. The definition of harassment under he Sex Discrimination Act can just as easily apply to men as it can to women.

Ironically, the Racial Discrimination Act doesn’t have a specific measure targeting workplace harassment.

Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act is also highly ineffective in targeting the sort of behaviour that we all want to wipe out.

Racism can have real and harmful impact on people. That is not in dispute.

The question is not if we end racism, it is how?

We cannot legislate racism out of existence. If we could we would have done so already.

Racism can only be ended through cultural change. Cultural change is not aided by having the law treat people unequally. It is aided by having a culture that expects people to stand up against racism.

As Sydney Football Star and Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes, said recently “what we want people to do is self-regulate. That’s what we want all of us to do in the community, is self-regulate when we see something we don’t agree with”.

He continued “we all have core values, and when we see people go outside those core values, we should feel the right to say something and call that person out”.

The law is an incredibly ineffective way to stop racism. It provides for a long and drawn out process. Creating a culture where people are held to account for their conduct by their peers is more effective.

A cultural response is quick, immediate and others know what other Australians think of their conduct.

Importantly it doesn’t require inequality before the law, censorship or undermine the liberal democratic values that are central to why so many people came to Australia in the first place.

Tim Wilson is Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner. tim.wilson@humanrights.gov.au

Tim Wilson
Human Rights Commissioner
Australian Human Rights Commission

Level 3, 175 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

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What Indians in Australia expect from the Modi Govt

 

 
 
 

The new government should be proactive in considering the interests and welfare of the Indian community down under.

It is not a hyperbole to say that a new era has dawned in India with the swearing-in of the Modi Government on Monday, 26 May, 2014.

A decisive, “can do” leader, Sri Narendra Modi, is the Prime Minister. Indians, not just in India but around the world, are confident that things will change for the better and the Indian economy will grow rapidly.

People have expectations from the new government. While people have a wide variety of expectations, which they want the Modi Govt to deliver, there are some common themes in their expectations. Based on my interactions with many Indians in Australia, and based on my own thinking, there are a few things that people expect the new government to consider.

Prime Minister’s visit to Australia: There has not been any state visit by an Indian PM to Australia after the late Shri Rajiv Gandhi’s visit in 1980s. PM Modi should accept the invitation from Australia to schedule a state visit to Australia this year itself. Several Australian PMs have already visited India, but a reciprocal visit by an Indian PM is yet to happen. There should be time for the PM to interact with the community in at least one, but preferably two, major cities. The G20 summit is scheduled to happen in Brisbane on November 15 and 16, 2014. This will be a perfect opportunity for the Indian PM’s long overdue official visit to Australia too.

Genuine dual citizenship: This has been discussed and debated for long. There is an almost universal demand that overseas Indians be given a right to hold genuine dual citizenship with voting and property rights, if the country of their citizenship has no issue with this and if there are no security issues with granting dual citizenship to any particular overseas Indian. After all, Australia, USA, UK, NZ and many other developed as well as developing countries already offer this facility.

Visa on arrival for Australian citizens: Australian citizens, like many others including New Zealanders, should get the same visa-free arrival facilities in India. If this is not the case at present, it should be implemented without further delay.

Black money in overseas banks: Genuine, proactive and effective steps should be taken to tackle this menace and bring the money back to India within 12 months. No favour should be given to anyone irrespective of who they are or what connections they have. The decision to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for this purpose is good.

Effective anti-corruption body: A group of 10-15 people from civil society including judges, eminent jurists and overseas Indians (if possible) should be asked to review the Lok Pal Act, passed by the Lok Sabha earlier in the year, and suggest steps to rectify weakness to make it an effective corruption fighting body. This should be completed in the next 12 months.

The PM’s global Overseas Indians Advisory body: The PM should revamp his Global Advisory Body, constituted by the previous PM. People in it should be those who have significant presence and influence in their countries. The habit of Indian diplomats recommending non-descript and non-influential people for this body should eliminated.

Country specific Overseas Indian Advisory body: Countries with significant overseas Indian population (Australia is certainly one such country) should have an advisory body of not more than 10 people, which can be used for consultations and other advisory purposes, not only by the local GOI authorities/agencies, but also the relevant authorities/agencies in India.

Annual dialogue between Indian and Australian leaders: PMs, Foreign Affairs Ministers and Defence Ministers should hold annual meeting/dialogue, with venues for such meeting/dialogue alternating between India and Australia.

Free Trade Agreement (FTA): The pace of the discussions and negotiations should be accelerated so that FTA can be concluded by the end of 2015.

Bilateral Nuclear Trade negotiations: The pace of the discussions and negotiations should be accelerated with the goal to conclude it by the 30 June, 2015.

Bilateral and multi-lateral defence exercises between India and Australia: India and Australia should work actively to enhance their defence & strategic relations bilaterally and multilaterally in the pattern agreed prior to the 2007 Rudd Govt in Australia.

Hindi teachings in Australian Universities: To increase India’s soft power and increase the numbers of India-literate Australians, India should consider funding such teaching courses in some select Universities in Australia.

Facilitations of Australian Universities and TAFE to have campuses in India: Many Australian institutions are ranked quite highly in various world Universities ranking systems. Collaborations in this field should be actively facilitated and encouraged, following a pragmatic and win-win module.

Indian Consulate in Brisbane: Queensland is an important state for Indian investment. Indian business houses like the Adani group have an important and a significant presence in this state. It is important to have an Indian Consulate in Brisbane.

India House or Indian Cultural Centre in major capital cities: The Indian community has grown significantly in Australia. It is increasingly felt that such centres are required, at least in Sydney and Melbourne. While some funding will be raised locally, a significant part of the funds should come from Indian Govt. Govt of India (GOI) Funds, if any, allocated for something of this nature to be established in the Indian Consulate premises in Sydney CBD should be reviewed and re-allocated for a centre of this nature in areas like Parramatta or Blacktown, where the Indian community has a substantial presence. Sydney CBD is not a practical or appropriate site for an Indian Cultural Centre.

Overseas Indians’ property in India: Many overseas Indians are seeing that their properties are illegally occupied and face threats to their safety when they visit India. Court cases go on for extended periods of time. IPC should be amended to tackle this menace.

Interactions between GOI agencies and Indian Australian community: It is often felt that GOI authorities in Australia do not interact with people sufficiently, thus leading to a communication gap. It is a common experience that there is a significant gap between what we expect and what is delivered. Steps should be implemented to improve the situation.

Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs visit to Australia: With approx. 500,000 people of Indian heritage in Australia, a biennial visit of Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs (The Hon Sushma Swaraj) or her deputy, The Hon Gen (Retd) V K Singh, should be included in the official GOI travel calendar. This will help facilitate interactions with the community and facilitate Overseas Indians’ investment in India.

Streamlined grievance redressal mechanism for Overseas Indians: Overseas Indian Affairs ministry has often not been very helpful and help has often not come in a timely fashion due to excessive bureaucratic influences. This should be reviewed and streamlined.

Exchanges between Academicians and civil Society leaders: We need regular bilateral exchange visits of academics, journalists, leaders and civil society leaders. This will help improve relations between the two countries. The scope and numbers should be increased.

This is our wish list, which we believe is doable, not difficult and will provide multiple benefits to various stake-holders, including India.

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/13th June, 2014

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This was originally published in Indian Sun News magazine, Sydney on 10th June, 2014.  http://www.theindiansun.com.au/top-story/indians-australia-expect-modi-govt/

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India should make Seat belts compulsory!

On 3rd June, 2014, Sri Gopinath Munde, Indian Union Minister for Rural Development, died at a Delhi intersection when a Tata Indica car hit his Maruti Suzuki SX4 car on the side where he was sitting in a back seat. Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that Mr Munde was not wearing a seat belt. Seat belts are compulsory in India only for drivers and front passengers, not for back-seat passengers.

Due to the impact, Mr Munde sustained Cervical Cord injury and Liver rupture, leading to acute hemorrhagic shock. This caused Heart attack, followed by death. Mr Munde was taken to the nearby hospital, but could not be revived.

This tragic death has opened a debate. Many are demanding that seat belts should be made compulsory for all passengers in a car. Hefty fines should be imposed for those who do not follow the rule.

With the unwelcome statistics (quoted below), there is no doubt that India needs to lift its game in regards to roadside safety.

India should work hard, and speedily, to change the undesirable statistics of its roadside loss of lives.

India contributes 12% of total worldwide Traffic fatalities.

In 2012, 1.4 Lacs (140,000) people lost their lives due to road/traffic accidents in India. One could assume that quite a significant numbers would be those who were passengers in vehicles and were not wearing seat belts.

In the same year, 26 Lacs (2.6 million) people sustained serious injuries on the Roads.

These numbers may well be an under-estimate because of less than standard documentation and record-keeping at least outside metropolitan cities and particularly in regional/rural areas.

It is known that speeding, drink-driving, poor compliance in following traffic rules, as well as pathetic state of Indian roads are responsible for such bad statistics.

This should change, and change soon.

Indian Government should initiate the process, while working with relevant stake-holders including State Governments, to make it compulsory for all passengers to wear seat belts, just like it is in all of Western World. In Australia and many other countries, there is hefty fines for the driver if any passenger is found to be not using seat belts.

It is known that;
1. seat belts reduce the risk of death and serious injuries by approx. 50%,
2. there is 30 times more risk of ejection out of car if a seat belt was not used,
3. three out of four (75%) end up in fatalities if they are ejected from a car.

An education programme to make people aware of traffic safety rules is required, and enforcement of these rules must be stepped up.

While at it, it is crucial that state of Indian roads must be improved so that they do not continue to act as death-traps.

Nobody can argue against the need of Roads and traffic safety in India receiving urgent attention.

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/6th June, 2014
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Diversity is a reality, not a dirty word in Australia!

I was a member  of the panel to discuss a major research presentation, conducted by Pollinate Group (CEO Howard Parry-Husbands) on behalf of SBS, as part of Vivid Sydney programme on Wednesday, 28th May, 2014, at Museum of Contemporary Arts (MCA).

Other panelists were Prof Ian Buchanan, University of Wollongong and Dr Eman Sharobeem, Immigrant Women’s Health Service and Human Rights Campaigner.

It was attended by more than 150 key people from various segments including opinion leaders, media and businesses. SBS Managing Director, Micheal Ebeid, was there too. Ricardo Goncalves, SBS News Presenter was the MC. 

The key points of the research were:

  • The representative sample had fair distribution of age, gender, location, income and language spoken at home.
  • Australians recognise the key Australian traits of Optimism & positivity, Give it a go, Fair Go, Can do, Easy connections, Expressive nature with not much deferential language.
  • Australians believe in seeing good side of things, rather than dwelling too much on what went wrong or whinging.
  • They are concerned about immigrants coming in and not buying into our way of life, threat to work life balance and threat around shrinking space in the neighbourhood.
  • They recognise that identity of Australia has changed significantly over the last 20 years.
  • Australian identity has shifted towards a more complex, progressive and cosmopolitan identity.
  • Peoples current behaviour follows more indivisual path, being more active and seeking new experiences.
  • Australians are seeking meaningful connections on shared passions and interests.
  • There is a steep rise in materialism accompanied by more creative, open-minded mindset, but also some increase in being social. This follows the pervasive consumer model with a shift to things rather than people, from relationship values (‘us’) to indivisual traits (‘I’).
  • Australia becoming more diverse and yet more conservative because immigrants bring conservative values.
  • Those closest ie family and close friends are the most trusted.
  • People are certain of one thing: the future will be even more multicultural.
  • Australians are divided on their views of future prosperity: over a third think their lives will improve and over a quarter think it will deteriorate.
  • Australians are most concerned about economic cost of living and housing, deterioration of healthcare and job/employment security.
  • Australians are also concerned about quality of Government/politicians.
  • Most Australians believe immigrants should adopt our values and also agree that we are all immigrants.
  • The overall theme is that Australia is a young nation of immigrants with a great lifestyle who should all adopt the same values and traditions.
  • Recent immigrants often bring more conservative values with them and may in fact reinforce a more conservative mindset.
  • People of non-English background have higher perceptions of arts and culture and have higher beliefs on “Can do/Lucky country/Land of opportunity” values of Australia.
  • There appear to be 3 views of Australia: Cosmopolitan (embrace change and see opportunity), Open-minded ( Open to change as long as it does not conflict with my values) and Conservatives (reject change and react to changes as a threat).
  • A more multicultural future is viewed with either “horror” or “wonder” depending on whether you fear diversity or welcome it.
  • ABC and SBS have the highest trust and credibility from the media, followed by Seven and Nine.
  • Diversity in programming is highest in SBS. ABC and others are far lower in this regard.

With approx. 25% Australians born overseas and approx. 50% of Australians having at least one parent born overseas, diversity is something which is undeniable and not invisible.

Despite this, diversity is however not visible in Media, debates on policies, views, marketing and advertising. This is neither smart nor right.

It is about time that this sad, regressive and disappointing reality in Australia is addressed effectively. Media houses like Fairfax, News Corps, ABC, Chanel 7, Chanel 9, Chanel 10 and Radio stations should review this and act positively.

Diversity is not a dirty word. It is existing in Australian population, and is needed and in fact overdue in many spheres of Australia including Media and politics.

Advertisers can not only be the harbingers of change but will also do a great favour to themselves if they stop ignoring this significant segment of our society when allocating money for marketing and advertisement.

After all, multicultural community is neither invisible nor stays away from spending money and buying (consuming) things.
 
Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/6th June, 2014

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Gold Coast City’s Goodwill ambassador to India:My views in Gold Coast Bulletin!

Gold Coast Mayor, Tom Tate, has chosen Aiysha Saagar as a Goodwill ambassador to India. Aiysha has a few topless pics which she posted in her website. This has created a controversy. Aiysha is of Indian heritage. She is hoping to be a Bollywood actor and lives in Mumbai as well as Gold Coast. The Gold Coast Bulletin published a column named, FaceOff, which covered it. I was asked to give my views. Here is the link. Faceoff-opinion-GCBulletin What do you think?

Faceoff-opinion-GCBulletin

Yadu Singh/Sydney/3rd July, 2012

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IIFA in Sydney: How, when and by whom?

Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan with wife/actre...

Image via Wikipedia

IIFA Awards [The International Indian Film Academy Awards] are the most prestigious awards from Bollywood, the premier movie industry in India, and are presented every year by the International Indian Film Academy to recognise professionals and artists from Bollywood.

The first IIFA event was held in 2000. So far, they have been held in different countries around the world, details of which are as follows.

2000: Millennium Dome London, United Kingdom,

2001: Super Bowl Arena, Sun City, South Africa,

2002: Arena of Stars Genting, Highlands, Malaysia,

2003: Coca-Cola Dome, Johannesburg, South Africa,

2004: Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore,

2005: Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,

2006: Dubai International Convention Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates,

2007: Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield, United Kingdom,

2008: Siam Paragon, Bangkok, Thailand,

2009: The Venetian Macao, Macau, Macau,

2010: Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka,

2011: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada.

Social and economic benefits of hosting IIFA Awards are many. No wonders, there is a fierce competition among cities to host the event.  IIFA reaches out to millions of viewers and fans across the world providing them with an opportunity to see legends of Bollywood together on one stage. Toronto IIFA event was reportedly watched by >600million viewers. The Academy’s main objective has been to develop and promote relationships between film industries and organizations across the world. The focus is on foreign exchange and interaction, creating a common forum and meeting ground for enhancing business opportunities, apart from showcasing Bollywood cinema.

To prove that the hosting city benefits greatly, here is the latest evidence. Government of Ontario invested US$ 12 million to host 2011 edition of IIFA at Toronto and believed to have gained direct economic impact of over US$ 100 million in tourism. The organisers felt the returns of holding IIFA far exceeded the expectations estimated by the Government of Ontario.

IIFA have never been held in Australia, but Melbourne is trying to host them. They have already started the process.

Sydney is truly a world city with plenty of attractions for the Bollywood artists and fans. After all, who can beat Opera House, pristine beaches like Bondi Beach, and Blue Mountain, along with Hunter Valley which is only a short distance away? NSW can rope in our cricketers too, knowing that some of them have a huge fan following in India. Sydney will beat any city, if it decided to bid for IIFA. NSW should definitely bid for it, as it is indeed going to bring heaps of tourists around the time of the event, and thereafter too, which should generate more than $200 million for the NSW economy. With the flow-on effect on the inward tourism from India, and with the improved image of Australia as a travel destination for Indians, this benefit may well cross 500 millions easily over the short to medium term. I know, I am not a NSW treasury official and can’t predict what the monetary outcome of this event would be for NSW, but one thing is certain that it would be beneficial to the economy.

If IIFA is held in Sydney, they will be the best ever (to match the best ever Olympics) and will help strengthen ties between India and Australia. Basically, there are many positives, and no negative.

Organisations of Indian Australians, and Indian Australians in NSW generally, can play a vital role by helping the NSW Govt in the bidding process. There are >150000 people of Indian heritage in Sydney [more if you add the fans of Bollywood from Asian and Middle Eastern backgrounds], who would be a potent force on behalf of NSW in attracting the event for Sydney.

My discussions with many prominent people have given me a clear impression that they would love to have IIFA in Sydney in the near future. To succeed in this however, the work has to start soon. It might be a bit late to bid for 2012, but we can start the process now for 2013 event or thereafter.

NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell is visiting India with a trade delegation next month. I think, it would be a perfect opportunity to initiate the process before the visit and follow it up during the visit.

I, for one, can’t wait to see IIFA event in our beautiful city, Sydney!

PS: I am not in favor of frauds and fake people, with no integrity and value system, getting anywhere near events like IIFA, because they will destroy the whole concept and the brand image. We all know that there are people who can con people to make money, and are very keen to promote themselves as event organizers. They operate with no principle and have no ethics.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/25th October, 2011

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OZ Uranium to India:my article in Mining & Technology Australia Journal.

Mining and Technology Australia asked me to write an article on OZ Uranium to India. This magazine is an Industry journal. It has now been published.

Link is here>> http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1sqpz/MiningampTechnologyA/resources/index.htm Page 40-41.

I am keen to hear from you about your views, points and counterpoints. I enclose this Radio interview about Uranium mining in Australia. http://radioadelaidebreakfast.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/in-focus-uranium-mining-business-and-trade-2/

Yadu Singh/Sydney/12th July, 2011

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Australia’s new Skilled Occupations list [SOL] for immigration:Changes which were overdue!

Senator Chris Evans, Minister of Immigration of Australia has announced the new Skilled Occupations list [SOL] today.

It has excluded cookery, hair-dressing, community welfare and other low value trades/skills from this list but it does have doctors, Engineers, nurses, teachers, construction workers, IT professionals and accountants among others. I liked this list and support it fully. I spoke on this matter today and here are the links.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s2901431.htm

http://player.sbs.com.au/naca/#/naca/wna/Latest/playlist/Skilled-migrant-list-to-shrink/

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/new-list-of-occupations.pdf

As we all know, Australia’s international education is [or at least, it has been until recently] a significant source of income ie about $15 Billion/year and has been quoted to be the third biggest source of the economy. It has grown dramatically over the last few years. Chinese and Indian students were the backbone of this growth. This growth was more true for the private vocational sector as compared to the University/TAFE sector. It was estimated that about 80-85% of Indian students came to Australia to study in the private sector, most commonly in cookery related courses, hairdressing and community welfare. To cater to the increasing demands, a lot of private schools were opened by entrepreneurs, many of them did not provide proper and good quality of education. Exploitation of students was rampant and unfortunately, the quality control mechanisms were not as active as they should have been. When the problems in this sector were brought out in the open by Indian and Australian media and quality issues were taken up with seriousness by Australian agencies as a result, many of these private schools started to close down, leading to more difficulties to the students.

With the assaults on Indian students and hysterical and often exaggerated reporting by Indian media which damaged Australia’s reputation, Australian agencies finally decided to take the remedial actions to clean this sector. Multiple task forces were set-up and serious reviews were done. It became quite clear that Australia’s international education system has been rorted by many students, some migration agents and some education agents. Some students came to Australia with no interests to study. Even human smuggling has been mentioned as a way to send some so-called students to Australia. Some of these students had poor English, educational and financial backgrounds. False certificates of all sorts and even contract marriages were employed to bring the so-called spouses in many cases.

