In a major speech in the Australian parliament today, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd condemned recent attacks on Indian students. Any violence against them would be met with “full force of the law”, he added.
He said that more than 90,000 Indian students in Australia “are welcome guests in our country.”
(A latest report states that a helpline to assist Indian students who are victims of crime will begin operating from Friday. See here…)
(Meanwhile Australian police detained 18 Indian youths for “breaching peace” in Melbourne as thousands of students held a massive peace rally against recent attacks on their community. More here…)
Kevin Rudd added: “In recent months, there have been a number of attacks on young Indians studying or working in Australia – in particular three recent attacks in Melbourne involving six young Indians.” (See my earlier post here…)
The Australian prime minister described the attacks as “a much wider problem of urban violence in various parts of some of our larger cities. Australians deplore and condemn these senseless acts of violence.”
His government at Canberra “was working closely with state governments to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice and that government agencies are responding to these crimes to protect all students and others in our community.”
Rudd said he also told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that “more than 200,000 Australians of Indian descent are welcome members of the Australian family. I look forward to working with Prime Minister Singh in the years ahead as we take our relationship with India to the front rank of our international relations.
“Australia is a country of great diversity, harmony and tolerance.
We are a multicultural nation and we respect and embrace diversity – diversity which has enriched our nation.
That is why these recent acts of violence are all the more deplorable. They are equally unacceptable.
“The Minister for Foreign Affairs on Friday spoke to his counterpart, External Affairs Minister Krishna, about these matters and assured him of the seriousness with which the Australian Government is addressing these matters.
“The Deputy Prime Minister outlined last week steps the Government will be taking to respond to the specific concerns of international students. We will work closely with the states to implement these measures as a matter of urgency.
“The Australian Government is committed to developing a stronger, closer relationship with India. We have many common interests – those of history; those of the present; and those of the future as two Indian Ocean democracies.”
Meanwhile the President of the (Australian) National Union of Students, David Barrow, said “the Federal and State Governments need to make Indian students feel more comfortable about approaching Australian authorities.
” ‘You need to feel welcomed by this country and right now we are treating international students like cash cows as opposed to human beings,’ he said.” More here…
The Age of Australia reports: “Canberra is battling to reassure New Delhi that Australians aren’t racist, fearful the outcry over attacks on Indian students may harm relations and stop the flow of lucrative education dollars.” More here…
The CNN-IBN reports: “An Australian police team is expected to reach in India on Monday morning to reassure potential students.” More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.