2NDLD AUSTRALIA 2LST

Giving details of various measures taken by Australia for
safety of Indians, Verghese said "these measures are designed
to address the problem.
"To ensure full safety, we would have to abolish crime in
Australia and I don't think it is a realistic objective and
nor do I think it would be credible if the government in
Australia was to say that it is in a position to do so. No
government in the world is in a position to abolish the crime
completely."
Asked if he is expecting a decline in the number of
students coming to Australia, he answered in the affirmative
and said there could be various reasons, including recession
and cost of living in that country, and of course the
perception of lack of safety among prospective students.
"If the numbers drop, they drop", he said, adding Indian
students go to Australia for high quality education and to get
skills in niche areas.
Australia has seen a steep rise in the number of students
in last three years from 30,000 to nearly 1,00,000.
He said it was "regrettable" that the number of attacks
have gone up in recent months, adding but at the same time the
number of Indian students have also gone up drastically.
About the nature of these crimes, he said a majority of
them were "opportunistic urban crimes". It was not as if
"in-principle, we are refusing that there are racial attacks"
but one needs to see where the evidence is leading, he added.
Describing Garg's murder as "vicious", he said his
government was also making arrangements to bring back Garg's
body to India. PTI