Fraud applications: Indian students face ban / restrictions from 5 Australian universities

News Network
April 18, 2023

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At least five Australian universities have placed bans or restrictions on students from some Indian states, amidst a surge in fraudulent applications from South Asia seeking to work – not study – in this country, according to a media report.

Australia is on track for its biggest-ever annual intake of Indian students, topping 2019’s high watermark of 75,000.

But the current surge has prompted concerns from lawmakers and the education sector about the integrity of Australia’s immigration system and the long-term impact on the nation’s lucrative international education market, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“The volume of students arriving has come back a lot stronger than anyone was expecting,” said Jon Chew from global education firm Navitas.

 “We knew there would be a lot of pent-up demand, but there has also been a surge in non-genuine students,” Chew was quoted as saying.

With many applications deemed by universities not to meet Australian visa requirements that they are a “genuine temporary entrant” coming solely for education, universities are putting restrictions in place to pre-empt their “risk rating” being downgraded, the report said.

An investigation by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers has obtained emails from within Victoria University, Edith Cowan University, the University of Wollongong, Torrens University, and agents working for Southern Cross University that show the crackdown on applications from Indian students.

Those universities that have restricted access to some Indian states are concerned Home Affairs will reduce their ability to fast-track student visas because of the number of applicants who are actually seeking to work – not study – in Australia.

Perth’s Edith Cowan University in February placed an outright ban on applicants from the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, then in March, Victoria University increased restrictions on student applications from eight Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

These restrictions came just days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited India, in part to celebrate Australia’s education links and announce a new agreement with Australia’s universities and colleges that would, he said, herald “the most comprehensive and ambitious arrangement agreed to by India with any country”.

Crucially, the agreement included a “mutual recognition of qualifications between Australia and India”, which will make travelling to either country for university study easier.

The University of Wollongong in March also ratcheted up conditions on its “genuine temporary entrant” test on students from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Nigeria and “other countries deemed a risk (of students not being a genuine temporary entrant) by the Department of Home Affairs”.

A spokeswoman for Adelaide’s Torrens University said it too was “now looking carefully at each area where our applications come from” after the university told The Times Higher Education in March that it was considering only “very strong” applications from Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab, the report added. 

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News Network
April 11,2025

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New Israeli strikes have killed over a dozen people, including seven children, in the besieged territory as the regime is pressing ahead with its bloody military onslaught against Palestinians.

Gaza's civil defense agency said the bodies of 10 people, including seven children, were brought to the hospital following an Israeli airstrike that targeted the al-Farra family home in central Khan Younis.

Witnesses reported continuous and intensive Israeli tank fire in the city. 

Moreover, one Palestinian was killed and four others were wounded following an aerial attack on a group of civilians in Rafah.

In central Gaza, Israeli drones struck a group of civilians in Deir el-Balah, following which a number of casualties were transferred to the al-Aqsa Hospital.

Two more people killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a group of civilians in the al-Atatra area in the northern city of Beit Lahia.

On Friday morning, the Israeli military released an “urgent and serious” evacuation notice for residents living in various neighborhoods east of Gaza City.

The United Nations on Friday said its analysis of 36 recent Israeli strikes in Gaza showed only women and children were killed and decried the human cost of the war.

Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani cited an April 6 strike on a residential building of the Abu Issa family in Deir al-Balah, which reportedly killed one girl, four women, and one four-year-old boy.

Even the areas where Palestinians were being instructed to go in the expanding number of Israeli "evacuation orders" were also being subjected to attacks, she said.

Israel has said its troops are seizing "large areas" in Gaza and incorporating them into buffer zones cleared of their inhabitants.

The UN rights office warned that expanding Israeli evacuation orders are resulting in the "forcible transfer" of people into ever-shrinking spaces in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

"Let us be clear, these so-called evacuation orders are actually displacement orders, leading to displacement of the population of Gaza into ever shrinking spaces," Shamdasani said.