Many of these students were applying for the PR visa even though they did not have the requisite qualifications to be able to find the employment. They were able to get the PR only because their trades of cookery and hair-dressing were in the preferred list for immigration.There was a serious question of the suitability of these people to become immigrants of this country.

Finally, something has to be done and new skills list is the outcome.

Skills Australia-an independent body has helped bring this list out. This list will be updated annually.

Senator Evans has outlined that Australia’s immigration programme will be demand-driven, not supply-driven. He said that Australia needs teachers, doctors, nurses and IT professionals, not cooks and hair-dressers. He also said that Australia’s immigration programme can not be controlled or driven by international education only. Senator Evans is spot on here.

These changes were overdue but as people say, it is still better late than never.

Australia should attract and encourage the right type of immigrants with qualifications which we need.

International education and PR should not be linked. It was never linked in a legal sense but an expectation of this “link” was created by the marketing agents. It was known to every one including Australian agencies that PR lure was responsible for the spectacular growth of students numbers from India and China. Having said that, these students came to Australia because Australia allowed them.

While I support this new skills list whole-heartedly, I am concerned about the plight of those students who are already here. They and their parents have invested a lot of money-often mortgaged their homes and farms to send them to Australia. They came here with the expectation of PR and this was not totally their mistake. They came here under previous rules and had valid reasons to hold an expectation for PR Visa after completing the diploma.

The current and changed situation has shattered their hopes. This is akin to a humanitarian tragedy for them and their families. It is going to have a very serious ramification for some of them.

I do believe that some significantly fair transitional steps should be taken to consider their situation, provided they meet the English, training and work experience standards. I am generally against retrospective rules and their case is a classical example where it should not be implemented retrospectively.

Is there a case for a fairer transitional steps/strategies in these matters?

While I congratulate Senator Evans for this new Skills list, my view is also in favour of fairer transitional steps in this matter and I believe that there is a very strong case for this approach!

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/17th May, 2010

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Australia race debate:The enemy within! Hindustan Times [HT] article.

http://tinyurl.com/ycj47cs

This is the article in one of the top newspapers in India [Hindustan Times] by one of the Indian Australians, who lives in Melbourne and is the anchor of the Punjabi programme in SBS radio. Ms Manpreet Singh has done a wonderful write-up. Similar write-ups have been done by me and others through Blogs previously.

This is worth reading.

We need to do introspection to figure out what is happening, where we are going and what we need to do.

Indian students’ matter and its coverage in Indian media [which has often been very imbalanced and hysterical] has created a situation which has been very unfair for the image of Australia. We will need to take an open, assertive and bold stand in this matter as unfair portrayal of Australia by anyone affects all of us including Indian Australians.

We will have to deal with Indian media, specially TimesNow TV channel, and its main contacts in Australia, specially Gautam Gupta, to ensure Indian media stops the nonsense reporting about Australia. It is likely that we will need to interact openly and intensively with the Indian Gov leaders in New Delhi and Indian Gov officials in Australia on these matters.

We can not allow the unfair, injurious and imbalanced portrayal of Australia in India to go on unchallenged!

Best regards

Yadu Singh/Sydney/13th March, 2010

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Australia India Day [celebrating Australia Day and Indian Republic Day] function:Report

Report

Australia India Day Function

[Celebrating Australia Day and Indian Republic Day]

Held on the 24th Jan, 2010 [6-11PM]

Venue – Ryde Civic Centre, Ryde NSW 2112

 

Australia India Day Function Council celebrated its first Australia / India Republic Day at the Ryde Civic Centre, Ryde on the 24th January 2012.  The program was an astounding success with more than 500 prominent Indians, representatives from over 20 Indian Associations, and star-studded politicians from both the Labor and Liberal parties from State and Federal level attending this event. 

The celebration started with the singing of Indian and Australian anthems, followed by entre which was followed by the first part of the entertainment programme. The guests were welcomed by Harish Velji and the MC was Dr Yadu Singh. Vote of thanks was given by Ms Shubha Kumar.  

At no time in the past 20 years, any function organized by any Indian Association/s had such massive response for such events.  The only limiting factor in getting more numbers to attend the event has been the capacity of the Ryde Civic Centre function hall. 

One of the major aspects contributing to the success of this program was the enormous representation from both the Labor and Liberal parties. ALP took 2 tables and Liberals took 1 table in our function. More than 40 political leaders and party workers from both sides attended the event.  Prominent people from the political leadership included: 

Hon Ms Maxine Mckew [Parliamentary secretary, Fed Gov & representing Prime Minister of Australia], Hon Mr Joe Hockey [Shadow Treasurer, Fed Parliament & representing Hon Tony Abbott, Leader of Opposition in Fed Parliament],Hon Mr David Borger [NSW Minister], Hon Mr Peter Primrose [NSW minister], Hon Ms Barbara Perry [NSW minister & representing NSW Premier], Ms Angela D’amore [Parliamentary secretary, NSW], Hon Mr Laurie Ferguson [Parliamentary secretary, Fed Gov], Mr David Clarke MLC [Shadow Parliamentary secretary & representing Mr Barry O’Farrell, Leader of Opposition, NSW], Mr Phillip Ruddock [Shadow Cabinet secretary, Fed Parliament], Mr Greg Smith [Shadow Attorney General, NSW], Hon Ms Amanda Fazio [President, Upper House of NSW], Hon Ms Tanya Gadiel [Deputy speaker of NSW parliament], Mr Chris Hayes MP, Mr Michael Richardson MP and Mr Shaoquett Moselmane MLC.

Clr Mark Adler – Canterbury Council, Clr Tony Hay – Hills Shire, Clr Barbara Burton – Hills Shire, Clr Vaseekaran Rajdurai – Holroyd Council, Clr Bill Whelan, Hawkesbury Council, and Crl Trent Zimmerman, North Sydney Council also attended this function.

Hon Mr Amit Dasgupta, Consul General of India, Sydney and Mr Gautam Roy, Consul from the Indian Consulate, Sydney also graced this function with their presence.

In a highly emotional and charged up speech, Mr David Clarke [representing Mr Barry O’Farrell] from the Australian Liberal Party, said that if his child goes to India he is sure the parents in India would treat him as their son and look after him.  On a similar manner, he urged that the Australian Moms and Dads to treat the Indian students as their own sons and look after them.  He went on and paid tributes to India and its traditions by saying that ‘India practices what it preaches. 

Ms Barbara Perry [representing the Premier of NSW] spoke eloquently about the contribution of Indian Australians and declared that violence against Indian/international students will not be tolerated. She said that students are very welcome in NSW. She was dressed in Indian attire which people appreciated with enthusiastic applause. She spoke about the interest of NSW premier and Gov in working actively with the Indian Australians.

Hon Joe Hockey, speaking at the function, said the Liberal party is fully committed to its policy of supplying Uranium to India.  Dr Yadu Singh, while responding to Hon Joe Hockey’s speech encouraged the Labor party to consider similar policy and implement it as early as possible. He explained that the issue of NPT is not relevant in case of India after India has been given an India-specific exemption from NPT by the NSG [Nuclear Suppliers’ Group] in Vienna last year.

Ms Maxine Mckew also spoke very highly of India, Indian Australians and multi-culturalism in Australia. She also explained that India and Australia have a great relations and it will get even better despite some hiccups. She was very impressed with the enthusiastic participation of women Indian Australians in this function. Her speech generated a thunderous applause from the audience. 

All the speakers from both the major parties spoke highly of India, Indian traditions, Indian sports – in particular Cricket, and the Indian political landscape, which stood the test of times for more than 62 years since securing independence from the British rule in 1947. All speakers were enthusiastically applauded by the audience.  

The event was also graced by Mr Amit Dasgupta, the Consul General of India.  Speaking on the occasion the Consul General touched on two fundamental issues.  On the issues related to the Indian students the Consul General paid glowing tributes to the NSW Police force and the political landscape of NSW for containing the student issues in NSW.  As a clear indication to vindicate this matter the Consul General said that out of the 1340 attacks on Indian students in 2009, only 13 such attacks occurred in the state of NSW and South Australia – the States which fall under the jurisdiction of Mr Amit Dasgupta.  He further stated that these statistics do not however condone the vast majority of attacks on Indian students that occurred and still occurring in other States.  He urged that the law enforcement agencies and the political parties should work closely in this direction and ensure safety of the Indian overseas students 

On a second major issue, the Consul General spoke about exploitation of the Indian students by Indian business – in particular the food/restaurant industry whereby the restaurant owners pay less than the wages stipulated under the labor law.  He insisted that all business owners must do ethical business.  He further went on to say that ‘I will not attend any function where he is not assured of suppliers to that function follow ethical standards in conducting their businesses’.  The entire hall including all the politicians from both major parties echoed with a big applause. 

The overwhelming response to this event is an indication of the ‘changing times’ and ‘changing outlook’  to the leadership and responsiveness to the current issues and challenges being faced by various sections of the Indian migrant and student community living in the State of New South Wales.  

Surely the representation of more than 40 students from the International Student community is an indication that they want to hear from the leadership and also from the large number of politicians on their views and actions proposed to be taken to address their issues. The Chief of VETAB [Ms Margaret Willis] and her assistant, Mr Shona Tannock and Mr Robert Redfern, Commander, Parramatta Police command [representing NSW Police Commissioner] were present as our guests. Ms Willis’ and Mr Redfern’s presence was meant to send out the message that quality of training and safety of students are 2 key issues in relations with Indian students.

It is noteworthy that students had paid at a very subsidized rate and all others including the organizers, except a very small numbers of VIP guests, had bought the tickets for their participation in the function.

The representation from more than 20 Indian Associations is a clear indication which shows they are bewildered with the current policies and practices, and financial management of our current top associations and leaders. The one fundamental reason for this large support stems from the fact that they found a new leadership in the AIDFC which can respond to the current issues and make representations at both Australian and Indian Government levels with a solid and united voice.   Some of the major Indian organizations who supported the event included the India Club, The Sydney Sangat, Australian Punjabi Business Association, Australian Indian Business Congress, Punjab For Ever, The Australian Tamil Association Inc (ATA), Hindi Samaj and the Aligarh Muslim University Alumni Association (AMU) in addition to others.  

ACR International Tours and Travels added spice to the event by offering one return air ticket through Singapore Airlines for auction.  The auction added nice A$1,000 to the much badly needed money for the ‘benevolent fund project’. Mr Navneet Chaugar was the winner of this ticket. For the raffle draw which helped us collect about $750, the Good Guys offered a Plasma 26 inch TV which was won by Councilor Bill Whelan of the Hawkesbury City Council.  Congratulations to the winners! 

Media-both Indian and Australian, were represented with Indian Link, The Indian, Punjab Times, Hamare Rang [Pakistani] and most importantly, Channel 9 team present in the function. This was the very first time that Channel 9 crew was present in an Indian function.

Many other ethnic community leaders also graced the occasion with their presence.

The Future – the AIDFC Benevolent Fund

AIDFC has made a number of public announcements at the function to the community as a part of its commitment for the future.  Prominent among them is the creation and implementation of the AIDFC’s Benevolent Fund.  We are committed to get this fund going and make a significant contribution to the well being the Indian migrant and student community, our fellow Australian community and finally to our mother country – India.   

Finally we promise you that we will provide you a solid leadership and will representation at various levels.  We will have clean governance in all matters of the AIDFC management – in particular finance management. We will adopt an ‘open book’ approach in all these areas.  Consideration will be given to broaden the current AIDFC to include more Associations, individual members and businesses.  The community will be getting more frequent updates in the coming weeks and months! 

Ghungurus Group of Shalini Patel was the provider of the entertainment programme which was of 50 minutes duration and had the mix of Bhangra and Bollywood songs/dances. Every one enjoyed it tremendously.

Catering was done by Billu Group with great food, dessert and wines.

This function was so well attended and so well done that it has become a matter for the discussion among Indian Australians and the political eaders in NSW and Canberra.

This function has now become the talk of the town.
 
 JAI HO! 

Dr Yadu Singh

President

Australia India Day Function Council (AIDFC)

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31st Jan, 2010

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Indian students in Australia and India-Australia relations:My article and views.

http://www.foreignpolicy.in/journals_4.html

Inviting your views and comments.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/29th Jan, 2010

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My Interview on “A Current Affairs” of channel 9 Australia.

http://tinyurl.com/ya85bnx  [A Current Affairs Video]

This is the video from “A Current Affairs” programme of Channel 9, which has my interview on the fatal stabbing of a young man in Melbourne.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/5th Jan, 2010

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Fatal stabbing of a 21 yrs old young man in Melbourne.Please keep race out of the equation!

As we all know, Nitin Garg, 21 yrs old young man from India was fatally stabbed in Melbourne a few days ago. He was on his way to do night shift at a Hungry Jacks and was walking through a park where he was stabbed. He staggered to his work place, calling for help. He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital but could not be saved. Apparently, the knife had caused fatal injury to his vascular system/heart. Apparently, his wallet and other belongings were not touched. So, what happened here and why was he stabbed this ferociously, are the questions which are bothering all of us.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/please-help-me-im-dying-pleaded-knife-victim-20100104-lq5p.html

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/online-fury-over-stabbing-death-of-indian-man-20100103-lnb9.html

http://www.smh.com.au/national/fatal-decision-to-take-short-cut-through-park-20100104-lq7p.html

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/student-assaults-teach-some-harsh-lessons-about-racism-20100104-lq1i.html

http://tinyurl.com/yzqsll7

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/feelgood-sops-from-politicians-are-no-help-in-healing-a-mothers-heartbreak-20100106-lu82.html

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/indian-tvs-unsound-fury-20100106-lu8y.html

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/having-streets-filled-with-fear-is-a-frightening-way-to-live-20100106-lu8x.html

This is shocking to us. I am sure, this would be a shocking news to all decent Australians. It did not need to happen. He did not deserve to be killed in cold blood. Why did it happen and who did it, are the questions we all have right now.

His father had passed away about 6 months ago due to Liver cancer and his elder brother, a sister and his mother are naturally devastated. Their loss, agony and distress can’t be described. We have felt this loss of life in our own hearts. I was very sad, angry and had tears when I heard about it. I have a son who is older than him. It could have been any one’s son/brother.

Vic police is doing its investigation and have appealed to people to not jump to any presumption about the motive of the killers. Appeals have been made by the acting Premier of Victoria and acting prime minister of Australia, Ms Julia Gillard, to let Vic police do its job.  It is important that Vic police does a proper investigation, catch the criminals and prosecute them. These criminals need to face the full force of criminal justice system. Every one including Tony Abbott, Fed leader of opposition and Ms Julia Gillard, acting PM have condemned this murder.

Indian media, Indian Gov officials and Indian people in India have expressed their views and reactions about Nitin’s cold-blooded murder. There are all sorts of emotions which have come out. Blogs, online comments, TV coverage and print media have given due importance to this murder. They have mentioned this murder in the context of a long series of assaults of Indian students in Australia.

Some people have called Nitin’s murder as a racism based murder. This is a comment which I have heard from many people and have seen this mentioned in Indian media.

Since full facts are not available about who did it and why they did it, we really should not jump to any premature conclusions. Nitin was alone when he was stabbed. All facts will come out once the police investigation progresses. We must remember that Vic police did a good job in investigating the assault of Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, Ex AMA president and culprits were given very lengthy sentences. This is what should happen here too.

May I urge people to stay away from premature conclusions. Let us all wait for the police investigation to be completed. Please do remember that Australia is a multi-cultural society and a vast majority of people here are tolerant of one another. We do not believe that Australia, as a whole, is a racist society. We, of course, have a small number of people who do have the racist views and such people do come from all colours. Racist people are everywhere and no country is an exception.

May I urge people to treat this killing as a crime matter and not see it from a race angle. It is a fact that Australia, like other countries, does have a crime problem and victims/culprits come from all communities/races. I have a patient who is Anglo-Saxon and he is 6 feet 6 inches tall. He was bashed severely a few months ago in Seven Hills in Sydney. He had to be in the ICU of Blacktown Hospital for several days. His bashers were also white. My point is that criminals have no race or religion of their own. Frail and old people of all races get assaulted by these low lives.

Melbourne seems to be lot more in news than Sydney when we see the issues of assaults of students. Why is this the case is difficult to understand. I do wonder though whether policing in Victoria has some issues. I do wonder whether they should consult with NSW Police about the situation in NSW. We know that NSW police has anti-organised crime squads which is not the case in Victoria. Should this strategy be followed by Vic police is the question for Vic Gov and Vic police to consider. 

 Do we need to  have a public education campaign on “Australia says no to racism” on the line of the one against domestic violence, an effective crime control by effective knife/weapon control and an effective sentencing as the strategies, are something which must be considered too.

I would like to emphasize again that I do not believe that Indians are specifically targeted. I also believe that we have a crime problem in our cities and people from all races are the victims.

I am praying for the soul of Late Nitin and I am praying for his family members in India. Our hearts should go out to them. We would not even be able to imagine how much distress they are going through.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/5th Jan, 2010

singhyadu@gmail.com

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Mumbai Terror attacks of 26th Nov.This video is worth watching!

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1e4_1246490858

This video has it all, any one would want to know about how Pakistani-trained terrorists killed so many people in Mumbai. These so called non-state actors have support from state actors. They could not have done what they did if they did not have support from some from these state actors.

We ask Pakistani authorities to destroy the terrorist training places and terrorist organisations, operating from its soil.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/16th Dec 2009

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This FISA video on a student has serious problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKJ9_x4VLdc

I have seen this video from FISA.

There are some serious problems with it.

1. what was this student doing in this lonely road?

2. why does he throw his water bottle like that?

3. why did the Indian Porsche driver is so unhelpful? He drives off after giving the street directory to this lost fellow. Shameful.

4. Why did this Indian Porsche driver not give this lost fellow a lift?

I did not like this Video  which is totally artificial with no theme, meaning or purpose.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/14th Dec 2010

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Mumbai Terror attack 26/11/08:What are the lessons?

I remember getting a call from Rahul Jethi, a banker in Sydney, and a good friend and whose brother is in Indian army, early in the morning of 27th Nov 2008 [Sydney time which is 5.5 hours ahead of Indian time], about the terrorist attack in Mumbai. I switched the TV on and saw the reporting of the attack. It made me sad and angry at the same time. As it became clearer that LET was involved, I became more angry. I was helpless as I could not do much to help the people in Mumbai.

I watched the attack unfold and kept myself updated through the days. I kept reading the statements from leaders from all over the world. Thankfully, Kasab [the lone terrorist survivor] was arrested. I was angry that pakistan kept denying the nationalities of the terrorists even when the evidence was overwhelming. That has become the standard operating procedure for Pakistan. Shameful and outrageous!!

By now, we have details of Kasab’s interrogation/trial, and have seen the reports in various channels including ABC Australia, CNN and BBC.  Only recently, Farid Zakaria covered it in CNN GPS programme. A great deal is known by now. It is all clear that 10 terrorists came from Pakistan and LET was the sponsoring terrorist organisation. These terrorists were trained in Pakistan. The whole world is asking Pakistan to bring the perpetrators [supporters/sponsors] of the Mumbai terrorist attack to justice.

Lot of things have changed since 26th Nov, 2008. I hope, things would keep moving in the right direction to prevent further terrorist attacks in India. The whole world has to work against the menace of terrorism. Either Pakistan changes its ways itself or the world forces it to change. There is no alternative option.

So many people lost their lives for no reason. This has to end.

As I see it, following come to my mind;

1. India will continue to have attacks of this nature because some elements in Pakistan are hostile to India and have an agenda to harm India. Some inside ISI and Pakistan army are madly fundamentalists and are pathologically inimical towards India.

2. India is a vast country with long borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, from where these terrorists do cross into India and will keep crossing in future too. We have to do every thing to reduce if not prevent it. India must identify illegal Bangladeshi stayers in India and expel them without much delay. Throw them in the ocean if we have to but they can’t be allowed to stay in India. No vote bank politics please!

3. The whole world has to force Pakistan to dismantle the terrorist organisations and their infrastructure to prevent attacks from Pakistan. USA and Europe are crucial in this. India must keep working with the world powers to force Pakistan to change its ways. India needs to have the right people in the ministry of external affairs to be able to have a desired effect in this matter. Shashi Tharoor is a competent minister with the contacts and experience in these matters and may be, he should be made the cabinet minister.

