The situation in Bangladesh has not improved yet. The situation is still bad. In such a situation, more than 200 Indian students have returned to India from Bangladesh. On Thursday, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that in view of the situation in Bangladesh, more than 7,200 Indian students have returned to India in the last few weeks.

Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh also said in a written reply that according to available records, about 19,000 Indian citizens live in Bangladesh, including more than 9,000 students. He was asked the total number of Indians living in Bangladesh for the purpose of education or business, the number of people from Gujarat living in Bangladesh and whether any special campaign has been started to evacuate Indian citizens from the violence-affected neighboring country.

Most of the students were from these states
The minister was also asked about the number of citizens brought back to India so far. The Indian students in Bangladesh were from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and other states including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. The Union Minister said, the state-wise list is not maintained by our missions and posts in Bangladesh.

India assisting in return

He said that the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and Assistant High Commissions in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Khulna are assisting in the voluntary return of Indian citizens. The Ministry of External Affairs is also coordinating with the concerned Indian authorities to ensure smooth passage for our citizens arriving at land ports and airports. Starting from July 18, 2024, more than 7,200 Indian students have returned to India till August 1, 2024.

The minister said, 'The state-wise list of Indian citizens who voluntarily left Bangladesh was not maintained by our missions and posts in Bangladesh. In a separate question, he was also asked if it is true that the number of Indian students in Canadian universities has declined in recent years due to strained relations with Canada, and if yes, what is the details of students enrolled there during the last three years?

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs shared data and said that as per information received from the website of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the number of Indian students in Canadian universities has “increased in the last three years”. According to the data shared, the respective figures were – 2,16,360 (in 2021), 3,18,380 (in 2022) and 4,27,085 (in 2023).