More Indian pupils in UK

The number of Indian students studying in Britain has seen a rise in recent years, the UK's High Commissioner to Delhi Sir Michael Arthur said.

The number of Indian students studying in Britain has seen a rise in recent years, the United Kingdom's High Commissioner to Delhi Sir Michael Arthur has said.

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+There are 15,000 Indian students studying in Britain now. Five years ago, the figure was only 3,000,+ the envoy told reporters here last evening.

Besides, five lakh Indian visitors tour Britain while 3-4 lakh British tourists come to India every year, he said and described these as signs of growth in people to people link.

He, however, agreed with a questioner that the people-to- people contact between the two countries 'dipped' in the post Independence and Cold War era for 'historical reasons'.

But now with globalisation and prosperity earned by both India and Britain, people of one country were visiting the other, the envoy said.

Arthur, wrapping up a nine-day tour to three states of the North East -- Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya -- said 13 lakh non-resident Indians in Britain were 'economically successful'.

But unfortunately, there were hardly anybody from the North East as the NRI community comprised mostly from Punjab and Tamil Nadu. +We will be delighted to have someone (NRI) from the region,+ the British envoy said.

Making it clear that his government was 'interested' and would 'encourage' students from the North East to avail British scholarships, Sir Michael asked the pupils to avail the opportunities by browsing websites and applying accordingly.