4. India has to improve the intelligence gathering capability significantly.

5. India has to improve the command structure to face such attacks effectively and efficiently. There was a significant delay in getting NSG commandos to Mumbai during the attack. They had to wait for hours before a plane could be arranged to fly them to Mumbai. That is outrageous. India needs to have a proactive thinking rather than a reactive one. Even the chief minister Mr Deshmukh took more than 4 hours to return to Mumbai.

6. Indian media must be forced to follow certain rules during such attacks. Media was showing the live coverage of the attack which was used by the terrorists’ minders/handlers in Pakistan to guide the terrorists. It was not helpful. I dare say, it led to many more deaths than it would have been otherwise. Indian media needs to be told that certain things are not on. Their TRP battle is not above human lives and national interests.

7.1. India has to become ruthless in investigating and prosecuting those who are involved in terrorism and those who are supporting such elements. There should be a speedy trial. Once convicted, these terrorists should be punished severely without any delay. It is not a good idea to keep convicted criminals like Afzal Guru to stay in the jail because his mercy petition is pending with the president for this unusually long period.  Why is his mercy petition pending with Indian president for years? This is outrageous! Those dreaded terrorists who were released during the Indian Airlines plane hijack, were also in the Indian prison for years without a trial. India has done a good job by establishing a national investigation agency [NIA]. NIA officials should be given freedom to work independently without any political pressure.

7.2. India must not allow any segment of its society to feel alienated. All opportunities/benefits must be truly available to every Indian irrespective of their region, religion or caste. Nation building must be taken up with redoubled vigour.

8.1. India must have a campaign to do public education to make people aware re how to keep the eyes/ears open to anything unusual and what to do when a terrorist attack is happening. We saw a big crowd of onlookers during NSG [National Security Guards] counter-attack which is not smart. Where was the crowd control?

8.2. The civil police must be trained properly. It is not a good idea for top police officials to be in one single car which was not bullet proof. This was the case even when they had access to the bullet proof vehicles. This led to costly loss of lives of the leaders of police force. We hear that Mr Karkare and others did not receive immediate help after being wounded. One wonders whether some of these great policemen would not have died if we had an efficient medical, police and rescue systems.

8.3. India and Indian public needs to do every thing to look after the near/dear ones/dependents of the brave security men/women who give their lives to protect us and the country. Gov authorities need to do many things to let people know that India has utmost respects and gratitude for such brave men/women.

9. Indian leaders were issuing the statements after statements but not much came out of that. We should learn to show results rather than just talks.

10.1. India needs to improve its military capabilities in such a way that Pakistan or its supporters do not dare look towards India. We need to revamp the capabilities of our air force, navy and artillery.

10.2.While working on the military capabilities, India needs to work with redoubled vigour to settle the outstanding issues with its neighbours.

I am keen to hear from you with your views on these matters.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/27-11-09

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Dr Mukesh Haikerwal’s bashers sentenced for long prison terms:Australia says, “we will not accept the crimes”.

http://tinyurl.com/ykq7778

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/indians-abroad/Long-prison-sentences-to-attackers-of-Indian-origin-doctor-in-Australia/articleshow/5241987.cmshttp://www.indianexpress.com/news/long-prison-sentences-to-3-attackers-of-indian-doc-in-oz/543159/

I welcome the prison terms for the criminals who bashed Dr Mukesh  Haikerwal,  a  Melbourne GP. Dr Haikerwal is a well known medico who is an ex-president of Australian Medical Association [AMA]. Criminals Alfer Azzopardi, Michael Baltatzis and Sean Gabriel have been sentenced to 18 and a half years, 16 and half years and 9 years and 9 months long prison terms respectively by Judge Joe Gullaci.

A message will go with these long prison sentences that Australia will not tolerate the crimes.

 This Victoria Judge and Victoria police did a good job. The whole matter was investigated, prosecuted and sentences awarded in about 1 year which is quite fast. In many countries including India, it can take many years.

Thank you Justice Joe Gullaci. 

Thank you also to the police team which did a good investigation and the DPP [Director of public prosecution] for the effective prosecution.

Yadu Singh/Orlando*/18-11-09

www.twitter.com/dryadusingh

*I am attending American Heart Association Conference at Orlando, Florida currently.

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Corruption Perception Index [CPI]: NZ at 1, Australia at 8 and India at 84th place!

http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2009/cpi_2009_table

Have a look at this table of Corruption perception Index [CPI] from Transparency International [TI], which places NZ at the top, Australia at number 8 and India at 84th.

 I have lived in all 3 countries and know the difference. NZ and Australia are far cleaner as far as the impact of corruption is concerned in day to day lives of the people.

Somalia and Afghanistan are at the bottom. Pakistan and Bangladesh are at 139th place. Nepal is even lower. You would see that whole South Asia is very poorly placed in this list. Bhutan is the only exception. Are we surprised? At least, I am not.

I would love to see India within the top 10.

As TI says, Corruption ruins lives, take action and fight back. Please do think about what we, the people, can do to reduce corruption in the world.

Yadu Singh/Orlando*/17-11-09

*I am attending American Heart Association Conference at Orlando, Florida, USA currently.

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Australia should sell Uranium to India:Australian Labor Party [ALP] should drop its objections to sell Uranium to India!

 

I was happy to see that Deputy Prime Minister, Hon Ms Julia Gillard and several federal ministers have visited India recently and now Prime Minister, Hon Kevin Rudd is visiting India in a couple of days.  He has already been to China, USA, Japan, Indonesia and many other countries, and I believe his Indian trip was truly overdue. His previous planned visit to India had to be postponed for various reasons. India is an important country for Australia on multiple fronts. Indian students’ issues aside, both countries enjoy friendly relations with one another.  We, Indians, in Australia, have a keen interest in seeing good relations between these two countries. We know that both Indian and Australian Governments are working seriously to fix the problems involving the Indian students.

Both countries must consider the interests of one another while doing business with one another. There are too many things which bind us together. These are our democracies, rule of law, multi-cultural societies, love of Cricket and memberships of the Commonwealth to name a few.

Australia and Australians are accepted as friends by India and Indians. I do not think the recent problems which our students faced, are going to cause a lasting damage to Australia-India relations.

Indian economy is growing and will keep growing for years to come. India is on a roll. The only thing which holds India down is the fact that it has a problem in regards to its energy supply. It needs more and more energy for all its needs. It is essential not only for India but it is also essential for the health of the world economy.

India has been exploring all sources of energy supply as its local supply is far shorter than what it needs. India has to import petroleum from the Arab countries and is debating about the gas supply from Iran. Iranian Gas is however problematic as it has to transit via Pakistani territory which is a problem in itself. Pakistani Govt authorities will never be able to guarantee a secure transit due to its weakness and the presence of the “non-state actors” there who are anti-India. In addition, India can not rule out a war between India and Pakistan which will create problems in the transit of the gas.

India is therefore forced to explore the option of atomic energy. It has no choice. Thanks to the leadership of The Prime Minister, Mr Man Mohan Singh and US President, Mr George Bush, India has an India-specific NSG exemption and India has been able to have bilateral nuclear energy deals with USA, Russia, France and some more countries. India needs a similar deal with Australia which will allow the Uranium sale to India. Australia has about 40% of world Uranium and sells it to China. NPT should not be an obstacle for Australia to sell Uranium to India after the NSG’s India specific exemption and with India’s impeccable record in nuclear non-proliferation.

We should remind ourselves about what the former Australian PM, Mr John Howard had said about such sale. He said that it would not be fair to sell Uranium to China and deny that to India. PM Howard was dead right.

It is therefore unfair for the ALP Gov to deny Australian Uranium to India. NPT issue is not relevant in regards to India as India has an impeccable records in these matters. Australian Foreign Minister Mr Stephen Smith’s press conference in New Delhi is worth going through. It is available through DFAT website. India has never been involved in nuclear proliferation unlike Pakistan and China. China is a NPT signatory but its record in these matters is not that great. Every body knows the nexus between China and Pakistan. We should not forget how North Korea got its atomic bombs. Pakistan would not have supplied anything to North Korea without the consent of China. Manuals in Chinese language were found even in Lybia which tried to buy things from disgraced proliferater AQ Khan of Pakistan.

Simply put, it makes no sense for Australian Uranium going to China but not to India. In fact, there is more justification for Uranium sale to India. It is fully justifiable if ALP drops it objection to selling Uranium to a non-NPT signatory country like India because India has a fault-free records in proliferation matters and this fact has been recognised by the world with the India specific NSG waiver. Australia itself supported this exemption actively.

I therefore urge the Australian PM and ALP to give India a “fair go”. This is what is expected from a friendly country. It is not fair to bind Australia with the NPT dogma and not see the whole issue in a realistic way. A friend has to see the problems of the his/her friends properly. Australia is a friend of India. It showed it by supporting the NSG exemption for India in Vienna last year. It shows it by supporting a permanent position for India in UNSC. It is about time that we see it once again by seeing Uranium trade between Australia and India. As we understand, it [ALP] would not have any political fall out from its decision to sell Uranium to India because the Coalition is already in favour of doing so. It should not be a problem to amend Atomic energy Act, giving an India-specific exemption for Australian Uranium sale to India.

I urge my Australian Indian friends to lobby with their local MPs on this matter. We need to pool our energies in persuading the Australian Gov to sell Uranium to India.

I and thousands of my friends in Australia do believe strongly that Australia should sell Uranium to India. We find this refusal to sell Uranium to India to be unfair and illogical. India needs new and cleaner sources of  energy generation and nuclear energy is at the top of its list. Nuclear energy will not only help India but it will help the whole world as it will reduce pollution and carbon emission.

A time has come when Australia sees the issues properly and does the right thing. That right thing is to sell Uranium to India. PM Mr Kevin Rudd has a perfect opportunity to declare Australia’s intentions during his visit to New Delhi in a couple of days.

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/09-11-09 

singhyadu@gmail.com

www.twitter.com/dryadusingh

 

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“Made in China” is now “Made in Egypt”: A lesson for India!

@dryadusingh http://bit.ly/2h2Q8l

“Made in China” can be “Made in Egypt” as this article from Sydney Morning Herald [SMH] is suggesting. This is very smart as USA and other countries have quota for different countries’ exports to USA.

Indian’s economy is growing but it will grow better if we are smarter. You can see how China is investing in Africa and what benefit is going to China in all fronts-economic, general goodwill, political and diplomatic.

As one of our VEDAs says, “Let the good ideas come from all angles and all sources” and China is not excluded for the source of ideas. 

Yadu Singh/Sydney/09-11-09

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Indian Australians:are we relevant in Australia & its systems?

There are about 300000 people of Indian heritage in Australia. About 100000 Indian students are in Australia too. Our numbers are probably more if we take Indian people from Fiji, Malaysia, South Africa and other countries into account. Basically, we have a significant mass of people from Indian background in Australia.

We are nicely represented in Medicine, law, teaching, accounting, IT and banking but not so in the higher level of administration and politics. Talking about the politics, there is not even a single person from Indian heritage in the state parliament or Federal parliament. This is not going to change in the near future either. This is so despite several of us in the major political parties, usually as cheer squad members.

Is it so because people with questionable calibre are in the political parties and such people do not have what a leader must have- the capacity to lead or is it because political parties are happy to take support from us but not willing to give us a share in the power? There are merits in both arguments.

I for one believe that we will not get what we should unless we do certain things. We have to “arrive” at the scene. We have to become politically active and smarter. We have to participate in the process, rather than just being happy with some photographs with  the ministers. We have to become demanding.

To achieve something in the political arena, we have to identify people among us who can lead. We have to unite our community too. “Unite our community” does not mean ghettoing ourselves however as we are very much a part of the broad Australian community. We have to achieve many things as part of Australian community.

Someone can ask  whether it is important that we have one or more Indians in the political power. It is really not that important if you think about it superficially. It is however important when you think about it more deeply. We are part of Australian community and must be part of Australian political systems. Politics affects us from all the angles and we need to participate in it.  If we participate in it, then we must get our share in the power too. Remember the ultimate justification for us to be in the political power. This is what we say “why not?”.

You may not agree with me but that is my view. I welcome your view point.

We will achieve many things in this country and be more relevant in the processes here if we;

1. join political parties in bigger numbers

2. participate in the political processes and are willing to take leadership roles in the systems/parties

3. become more supportive of right type of people from any community but do not hold it against a person if that person is from our community. We need to rise above our region/language based identities and take our “Indian” identity.

4. unite our own community which has hundreds of associations, often in the same community.

5. we persuade assertively/actively those “leaders’ who have been in their positions for years without any real productivity or outcome, to move aside.

6. work for a genuine umbrella group/organisation which can represent all of us. The constitution, membership, agenda and leadership of such group/organisation should be transparent and dynamic with potential for required changes to fit with the prevailing circumstances. United Indian Associations [UIA] falls sort of these goals significantly. UIA can however reform itself if it is honest to its published goals. The Jury is out whether UIA can reform itself though. I have seen two examples recently which do not give me lot of hope however. High Commissioner of India had a meeting with Indian community leaders in Canberra last Wedbnesday. Everybody who is anybody in our community from all over Australia was there but no body from top 3 of UIA office bearers [President, Vice president and secretary] was there. Similarly, in the meeting with NSW Premier yesterday, neither the president was there nor the vice president. UIA secretary was there but the person who “spoke on behalf of UIA” was Raj Natarajan who is not in UIA executive committee [EC] currently. This is indicative of a dysfunctional organisation. This is sad but true that UIA is not able to lead us. Our community needs lot more than what UIA is able to deliver. It is the capacity issue. UIA  needs to shape up or ship out! Oh yes, UIA leaders need to keep in their mind that they are not particularly popular in our community and they can’t blame any one else except themselves for this situation. UIA leaders, please remember that our community needs lot more than a “MELA” [fair] to show as the output from UIA. I ask you to lead all of us but do you have what you need to have to lead us? We need the honest answers! I do not believe in criticising for sake of criticising only. To prove this, we are willing to help you and work with you with all the integrity and honesty, recognising that our community does not need one more association as we already have too many.

7. do everything to enhance the reputation of our community. Indian Australians have had a great reputation but it has been damaged recently. Some from our own community were exploiting Indian international students in all sorts of ways. Some of them did facilitate false work experience certificates, pay below-award wages, take bribes for work certificates and even arrange false IELTS certificates after taking some money. Some students have come to Australia, not to study but to have PR at any cost, often using fraud/false certificates. We need to demand the cleaning of rorts/scams and punishment for those who are involved in these rorts/scams.

8. have the Indian ethnic media which is committed to the restoration of our image. Publishing good reports or the photographs of such people [rorters/scammers] for whatever reason-friendship or advertisement dollars- should not happen.

9. network effectively among ourselves and other relevant people when it comes to the core issues in regards to our community. Uranium sale to India, more time in SBS TV/radio for India/Indian culture based on our numbers, statue of Mahatma Gandhi in a prominent place in Sydney, reception of the Indian community of NSW by the Premier of NSW as is the case for Chinese community of NSW and culturally appropriate/conducive nursing homes for our seniors are some issues which I can mention but there are many more.

10. learn to respect/support our people and shun the so called “Tall Poppy Syndrome” when we find that one of us is doing well. We should not have any problem if Neville Roach gets nominated to be a member of Indian PM’s Global advisory council or Susai Benjamin gets nomination for a membership in Multicultural advisory council of Immigration minister or Dr Yadu Singh gets interviewed by all the newspapers/TV stations on students’ issues. We need to curb our envy and not start attempting coups against our own people. I was disgusted to see hundreds of people, claiming leadership role on students’ issues during the peak of students’ trouble, forgetting that they were the ones who were exploiting these students. Even the “CHORs” [thieves] and looters from our community became leaders. Such below-standard people only made our work more difficult and gave us lots of anguish even when we were doing things for students without any personal benefit or conflict of interest. Thankfully, they have all disappeared. I did not see them in the meeting with NSW Premier yesterday. I was happy to note their absence, partly because they are good for nothing but more importantly, we are able to do lot more for our people without their insincere/harmful meddling. I would be meeeting VETAB/Ministry of education, NSW Gov on Thursday, 5th Nov in reference to Flying school students [School guys and students will be there too] and then chief of the NSW task force next week.

I am exhorting the Indian Australians to think over the issues we have and do introspection about where we are and where we are headed to as a community.

We need to work as a team if we want to achieve anything for any one we claim to serve for. Having said that, such team can not and will not have these “CHORs” [thieves] though.

I am ready and many of my friends are too but I am asking a question, “are you ready too?”

Yadu Singh/Sydney/03-11-09

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International students in Australia:Yet one more scam!

http://www.theage.com.au/national/crime-link-to-student-scam-20091030-hpwm.html

The whole International education in Australia is open to scams,  rorts and criminal activities. Serious actions are needed to clean this sector.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/01-11-09

 

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Student Visa Scam in Australia:One more story and one more angle!

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,26252691-12332,00.html

I am sick and tired of the scams, rorts and fraudulent acts on the name of Student Visa and International education in Australia.

Now, human smuggling has been mentioned.

Please clean it, investigate it and prosecute those who are involved in it.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/24th Oct, 2009

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FISA demands “More student Hotlines in all Indian languages” for Indian students in Australia:FISA must be kidding!

https://yadusingh.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/ten-point-charter-of-fisai-and-many-disagree-with-this-impractical-charter/

FISA presents itself as an association of Indian students in Australia. It had published a 10 points charter of demands.

 In addition to many impractical demands contained in this 10 point charter, it is canvassing for the help lines or hot lines in all Indian languages.

I am bemused and perplexed with this demand.

What is wrong with help line in English, FISA leaders? After all, students have passed IELTS exam which means they have proficiency in  English and Australia is an English speaking country!

May be, FISA leaders can explain their thought process!

For details on FISA’s charter, please click “FISA” category in this site.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/23rd Oct, 2009

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China-India history in a nutshell:This article from WSJ is worth a look!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125625173429702481.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB125621157646101033%26articleTabs%3Darticle

This article describes the history, positions, trade and problems between China and India in a nutshell.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/23rd Oct 2009

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Racist assault of Indian students in Melbourne: This sentence is inadequate, says DPP and appealed.I agree!

http://www.theage.com.au/national/man-jailed-over-racist-attack-on-indian-student-20091023-hcnr.html

A tougher sentencing regime is required to send out the message to these racist criminals. They need to rot in jails for a lot longer time.

It must be made very clear that Australian society would not tolerate racism, racists and racist crimes. Victorian Premier, Mr John Brumby, should order a review of the sentencing regime and make the punishment to be more stringent.

I am very happy to know that DPP [Director of Public Prosecution] has appealed against the inadequate sentence in this case. 

Yadu Singh/Sydney/23rd Oct, 2009

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India of my deams:What it should be but is not?

India is a country which has >1 Billion people, >400 million middle class, rapidly growing economy, increasing quality of life for at least the middle and upper classes and is being increasingly accepted as a global player. It received an India-specific NSG exemption for nuclear trade at IAEA, Vienna last year without signing NPT and despite the efforts from China to stall this exemption. It is one of the candidates for the UNSC permanent seats. Previously, India used to be bracketed with Pakistan but now it is with China. India and China are two countries which are mentioned as the engine heads for the global economy. These are not small achievements. We should be proud about this all.

Having said that, we should not be satisfied until India becomes the country with the highest/top GDP growth, economy, political/strategic/military strength, quality of life and a place in UNSC permanent membership.

We should become a caring society whose citizens are well-mannered, utmost moral and universally regarded as decent citizens. It would be difficult but not impossible.

India would have been at a much higher position if we did not have to deal with several deficiencies/problems which have become even worse. These issues have continued to drag us down from the growth path and our destiny.

If we want to be truly a global player, we have to deal with these issues/problems.

I will outline what I think are the issues which need to be dealt with;

1. Corruption: It has become a python which is strangulating all aspects of our national life. It is very common among the bureaucrats and politicians. LOK AYUKT, Independent Commission against Corruption and Courts would have to be given wide-spread powers to deal with this problem effectively and expeditiously.

