While Indian students face racist ire in Australia, foreign students in the city say they too are subjected to racist treatment in government offices, police stations and other public places

Ever since the racist attacks on Australia have come to light, the entire country is up in arms against the treatment meted out to Indian students and it has been strongly condemned. The incidents, though, bring up the question whether India is free from racism. Or do the ghosts of bias and racism haunt our backyards as well.

The answer is not simple. “Racism,” says Cindy from South Africa, “is about skin color and personality. It is the way you treat somebody. It is just being biased against certain people.” The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently issued directives to take better care of foreign students by conducting orientation programs and regular monitoring of colleges affiliated to the University where Indians are facing racist attacks. But the reality seems to be totally different. Foreign students in India have to face numerous difficulties. Most of the international students admit that though there is no racism in the campus of the Pune University, there are indirect ways in which locals discriminate against them. According to Cindy, when she went to the police station once, she was made to wait because she was ‘black’ and other foreigners who are ‘fair’, like those from Iran, were entertained before her. “Racism also depends upon which country you come from. If you belong to South Africa, people still treat you well. But people from countries like Somalia are treated very badly,”

"Rights revolution did not defeat racism; it demonstrated that racism was not immutable—it could be changed by the law and by external circumstances."