Australia’s Indian media

BY MAYA RANGANATHAN| IN Community Media | 26/11/2007

Statistics have it that in 2006-2007 there has been a 55.1 per cent growth in enrolments and 95.8 percent growth in commencements of Indian students in Australian universities. However, the number of Indian migrants (25 per cent of the total migrants) who have landed on the Australian shores during the same period are a little hard to come by.

The phenomenal Indian presence in Down Under is perceptible in the recognisably Indian fare served on the flights that take off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Australia; in the presence of perhaps not-too-popular Tamil flicks in the movies-on-demand list; and in the Hindi and Tamil instructions that follow the Malay and English announcements as the flight touches down on Australian soil. But the growing presence of Indians in every sphere in Australia is most apparent in the transformation of the free Indian community newspapers.

There are about half-a-dozen free community newspapers in English, Hindi and Tamil originating mostly from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane averaging a circulation of about 10,000 copies that one can pick up from Indian convenience stores while looking for the life-saving masalas, paneer and idli-dosa batter! What were 8-10 page insipid tabloids that repeated month-old news from Indian publications just a couple of years ago have transformed themselves into glossy, 60-page newspapers that are a mine of information on all things Indian in the continent.

They offer very little by way of news, most often borrowing from publications back home and summing up events organized by the Indian Diaspora in the past month. While India’s victory in the 20-20 cricket match over Australia catapulted the event to the cover page in the newspapers in October, this month’s newspapers deal with Diwali celebrations in the continent or offer their take on the Australian elections scheduled for the last week of November.

But more than the news, it is the advertisements that offer irrefutable proof of the significant Indian presence in Australia. Pushing to a corner the occasional cultural programme that expatriates organise to overcome their home sickness are full-page advertisements that announce programmes of Indian performers. With tickets ranging from AU $ 40 to100 (AU $ 1 is approximately Rs 35) selling out like hot cakes, it is little wonder that the likes of Tamil film playback singer S P Balasubramaniam now perform, not in tiny town halls and University auditoriums, but in the Sydney Opera House!

The sheer number of products and services advertised in the half-a-dozen Indian newspapers relating to food, travel and migration indicate the presence of sizeable markets. On offer are custom-built houses that take into account "personal and religious needs", special plates that can best accommodate Indian cuisine and satellite dishes that would facilitate watching of Asianet, Kairali, Sun, Jaya, ETV and Zee TV channels that beam into homes for a small price. 

Travel and migration agents advertise their services to help bring "first cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles" over to Australia while newspapers  are replete with advertisements by tax practitioners and home loan experts calling themselves Patels, Gadepallis, Oberois, Parikhs, Husains, Guptas and Singh declaring that they can speak in Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Bangla (sic), Gujarati Urdu, Marathi.

A very noticeable feature in these newspapers, whether it is the ‘Indian Voice’, ‘Bharat Times’ or ‘Uthayam’ is the advertisements of authorised naturopaths, ayurvedic, homeopathic and even siddha practitioners! In fact, a recent addition to the free publications market is the ‘My Indian Directory’, 2007-2008 Melbourne, that contains 88 pages of information on Indian businesses in Melbourne that include beauticians, tailors, textile merchants, grocers, real estate dealers, immigration consultants and of course restaurants!

The annual Diwali fare, a commercial exercise where Indian businesses congregate every year in Melbourne, was reported in almost all the newspapers as a resounding success with the exception of ‘Indian Voice’ that brought to light the misbehaviour of some wayward Indian youths. Typically, there are now more non-Indian sponsors for the event.

And truly the Indian migrant seems to have become more vocal over the years. When just about three years ago, ‘letters to the editor’ column contained nothing more than a few laudatory lines on Indian enterprise, today they range from scathing attacks on Australian support to the Iraq war to the new citizenship policy that requires migrants to pass a test on Australian way of life!

But perhaps, what sums up the Indian presence in Australia best is this quarter page announcement in ‘Bharat Times’, Nov 2007 under the headline ‘expression of interest’, ‘political consciousness’:

"We are in the middle of an election campaign. It does, more than anything else, urge us to take stock of our political fortunes. Although our community represents the biggest resource of professionals from amongst the migrant communities, we have not been able to steer a path for one of our own – into politics. Is it time to get together and take a closer look?

We think it is. And to discuss whether our community should aspire to have one of us in active politics and how best to go about it, a Community Forum is being organized.

People with political aspirations or bent of mind, both first and second generation or exhorted to step forward and send in their EXPRESSION OF INTEREST to speak on the occasion.

Full details of the forum will be announced soon."