2. Lack of accountability: No body seems to understand the concept of accountability. An engineer can pass a bridge which was built with substandard material and which collapses, killing hundreds of people with hardly any penalty for the engineer. A politician can mis-spend money on parks/statues etc when people are starving and no body can effectively question that politician today in India. A doctor and lawyer do poor jobs and unlike western countries, they are not held accountable in India. We have to learn the concept of accountability and practise it.

3. Ignorance of rights and obligations concept: We may know what our rights are but not many are willing to follow the concept of obligation which goes hand in hand with the rights. Public education via mass media is required.

4. Education: We may have millions with BA, BSc or PhD but often their knowledge is confined to books only. Practical and real education is lacking. If we are indeed educated, why will we allow the criminals to win the elections and why do we vote for a candidate based on the caste/religion? Our education system and curriculum need to be reviewed. significantly increased investment must be made to improve the standards in the schools and universities. It is shameful to see that no Indian Uni is in the top 100 World Universities.

5. Poverty: We have massive poverty and see poor people everywhere. Why have we not created the employment for our people by providing practical/vocational training? Why have we not created a proper welfare system for those who can’t find employment or can’t do any job due to physical/mental incapacity? The answers are obvious.

6. Health System: We have two classes of health system. Rich people can go to private hospitals and can get the world class treatment but poor people have nothing except some vitamins and third class antibiotics from the public hospitals. They are left to die at these public hospitals. Govt needs to invest in Public health. The concept of hygiene and preventive health needs to be promoted in our day to day work, life and business. We have to reduce the maternal and infant mortality.

6. Police: Our police is behaving as if India is still ruled by the British. They have no respect for the people and often, they behave as the criminals. Why the police is not able to be a professional force with associated requirements in crime prevention, investigation and prosecution? No wonder, custodial deaths are far too common. Major changes are needed urgently. National/State police commissions with involvement of relevant people including the public are needed to review what needs to be done to make our police force a good force.

7. Manners, etiquette, and public behaviour: Rudeness, arrogance and discourteous behaviour is far too common. If we can be  model citizens when out of India, why we can not be similar when in India? Urinating/defecating openly and spitting are just few examples which must be stopped soon. Public education via schools and mass media is needed. Penalty regime like Singapore will have to be thought about.

8. Public servants or the masters of public: Bureaucrats behave as if they are our kings/queens rather than public servants. Drastic changes are needed in their work, attitudes and behaviours.

9. Politicians: We have openly corrupt politicians and many are criminals. We should not allow any one who has been convicted of a set of defined crimes to contest election. Elections rules must be reviewed and revised.

10. Reservation: Reservation was brought in 1947 for 15 years but it has become permanent. Sons of IAS and ministers are getting the benefits of reservation even in IITs, medical institutions and judiciary. Caste based reservation must be stopped and people from disadvantaged parts of the society irrespective of the caste should be given help to improve themselves but there should be no reservation in either qualifying exams, jobs or promotions.

11. Judiciary:Trials can go on for decades before any judgement is delivered. Justice has to be delivered quickly. We would need more courts and judges to deal with this problem. No case can go on in one court for more than 1-2 years.

12. Government leaders:  Ministers should be appointed because they are capable, not because of any other reason. A foreign minister should be the one who can deal with the intricacies of foreign affairs and a finance minister should be the one who has concepts of finance management. Politicians and ministers should know that there is something called retirement. Either they retire themselves after 70 yrs or political parties should not select them after this age.

13. Public mentality and attitude: “Chalta Hai” attitude is harmful. “Muft Khori” is not helpful. We need to have the concepts of self-worth, self-esteem and nationalism instilled in us with the help of curriculum and mass media. Pan-Indian identity should be promoted and encouraged in preference to region, caste and religion based identity.

14. Compulsory English and computer education: Every student must be taught English along with a local language. English has remained the link language and Bollywood films has taken care of Hindi. Similarly, every student must have a minimum standard in computer/internet use and familiarity.

15. Civic sense and moral education: While our GDP/economy has grown, the civic sense and moral standards have fallen. You would see that rubbish is thrown out on the streets from the homes. No body lets the elderly get out from the buses/trains easily and helps them in doing so.  People do not care who falls as long as they get in the buses/trains. Profits and selfish gains are everything for a significant proportion of our population. Proper emphasis on Civic sense and moral behaviour must be given from the formative years.

16. Human rights and value of Life:We have the National Human Right Commission [NHRC] and similar ones in the state but we still have serious violation of human rights in India. “Life” has hardly any value. A doctor and a hospital will often refuse to treat a critically injured person only because they have not lodged a FIR. In the process, critically important time is wasted, leading to preventable fatal outcomes. An intense and massive mass media campaign on human rights and values will have to be commenced.  NHRC will need to be given more powers to investigate, prosecute and punish the culprits which often are the bureaucrats and police authorities.

17. Aged care: It is not uncommon that people do not care for their elders in India these days. This is not universal by any means but not uncommon either. The State must take initiatives to ensure that elderly people are able to live with dignity. Lok Sabha had recently passed an act which has provisions to protect elderly people from abuse from their relatives.

18. Naxalism:When the state is not doing what it must do, we see the births and growth of extra-Gov forces. Multi-pronged strategies need to be adopted in controlling this menace.

19. Terrorism: India will face this problem for long time because it is not likely anytime soon to have a good relationship with Pakistan. We need to remove our “soft image” and become ruthless in eliminating the terrorist elements. It does not serve a great purpose to keep a convicted terrorist in Tihar Jail for years when even supreme court has rejected the appeal. President of India must not keep the mercy appeals pending indefinitely.

20. Effective foreign policy: While we set our house in order effectively, we need to have a good foreign policy which is able to adapt itself with the changing scenario around us and far afield. It should be managed by those who are the most competent to run the Foreign affairs. We need to learn from China in  these matters and need to study how it has befriended Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mal Dives and Burma, often at our cost.

There is a need for a “Commission for national development”which should be entrusted with the job of finding out the priorities for the nation building and national development.

We may not like to admit it but we will need to study with full seriousness, the ways and methods which China adopted in achieving what it has in the last 30 years.

Having said all what I have said, it still remains a fact that nothing would be achieved until we, the people of India, change ourselves in regards to who we are, what is our self worth, what are our rights & obligations, what type of politicians and Gov we want to have, where we want to go, and where our country ought to be going. It is us that must change the most.

I will keep thinking on these topics and will keep updating this write-up. I look forward to your views.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/13-10-09

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President Obama gets the Nobel prize:is it premature?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/10/mixed-world-reaction-to-obamas-win/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/10/prize-seen-as-reward-for-not-being-bush/

Many people are wondering why and for what achievements did he get the Nobel? He was nominated in Feb 2009 ie 1 month after entering the White House. What has he achieved?

I thought the Nobel is for achievements, not for announcements and proposals. 

 

Yadu Singh/Sydney/10-10-09

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Top 100 Universities in the world: 2 from Australia but none from India!

http://www.ulinks.com/topuniversities.htm

It is about time that India invests more money in the education sector. Some of the Indian Universities are capable of being in the top 100 list. Reservation on the basis of caste is something which is not going to help. A teacher who gets his/her position from non-merit grounds can not be as good as the one who is there due to academic merits.

Food for thoughts for Indian minister for education, Mr Kapil Sibal!

Yadu Singh/Sydney/10-10-09

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Air India Pilots and cabin staff fight in the sky:Air India,Tussi [You] The Great!

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,,26165918-5017817,00.html

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/travel/hosties-pilots-in-plane-sex-punch-up-on-air-india-flight/story-e6frezhr-1225782957769

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/business/india-business/Air-India-pilots-crew-come-to-blows-at-30000-ft/articleshow/5085243.cms

Air India pilots and crews threw punches at 30000 Ft in the sky. Allegations of physical and sexual assaults have been made. FIR has been lodged. Police is investigating.

This apparently happened in front of passengers.

 Air India says that the safety of passengers was not at risk although some reports tell us that fight happened in the cockpit and then spilled over in the cabin.

Gross unprofessional, callous and irresponsible behaviour!

This is going to damage the brand Air India’s battered image and India in general.

Fast and fair investigation should be done and the guilty parties should be sacked summarily. In addition, they should face the criminal justice system for causing potential danger to the plane and passengers.

I travel with Air India in preference to other air lines.

I have to think twice now.

The Indian civil aviation minister, Mr Praful Patel and Air India board have serious job at their hands.

And I say “Air India, Tussi the great!”.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/06-10-09

www.twitter.com/dryadusingh

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Shashi Tharoor is right:we should work on 2nd October and 5th September too!

You have to love the tweets from the minister of state for foreign affairs, Gov of India, Mr Shashi Tharoor. They are informative, instructive and educative. He is a switched on and a tech savvy minister.

He got the unfair flak from Mrs Big Bindi AKA Ms Jayanthi Natarajan, Mr Ashok Gehlot and few more from AICC on his “Cattle class and holy cows” tweet but he made his point any way.

Now, his brilliant idea about us working on 2nd October is a gem of the idea.

When Bapu had himself said”work is worship” then why should we not follow him and work on 2nd October “Gandhi Jayanti? Why have the hypocrisy of claiming to follow Bapu and not actually follow his teachings? After all, in many countries including Vietnam, people celebrate the birth days of their greats, by working and not going on holidays on that day. 

I agree with you Mr Tharoor whole-heartedly. Way to go Mr Tharoor!

Thinking about it though, why should we stop at only 2nd October?

We should work on 5th September AKA “Teachers’ day” too. All teachers should teach, student study and others work their usual jobs on that day!

We need more brilliant ideas from the intelligent ministers in the Gov and the brilliant people among us!

AICC and UPA Gov, you are lucky to have a person of Mr Tharoor’s calibre! I am serious here.

Mrs Big Bindi, don’t you even try making issues with Mr Tharoor please! Leave him alone. He speaks for me and millions more!

Yadu Singh/Sydney/06-10-09

www.twitter.com/dryadusingh

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A crime is a crime. Do not always bring race into it:Look at this SMH report!

http://www.smh.com.au/national/student-guilty-of-murdering-flatmates-by-bludgeoning-and-stabbing-them-20091006-gks8.html

Look at this report in SMH.

People from any race can do a crime. Culprits and victims could be from any race, ethnicity and nationality. It is much better if  the “race” angle is underplayed and a crime is treated as a crime. This will avoid the unnecessary emotive dimensions.

This SMH article does not even state the race of any one involved in the crime.

I hope that Indian media can learn from this reporting.

Am I expecting too much?

Yadu Singh/Sydney/06-10-09

www.twitter.com/dryadusingh

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I tweet at www.twitter.com/dryadusingh

Join me and lets tweet!

 See my tweets on Melbourne assaults and UNDP quality of life score for India and Australia.

Work and tweeting:a great combination!

Enjoy!

Tweet…..Tweet….Tweet……

www.twitter.com/dryadusingh

Yadu Singh/Sydney/06-10-09

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Australia number 2 for Quality of life:says UNDP

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/australia-ranked-no-2-for-quality-of-life-20091005-gjfg.html

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/India-at-No-134-on-UN-Human-Development-Index/articleshow/5092047.cms

http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2009/chapters/

United Nations Development Program [UNDP] says that Australia is number two in the list of countries for the quality of life. Norway is on the top. Australia will probably topple Norway next year. USA and UK are 13th and 21st in the list. India and Pakistan are at 134th and 141st place in the list of 182 countries. China, Srilanka and Bhutan are higher than India. Niger is at the bottom. UNDP published its Human Development Report for 2009 yesterday.

 Hooray!

We know it already that Australia is a great place. Lets make it even better!

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/06-10-09

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Ten Point Charter of FISA:I and many disagree with this impractical charter!

FISA’s charter is completely impractical and useless. We had published our counter points before. I had spoken with a FISA leader in Sydney who could not give us a straight answer.

I ask FISA leaders to clarify about the status of its charter.

Gautam Gupta and Ajay Unni, do you still believe in this ridiculous charter?  Is this still the valid charter from FISA?

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/03-10-09

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MEDIA grandstanding must stop: FISA is making impractical and irrelevant demands.

We are concerned about impractical and irrelevant demands which FISA seems to be making. We have seen their 10 point charter and considered it carefully. We see some serious problems in their thought-process and offer following response point by point;

1)  Free two weeks board to welcome Indian students:
If Melbourne’s 100,000-strong Indian community gave each student 2 week’s free boarding it would help them find their feet in a new country. (Note: the City of Darwin has launched borders without borders program with the general Australian community along these lines. Sure the Indian community can help with free accommodation). Together we can help students settle easily as many professional Indians have large homes with empty rooms.

OUR RESPONSE:  It is not practical and realistic to expect established Indian Australians to provide boarding for any number of weeks to Indian students. How can one provide such boarding when they do not even know them? There is no justification for such a ridiculous suggestion.   FISA’s suggestion is nothing but media grand standing. This type of suggestion is not going to solve the accommodation issues which students face in Australia.  It is our belief that education providers who make money from these students must arrange accommodation for the initial 3-6 months at a market cost. This would allow these students to get used to the system here and give them sufficient confidence to be able to find the appropriate rental accommodation.

2)     Donate to the FISA victims of crime fund
Indian migrants are one of the richest migrant groups in Australia. Indian businesses and professionals can afford to donate generously to the FISA victims of crime fund so that victims like Sravan Kumar who was savagely attacked in his home in Glenroy are looked after properly.

OUR RESPONSE: FISA is not able to think beyond media grand standing. Any Victim of crime fund will never have sufficient money to cover the medical expense of the nature which Sravan Kumar needs. The ICU fees for one day could be something like $5000 and it could go for more than $100000 for one victim. No community can and will be able to arrange funds of this nature. Making such suggestions is completely unrealistic. Expenses on the treatment for a Victim of crime must be covered by the Gov/Medicare which is the case with the Victim of petrol bomb attack in Sydney. We believe that every student must maintain valid, appropriate and current medical cover insurance for a situation when they need treatment due to injuries or illnesses. This is not the case with many students presently. Ongoing and current medical cover insurance must be a condition for the continuation of the VISA.

3)    Free medical checkup from Indian doctors
The local Indian community has thousands of medical doctors and medical specialists. By offering free medical checkups to students we can ensure they are looked after health wise while they are here. This will also ensure a point of contact that is badly needed.

OUR RESPONSE: Medical doctors will/do provide free medical check-ups in some situations but this is not going to be the solution which FISA seems to be suggesting. Medical doctors cannot provide free treatment in case of admissions in ICU etc and cannot provide free medicines. As before, FISA’s suggestion is completely unrealistic and is indicative of media grand standing.  Again, we believe that every student must hold a valid, current and appropriate medical cover insurance while in Australia and this must be a condition for their VISA. If they have this cover, they do not need to depend on the charity from anyone.

4)    Free legal advice from Indian lawyers
the local Indian community has thousands of lawyers. By offering free legal service the established Indian community can help students on critical issues. Indian lawyers could also join together to lodge human rights cases against Victorian and Australian governments, education institutions and immigrations agents who are ripping off many students with false claims and promises. Lawyers could also help lodge disputes for unfair treatment and discrimination at work.

OUR RESPONSE: Free legal assistance from Indian Australian Lawyers and free service from every Indian Australian for our students would be great but is not going to happen. This suggestion is completely impractical and unrealistic. Our students are getting ripped off by so many and they include agents in India, some education providers  and some immigration agents but we cannot see that our lawyers or other professionals would provide free services at all times. We believe that Federal Gov must establish an Ombudsman immediately to deal with these issues. Decisions from the Ombudsman cannot be challenged in a court. FISA must stop media grand standing. 

5)    More student Hotlines in all Indian languages
we need all community groups to chip in and establish hotlines in all Indian languages. These need to be staffed with qualified counselors. Most students look to the Indian association that speaks their language. Few have heard of FIAV or other umbrella groups.

OUR RESPONSE: Helpline should be in English language and not in Indian languages. All students are able to speak and understand English which is a condition of their VISA. Our students need to integrate. Nobody is going to start help lines in all Indian languages. It would be impossible to arrange funding for such ridiculous ideas.  We leave FISA and FIAV to sort out their turf war in Melbourne. What is the stand of FISA in Sydney where they are part of an umbrella group but not chairing the students’ committee of that umbrella group? They were nowhere to be seen when our committee and that umbrella group held a combined meeting recently. Despite FISA and that Umbrella group’s public stand against the Rally in Sydney, they did not follow their words.

6)    Safety watch committees 
Local established Indian groups could adopt a station to provide community or neighborhood watch committees. If middle class and educated people are at stations at night then the risk of attacks will be reduced. Police are more likely to listen to wealthy professional Indians than students. In addition these safety watch committees can report back to Police and work to reduce poor lighting and other hazards at stations in the poorer suburbs.

OUR RESPONSE: Safety watch by established Indian Australians is not the solution. This suggestion is ridiculous. FISA seems to come out with immature, impractical and inappropriate suggestions. We do not need a parallel security apparatus for Indians in Australia. We are part of the same Australian community and our problems will need to be solved within the holistic approach to safety/security issues. We do need to put sufficient pressure on the Governments/Police to intensify the patrolling, under-cover policing and adopt proactive measures to stop the crimes against our students.

7)    Political power – the great Indian vote boycott
Established Indians have huge political power given that they live in large numbers in marginal seats in the Melbourne’s more affluent east. By refusing to vote for the major Liberal and Labor parties until action is taken to ensure students safety they can send a powerful message to state and federal government. Established Indians should boycott voting for major parties until students’ demands are met and their security assured. Politicians are power hungry and will meet our demands if they know established Indians are boycotting their parties. By boycotting both parties, we will also stop the state and federal opposition’s ‘political play acting’ and get them to vote for real changes in parliament for Indian students.

OUR RESPONSE: The suggestion of boycotting the main political parties is a crazy idea. We, in fact, need to join them and participate in the political process in Australia. We will be more effective if we join them. FISA guys, please get real. Indians in Australia do not subscribe to a victim mentality and we do not want any of us to adopt a victim’s mentality. We need to analyze, debate and formulate a proper strategy to stop the crime against our students. We must accept that some crimes will continue to happen as they happen against non-Indians.

8)    Public shaming of community rip off merchants
in many cases landlords, bosses, immigration agents and education institutions are ripping off our Indian students. Indian community groups need to name and shame these people who are bringing the reputation of Indians in to disrepute and exploiting Indian students. Each community groups could publish the name of ‘rip off merchants’ on their websites so that students know exactly who they should avoid.

OUR RESPONSE: Public naming and shaming of the “rip off merchants” from our or other communities is again an impractical suggestion. It would lead to legal cases and unnecessary legal fees and damages. No individual or association with sane mind will do the public naming or shaming. FISA guys, please get real. Yesterday, the committee of education ministers and federal education minister has announced a helpline which students can call if they have a complaint and they can do so anonymously. They will also be doing a rapid and effective audit of the “Fly by night” schools which have mushroomed in every suburb in Australian cities. These schools need to be audited effectively if Australia wants to continue growing the $16 billion education industry.

 

9) Free food kitchens across Melbourne to help students survive
many students are now unemployed or working for as little as one quarter of the legal minimum wage. (Note: The Sikh Temple in Blackburn in Melbourne’s east currently feeds thousands of students seven days a week and is happy to extend this to other suburbs. But we need more Australian Indians to help in southern, northern and western suburbs.

 

OUR RESPONSE: FISA should remember that they are students and not refugees. Temples should not be converted to Vincent de Paul societies. While community members are able to help on a case to case basis for any genuine or temporary situations, long term free feeding of students would result in too much burden on the local Indian community and might lead into negative effects.  Students are expected to have adequate financial capabilities for their stay in Australia according to student Visa conditions. It is not a bright idea to expect the Indian community and temples to provide free food seven days a week for the rapidly growing student population. In addition who is going to fund this type of “free kitchens for students?” and for how long?

 

 

10) Local Indians to support FISA demands
Established Indians can call their local MPs and lobby them to support FISA 10 point plan for better student safety.
Many Australian MPs are not scared of students because they do not vote and will not take FISA’s demands seriously. These MPs are more likely to address FISA’s student demands if the local voting Indian’s call, email and write to politicians demanding action on student safety. If Premier John Brumby receives 100,000 letters and Kevin Rudd receives 200,000 letters from local voting Indians then they will both act swiftly on Indian student safety.

