Britain opens its doors to Indian lawyers
NOV 21: Britain has reportedly opened up opportunities for
Indian lawyers willing to practice in that country,
especially in the corporate sector. As a first step, an
Indian lawyer aspiring to become a solicitor of the Supreme
Court of England and Wales no longer has to travel to that
country to take the eligibility exam — Qualified Lawyers
Transfer Test — as centers are being launched in New Delhi
and Mumbai from April next year. The tests will be conducted
twice a year for a fee of £275 (approximately Rs 22,000).
The tests are being conducted in India by UK-based Fulbright
Legal Education, Central Law Training, UK College of Law and
the British Council. Meanwhile the Bar Council of India is
opposing the entry of foreign lawyers in India's legal
practice system tooth and nail.
Indian
students in UK increase
NOV 21: British Deputy High Commissioner of Eastern India,
Dr Andrew Hall, today claimed that there was a four-fold
increase in the number of Indian students going to the UK
for higher education during the past five years. Addressing
the media in Guwahati he informed that about 17,000 Indian
students including over a thousand from Eastern and
Northeastern India went to the UK to take up higher
education courses in business studies, law, medicines,
humanities and social sciences, design and creative
industries. He said there was no dearth of scholarships for
the right students aspiring to study in the UK. He stated
that education was the cornerstone of British government’s
work in India in the light of British Prime Minister Mr Tony
Blair’s emphasis on importance of education in bilateral
links with India. As announced by Mr Blair during his visit
to India in September this year, the UK plans to spend 10
million pounds in a span of five years for promoting
academic links between the two nations. “The UK is open to
welcome more Indian students to its over 3000 institutions
of higher education. They will feel at home in the UK where
a 10 lakh strong India population is thriving. Foreign
students in studying in UK have chances of getting permanent
employment opportunity. They are allowed to work part-time
during the session as well as during the vacation,” the
British official said launching a five-day road show called
— “Discover the power of great education”. (Statesman
News Service)
No place in detention center for desi illegals
NOV 20: Three undocumented immigrants who were arrested and
faced deportation after being found at an Indian restaurant
in UK were allowed to return there because official holding
centers were full, says an IANS - a South Asian news agency,
report.
The trio - two from Bangladesh and one from India - were
first arrested Nov 8 but were allowed to return to the
Eastern Eye restaurant in Newton Abbot, England, because
there was no room for them at an Immigration Service holding
centre, police said.
They have been told to remain at the restaurant until beds
are free at the centre. They have been told they cannot
carry out any paid or unpaid work at the restaurant or
elsewhere.
The three, who have a right to appeal, are aged 27, 32 and
37. All three were arrested on suspicion of entering Britain
illegally. One allegedly entered the country
"clandestinely", while there was no evidence of another
entering legally. The third man is reckoned to be a failed
asylum seeker.
According to IANS, a police spokesman said it was not
unusual for holding centers to be full. He added: "Because
of the difficulty of finding them space at one of the
centers they were given temporary admission to Britain."
Illinois
to address immigrants' concerns
NOV 19: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will create an office
devoted to immigrants and convene a panel of experts to help
the state better integrate its growing population of
residents born outside the U.S. The governor also plans to
create an inter-departmental task force to coordinate
immigration policy and make it easier for immigrants to
learn English, buy homes and become U.S. citizens. The
state's foreign-born population increased 61 percent between
1990 and 2000, according to census data. About 12 percent of
the state's population was born outside the United States.
Illinois state has a sizeable population of South Asians.
Immigrants
Are Financers Of Development
NOV 18: In an interview with the French daily newspaper Le
Figaro, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the
World Bank, François Bourguignon said that “remittances
constitute a powerful tool for poverty reduction.”
Immigrants coming from the South (a number reaching almost
200 million) send 20 percent of their incomes back to their
country of origin. This is equivalent to $167 billion in
2005 ($126 billion for 2004). Remittances from overseas
Pakistanis skyrocketed to $2.15 billions in first six months
of the current fiscal year and were nearly double the same
period of last year.
India was the biggest recipient of remittances in ‘04,
receiving $21.7bn compared to China’s $21.3bn. Remittances
into India have jumped sharply by about $18bn from ‘01,
according to a World Bank report on global economic
prospects ‘06.
Other countries witnessing strong remittance receipts are
Mexico, France, and Philippines. Pakistan and Bangladesh
received $3.9bn and $3.4bn, respectively. Remittances are
calculated as the sum of workers remittances, compensation
of employees, and migrant transfers.
On a global scale, these private capital flows (remittances)
now represent double of all government aid granted to
developing countries by developed countries. The daily adds
that the countries receiving the greatest remittances are -
in order - India, China, Mexico, France and the Philippines.
Wage levels in rich countries are typically five times those
of poor countries in similar occupations - adjusting for
local purchasing power - the World Bank officer said. With
nearly 200 million people now living as expatriates
globally, the World Bank said both developing and developed
countries need to pay more attention to the links between
migration, economic growth and poverty.
UK
concerned over Punjabi immigrants
NOV 17: The British government has expressed serious concern
over large scale illegal immigration of Punjabis to the UK.
Punjab, along with Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, has been listed
as one of the most problematic states for the British
government. According to an official estimate, about
1000-1200 people from Punjab try to sneak into UK illegally
every year. British minister for Immigration Tony Machnalty,
during his visit to Chandigarh last week, also held
discussions with Punjab state officials over the matter and
deliberated at length on ways to check, what was termed as
'a painful menace' for the UK. The UK minister informed them
that during the current year, till October-end, 757 cases of
illegal immigrants from Punjab had been recorded in the UK.
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