Arrest
of Indian students in US
In the sting operation carried out by the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, 129 Indians were arrested on the charge of
wilfully violating immigration laws to stay and work in the United States. Either
they fell victim to unscrupulous recruiters who offered to secure an I-20
student document that allowed them to undertake paid work using the provision
for Curricular Practical Training, or knowingly engaged in fraud.
The Ministry of External Affairs has made the
correct distinction between students who may have been duped and the
recruiters. Students who are eligible to pursue studies at an authorised
university in the U.S. should, therefore, get a further opportunity and not be
subjected to summary deportation or humiliation.
This incident should serve as a reminder to
India’s policymakers that access to higher education, job-creation and raising
of living standards to meet the aspirations of youth must receive priority.
They should create opportunities at home so that our students don’t have to go
to foreign countries to beg for jobs.
If we have to migrate, then it will be a good
idea for us to migrate legitimately so we live with honour. It is going to be a
big task for those affected students to come back to normalcy. It is a lesson
for others aspiring to go. In a way, it will be good if we do not
have such income disparity in the world which forces so many of the youth
looking for greener pasture and ending up on the wrong side of law. I feel the External
Affairs Ministry can get legal assistance and protect the legal rights of the
affected students. Definitely this incident is going to make life difficult for
genuine students who are aspiring to pursue their higher studies in the US and
other countries.
The matter, of course, should be dealt by US
government as the major scam is hatched in their own nation and under their own
jurisdiction
Let us all not feign ignorance about a basic
FACT that in India we have corrupted the entire Democratic processes, and anybody
can make ANY certificate as well as get encomiums and (even) Bharat Ratna as if
just some Politically powerful persons alone that matter, on whose whims and
fancies we could get anything done, even if such a thing is against
Law/Constitution. We must be a bit happy that somehow the US administration did
not zero in on this junk behavior of the average Indian, until now. Not that
ALL those who migrate for Jobs etc are under such category; but a very large
percentage amongst them are. While at home the Govt is trying hard to
"separate" "outsiders" such as "Rohingyas" etc,
our own youngsters are found setting feet in alien lands, unlawfully. We must
begin charity at home. Talk of an impending demographic dividend
is meaningless without creating opportunities at home.
It is wrong to say that students go to the US
because they lack access to higher education or jobs. They go there to earn
money and they try everything to stay back because people can earn a lot more
there than what they can in India. The work culture in the US companies is
another major reason why people do not want to come back.
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