 

OUR RESPONSE: This is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt and a copy cat of typical Indian politics carried out in Australia in the name of student issues. Both Australian Government and the Indian Government have agreed at the Prime Minister level to take immediate measures addressing student concerns including safety related issues. FISA seems to have run out of ideas in getting the local support for their “10 point” demands and it is a joke to think that Kevin Rudd will act only after receiving 200,000 letters. The Indian community will be a laughing stock even if a few members support this funny idea of sending mass mail.

 We urge FISA guys to think through anything before jumping with suggestions which are laughable and unrealistic. FISA guys need to discuss with others before going on media grand standing with half-cooked and ridiculous ideas.

 

Indian Consul General’s Community Committee on Indian Students’ Issues

Sydney, NSW

PS:[1] This was the response we gave to Indian Link newspaper which asked the committee to provide its response/views in regards to the FISA’s 10 points charter.

[2]Please note that the above-mentioned committee had completed its job and provided its reports/recommendations to the relevant authorities. It had then dissolved itself at the end of June 2009. The committee had communicated its decision to the Consul General on 1/7/09.

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Looking for the real leaders from Indian Australian community:where are they hiding?

Dear Indian Australians in Sydney

With the exposure of rorts/scams through the Australian media recently, a significant damage has happened to the image of our community. We can not be happy about it as it is about us. A beginning has to be made to mend/repair the harm to the image and standing of our community.

Recently, a fellow from our community committed suicide in Harris Park, NSW. There were some issues in regards to arranging transportation of the body to India.

Also, recently, a young man died unexpectedly in Sydney. I understand that it was due to a heart illness. The person in question was a heavy drinker and smoker. He was the only son of his parents.

Mental health and cardio-vascular health issues are significant problems in our community.

“Racism” is a much used term which gets used, rightly or wrongly, as an explanation for all sorts of problems. I know one who tried to employ this word when caught travelling on the city rail without a valid ticket!

Basically, we have issues involving health, settlement and leadership in our community which are very relevant for the new arrivals.

For obvious reasons, we will have to do something about these issues. We have to think about the best mechanism/tools to address these issues. We have to help our community where our help is needed. Our community leaders have a special responsibility in this regard.

I do not claim to be “Mr know it all” but I do not mind in speaking my mind. I recognise that others would have good ideas too.

I propose that;

1. we do not encourage the participation of those members of our community who are known to be involved in the exploitation of students or are parts of the scams/rorts, in the social functions/gatherings.

2. we do not support the business owners who fall under the category 1.

3. we have a meeting of community minded people and those who have impeccable integrity with good reputation soon. I propose the United Indian Associations [UIA] president to preside this meeting.  

4. we identify those people quickly who are operating as the leaders but have a clear conflict of interest in those matters and ask them to take a back seat.

5. we help set up the system which is there to help our students and Indian Australians when they are in desperate needs for the help. This should include the establishment of a Benevolent Fund.

6. we support UIA to grow and become an effective organisation by discussing, debating, reforming by bringing out the required changes. UIA Constitutional review is long overdue.

7. we urge UIA to become a more open and inclusive organisation by co-opting well-meaning and capable people from outside UIA in its committees.

8. we think about forming a new organisation with the required goals if UIA leaders are not able/wiling to reform UIA to make it a relevant and an effective body.

9. we take a stand against the rorts/scams and ask Australian Gov authorities to stamp out these activities quickly.

10. we start identifying people with leadership qualities and help them reach the places of influences including political offices ie MLAs/MLCs/MPs.

11. we re-energize the leadership by taking a back seat voluntarily if we have been leaders for a long period and have not been contributing meaningfully and encourage others with abilities to take the leadership roles in our associations.

12. we work actively to promote the pan-Indian identity of Indians and discourage the regional identities in Australia.

13. we do everything to promote a better understanding/integration among Indian Australians with themselves and with Australian community in general. The distrust has to go.

14. we work effectively and collaboratively to encourage SBS TV to have the programmes on India/Indian people, based on our numbers, as is the case with other communities.

15. we and Indian Govt Missions work collaboratively to have a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in a prominent place in Sydney and Melbourne.

16. we network, interact, co-ordinate and execute the health education programmes which are relevant to our communities.

Until recently, our Indian Australian community has had a great reputation. We want this reputation restored to our community.

We must promote only those who have a genuine ability to lead, understand the needs of our community and also understand the meaning of “conflict of interest”.

Let the seniors guide us in our goals! Let us learn from their experience and wisdom!

The community has to grow and we have to grow with it!

Let the debate begin!

Kind regards

Dr Yadu Singh

Sydney/03-10-09

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Right demands for the right reasons:I agree!

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26111338-12332,00.html

“The Greens have called for an education commission to oversee immigration requirements, quality, monitoring and compliance, a parliamentary secretary for overseas students and an ombudsman. National Union of Students president David Barrow urged universities and colleges to follow the Australian National University and guarantee a bed to first-year students.” HES, The Australian Newspaper, dated 24th Sept, 2009.

We have been saying similar things for a while. Please look at the relevant items in my BLOG.

Will Hon Ms Julia Gillard look into it?

 I hope so.

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/24th Sept, 2009

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Indian student commits suicide in Australia:Who is accountable and what has to be done to prevent such incidents?

I was extremely saddened to hear the news of an Indian student who had committed suicide in Melbourne recently.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/indian-student-commits-suicide-in-australia/519725/

Mr Gurjinder Singh was a student of La Trobe University, doing accounting. He was in Australia only for 3 months. From the newspaper reports, I read that he was depressed about not finding a job in Australia. As we know, international students are allowed to work for 20 hours a week.

He was in his early 20s.

I have been thinking about him ever since I heard about his death. I feel for him and his situations before he committed suicide. I feel for the grief and loss for his parents in India. I have been trying to analyse what went in his mind before he came to this extreme point and took his life.

What happened here? How can a person become so severely depressed within so short time after arriving in Australia? Why his flat-mates and class-mates did not know about his situation? Why nothing could be done to prevent this tragedy?

Obviously, a lot of people failed here in averting a tragedy of this nature.

As I see it, following things come to my mind;

1. his classmates failed in their responsibility by not noticing his situation and turmoil and doing something about it,

2. his flat mates failed in their responsibility by again not noticing his situation and turmoil and doing something about it,

3. his University’s support system also could not do much to prevent this tragedy [may be they did what was needed to done but we are not aware of it],

4. his close relatives could not do anything to prevent his death. A young man felt this desperate and committed suicide and close relatives did not have a clue of his situation! Was this young man pushed into coming to Australia and had lots of expectation from his relatives but he was not helped with the essential things ie money which he needed to succeed in Australia?,

5. the education agents in India who did not inform him about the situation and ground realities re the jobs and the required money for his tuition etc,

6. his University system which could not prevent such a devastating tragedy by informing him at the orientation time about the health matters/systems including the psychological health issues which he could have accessed . There are help lines available which are very useful and are known to prevent suicides.  I recognise that his University might have informed him about all this at the time of orientation but he did not use the information. He could have gone to a GP. He had access to the health system in Australia as all students are required to have a health insurance. Alas, nothing of these happened!

7. I am sorry to say this but this young man also failed himself and his parents by taking this extreme step when he could have done many things to get him out of his situation. This could have been about calling help lines, speaking with his class mates/flat mates, speaking with counsellors, speaking with his parents and even returning to India if things were not going to change. Every thing would have been preferrable to the extreme step of committing suicide. A degree from a Uni in Australia and a possible PR in Australia are nothing when we compare them with the “Life”. By saying this, I am not minimising the grief/sadness which his near and dears ones are going through right now. I have a great deal of empathy with every one who is going through this grief but…….

 Life is always full of challenges and we need to face the challenges rather than taking the self-harm steps. Most times, we can deal with them ourselves but some times, we would need help from others and we must seek it from them.

Parents and students must be aware of the possibility that a job may not be available in Australia. Arrangements for ongoing living expenses and tuition fees must be made before travelling to Australia. Aus Gov authorities in the relevant Embassy/High Commission must make it amply clear that students can work for upto 20hours/week but jobs in Australia can not be the main or the only source of funding the expenses during their stay in Australia.

To be honest with you, I believe that students should not come to Australia if they do not have a capability to arrange funding for their fees and living expenses without a job in Australia.

Depression is a common problem and people from all age groups, ethnicity and circumstances can suffer from depression. Indians are no exception. It is eminently treatable. No body needs to suffer without the help, support and treatment for it. We of course need to let others know what is going on inside us. Many a times, others would not know about the turmoil inside if we do not seek help, talk about it or let them know what is going on inside us. 

 Unfortunately, there is a stigma attached to the mental health issues and anecdotally, this may be more true in the Indian community.

In this regard, I admire the courage which was shown by Jeff Kennett [former Vic Premier], Andrew Robb [Liberal Front Bencher] and Geoff Gallop [ former premier of Western Australia] when they came out with their depression and sought help.

To prevent any loss of life in this manner, we all must show compassion and look after our friends, class mates, flat mates, relatives or any one whom we know if we find that they are having difficulties in these matters. We need to talk with our close ones and share with them the difficulties we are experiencing.

It does not help and it is not correct if we point a finger of blame, to the premier of Victoria, Mr John Brumby by making him responsible for this suicide as has been done by a non-student “leader” in Melbourne. This is ridiculous. This “leader” is talking nonsense and is playing useless politics. He should be ashamed of himself.

A very sad situation has happened and we all including the Gov agencies need to think about the preventive measures which must be in place to avert such deaths, knowing that International students are under lots of pressure, do not have the traditional support mechanism for them in Australia and some of them may not be able to cope with the circumstances. Schools, TAFE and Universities must review their orientation systems to make sure there is information on health including mental health issues in their orientation programmes.

The education providers must have a system of “student co-ordinators” who should have a close interaction with the students. Pastoral care is a service which is extremely essential in relation to International students.

 State Governments must ensure that the education providers in their territories do have enough information on these matters in these programmes and have adequate pastoral care mechanism.

Indian associations must review what they can do to help Indian students when they are having difficulties in dealing with the situations/circumstances in Australia.

There is a significant role for the media in India and in Australia to take up the issue of mental health among International students. Many of them go through a very difficult environment. As Indian students do access the ethnic Indian media in Australia regularly, it can and should do a significant job by making people aware of the mental health and help system available in Australia. Kumud Merani [SBS Radio], Pawan Luthra [Indian Link], Rohit Revo [The Indian] and Dinesh Malhotra [Bharat Times] have the instrument which can be very effective in this regard. After all, we do have the great systems like LIFE LINE and BEYOND BLUE in Australia but this may not be known to our students.

We all have to work together to save lives of those who are going through a difficult time in their lives!

We all need to work together in all sorts of manners to help our students!

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/23rd Sept, 2009.

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Students’ Issues:My interviews on SBS Radio

http://media.sbs.com.au/audio/kannada-090920-95c.mp3

http://media.sbs.com.au/audio/kannada-090711-4c7.mp3

http://media.sbs.com.au/audio/kannada-090711-ca8.mp3

http://media.sbs.com.au/audio/hindi-090530-d23.mp3

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Indians’ assault in Melbourne:My SBS Radio/Kannada interview [English] on 20th Sept 2009.

Here is my Interview on SBS Radio-Kannada

Topic: Indians’ assault in Epping, Melbourne

Interviewer: Mr Chandra Devudu

http://media.sbs.com.au/audio/kannada-090920-95c.mp3

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“OCI card holders should not need a Visa for India”:Says Dr Sujit Pandit and I agree.

Prof Sujit Pandit has sent me an email, suggesting that Indians living overseas should demand a rule change in India. This is about the OCI cards. An OCI card holder should not need to have a separate Visa for India.

Here is his email. The word USA should be substituted with Australia, NZ, UK or relevant countries.

Let us send this demand to our High Commissions, Consulates, Minister Mr SM Krishna [MEA], Minister Mr Shashi Tharoor [MEA] and Minister Mr Vayalar Ravi [NRI affairs].

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/21st Sept 2009

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Dr Pandit’s email……

Sujit Pandit to me 

Our goal is to make travel to India less stressful and a matter of joy. The current OCI (Overseas Citizen of India)/PIO (Person of Indian Origin)  rules are irrational and confusing that often cause hardship to the travelers.

The bureaucrats and politicians do not like to change any rules unless there is overwhelming pressure from the public.  So, if you would like to change the ambiguous OCI/PIO rules please write to the Indian ambassador to the USA, the Consular General of India, the Prime Minister of India, the Minister of External affairs, The Home Minister and other civil servants and politicians in India.   You may also write to the various Indian media and the Indian action, social and political groups.  Please ask your friends to do the same.
If you want to write only a short paragraph then write the following or something like this:

‘When an individual has a US Passport and an OCI card, production of a Visa should not be insisted upon, because the evidence of a valid visa is implicit in the OCI card, which may be deemed to be a certification higher than the Visa itself.’
If you want to send a more elaborate explanation then send them my story:
 From:
Sujit Pandit M.D.
2680 Lowell Road
Ann Arbor MI 48103

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Leave Shashi Tharoor Alone:Nothing wrong in the cattle class!

Express”]Picture courtesy: The Indian Express[/caption

Mrs Big Bindi [Jayanti Natarajan] has raised too much fuss about Shashi Tharoor’s comments. Ashok Gehlot, CM of Rajasthan and Manish Tiwari have joined in. They are very upset with “cattle class” and “holy cows” comments.

Poor Shashi who is in Africa, has to say sorry. He is being distracted.

Mrs Big Bindi, please leave him alone as

  •  his comments are tongue-in-cheek.
  • there is nothing wrong in calling the economy class a “cattle class”. Many of us call it exactly that and sometime it is called a “Coolie class” too.
  • he is doing a good job as a minister.
  • we need to understand his sense of humour. 

UPA Gov ministers and Congress should devote more time in dealing with the pressing issues in India rather than wasting time on minor things. Look what a debacle India has been subjected to by China in the ADB recently. Even Japan voted in favour of China in regards to Arunachal Pradesh. Australia, SE Asians and Pakistan favoured China too.

Shashi Tharoor is an educated and intelligent person with a profile which many in Congress do not have. We need more like him in Indian politics. I remember him being interviewed on TV channels when he visited Australia a couple of years ago. He spoke so well. He knew how to communicate.

I also do not see anything wrong in it if he wanted to stay in a 5 star hotel at his expense. We all know now that he had travelled in economy class before the “Austerity stunts” became the currency in India.

I was also amused with the statement from BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy who has also jumped into the band wagon and said: “Tharoor has termed economy class in airlines as cattle class. (This reflects) the insensitivity of the minister. This tantamounts to (causing) deep injury to the self-respect and esteem of millions who travel economy class,”**

Are you kidding Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy? This is not expected from you as you are an educated fellow and a good politician. You mean to suggest that people who travel in the “cattle class” will have a deep injury because Shashi Tharoor called the economy class the “cattle class” but would not have such injury if Shashi Tharoor did not call it a “cattle class”. For your info, I travel in “cattle class” and do not suffer any damage/injury to my self-respect. I continue to practise as a cardiologist in Sydney irrespective of whether I travelled in the “cattle class” or the “King class” last week end.

Brother Rudy, please give Indian public a break!  

If you want more, you can go to TimesNow with Arnab Goswami who had Amit Verma, Jug Suraiya and some one named Tom Vadakkan [I presume he is from Congress party] in his programme. Tom Vadakkan made a gem of a statement ” Tweet is a lonely person and needs counselling” . Well done Mr Vadakkan!

It is about time that we get to the real jobs rather than getting entangled in “Austerity hysteria and stunts”. I hope the “Holy Cows” of Indian politics would start doing the right things.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/19th Sept, 2009

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

20th September, 2009

I now know that Tom Vadakkan is from Kerala and is a secretary of AICC.

Dr Yadu Singh

** Reported by IANS

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Indians assaulted in Melbourne:My ABC PM interview

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2009/s2687996.htm

Also, please have a look at other postings in this Blog.

Regards

Yadu Singh/Sydney/18th Sept, 2009

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OCI Card: Professor Sujit K Pandit has some suggestions……..

I wrote to Prof Pandit today and he emailed the following matter.

His email goes like……..
“Thank you for doing a useful service to the community.

I would like you to read my update too:

Updated Sept 17, 2009

OCI RULES CAN BE CHANGED

Following my e-mail message (a copy is attached below) about my aggravation at the Kolkata airport over the OCI card, I have received about 300 responses. I am absolutely overwhelmed and thankful to all those who have written.  I had no idea how deeply the Indians all over the world feel about this issue.  Most people were thankful to me for sharing my story so they can learn from my bad experience.  The majority, about 90% of the responders was outraged at the lack of common sense and common courtesy of the immigration officials at the Kolkata airport. More than a dozen people have narrated their own horror stories, very similar and even worse than mine at airports in India when they arrived with an OCI card only, these are really heart wrenching stories involving small children and the whole family members undergoing incredible hardships.  Others were alerted at the last moment by the airlines officials at the departing airport in the USA about the need to carry the visa sticker that may be in their old passport.  Some were surprised that I had the problem because they have gone to India with just the OCI card and they were allowed to enter India without having to show their visa.  Some assumed that the problem may be at the Kolkata airport and probably the corruption is rampant there. They suggested that the officers there might be looking for a bribe. Many were still confused about the rules of the OCI and have asked me for advice.  Many others narrated the appalling treatment they have received at the various Indian consular offices.

About 10% of the responders said I got what I deserved at the Kolkata airport for not reading rules of the OCI card and for not following the rules strictly.  They thought the officers were just doing their duties.

Some especially from England and Canada told me that they have PIO (Person of Indian Origin) cards and had never had to show their visa at the Indian airports.  And the OCI is supposed to be the upgraded version of the PIO card.  Go figure. 

One person has written that for a family of five (three children) under the current OCI rules he has to carry fifteen travel documents when going to India (five old passports,  five current passports and five OCI cards)

I am thankful to all who have taken the time to write to me. 

I know it was my mistake for not taking my old passport with the visa sticker with me and I will never make the same mistake again; the main purpose of my mail was to warn my friends not to make the same mistake that I made. 

But, then my friend Dr. Dinesh Patel from Boston pointed out to me that the rules CAN be changed and the bad/confusing rules SHOULD be changed. I think that is a great point.  Rather than just accepting and following the bad rules and thus perpetuating them, we should try to change the bad rules. In addition because of the confusing name of the OCI and the false buzz about the “Dual Citizenship” many people make the same mistake as I did. When so many people make the same mistake in spite of the rules, then may be the system needs to be fixed.  Confusing rules of OCI needs to be changed. The bad rules can only be changed if there is enough pressure from the public to the politicians and the civil servants. .

I believe, just like the persons holding a PIO card the OCI card holders should also be allowed to enter India without having to bring the old visa sticker every time.  The fact is, whenever any one is granted his/her OCI card, he/she is thoroughly vetted and only then the OCI card is issued along with a life long visa sticker.  Both go hand in hand.  You cannot get an OCI card without a life long visa.  I know that in spite of the puzzling name (Overseas CITIZEN of India) the OCI card is not a passport, right now we can not have both American (or Canadian or UK) passports as well an Indian passport But, the OCI card can be and should be the visa substitute. As far as the entry requirement to India the OCI card could act like the US Green card.  Once you have it there will be no need to carry a separate visa ever.

When an individual has a US Passport and an OCI card, production of a visa should not be insisted upon, because, the  evidence of a valid visa is implicit in the OCI card, which may be deemed to be a certification higher than the visa itself.

The other problem is the utter lack of common courtesy and competence at the various Indian Consular Offices. I have received more than 15 mails that detail their dreadful experiences at various Indian Consular Offices.  These Consular offices are amateurish and incompetent.  I myself had a horrible time trying to get my OCI card in Chicago.  When I complained, there was no response. I can not even think about going back there to get my visa sticker transferred from my old passport to my new one, and what about when I get yet another new passport?  This is a disgrace that the officials at the Consular offices are not trained to be courteous to their customers like real professionals.

We need to bring pressure on the politicians and civil servants to simplify the procedure and let the OCI card be the visa substitute. Please send this mail to others once again and may be some one knows an important person who will understand the problem and solve it. That will make travel to India a joy and not stressful. We also need to make the Indian Consular offices more “Professional”. 

