New Delhi: After the recent spate of brutal attacks on Indian students in Australia, the country has been forced into damage control.
An Australian police team is expected to reach in India on Monday morning to reassure potential students.
The team – that also includes professors from Victoria University apart from police officers – will tour five major cities over the next six days.
They plan to brief students on what to expect after arriving in Melbourne, support available for them, tips on safer living and crime prevention, their right to feel safe, and knowing how and when to contact emergency services.
Australia, faced with an image crisis like never before, needs to act fast, else the $3.5 million campaign to draw foreign students started by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will be a non-starter.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENTS ARE DOING
On Friday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke with Rudd and urged him to take all possible steps to ensure the security of Indians in Australia.
Amid outrage and concern in India at the wave of allegedly racist attacks on Indian students, the Australian government assured India that a slew of steps, including increased patrolling and setting up of a hotline, have been taken to ensure the safety of over 80,000 Indian students in the country.
The Indian high commissioner in Canberra as well as the consuls general in Sydney and Melbourne have also taken a slew of cautionary measures and put a list of dos and don'ts on their websites.
The websites advise students on how to report incidents, even of a minor nature, to enable the Indian officials to take up their specific complaints with the concerned Australian authorities.
A guide for prospective students planning to go to Australia is also under preparation.
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