U.S. asks duped sham varsity students to look for options - General news

Washington: U.S. immigration authorities have asked duped students of a sham university in California, most of them from India, to contact them directly to find out what options they have to pursue their studies in America.

Over 1,500 students of California-based Tri Valley University (TVU), some 90 percent of them from India, mostly Andhra Pradesh, face the prospect of deportation following the closure of the school on charges of visa fraud unless they can get admission in another institution.

"Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has taken further steps to ensure SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Programme)-certified schools and former Tri-Valley students have the information that they need to make informed decisions in light of the ongoing investigation," spokeswoman, Lori K. Haley said Wednesday.

ICE has posted an advisory on the SEVP link on ICE's website -- http://www.ice.gov/sevis/tri-valley-110118.htm -- to direct students how to contact an SEVP representative to obtain information about their options.

"When you call, SEVP will provide you with your options including the option to depart from the United States without an otherwise possibly applicable bar to re-admission in the future," says the advisory issued to the TVU students.

Lori said due to the ongoing investigation, ICE is not discussing the details related to the Tri Valley case. SEVP terminated the records of all F-1 students enrolled at TVU as of Jan 18, after ICE shut down TVU following an investigation.

According to a federal complaint filed in a California court in January, the university helped foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status.

The complaint alleged that while students were admitted to various residential and on-line courses of the university and on paper lived in California, in reality they "illegally" worked in places as far away as Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas.

For a student to maintain an active immigration status, they must show proof that they are making reasonable progress toward completing coursework and physically attend classes.

Source: U.S. asks duped sham varsity students to look for options - General news

India begins headcount of its 1.2 Billion population - General news

New Delhi: An estimated 2.7 million officials fanned out across the country Wednesday to begin the gigantic exercise of headcounting India's estimated 1.2 billion population, the world's second largest after China.

The decadal exercise, which will be the 15th headcount of India's population since 1872, is undertaken to create a database on demography, economic activity, literacy and education, housing and household amenities, urbanisation, fertility and mortality, social structure, language, religion and migration.

The nationwide exercise, which will continue over the next three weeks, began as a group of officials, called enumerators, visited President Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace.

Census enumerator Rita collected information on a number of characteristics about the president's household. Patil signed off on a 29-point questionnaire listing income, religion, education, access to basic utilities and other topics. A similar form will be filled by every citizen of the country through Feb 28.

Speaking after her enumeration, the president asked everyone to "wholeheartedly" take part in the census, considering it "as a national duty".

Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Minister of State for Home Affairs Gurudas Kamat, Census Commissioner C. Chandramouli and Director Census Operation (Delhi) Varsha Joshi were present at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi also provided the details about their respective households to the enumerators.

The family members of governors and chief ministers were among those enumerated on the first day of the second phase.

A similar exercise would be carried out in more than 7,000 towns and 600,000 villages across the country, including in troubled Jammu and Kashmir, the far-flung northeast and areas by Maoist insurgency in east and central India.

According to officials, around 100,000 enumerators and supervisors have been appointed in the eight northeastern states. Soldiers and paramilitary troopers have been engaged as enumerators in their respective camps and barracks.

In Jammu and Kashmir, even separatist leaders have supported the exercise, urging the people to provide full details to census officials. The first phase of the exercise was held from July 15 to Sep 30 last year, which passed off peacefully. The state had missed on the exercise in 1991 when insurgency was at its peak.

In Orissa, the population count began with the enumeration of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The chief minister also flagged off a publicity van, which will travel through various parts of the state during the second phase that will conclude Feb 28, an official said.

The first round of houselisting and collecting housing data for Census-2011 was completed from April to September last year.

The houselisting is done because there is no complete address system in India and each and every structure is being listed so that when the enumerators come for headcounting, they know exactly where to go, officials said.

In the second phase, enumerators will ask questions on literacy, work status, marital status, languages spoken, mode of transport and number of children.

On the last day of the survey, enumerators will count the homeless on the streets across India. And between March 1 and 5, they will compile the data for the entire population.

New features added to the 2011 census include revised questions on the institutional household, new category in gender parameter for transgenders, a code for separated and divorced, new codes under status of school attendance and a separate code included under non-economic activity.

Census 2011 has also introduced new initiatives to sensitise school students about census operations. For the first time, officials are stepping beyond the demographics and economic activity and would collect details like ownership of mobile phones, computers, internet access, and availability of treated or untreated drinking water.

The census is the only source of credible data base in India that the government uses to formulate its policies.

Source: India begins headcount of its 1.2 Billion population - General news