 
I am attaching a copy of my original e-mail:
MY DUAL CITIZENSHIP WOES: MY RECENT EXPERIENCE WITH THE IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT AT THE KOLKATA AIRPORT AND THE LESSONS I LEARNT

My advice to all my friends who hold an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) Card and those who aspire to get one.

I am an American citizen.  I also carry an OCI card (Overseas Citizen of India) since 2007. 

On Saturday, June 20, 2009, I arrived at the Kolkata Netaji Subhas Airport from Detroit via Singapore, by Singapore Airlines (SQ 516) at 10:30 P.M.

I presented myself to an Immigration Officer  (Mr. Biswas) for immigration clearance.  I gave him my American passport and my OCI card.  He demanded to see my visa from the Indian consular office.  Unfortunately, that visa was attached to my old passport and I did not bring it with me.

I explained to him that I am sorry I forgot to bring my old passport but since I do possess a valid OCI Card that would automatically mean that I do also possess a permanent (life long) visa for India and there are proofs that I have traveled multiple times to India after I had received my OCI card. 

 Mr. Biswas detained me for two hours inside the airport   and then he told me that he is going to allow me to stay in India for 72 hours and asked me to report to the Foreign Relations Regional Officer (FRRO) in the city within 72 hours.  He kept my passport.  During all that time I had no opportunity either to approach his OC (Officer in Charge) although I asked for it, or to contact my relatives who came to the airport to receive me and were waiting outside and had no idea why I was being held back or if I have even arrived.

Forgetting to bring my old passport was my own fault but I ‘forgot’ to bring it partly because I knew I have my OCI Card with me and I thought, that means something, I really believed that I am a citizen of India too.  Why would a citizen also need a visa to enter his own country?   I thought I have a dual citizenship for both the USA and India. Other wise, what is the difference between an ordinary foreigner and the OCI Card holder?

Next day was a Sunday, I called a friend in Ann Arbor who went into my house, got my old passport and sent me the scanned copy of my old passport and a copy of my permanent visa by e-mail. 

So, on Monday I went to see Mr. Bibhas Talukdar, the FRRO.  He hardly looked at the documents (the scanned visa) that I had with me he simply asked me to get my old passport by courier mail within another seven days.  He appeared gleeful telling me that it is only out of  “pity” that he is allowing me to stay in India for seven more days.  He was totally unimpressed by either my status as a Professor Emeritus of the University of Michigan or my age (70+)

I called my friend in Ann Arbor again who then sent my old passport by FedEx.  Three days later the passport arrived.  Since I had to leave Kolkata for prescheduled visit to Bangalore, my niece took it to Mr. Talukdar. But due to lack of communication between the FRRO office and the airport immigration department my passport had not arrived at the city office even after 9 days.  My niece had to go to the FRRO’s office three times once waiting until 6 P.M. still they did not have my passport.  They only promised: “it will come soon”.  At last, 12 days after my arrival, my niece got my passport.
From this painful and anxiety provoking experience I have learned a few valuable lessons:

1.    The loud talk about “Dual Citizenship” for Indian Americans is just a political hoax.

2.    The OCI card just does not have any value.  It is just a piece of expensive junk. You still need a visa every time you travel to India whether or not you possess an OCI card.  Only difference is that for the high price of getting an OCI card you will get a “life long ” visa.  A 10-year visa is much cheaper.
 
3.    When coming to India always consider yourself a foreigner and bring your visa with you, there will be no exceptions. Your OCI card is not a visa substitute.

4.     In fact, you will probably be treated worse than an ordinary foreigner arriving without a valid visa.  Because a foreigner especially a white Caucasian will at least be treated with courtesy and probably offered a temporary visa if there is no reason to deny it, but not you.

5.    Since the word “CITIZEN” in the OCI card is the root cause of confusion, the name should be changed.

 

Please feel free to forward this mail to any of your friends who may benefit from my experience.  Especially feel free to forward this to any influential politician or civil servant in India that you may know.

Sujit K. Pandit M.D.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Anesthesiology
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
48109, USA”

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Farrukh Dhondy’s advice to Indian Australians and Indian students is inappropriate.

Dr Yadu Singhhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/17/2688266.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/indians-abroad/Dont-break-the-law-Australian-PM-warns-Indian-students/articleshow/5021162.cms

Mr Farrukh Dhondy is a UK-based writer/editor of Indian background. He was interviewed by the ABC AM team today [see the link above].

He is advising students and Indian Australians to retaliate and take law into our hands. Any sane person would see the futility of his argument. How are we going to achieve what we want if we go the direction recommended by him?

His advice to us and Indian students in Australia is totally inappropriate. It may even be crazy and irrational. It is not going to solve the problems.

I give following arguments against his advice:

1. Indians are a small population on numerical strength and can not be expected to win the retaliation game.

2. Indians are not going to become idiots like those thugs who bashed 3 Indians in Epping, Melbourne.

3. Students have come here to study, not to fight in retaliation which would cause more and serious troubles for them.

4. Taking law into our hands will itself be illegal and may end up sending us to jail.

5. Taking law into our hands will destroy any goodwill, Indian Australians have from the general Australian community.

6. Taking law into our hands will be totally counter-productive.

We reject his suggestions as irresponsible, insane, impractical and inappropriate.

We do have to understand the difference between retaliation and self-defence.

We have to find solutions to these problems within the systems of Australia and within the Laws of Australia.

Prime Minister Mr Kevin Rudd is right in advising the students to not take laws into their hands [see the link above].

I would categorise Mr Dhondy’s comments as ill-advised statements.

He does not live in Australia and would not know the situation in Australia.

We are parts of Australian society and we have to find solutions to the troubles in co-operation with other constituents of Australian society.

Let me re-state that the overwhelming majority of Australians are excellent citizens. They are as frustrated and angry with a miniscule fraction of our people who are racist and do not hesitate to harm others because of the race reasons. To me and other decent Australians, this tiny minority does not qualify to be called “Human”.

Mr Dhondy, please butt out from Australian troubles and issues. You are inflaming the situation.

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/17th Sept, 2009

http://www.twitter.com/dryadusingh

http://www.facebook.com/dryadusingh

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Racist crimes are completely unacceptable:Urgent actions are needed.

We are very concerned with the news of the assaults of 3 Indians in Epping, Melbourne last weekend. The perpetrators were abusing them with racist language in front of the Police as Mr Glenn Parker of Vic Police stated in his interviews on ABC.

This is not “ON’ and is completely unacceptable.

Australia is not a racist country but there is a miniscule proportion of people who hold racist views. We do not care what views they have about who ever but they must not be allowed to get away when they commit crimes based on racist views.

It is not important whether there were 5, 20 or 70 people who assaulted Indians in Melbourne but it is important that Indians were assaulted apparently because they were Indians. Some of them have sustained horrific injuries. These attacks must not be tolerated.

I believe that Australian authorities need to take some urgent steps to tackle this uncommon, unusual but increasingly worrying trend where some people are assaulted only because of their race.

We suggest following steps;

1. we should create and codify a new category of crime ie  “race hate crimes” with harsher penalties

2. we start public education campaign on the lines of campaign against domestic violence ie “Australia says NO to racism and race hate crimes” ASAP. Through these campaigns via the media, we outline what damage the racism causes to others and what are the penalties if any one is caught doing racist crimes.

3. our police force do prompt investigation and commence prosecution of those who are involved in such crimes.

4. Minister of Immigration, Minister of Education and Minister for Foreign Affairs consider forming advisory council [s] which should include people from various backgrounds to advise them on matters relevant to these issues.

“Is Australia a racist country?” is a question which a lot of people have asked or are asking. My answer is still in negative and emphatically so but I do not doubt that there are some people [a very small fraction] who harbour racist views. I do not care about the views of these “Losers” but they must keep their views to themselves.

We need to act and must act urgently in this regard.

 After all, it is the image of Australia and “Brand Australia” which are at stake if we do nothing.

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/16th September, 2009

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Looking for an “INDIAN”:The informant will be rewarded!

I received this interesting email from a GP friend. I found it thought provoking. Have a read!

The email goes like………

 

AN AMERICAN VISITED  INDIA AND WENT BACK TO  AMERICA
WHERE HE MET HIS INDIAN FRIEND WHO ASKED HIM
HOW DID U FIND MY COUNTRY???
THE AMERICAN SAID IT IS A GREAT COUNTRY
WITH SOLID ANCIENT HISTORY
AND IMMENSELY RICH WITH NATURAL RESOURCES.

THE INDIAN FRIEND THEN ASKED ….
HOW DID U FIND INDIANS ???

INDIANS??
WHO INDIANS??
I DIDNT FIND OR MEET A SINGLE INDIAN
THERE IN  INDIA …
WHAT NONSENSE???
WHO ELSE CAN U MEET IN  INDIA THEN???

THE AMERICAN SAID …
IN  KASHMIR I MET A KASHMIRI–
IN  PUNJAB A PANJABI…
IN BIHAR,MAHARASTRA,  BENGAL ,TAMILNADU
I MET A BIHARI,MARATHI, BENGALI,TAMILIAN…
THEN I MET
A MUSLIM,
A CHRISTIAN,
A JAIN,
A BUDDHIST
AND MANY MANY MANY MORE
BUT NOT A SINGLE INDIAN DID I MEET
…………………………………………………………..
FIGHT BACK –
ALWAYS SAY 
“WE ARE INDIANS”

The email does describe how many of us act in our day-to-day interactions.

Is it not the time we become Indians FIRST before being a Maharastrian, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Keralite, Tamil, Kannada, UP Wala, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh or anything else?

The tendency to divide us based on our regional or religious identities is not a great thing.

We are all Indians and that identity must be actively and assertively promoted by all of us. This is more true for our leaders whether they are in India or Australia.

Dr Yadu Singh/Bowral/12th Sept, 2009

* I am attending a conference in Bowral, NSW.

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Flying School Students:DEEWR must act soon!

The stories of the Flying school are known to all. These were covered in SMH, The Australian and ABC [Four Corners] recently.

I met a couple of them today, Sunday, in my office.

We all need to know that they came to Australia to train as pilots and return to India. They were not interested in the “PR” here. They had a vision about their career but it did not go according to their plans.

We all know that Vocational Education, Training Accreditation Board [VETAB] has done an enquiry and taken some action. Dept of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR] has created some confusion by circulating a document about this school. I was sent this document by the Indian Consulate, Sydney recently. I already had this document as it was sent by a student a few days ago, telling something contradictory.

It is not our concern whether this school is registered or de-registered. VETAB and DEEWR can sort this out themselves.

VETAB has its role only up to the registration or lack of registration based on the training standards or lack of it. That is what VETAB is saying. They say that further actions have to be taken by other agencies. These are Fair trading Dept, DEEWR/ESOS and Australian courts.

I think it is not a correct view.

VETAB and DEEWR, both, have a duty of care and have a moral/legal responsibility to to help students in getting a fair treatment because,

1. students came to Australia, knowing that these agencies would look after the quality issues and standards,

2. students had an expectation of fair dealing from these agencies when they complained,

3. students had complained to VETAB/DEEWR well before they either left the school or forced out of the school.

Students complained to these agencies in 2008 but not much was done except passing the buck between these agencies. VETAB became serious only after we and students met Hon Mr Peter Primrose, Hon Ms Helen Westwood, Hon Ms Verity Firth, Minister of Education’s senior advisers and others in April/May 2009.

We ask;

1.  that VETAB/DEEWR get involved actively in the matters of these students and put sufficient pressure on this school to resolve the matter quickly.

2.  that VETAB/DEEWR encourage the school to use the services of a suitably trained mediator/conciliator to help resolve the problems.

These students are going through a very difficult time in Australia. Some of them have left Australia and others are still here.

We want the VETAB/DEEWR to know that we are willing to be the bridge between the school and the students. We deal with them regularly and know how difficult it is for them. We do however admire them for their resolve to fight against the injustice.

Injustice, they have suffered undoubtedly. We will fight along side them, no doubt because it is the right thing to do. 

They deserve a “Fair GO” from VETAB/DEEWR/ESOS/Australian media.

VETAB/DEEWR/ESOS, Please act fast!

Would the ministers in charge of these bodies [Hon Ms Verity Firth and Hon Ms Julia Gillard] please look into the plight of these students?

Dr Yadu Singh/06-09-09

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AISA and FISA must work together for students:interact, communicate and co-ordinate with the Indian community too!

Dear AISA and FISA leaders,

We ask that you;

1. work together,

2. interact, communicate and co-ordinate with the us [Indian community] as we are also a significant stake holder,

because you would have a better results for the international students if you follow these principles.

We ask you to please;

1. stay away from those who have a conflict of interest in the students’ matters,

2. be aware of the agenda of those so called “leaders” who are directly benefiting from students related matters,

Our Indian students need the help, support, encouragement, mentoring and leadership which can be provided if we all work as an effective and efficient team.

They have a right to have a quality training and freedom from exploitation. They have paid the money for it.

We can do it and lets do it.

Dr Yadu Singh/-6-09-09

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Amitabh Bachchan Ji: we need your assistance!

Amitach Bachchan photographed by Studio Harcou...

Image via Wikipedia

We have a great admiration for Mr Amitabh Bachchan AKA Amit Ji. I have even more admiration for him because “CHHORA GANGA KINARE WALA” is from Allahabad and I am from Banda which is the adjascent district in Uttar Pradesh. He has some relatives in Banda too. I was in class 6 or 7 when he visited Banda. I was a kid then but I remember this very well. He visited a school called “Arya Kanya Intermediate College, Banda” whose principal was Mrs Indira Rajan who I believe is his relative. The function was huge and I remember almost whole Banda district [few lakhs] came out to see him. That is how popular he is!

Amit Ji is popular all over the world. He is an icon and we all are genuinely proud of him. We were very happy to know that he was going to be awarded a “Doctorate” by a Queensland University but unfortunately he could not accept it. We understood his reasons. We even agreed with him then. We know he is a great man and his heart beats for our great motherland, India and its people, irrespective of where ever they live.

Indian international students have chosen Australia for their training/education and we have around 97000 students in Australia. They are spread around the country but most are in Melbourne and Sydney. They have several issues and some of them have been assaulted/robbed. Things have quietened down to a large extent but their problems have not disappeared completely. Some of our Indian students have to go through  very stressful times which could be due to so many issues. It is often not very easy to find jobs here either. Worst of  all this is the fact that some of our own Indians exploit them by under-paying and sometimes, not paying them at all. Some of these rascals then try to project themselves as the “leaders” or “NETA JI”. On top of all this, it is not unusual to find out that the school they were in has gone out of business, leaving them in lurch. They thus end up in a hopeless situation. It is these times when they need all the help they can get.

I should know their predicament as I am a medical practitioner and have been involved in providing such support. Some of the students of a Flying School in Australia are having a horrendous time. I have been with them, sometimes right up to midnight, talking, counselling and keeping them in a positive frame of mind. Their stories are indeed heart-moving. We are working through the system here which, akin to the system in India, some times does not work fast enough.

To be able to help our students in all sorts of situations and to provide the emergency assistance, we need “DHAN” or money. While we can collect some money from ourselves which is what we did when we were requested by the Indian Consulate to help arrange accommodation for the relatives of Mr Rajesh Kumar[Petrol Bomb victim in Sydney], we need lot more money to do these things effectively. That is where we need a generous help from every one in Australia and India. Some of this money, thus generated, could be used for something like “India House” which would not only function as the centre for the social/cultural activities for Indian Australians but also as the place for emergency accommodation for those who are in desperate need for such help.

It does not have to be money only. It could be the help in the form of their presence in a function, encouraging Indians to open their heart and purse. While “purse” is the right approach for our Indian Govt of PM Mr Manmohan Singh which would allow the Indian Consulate to have some money to help the students, the “Heart” would be sufficient for our Icon, Amit Ji.

It would be wonderful and helpful if Amit Ji were to agree to visit Australia, not only to take the “Doctorate” but more importantly, to participate in the Indian community functions in Melbourne and Sydney to help generate money for “Indian students’ Emergency Assistance and Benevolent Fund”.

Knowing Amit Ji for what he stands for, I am quite hopeful that he would respond quickly and positively. 

 Amit Ji, we need your help, counselling and encouragement!

We hope you would not disappoint us!

Dr Yadu Singh

Sydney, Australia

singhyadu@gmail.com

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Dear Indian Community leaders in Sydney,……….

Dear Indian community leaders in Sydney

With the exposure of rorts/scams through the Australian media recently, a significant damage has happened to the image of our community. We can not be happy about it as it is about us.

For obvious reasons, we will have to do something about it.

A beginning has to be made to mend/repair the harm to the image and standing of out community.

I propose that;

1. we do not encourage the participation of those members of our community who are known to be involved in the exploitation of students or are parts of the scams/rorts, in the social functions/gatherings.

2. we do not support the business owners who fall under the category 1.

3. we have a meeting of community minded people and those who have impeccable integrity with good reputation soon. I propose the UIA president to preside this meeting.  

4. we identify those people quickly who are operating as the leaders but have a clear conflict of interest in those matters and ask them to take a back seat.

5. we help establish the system which is there to help our students and other people when they are in desperate needs for the help. This should include the establishment of a Benevolent Fund.

6. we support UIA to grow and become an effective organisation by discussing, debating, reforming by bringing out the required changes. UIA Constitutional review is long overdue.

7. we encourage UIA to become a more open and inclusive organisation by co-opting well-meaning and capable people from outside UIA in its committees.

8. we take a stand against the rorts/scams and ask Australian Gov authorities to stamp out these activities quickly.

9. we start identifying people with leadership qualities and help them reach the places of influences including political offices ie MLAs/MLCs/MPs.

10. we re-energise the leadership by taking a back seat voluntarily if we have been leaders for a long period and have not been contributing meaningfully and encourage others with abilities to take the leadership roles in our associations.

11. we work actively to promote the pan-Indian identity of Indians and discourage the regional identities in Australia.

12. we do everything to promote a better understanding/integration among Indian Australians with themselves and with Australian community in general. The distrust has to to go.

13. we work effectively and collaboratively to encourage SBS TV to have the programmes on India/Indian people, based on our numbers, as is the case with other communities.

14. we and Indian Govt Missions work collaboratively to have a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in a prominent place in Sydney and Melbourne.

Let the seniors guide us in our goals!

The community has to grow and we have to grow with it!

Let the debate begin!

Kind regards

Dr Yadu Singh

Sydney/04-09-09

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Community members will be able to write letters, suggesting what our leaders should or should not do.

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New thinking and new beginning for the Indian community in Australia in the aftermath of Indian students’ troubles and media exposure: a time to show true leadership!

Hello every one!

We all know what was happening and who was doing what in regards to the International Indian students. We know about the rorts/scams. We know how our students were exploited by many including Indian people. We know how they are having a horrible time after some of the schools have closed down or about to close down. There is a general uncertainty around them. It is a very difficult time for them.

Indian Australians have had a great reputation for their standards and conducts. Recent exposure of the scams/rorts in regards to international education has undermined our reputation to some extent.

We all know that the overwhelming majority of our community members are decent people with impeccable character. After a conference recently, I and some of my friends went out with some of our Australian friends. We had the usual banter but the discussion did go to the students’ problems. Someone did mention that they were surprised with the rorts/scams involved in the international education and our people. These comments were quite mild and did not make me feel targeted. They were all friendly people.

When I returned home, I did think about what was said. It is obvious that our reputation has had a hit. Out professional people ie doctors, accountants, lawyers and bankers and also business people are the ones who will probably suffer to some extent.

We do have to take a stock of the situation and do have to do something about it too.

Many things can be done but my suggestions are listed here.

1. We make our voices loud and clear about our condemnation of rorts, scams, rorters and scammers.

2. We demand from the Australian and Indian authorities to deal with these issues with a heavy hand and stamp out such activities.

3. We do not associate with those who are involved in rorts/scams socially or in business matters. Most of us have a fairly good idea who these people are.

4. We ask our Indian Gov agencies in Australia to not associate themselves with these people, directly or indirectly, in any shape or form. They must remain Persona Non Grata.

