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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

I was an Indian student in Melbourne and this is the daily racism I faced

I spent a year as an international student in Melbourne and experienced racism first-hand, which made me second-guess and shrink parts of myself just to go about everyday life.

A 22-year-old Indian student living in Victoria, Australia, was left with a broken nose in February after what began as a verbal slur — “Indian Dog” — in a gym. There was no provocation, no theft, and no one was hoarding from a “food bank” — as many South Asian students in Canada were accused of recently. 

The incident is not an outlier. It sits within a pattern that has become harder to ignore, even as Indian students rush to go down under for Australian degrees, jobs, and the promise of upward mobility.

The contradiction begins at policy level. In January, Australia moved Indian applicants into the ‘higher-risk’ visa category, citing “integrity risks.” The tighter scrutiny and tougher approvals are framed as administrative safeguards, but they also reinforce a perception: that Indians, as a group, require more policing. On the ground, this bleeds into everyday interactions, legitimising suspicion that students often say they can feel in rented homes, offices, and public places. 

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Australia has witnessed a rising trend of systemic racism, xenophobia, anti-Indian sentiments, rising attacks on students, defamatory misinformation, and trolling apparatus. Since August last year, outright racist protests under the banner of “March for Australia” have witnessed thousands of participants across all........

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