Indian students in UK scrounge for food

LONDON: Hundreds of Indian students who come to the UK to pursue courses in colleges are unable to find part-time work to fund their stay and
studies here and have been forced to eat in gurdwaras in Southall.

There has been a three-fold rise in the number of Indian students coming to the UK since the points-based immigration system was introduced in April this year.

Many of them come in the hope of finding work so that they can maintain themselves here.

A BBC Radio 5 documentary reveals that the situation turns desperate for such students when they cannot find work, and are reluctant to return to Indian for the shame that will follow.

Many such students flock to the gurdwaras in Southall for free food.

The documentary, broadcast yesterday, quoted Nitin Walia, a student who has sought refuge at the gurdwara, as saying: "I can't afford to rent a room, I'm borrowing money from relatives at home just to buy my bus fare to college. I will only be able to rent a room if I can find a job, if I can't find one I will return to India."

"But that will bring great shame. I don't know how I will return the money I have borrowed."

Didar Singh Randhawa, President of Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Southall, said a combination of recession and a surge in the number of students is changing the local landscape.

Source: Cash-strapped Indian students in UK scrounge for food- Visa Power-Travel-Services-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

Ludhiana, November 29
Recession is taking a toll everywhere and Indian youth with modest backgrounds find themselves in trouble abroad. It is not just the Dubai dreams which have been shattered in the wake of the debt crisis but also London dreams of Punjabi youth, if the first hand account of Gurcharan Singh, who retired as Principal of Government College, Dudhike, is any indication.
Singh, who is currently in London, says in an e-mail that he was pained to come across a large number of Punjabi youth who are barely surviving on the generosity of the gurdwaras in Southall.
“Though the affected youth refuse to admit defeat easily, their faces tell a different tale,” he writes. Most of them spent a fortune securing admission in dubious British institutions and in obtaining a valid visa. Some arrived illegally. While the money they bring with them is enough to help them tide over the first two or three months, thereafter they are neither able to pay their fees nor pay for their accommodation.
Even a cramped room in Southall fetches a rent of £40 a week. Sometimes six to eight boys share the same room, writes an anguished Singh. “How happy must their parents have been while sending them off with ‘paths’ and ‘ardas’ but the prayers do not seem to have worked,” reads the mail.
A young man from Jagraon, writes Dr Singh, broke down while describing his plight. With folded hands, recalls Singh, the young man told him, “Uncle, when you go back to Punjab, tell them not to send their children to study in London”. Half a dozen students from Ambala, Karnal and Pehowa nodded in agreement with downcast eyes.
The young women from Punjab, Singh was told, faced an even more harrowing time. Some of the girls have been forced to cook for seven or eight boys sharing the same accommodation and are paid by way of free meals. While there is suspicion that some of the girls have been pushed into prostitution, there is no independent confirmation yet.
Jobs are hard to come by because of the recession. Many young men and women are forced to work illegally beyond the permissible hours and are paid a pittance. They cannot complain because the work is “illegal”.

#Tribune

sade jann pehchan wale (10th fail) aida jaa rahe england nu jiddan pata ni kina saukha hunda...suchily...bura haal aa main v suneya

kalle Uk vich ni, baki deshan vich bhi eehi haal aa, jehde pehla jake set ho gaye oh theek aa aaje,

America fir v theek a.......because its a closed economy......blood relation walean nu hi visa milda......baki jehrey country immigrants nu point system tey bula rahey a...

ohthey tah bus cab chalaun wala hi kam milda.....saarey educated bandea nu bula key labour karai jandey a.

Dhillon said:

kalle Uk vich ni, baki deshan vich bhi eehi haal aa, jehde pehla jake set ho gaye oh theek aa aaje,

Click to expand...

True dhillon
22 hun ta jo bahar janda ohda rab he rakha ........

hun ta eh hi haal houna aa sare kite