5. We demand from the Indian Media to not support/promote or do business with people who are involved in rorts/scams. The community and the media have to work together to cleanse ourselves from the activities of some of us who do not have a qualm about doing anything to make money.

6. We start questioning our leaders about what they are doing and be willing to help them in a constructive manner.

7. We expect from the Indian media to question our leaders about their productivity, vision and “conflict of interest”. Shonky leaders need to be exposed, discouraged and excluded.

8. We support the largest Indian association [UIA] after it has set its house in order and reformed itself.

9. We encourage our people by recognising their work, commitment and genuineness and not criticise them for the sake of just criticism. Constructive criticism is good but we need to chip in with our support too.

10. We promote our pan-Indian identity vigorously, instead of getting ourselves too much  into our regional Indian identities. 

11. We do some genuine charity work for general Australian issues/projects to make a statement that we are as Australian as anybody else.

12. We network effectively among ourselves and general Australian community in regards to issues which are of significance to all of us, not only as Indians but also as Indian Australians.

The Indian Australian community has to show leadership.  We have a challenge and this is about our name, image and reputation in this country.The time has come for us to stand up and be counted for the challenge. 

Regards

Dr Yadu Singh/08-09-09

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Indian students’ emergency assistance and benevolent fund:an idea worth considering!

Dear friends

I have been thinking about it for a while. It moves me to meet students with difficulties. It saddens me to see how some of them face serious exploitation. It saddens and infuriates me to see that some of our Indian businesses exploit them. I consider such behaviour to be the lowest of the low.

They suffer exploitation sometimes in their schools too. Sometimes, they can not find jobs and do not have enough money. Then, of course, some students have accidents or are robbed of their belongings. It is not uncommon that some of them get into a situation when they just do not have any money!

One example will be sufficient to illustrate what we are facing and will continue to face in future too. As you would have known, Rajesh Kumar was injured in Sydney by a Petrol Bomb attack a few months ago. He had no relatives in Sydney. His flatmates were the only ones who were there for him. After this news reached his family in India, his maternal uncle  had to come to Sydney to look after him during his treatment at the hospital and at a rahab facility. His maternal uncle had some money but it ran out pretty soon. Sydney motels are very expensive and can not be the place for a long term accommodation. Knowing their desperate situation, the Indian Consulate urged us to help in finding an accommodation which we did with the help of some of our friends. This is just one example and there have been others.

There would always be some situations when they need help from all of us. We need a mechanism to be able to provide the emergency assistance to Indian students.

My suggestion is that we establish an “Indian students’ emergency assistance and benevolent fund” which should be governed by a board of 15 people and should be chaired by the Indian High Commissioner.

The board members must be those who have impeccable integrity and are of good character.

The contribution to this fund should come from;

1. Established Indian Australians

2. Indian Gov agencies

3. Australian Gov agencies

4. Schools and Universities

5. Indian students.

Fund raising can be done in the following manner;

-Every students must contribute a Small amount of money annually through their schools.

-Established Indian Australians should take part in the functions for fund raising.

-Schools and Universities should contribute some money for this purpose.

-Indian High Commission and Consulates should contribute some money and should help in fund raising by participating actively in such events.

-Indian Gov [Ministry of NRI affairs] and Aust Gov [International Education Australia “IEA”] should contribute some money.

-UIA should contribute some money from its takings from its fair.

-Indian media [Radio and print] should actively promote/encourage the fund-raising.

UIA is our most important organisation. It has quite a large number of great people in its Governing Council. It should take an active leadership role in this matter. UIA is a tremendous organisation with vast capacity and abilities which are yet to be fully tapped.

We should get the “Fund” registered as a charity which will allow people to claim the donations/contributions as Tax-effective contributions. 

We will need to define the criteria which will guide the disbursement of the assistance.

There is no doubt that we need something like this fund. Indian Australians are doing well in Australia. We ought to get involved in this activity. Students’ bodies like AISA and FISA will need to be involved too.

I also believe that great Indians like Mr Amitabh Bachchan and Mr AR Rahman can do a tremendous job if they agree to help us in our fund-raising functions. I know that they would be willing to do this but someone has to approach them for us.

My ideas are not the only right ideas. Let us share your ideas.

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International students’ ombudsman in Australia: a necessity we can not ignore!

I am actively involved with the troubles of some of the Indian students in Sydney. Many other Indian Australians are also doing what they can do. I have had lots of interactions with ex-students of a Flying school. Their stories are heart-moving. They came to Australia to train as pilots and then return to India to take up jobs with the airlines there. Some had jobs lined up with King Fisher airlines. Everything was going well until sometime later when they had some serious troubles in their training. The complaints were made to the relevant authorities but not much seems to be happening. Some of them have paid full tuition fees but have not received the required training. It was hoped that their problems would be resolved with the intervention of DEEWR/VETAB but that has remained a “hope” only.

We also know the stresses and troubles of the students of Sterling college, Sydney and some other schools in Melbourne and Sydney. They are dealing with Australian Council of Private Education and Training  [ACPET] and DEEWR but the progress has been slow so far.

Some students suffer exploitation at the hands of the owners of the schools and the employers, some of whom have been known to pay below-award wages, mostly as cash and sometime, not paying anything at all. The worst of all these is the fact that some employers are of Indian background.

Indian students, no doubt, have many genuine problems and exploitation is the name of the game in regards to students.

If we, the long term resident Indians have the same issues, we would be able to fight against these matters by approaching the relevant bodies/institutions or taking the legal recourse.

The same avenues for the redressing of the problems are open to Indian students but they will remain options only on paper. 

Many Indian students do not have access to the money which would be needed to mount a legal challenge in a court as the legal fees are very high in Australia. Also, the opposite parties will invariably have more money or “Financial might” which can be misused against the students. I have seen the clear examples of the misuse of financial might in some cases recently.

One student from India had a situation of this nature. The school owner did misuse the financial might but we could not do much.

Students have several problems and will continue to have problems. Providers and consumers will continue to have problems and conflicts re services, training, fees and exploitation.

International education generate $15.5 Billion for Australia. Indian students do so in the tune of $2.75-3 Billion. International education is the third largest source of earning for Australia.

Australia should look after the “Hen which gives the golden eggs” by doing everything which will encourage the students to keep coming to Australia and have a generally happy experience which is free of exploitation.

We have thought about these issues seriously. We can not find any other option except the establishment of the “International Students’ Ombudsman”.

It is about time that the managers of International Education Australia [IEA] put their thinking caps on and start the process of setting up the “International Students’ Ombudsman”.

Dr Yadu Singh

Sydney/04/09/09

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Was Indian Media hysterical and imbalanced in its reportings of Indian students’ troubles in Australia?

04/09/09

Yes, certain sections of Indian Media in India were but they did help bring the issues into the focus. Thank you, Indian media for that!

I have seen NDTV show with Burkha Dutt and it was a great programme. Burkha Dutt did a balanced programme. I have seen a programme with Arnab Goswami and I would not call it a great show. Arnab Goswami has a style which does not allow others to speak. He is an anchor who talks too much. His programme was not balanced. 

Australian media picked up the issues only after the Indian media has done what it did.

I do believe the “Racist” tag for everything in Australia was over the top reaction. It would have been good if Indian media also has done the investigation on the scams/rorts. They should have spoken with established Indian Australians who have been in Australia for years.

Indian media is free and we saw it vividly recently. We are proud of that fact.

I believe that Indian media in India did a necessary/vital job but they would have done a better job if they had an access to the views from Indian Australians who have been here for years. They would have done a better job if they had their journalists in Australia. They would have done a better job if they had not over-played a “Racism” tag.

India media, I say this to you. We have lived here for quite long. We are proud of our Indian heritage and we are equally proud of  being Australians. Like other countries in the world, Australia does have a crime situation. It may be even a lot better if the crime statistics are analysed comparatively. Australia is not perfect but it is not a racist country. Every country including India has some racist people and you can see that in the NDTV show with Burkha Dutt. Australia is no exception.Racism is a crime here and Australian policies are not racist like they were in South Africa during Apartheid era.

Yadu Singh

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My views on other sites

 

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/thelostmaven/entry/first-class-ministers-third-class

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/entry/nuclear-republic

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/entry/are-we-losing-the-race

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/entry/chinese-checkers

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Globespotting/entry/lessons-for-the-mea

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/entry/sock-it-to-oz-where

 

Please do a google  on “Dr Yadu Singh” for more info.

Thanks

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Is Australia a racist country: Yadu Singh on Channel Seven’s Sunrise

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=1341467&cl=13804821&src=y7lifestyle&ch=
Please have a look at the video which has my interview in SUNRISE/Channel 7.
 
Regards
 
Yadu Singh

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Indian Consul General’s Community committee on Students’ Issues-What we did?

Information

yadu singh1

Indian Consul General’s Community Committee on Students’ Issues, Sydney, NSW was formed at the Indian Consulate on 6th April 2009. It did intensive work and completed its task in a very efficient manner. After accomplishing its mandated task, it dissolved itself at the end of June 2009 and communicated this to the Indian Consulate on 1/7/09.

The committee had Harmohan Walia,Vish Viswanathan, Shubha Kumar, Stanley D’Cruz and Dr Yadu Singh as its members. I was its co-ordinator.

This committee had done following activities;
#met students numerous times.

#organised a students’ forum on 16th May at Strathfield.

#co-organised a students’ forum with UIA in Strathfield on 6th June.

#arranged help to a woman student who was a victim of domestic violence.

#arranged help to 2 women students who were stalked by another Indian co-worker.

#arranged meetings with minister of education, NSW and her senior advisers and students from an aviation school-Work in progress.

#arranged a meeting with the president, NSW upper House [Mr Peter Primrose] and Ms Helen Westwood MLA and students.

#arranged meeting of an aviation school student with consul General [this student gave him his papers].

#arranged a meeting with a community minded lawyer and aviation school students.

#met the mother of a student of an aviation school. This lady’s husband had died only 4 weeks ago due to the serious stress involved in losing the money with the school in Sydney without the required outcome.

#arranged and participated in TV coverage of students’ issues on Channel 7, 9, 10, SBS TV, ABC TV, and Bloomberg.

#participated in the coverage on ABC radio, SBS radio, SBS Hindi radio, 2UE, JJJ, Indian Link radio, Radio UMANG, 2GB radio and SBS Kannada Radio.

#arranged talk-backs on these issues on SBS radio and Radio UMANG [98.5MHZ, Fridays,8-9 PM]

#participated in coverage on SMH, The Australian, Daily Telegraph, other newspapers and AAP.

#participated in the coverage on Indian newspapers in Australia [The Indian, Indian Link, Indus Age, The Indian Sub Continent Times, Indian Down Under].

#participated in TimesNow, NDTV, CNN/IBN, Headlines Today, AajTak and other Indian TV Channels.

#participated in the coverage on main Indian newspapers and PTI.

#involved with some top-grade Australian media programmes with wide audience in getting students’ issues covered.

#arranged funds for the accommodation for the relatives Mr Rajesh Kumar [the petrol bomb victim from Harris Park] within 24 hours.

#met commander Robert Redfern , Parramatta Local area Command of NSW Police several times.

#did what we could do to persuade/help the students when they were on the Harris Park streets for 3 nights.

#participated in the community leaders’ meeting with chairman, Community Relations Commission [CRC] at CRC HQ

#participated in a CRC organised meeting with Indian students at Parramatta RSL.

#participated in the community leaders’ meeting with the Premier, Mr Nathan Rees

#Met Indian Consul General and Consul several times

#helped a prominent Indian TV channel with a documentary on true situation in Australia. One of us [Yadu Singh] was the citizen Journalist.

#discussed and formulated the strategy to solve the problems of our students.

#submitted our strategy to the NSW task force and other relevant authorities.

#provided leadership in the matters relating to Indian students.

#gave our after hours and week-ends for students’ work and provided pastoral care to the needy students.

#provided/facilitated medical help to the needy students/their family members.

#met the visiting Indian journalists at the Consulate.
The committee members were all hard-working people with top-grade integrity. They did not have any conflict of interest in the matters relating to Indian students. None of them were involved in the students’ placement in a school [after taking a commission], running of any such school or running of any business which could have a potential conflict of interest in any manner.

All members worked with full dedication, cohesion and team feeling without any undermining of one another. This itself is a rare thing for an Indian group. We are proud of our work and ourselves.

We appealed to every person from Indian background to stay away from any leadership role if they were involved in any activity which did/could create a conflict of interest in these matters but we did not succeed in this matter.

We raised our voice forcefully against the exploitation of Indian students by some Indian employers.

We also appealed to the Indian newspapers and Radio programmes to ask questions from every leader [on students’ issues] about their involvementin any activity which  created a conflict of interest in those matters. We suggested that the  media should start with the questions on conflict of interests when interviewing those leaders.

Dr Yadu Singh
Co-ordinator

Reply to:  singhyadu@gmail.com

PS: The committee had completed its task and dissolved itself at the end of June 2009 by informing the Consulate officially on 1/7/09.

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Committee’s Strategies for Indian Students’ Issues in Australia

No doubt, our students have several significant issues and these issues have been raised with Governmental and Police authorities here. We are very confident about serious actions in these matters. There is no choice here because the International education industry in Australia worth $16 Billion [about $2-3 Billion from Indian students] is at risk if prompt actions are not implemented.

As you may know, a community committee has been formed in consultation with Indian Consul General, Sydney to help tackle these issues. The committee members are Harry Walia, Vish Viswanathan, Stanley D’Cruz, Shubha Kumar and Yadu Singh [Coordinator].Following is a brief description of issues and proposed action plans by the committee.

These issues are;

1.                     Safety and Security:

 

Brief Details:

Several cases of robbery & bashings of Indian Students in Sydney.

 

Proposed Action Plan

 

  • Educate students to REPORT the incidents to NSW Police. Reporting does not affect their VISA.
  • Lobby with Councils for a better lighting around Railway stations, car parks and  alleys etc
  • Lobby with the local councils for the installation of CCTV for surveillance of crimes
  • Liaison with NSW Police re under-cover policing, more visibility and patrolling in hot-spots
  • Educate the students  to be street-smart and be aware of their  surroundings
  • Employers have a duty of care and must arrange them to be dropped off at their apartments if it is beyond 10 PM
  • Explore the issues involving “Work-cover” matters in case of injury/assaults

 

2.                     Accommodation for Indian Students

 

Brief Details:

No assistance on arrival. Many students forced to share crowded apartments and Poor treatment by rental agents

 

Proposed Action Plan

 

  • Lobby with authorities re the provision of 3-6 months accommodation which must be organised by education providers at the market cost

 

  • Lobby with Immigration regarding  this requirement [Visa must not be issued unless accommodation confirmed]

 

3.                     Quality of training:

 

Brief details:

 

Many students are exposed to poor quality of training by educational service providers & shady, shonky or bogus institutions.

 

Proposed action plan:

 

  • Accreditation authorities/bodies to audit the quality of training randomly and frequently
  • Lobby with respective Govt. Agencies to take proper actions on proved cases
  • Surveys from the present/past students re the quality issues [anonymously]
  • Effective and prompt action by DEEWR/ACPET re alternate placement in schools/institutions or refund of the tuition fees if the educational provider goes out of business

 

4.                     Exploitation of Indian students:

 

Brief details:

 

Indian students are exposed to exploitation of all kinds & bullying in part time employment or by educational service providers. They are getting below-award wages in many cases. Some Indian employers are also involved in this type of exploitation.

 

Proposed action plan:

 

  • To advise & educate students about their RIGHTS in Australia
  • To educate them re the appropriate agencies to deal with such matters
  • To encourage/facilitate genuine students’ associations which are largely run by students themselves, not business people with hidden agenda and purposes.

 

  • Indian community leaders to understand the “conflict of interests” concept when taking the leadership role in students’ matters. They must stay out from a leadership role if they are involved with any business involving students [schools or consultancy].   
  • To lobby for establishing an  overseas Students’ Ombudsman

 

5.                              Health Cover, other appropriate insurance matters and  emergency insurance:

 

Brief details:

 

Lack of proper/current Insurances and coverage by some students, particularly when they are on bridging Visa

 

Proposed Action plan:

 

  • Pre arrival Information package-in India
  • Lobby with government agencies re the need for the medical cover and emergency including death insurance.
  • Proper medical insurance including death insurance must be a condition for the Visa and such cover must be current at all times during the stay in Australia

 

6.                Social issues:

 

Brief details: poor communication, insufficient participation in local community events & meetings and poor public behaviour in many cases

 

Proposed action plan

 

  • Communication/education through community Radio, TV, newspapers and website.
  • Encourage participation of students in community events
  • Accept that we are the ambassadors of India
  • Know what is expected in every situation.
  • Encouraging and promoting “when in Rome, do as Romans do” policy for our students
  • www.indianstudents.net.au will be launched very soon with info on Australian rules/regulations, Australian ways, expected behaviour and rights/obligations [There is now sufficient information in these matters in High Commission of India, Canberra and Australian Gov websites]

 

7. Brief details: Indian students are unaware how to deal with emergency situations

 

Proposed action plan:

 

  • To provide information packages on service providers and counselling services
  • Look into possibility of a Community Helpline for non-emergency matters
  • Set up a website and link it to the Indian High Commission/CGI

 

8.   Develop the Indian media leadership group for students’ and community issues. This would give an opportunity to exchange views, form strategies and execute them effectively. India Media group will help in dissemination of the information. We recognise that we need a good relation with Indian and Australian media to be able to do an effective advocacy of Indian students’ issues with various Gov agencies and relevant stake-holders.

 

9.   To set up an INDIAN Students’ Emergency assistance and BENOVALENT FUND

 

10. To seek actively sincere and genuine community members and students for the continuation of the outlined tasks. Most times, Indian community members are aware about the exploiters from our own community. We must take it as our social/community responsibility to do a social boycott of such exploiters. We believe that exploitation of Indian students by Indian community members is the lowest of low and a despicable behaviour.

 

11.  To lobby for some transport concession.It is available all over Australia except NSW and Vic. It would encourage more use of public transport which might also reduce the assaults/robberies of students.

 

12.  To bridge the gap between Indian students and established Indian Australians by reaching out to Indian students, inviting them to social gatherings, mentoring them and providing help whenever practicable/possible.

 

 

 

 

Dr Yadu Singh

Co-ordinator

singhyadu@gmail.com

 

**PS: 29/8/09

[1]. The above mentioned committee had prepared its report and forwarded its recommendations to the relevant authorities.

[2]. After completing its job, the committee had dissolved itself at the end of June 2009 and communicated its decision to the Consul General on 1/7/09.

[3]. This report is being published with the purpose of making the community aware of its contents.

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Media Grandstanding would not help Indian students in Australia:comments on FISA’s 10 point charter.

MEDIA grandstanding must stop: FISA is making impractical and irrelevant demands.

We are concerned about impractical and irrelevant demands which FISA seems to be making. We have seen their 10 point charter and considered it carefully. We see some serious problems in their thought-process and offer following response point by point;

1)  Free two weeks board to welcome Indian students:
If Melbourne’s 100,000-strong Indian community gave each student 2 week’s free boarding it would help them find their feet in a new country. (Note: the City of Darwin has launched borders without borders program with the general Australian community along these lines. Sure the Indian community can help with free accommodation). Together we can help students settle easily as many professional Indians have large homes with empty rooms.

 

OUR RESPONSE:  It is not practical and realistic to expect established Indian Australians to provide boarding for any number of weeks to Indian students. How can one provide such boarding when they do not even know them? There is no justification for such a ridiculous suggestion.   FISA’s suggestion is nothing but media grand standing. This type of suggestion is not going to solve the accommodation issues which students face in Australia.  It is our belief that education providers who make money from these students must arrange accommodation for the initial 3-6 months at a market cost. This would allow these students to get used to the system here and give them sufficient confidence to be able to find the appropriate rental accommodation.

2)     Donate to the FISA victims of crime fund
Indian migrants are one of the richest migrant groups in Australia. Indian businesses and professionals can afford to donate generously to the FISA victims of crime fund so that victims like Sravan Kumar who was savagely attacked in his home in Glenroy are looked after properly.

