The number of study permits Canada issued to Indian students fell sharply late last year after India ejected Canadian diplomats who would process the permits and fewer Indian students applied due to a diplomatic dispute over the murder of Khalistani terrorist in Canada, a top Canadian official told Reuters.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller added in an interview that he believes the number of study permits to Indians is unlikely to rebound soon. Diplomatic tensions erupted after Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in June said there was evidence connecting Indian agents to the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

The tensions are likely to weigh on the numbers going forward, Miller said.

“Our relationship with India has really halved our ability to process a lot of applications from India,” Miller said.

In October, Canada was forced to pull 41 diplomats, or two-thirds of its staff, out of India on orders from New Delhi. In addition, the dispute has prompted Indian students to seek to study in other countries, a spokeswoman for the minister said.

Those factors led to an 86% drop in study permits issued to Indians in the fourth quarter of last year from the previous quarter, to 14,910 from 108,940, according to official data that have not been previously reported.

C. Gurus Ubramanian, counselor for the High Commission of India in Ottawa, said some Indian international students were looking at other options besides Canada due to “concerns, in the recent past, regarding lack of residential and adequate teaching facilities” at some Canadian institutions.

Indians have formed the largest group of international students in Canada in recent years, with more than 41% – or 225,835 – of all permits going to them in 2022.

“I can’t tell you about how the diplomatic relationship will evolve, particularly if police were to lay charges,” Miller said. “It’s not something that I see any light at the end of the tunnel on.”

International students are a cash cow for Canadian universities as they bring in about C$22 billion ($16.4 billion) annually and slowdown will be a blow to the institutions.

In June, Canada said there were “credible” allegations linking Indian agents to the murder of Nijjar in a Vancouver suburb. India has rejected that allegation. Canadian authorities have yet to charge anyone for the killing.

The Canadian government also has been seeking to reduce the overall number of international students entering the country, in part as a response to an ongoing housing shortage.

“Right now we have a challenge with the sheer volume” of students coming in, Miller said. “It’s just gotten out of control and needs to be reduced – I would say – significantly over a short period of time.”

Miller said the government would introduce other measures to lower the volume of international students during the first half of this year, including a possible cap.

Canada is a popular destination for international students since it is relatively easy to obtain work permits after finishing courses.

The government intends to address “a very generous” program for postgraduate work permits and to crack down on “fly-by-night” universities, called designated learning institutes, he said.

The government already plans curbs to the number of off-campus work hours for international students, which the food service and retail industries fear could cause labor shortages.

In 2023, the government projected that some 900,000 international students would study in Canada that year, about three times that of a decade ago. Miller said 40% of those students – or some 360,000 – were Indian. The number of permits given to Indian students declined by 4% last year, but they remained the largest group.

In a strongly-worded eviction notice, the Centre has asked Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra to immediately vacate a government bungalow that she had been allotted as an MP. The notice by the Directorate of Estates, which manages government properties, states that if Ms Moitra does not vacate the premises on her own, she and any other occupant “are liable to be evicted from the said premises, if need be, by the use of such force as may be necessary”.

The move comes more than a month after Ms Moitra was expelled as a Lok Sabha MP on grounds of unethical conduct. A Parliamentary panel found her guilty of accepting expensive gifts from a businessman and sharing her Parliament login credentials with him.

The government said in its notice that Ms Moitra has been “allowed sufficient opportunity” but she failed to prove that she is not an unauthorised occupant.

Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court had asked the expelled MP to request the Directorate of Estates to let her stay in the bungalow for now. The court had noted that rules permitted authorities to allow a resident to overstay for up to six months on payment of certain charges in exceptional circumstances.

The court, however, did not make any observations on the merits of the case and allowed Ms Moitra to withdraw her petition.

The eviction order notes that there is no injunction order barring the eviction proceedings. It also says that if Ms Moitra decides to challenge the eviction notice in any court, she shall be liable to pay damages for every month.

Ms Moitra occupies a bungalow in Delhi’s Telegraph Lane. A month after her expulsion as MP, her allotment of the government accommodation was cancelled on January 7. Ms Moitra had earlier sought time till the Lok Sabha polls this year. She had said the loss of government accommodation now would hinder her campaign.