"The permanently displacing the civilian population within occupied territories amounts to forcible transfer, which is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and it is a crime against humanity."

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Shamsadani said between March 18 and April 9, there were some 224 incidents of Israeli strikes on residential buildings and tents for internally displaced people.

"In some 36 strikes about which the UN Human Rights Office corroborated information, the fatalities recorded so far were only women and children," she said.

"Overall, a large percentage of fatalities are children and women, according to information recorded by our Office," she added.

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News Network
April 14,2025

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress on Sunday, accusing the party of indulging in minority appeasement and vote-bank politics over its opposition to the amended Waqf Act. Speaking at the inauguration of Hisar Airport in Haryana, the Prime Minister also questioned the Congress’s commitment to the Muslim community, asking why the party had never appointed a Muslim president or reserved a significant portion of election tickets for Muslim candidates.

“Congress has appeased only a few fundamentalists while keeping the majority of Muslims poor and uneducated,” Modi said. “If the Congress truly cares for Muslims, let them make a Muslim the party president and reserve 50 per cent of their Lok Sabha tickets for Muslim candidates. But they won’t. Their only aim is to snatch away others’ rights for political gains.”

He alleged that the Congress misused the Waqf law to benefit select groups and land mafias. “Lakhs of hectares of land under Waqf have been misused. If it had been used honestly, Muslim youth wouldn’t be forced to fix bicycle punctures for a living,” Modi remarked. “With the new amendments, Waqf Boards can no longer claim land belonging to tribals or marginalized communities. This is true social justice.”

Modi linked the Waqf law controversy to what he called the Congress’s legacy of undermining Dr B.R. Ambedkar. Remembering Ambedkar on his birth anniversary, the Prime Minister accused the Congress of sidelining him during his lifetime and attempting to erase his legacy after his death.

“Babasaheb Ambedkar stood for equality, but Congress infected the nation with the virus of vote-bank politics. They made him lose elections twice and tried to keep him out of the system,” Modi said, adding that every policy of his government is inspired by Ambedkar’s ideals.

He also took aim at the Congress’s stance on the Uniform Civil Code, noting that while the Constitution recommends a common civil code, the Congress never implemented it. “Today, Uttarakhand has implemented a Uniform Civil Code, and Congress is opposing it. This shows their double standards,” he said.

In response, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge hit back, accusing the BJP of using Ambedkar’s name for political mileage while failing to implement his principles. “Dr Ambedkar emphasised education above all. What has this government done to realise his vision?” Kharge questioned. “They only speak against Congress, against Nehru, and all we have done. But what have they achieved themselves?”

Kharge also reiterated the Congress’s demand for immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act, which mandates 33 per cent representation for women in Parliament and state assemblies. “When the bill was passed two years ago, we demanded SC, ST, and OBC women be included in the reservation. This remains our goal,” he said.

The exchange marks a sharp escalation in the war of words between the two national parties ahead of the upcoming general elections, with both sides invoking Ambedkar’s legacy to bolster their political narratives.

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News Network
April 14,2025

Bengaluru: The leaked contents of Karnataka’s long-awaited caste census suggest a significant policy shift—extending the creamy layer rule to Category 1 castes under the backward classes reservation list. This category includes some of the most disadvantaged nomadic and microscopic communities.

The commission, headed by Jayaprakash Hegde, has reportedly recommended that the creamy layer policy—already applied to categories 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B—be extended to Category 1. The report notes that some groups within Category 1 have achieved considerable progress socially, economically, educationally, and politically, thus justifying the introduction of a filtering mechanism.

The panel emphasized the growing inequality within Category 1 itself, stating that children from impoverished farming and labourer families are unable to compete with the children of wealthier households in the same category.

“The competition is stiff here and there is a threat that this category may become one populated by the rich in due course if the creamy layer policy is not implemented,” the report reportedly states.

It further underlines that to fulfil the constitutional goal of equitable opportunities, the policy must be introduced across all categories of backward classes, including Category 1.

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