 

OUR RESPONSE: FISA is not able to think beyond media grand standing. Any Victim of crime fund will never have sufficient money to cover the medical expense of the nature which Sravan Kumar needs. The ICU fees for one day could be something like $5000 and it could go for more than $100000 for one victim. No community can and will be able to arrange funds of this nature. Making such suggestions is completely unrealistic. Expenses on the treatment for a Victim of crime must be covered by the Gov/Medicare which is the case with the Victim of petrol bomb attack in Sydney. We believe that every student must maintain valid, appropriate and current medical cover insurance for a situation when they need treatment due to injuries or illnesses. This is not the case with many students presently. Ongoing and current medical cover insurance must be a condition for the continuation of the VISA.

 

 

 

3)    Free medical checkup from Indian doctors
The local Indian community has thousands of medical doctors and medical specialists. By offering free medical checkups to students we can ensure they are looked after health wise while they are here. This will also ensure a point of contact that is badly needed.

 

OUR RESPONSE: Medical doctors will/do provide free medical check-ups in some situations but this is not going to be the solution which FISA seems to be suggesting. Medical doctors cannot provide free treatment in case of admissions in ICU etc and cannot provide free medicines. As before, FISA’s suggestion is completely unrealistic and is indicative of media grand standing.  Again, we believe that every student must hold a valid, current and appropriate medical cover insurance while in Australia and this must be a condition for their VISA. If they have this cover, they do not need to depend on the charity from anyone.

4)    Free legal advice from Indian lawyers
the local Indian community has thousands of lawyers. By offering free legal service the established Indian community can help students on critical issues. Indian lawyers could also join together to lodge human rights cases against Victorian and Australian governments, education institutions and immigrations agents who are ripping off many students with false claims and promises. Lawyers could also help lodge disputes for unfair treatment and discrimination at work.

 

OUR RESPONSE: Free legal assistance from Indian Australian Lawyers and free service from every Indian Australian for our students would be great but is not going to happen. This suggestion is completely impractical and unrealistic. Our students are getting ripped off by so many and they include agents in India, some education providers  and some immigration agents but we cannot see that our lawyers or other professionals would provide free services at all times. We believe that Federal Gov must establish an Ombudsman immediately to deal with these issues. Decisions from the Ombudsman cannot be challenged in a court. FISA must stop media grand standing. 

5)    More student Hotlines in all Indian languages
we need all community groups to chip in and establish hotlines in all Indian languages. These need to be staffed with qualified counselors. Most students look to the Indian association that speaks their language. Few have heard of FIAV or other umbrella groups.

 

OUR RESPONSE: Helpline should be in English language and not in Indian languages. All students are able to speak and understand English which is a condition of their VISA. Our students need to integrate. Nobody is going to start help lines in all Indian languages. It would be impossible to arrange funding for such ridiculous ideas.  We leave FISA and FIAV to sort out their turf war in Melbourne. What is the stand of FISA in Sydney where they are part of an umbrella group but not chairing the students’ committee of that umbrella group? They were nowhere to be seen when our committee and that umbrella group held a combined meeting recently. Despite FISA and that Umbrella group’s public stand against the Rally in Sydney, they did not follow their words.

6)    Safety watch committees 
Local established Indian groups could adopt a station to provide community or neighborhood watch committees. If middle class and educated people are at stations at night then the risk of attacks will be reduced. Police are more likely to listen to wealthy professional Indians than students. In addition these safety watch committees can report back to Police and work to reduce poor lighting and other hazards at stations in the poorer suburbs.

 

OUR RESPONSE: Safety watch by established Indian Australians is not the solution. This suggestion is ridiculous. FISA seems to come out with immature, impractical and inappropriate suggestions. We do not need a parallel security apparatus for Indians in Australia. We are part of the same Australian community and our problems will need to be solved within the holistic approach to safety/security issues. We do need to put sufficient pressure on the Governments/Police to intensify the patrolling, under-cover policing and adopt proactive measures to stop the crimes against our students.

 

7)    Political power – the great Indian vote boycott
Established Indians have huge political power given that they live in large numbers in marginal seats in the Melbourne’s more affluent east. By refusing to vote for the major Liberal and Labor parties until action is taken to ensure students safety they can send a powerful message to state and federal government. Established Indians should boycott voting for major parties until students’ demands are met and their security assured. Politicians are power hungry and will meet our demands if they know established Indians are boycotting their parties. By boycotting both parties, we will also stop the state and federal opposition’s ‘political play acting’ and get them to vote for real changes in parliament for Indian students.

OUR RESPONSE: The suggestion of boycotting the main political parties is a crazy idea. We, in fact, need to join them and participate in the political process in Australia. We will be more effective if we join them. FISA guys, please get real. Indians in Australia do not subscribe to a victim mentality and we do not want any of us to adopt a victim’s mentality. We need to analyze, debate and formulate a proper strategy to stop the crime against our students. We must accept that some crimes will continue to happen as they happen against non-Indians.

8)    Public shaming of community rip off merchants
in many cases landlords, bosses, immigration agents and education institutions are ripping off our Indian students. Indian community groups need to name and shame these people who are bringing the reputation of Indians in to disrepute and exploiting Indian students. Each community groups could publish the name of ‘rip off merchants’ on their websites so that students know exactly who they should avoid.

 

OUR RESPONSE: Public naming and shaming of the “rip off merchants” from our or other communities is again an impractical suggestion. It would lead to legal cases and unnecessary legal fees and damages. No individual or association with sane mind will do the public naming or shaming. FISA guys, please get real. Yesterday, the committee of education ministers and federal education minister has announced a helpline which students can call if they have a complaint and they can do so anonymously. They will also be doing a rapid and effective audit of the “Fly by night” schools which have mushroomed in every suburb in Australian cities. These schools need to be audited effectively if Australia wants to continue growing the $16 billion education industry.

 

9) Free food kitchens across Melbourne to help students survive
many students are now unemployed or working for as little as one quarter of the legal minimum wage. (Note: The Sikh Temple in Blackburn in Melbourne’s east currently feeds thousands of students seven days a week and is happy to extend this to other suburbs. But we need more Australian Indians to help in southern, northern and western suburbs.

 

OUR RESPONSE: FISA should remember that they are students and not refugees. Temples should not be converted to Vincent de Paul societies. While community members are able to help on a case to case basis for any genuine or temporary situations, long term free feeding of students would result in too much burden on the local Indian community and might lead into negative effects.  Students are expected to have adequate financial capabilities for their stay in Australia according to student Visa conditions. It is not a bright idea to expect the Indian community and temples to provide free food seven days a week for the rapidly growing student population. In addition who is going to fund this type of “free kitchens for students?” and for how long?

 

 

10) Local Indians to support FISA demands
Established Indians can call their local MPs and lobby them to support FISA 10 point plan for better student safety.
Many Australian MPs are not scared of students because they do not vote and will not take FISA’s demands seriously. These MPs are more likely to address FISA’s student demands if the local voting Indian’s call, email and write to politicians demanding action on student safety. If Premier John Brumby receives 100,000 letters and Kevin Rudd receives 200,000 letters from local voting Indians then they will both act swiftly on Indian student safety.

 

OUR RESPONSE: This is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt and a copy cat of typical Indian politics carried out in Australia in the name of student issues. Both Australian Government and the Indian Government have agreed at the Prime Minister level to take immediate measures addressing student concerns including safety related issues. FISA seems to have run out of ideas in getting the local support for their “10 point” demands and it is a joke to think that Kevin Rudd will act only after receiving 200,000 letters. The Indian community will be a laughing stock even if a few members support this funny idea of sending mass mail.

 We urge FISA guys to think through anything before jumping with suggestions which are laughable and unrealistic. FISA guys need to discuss with others before going on media grand standing with half-cooked and ridiculous ideas.

 

Indian Consul General’s Community Committee on Indian Students’ Issues

Sydney, NSW

PS:[1] This was the response we gave to Indian Link newspaper which asked the committee to provide its response/views in regards to the FISA’s 10 points charter.

[2]Please note that the above-mentioned committee had completed its job and provided its reports/recommendations to the relevant authorities. It had then dissolved itself at the end of June 2009. The committee had communicated its decision to the Consul General on 1/7/09.

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Australia should sell Uranium to India:why, when and how!

Australia should sell Uranium to India

I was happy to know that Deputy Prime Minister, Hon Ms Julia Gillard is visiting India later this month and Prime Minister, Hon Kevin Rudd is going to visit India  a bit later this year.  He has already been to China, USA, Japan and Indonesia last year and I believe his Indian trip is truly overdue. His previous planned visit to India had to be postponed for various reasons. India is an important country for Australia on multiple fronts. Indian students’ issues aside, both countries enjoy friendly relations with one another.  We, Indians, in Australia, have a keen interest in seeing good relations between these two countries. We know that both Indian and Australian Governments are working seriously to fix the problems involving the Indian students.

Both countries must consider the interests of one another while doing business with one another. There are too many things which bind us together. These are our democracies, rule of law, multi-cultural societies, love of Cricket and memberships of the Commonwealth to name a few.

Australia and Australians are accepted as friends by India and Indians. I do not think the recent problems which our students faced, are going to cause a lasting damage to Australia-India relations.

Indian economy is growing and will keep growing for years to come. We are on a roll. The only thing which holds us down is the fact that we have a problem in regards to our energy supply. We need more and more energy for all our needs. It is essential not only for India but it is also essential for the health of the world economy.

We have been exploring all sources of energy supply as our local supply is far shorter than what we need. We have to import petroleum from the Arab countries and are debating about the gas supply from Iran. Iranian Gas is however problematic as it has to transit via Pakistani territory which is a problem in itself. Paskistani Govt authorities will never be able to guarantee a secure transit due to its weakness and the presence of the “non-state actors” there who are anti-India. In addition, we can not rule out a war between India and Pakistan which will create problems in the transit of the gas.

We are therefore forced to explore the option of atomic energy. We have no choice. Thanks to the leadership of Mr Man Mohan Singh and Mr George Bush, we have an India-specific NSG exemption and India has been able to have bilateral nuclear energy deals with USA, Russia, and France. We need a similar deal between India and Australia which will allow the Uranium sale to India. Australia has about 40% of world Uranium and sells it to China. NPT should not be an obstacle for Australia to sell Uranium to India.

We should remind ourselves about what the former Australian PM had said about such sale. He said that it would not be fair to sell Uranium to China and deny that to India. PM Howard was dead right.

It is therefore unfair for the ALP Gov to deny Australian Uranium to India. NPT issue is not relevant in regards to India as India has an impeccable records in these matters. Australian Foreign Minister Mr Stephen Smith’s press conference in New Delhi is worth going through. It is available through DFAT website. India has never been involved in nuclear proliferation unlike Pakistan and China. China is a NPT signatory but its record in these matters is not that great. Every body knows the nexus between China and Pakistan. We should not forget how North Korea got its atomic bombs. Pakistan would not have supplied anything to North Korea without the consent of China. Chinese manuals were found even in Lybia which tried to buy things from disgraced proliferator AQ Khan of Pakistan.

Simply put, it makes no sense for Australian Uranium going to China but not to India. In fact, there is more justification for Uranium sale to India. It is fully justifiable if ALP drops it objection to selling Uranium to non-NPT signatory country like India because India has a fault-free records in proliferation matters and this fact has been recognised by the world with the India specific NSG waiver.

I therefore urge the Australian PM and ALP to give India a “fair go”. This is what is expected from a friendly country. It is not fair to bind Australia with the NPT dogma and not see the whole issue in a realistic way. A friend has to see the problems of the his/her friends. Australia is a friend of India. It showed it by supporting the NSG exemption for India in Vienna last year. It shows it by supporting a permanent position for India in UNSC. It is about time that we see it once again by seeing Uranium trade between Australia and India. As we understand, it [ALP] would not have any political fall out from its decision to sell Uranium to India because the Coalition is already in favour of doing so. It should not be a problem to amend Atomic energy Act, giving an India-specific exemption.

I urge my Australian Indian friends to lobby with their local MPs on this matter. We need to pool our energies in persuading the Australian Gov to sell Uranium to India.

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/23rd Aug, 2009

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Indian students in Australia:Fix the ills of international education!

There have been several reports about the assaults of the Indian students in Australia. These attacks have been called “Racist attacks” by the Indian media in India and some people in Australia. I do not agree with the “racist tag” for these attacks. I, like others, however condemn them and have asked the Police authorities to take effective actions to stop these attacks. 

The students’ issues are multi-dimentional and the stategy to tackle them has, by logic, to be multi-dimentional.

Following write-up will describe what should be done.
FIX THE ILLS OF THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
 
31/7/09
 
You would have seen what was in the INSIGHT [SBS] and FOUR CORNERS [ABC] about International education recently. You would have also seen what was published on this matter in SMH and The Australian recently. Whatever is there is not pretty in regards to the International education. Rorts and scams are aplenty. Exploitation of students is the rule rather than the exception. Exploitation is happening in multiple fronts, starting from the agents in overseas countries and going to the schools and employments in Australia. There is no guarantee which certificate is genuine and which is worthless. International education schools have been called “Visa factories”. It has attracted headings of the nature ” A racket no one dares name”. It is really shocking and bringing a very bad name to Australia. Anybody who has a conscience must be getting agitated. I certainly am.
 
 It is about the time that we say “Enough is enough”. Not only the Aust Gov and its regulatory bodies must act but we the Indian community must act too.  If nobody acts, we risk the good name of this country itself getting a serious beating. It is not at a stage yet , I hope, that it can not be saved if the Gov agencies act decisively. We chose to live in Australia because we love to live here. If we love this country, then we ought to do everything which will not allow anyone to tarnish the good name of “Brand Australia”. We can never forget that this is the country where we have enjoyed and are enjoying our success and it is the country which our children will enjoy in future.
 
For our children’s sake, we do not want to have a situation that our education is looked down upon as useless when our children go for jobs all over the world. Some of our children would go and work all over the world as the the world has become a global village. Australia is a great country and we must not allow anyone to make it otherwise.
 
I have been in discussions with a large number of people from our background in recent days. I have also been talking with non-Indian Australians on these matters. It was gratifying to note that there was a general consensus about what needs to done in regards to International education.
 
In summary, it is about us including Aust Gov agencies, doing everything to maintain the good name of Australia and its brand recognition. It is also about maintaining the integrity of the Australian education and Immigration systems.
 
We will be able to do so if;
1.Australian Gov and its regulatory agencies do their jobs in exposing, investigating and prosecuting those who are involved in rorts and scams

2.Australian media exposes the rorters and scamers vigorously irrespective of who is involved

3.International students are guaranteed the education which they were promised when they signed the contract after understanding our system from authentic sources, before getting the Visa at the Australian embassies/High Commissions which is further followed by a verifiable and mandatory orientation here at the schools about Australian systems, ways, rules, regulations, what is On and what is not On

4.International students are placed in other relevant schools or refunded their money ASAP if they are unable to receive the quality education

5.Australian Gov and its regulatory agencies work ruthlessly and systematically in ensuring a good quality education for international students

6.Australian Gov works closely with Aust Universities and Overseas Governments in regulating the conducts of the education agents, operating on behalf of the educational providers

7.Australian Gov and its regulatory agencies consider the issues of infra-structure and capacity before giving permission for schools to enrol students and then monitor these issues randomly and frequently

8.International education and permanent residence visa are de-linked in an effective way by reversing some ill-advised changes brought in by Howard Gov around 2005

9.We have an international students’ ombudsman system for these students to go to if they have a problem with the schooling or employment as the legal system is very expensive in Australia.

10.Visa conditions are effectively policed as many work for far more than what is allowed

11.Australian police does effective policing in regards to crimes against international students by following the culprits/criminals vigorously and by being proactive rather than reactive

12.we, the Indian community approach and encourage international students to mix and mingle with the general “established” Indian community and by being the mentors to them in the new environment

13.we, as the community, take the initiative to establish an Indian international students’ benevolent fund to provide assistance to these students in certain well-defined emergency situations. The contributors for such funds must include students themselves, schools/universities, Australian Gov, Indian Gov and Indian community, knowing that there are no free lunches

There is some significant justification for a separate ministry at the federal/state levels for International education when this is generating more than $15 Billions which is number 3 earner for our economy. It is worth thinking about.

Assistance by the education providers in locating the appropriate accommodation for the initial 6 months and some subsidy for the transport would be other issues which should be considered.

We also need to make it mandatory that every student is maintaining the valid and current medical cover during his/her stay as the medical treatment is very expensive in Australia.
 
As far as we the Indian Australians are concerned, we must resolve to not socialise with the rorters and scamers from our own community. It should not be difficult as they are tarnishing the good name of our community and we do not want that to happen.
 
We also need to show leadership and tell our Indian media off for calling every assault on Indian students as racist attacks because 1. it is not a true and fair commentary and 2. it is potentially harmful to us. Australia has been projected as a racist country by the Indian media which is completely baseless. Indian media’s coverage has been hysterical, unprofessional and anything but objective. We, the Indian community do not believe that we are living in a racist country.
 
We need to project ourselves as a fair and caring society which we are but we also need to project us as a system which will not allow rorts or scams to succeed irrespective of who the scamers or rorters are. Jail is the right place if the rorter is an Australian resident/citizen and deportation is the fate if that person is a student.
 
Can we do it? Yes, we can. We do not have any other choice because anything else is going to harm the image of the very country which we love. I would even go to the extent of saying that anything else would be “Un-Australian”.
 
I hope that more would be ready and willing to join me in this……. A time has come when we join together and name this racket for what it is. After all, $15 billion dollars [out of which $2-3 Billion is from Indian students] is lot less than the long term harm to Australia and Australians if we do not do something effective to root out the rorts and bring in the fairness in the system for all the parties.
 
Regards
 
Dr Yadu Singh
Cardiologist
Baulkham Hills, NSW

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Indians in Australia:what we must not do?

Hello friends

Please let me introduce myself. I am a cardiologist in Sydney. I am a patriotic Indian and a loyal Australian. I care deeply for our great Indian values and heritage. I also believe that we do need to introspect ourselves from time to time while believing in our great value system. We must learn to criticize ourselves in a constructive way if we wish to achieve greater goals.

I attended a meeting of senior Indians in Hornsby area of Sydney today. Mrs Mira Raheja was the chairperson of this meeting. She is a great lady who must be in her 70s but she is very active. I spoke about the “know your heart and look after your Heart”-basically a cardiac health related talk for our elderly people. It was a well attended meeting. They asked me lots of questions. I enjoyed answering them. It was a fun being there. Thank you Mrs Raheja for inviting me.

We both raised our concerns about the division of Indian community into language and region based groups. We believe it is wrong. There is only one India and we ought to get rid of our narrow identifications. We ought to take the pan-Indian identity. When Dr Death [Dr Patel from Qld] was reported extensively in Australian papers, no body was calling him a Gujarati doctor. He was called an Indian doctor. When the whole world calls us Indian, then why are we promoting the regional identifications rather than the Pan-Indian identification. Our current leaders must think about it. We must not encourage division of our community then pretend to unite them by having something like UIA [United Indian Associations] in Sydney. This is clearly a wrong model for our community. It can remove its deficiencies by opening its membership to all Indian community members and then having the annual and genuine elections. It should encourage such membership and not discourage it by asking $250 membership fees. It can not represent our community by including small pocket associations of some “players” from our community who have been in its governing council [GC] from the day one with not much to show as the output. It is not sufficient to have photographs with ministers and a “mela”. They need to do lot more substantial and get out of the GC after 4 years.  Will they listen? I doubt it.

I believe quite strongly that we have to learn from our history and not make the same mistakes which our forefathers made. Our divisions allowed the foreigners to rule over India for centuries. We must unite and take our due place in Australian political establishment. I and hundreds of my friends in Sydney feel that we must have a genuine “Indian” association which is above the region, language and religion. It must have the representation for whole India and all Indian community. We are “Indians” first before anything else. We would achieve this if we have a good leadership. I do not believe we have a good leadership for Indian community in Sydney because they are too interested in being “Kannada”, “Bengali”, “Telugu”, “Tamil”, “North Indian”, “South Indian” or any other leader for that matter rather than  true “Indian” leaders. We must change this. I hope it happens soon.  If it does not happen, then we must create a true “Pan-Indian” association. More on this later……. and yes, I am interested in your views please. Regards Dr Yadu Singh, Sydney