Issue of ragging raised in Rajya Sabha

On the last week of November members in the Rajya Sabha expressed anxiety over widespread cases of ragging in educational institutions in the country. The issue was raised through a special mention, Dr C Narayana Reddy (Nom.).

He said; 'ragging at one time used to be an act of welcoming fresh students in the educational institutions, but today ragging has become a savage act of senior students harassing fresh students.'

Various incidents in our educational institutions question the so called traditional dignity of our students and the boldness of our system.

o Student left university after being ragged
o Following ragging MBBS student ran away from campus
o Just Rest 50 as penalty for arranging 'ragging party'!
o Girl and boy made to strip, locked in one room without food for three days.

Student left university after being ragged

Few months back, tormented by seniors in the name of ragging, Abuja, a student of M.Sc. (software) has left Kurukshetra University and went back to her native place. She was continuously forced to indulge in objectionable acts in Kasturba Hostel.
Five senior girl students teased her on the excuse of ragging and even asked their boyfriends to misbehave with her, Abuja alleged in a written complaint to the university authorities and requested for the refund of the fee and other expenditure. (she had availed a loan for her studies)

Following ragging MBBS student ran away from campus

Honhar Singh Meena, a first year MBBS student was severely ragged in the undergraduate students hostel of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). According to hispital sources Honhar was severely ragged in the third week of August. "He went missing for a few days,'' said a senior hospital official.
"Later, he telephoned us from his home town in Rajasthan and informed he was petrified and would not return to the hostel.'' "The classes for the new session begin around the first week of August and that is when the ragging period also begins. Despite having an anti-ragging committee on campus and an overall ban on ragging, some stray cases do come up from time to time. Usually, the freshers complain of obscene and harsh ragging by seniors. Such cases, however, are hushed up. But we did take action against one such student recently by suspending him for three months.''
Some of the convicted were suspended by the authorities. Meanwhile AIIMS students union general secretary said that Meena went back only because of Homesickness.

Just Rs 50 as penalty for arranging 'ragging party'!

Sushree Bijeta Mohanty, daughter of a CPI(M) leader and lawyer in Rourkela, was ragged by the senior students of Ravenshaw College. Bijete, 19, complained to the hostel administrator regarding the brutal 'welcome party' the seniors convened for raggong. She had a heart operation three years ago to rectify a congenital problem, and she was having fever, but the seniors did not give any consideration.
Janardhan Patil, state CPI(M) secretary and Bijeta's local guardian filed an FIR with the police but 126 of the 700 inmates of the ladies' hostel denied the allegations. Ravenshaw College is one of the most prestigious colleges of Orissa. According to the college authorities six girls have been fined Rs 50 each for organising the 'welcome meeting'.

Girl and boy made to strip, locked in one room without food for three days

In the month of January a girl and a boy were made to strip by senior students and asked to have to sex. On its refusal both of them were locked up in one room for three days without food or water.
The event was reported at a medical college in Bijapur, Karnataka. According to a report from Bijapur, the girl was forced out of her hostel by some seniors and confined to a room with a first-year student. They were locked up when they refused to undergo more indignity. According to some parents, the juniors were picked up during nights to be tortured in various ways.
4 students arrested in connection with the issue. The educational minister took initiatives to the formation of committees in various colleges with, the principal, heads of the departments and sub-inspectors as members. It should convene weekly meetings and Karnataka government decided to take a tough line against the accused students. Higher Education Minister B Somasekhar said, 'If the offence was proved, the students would be debarred. The government had earlier issued a notification a few months ago, making ragging a cognisable offence under Section 116 of the Education Act.

   The views

Students:

#'Ragging has been going on openly here and hardly any college authority has objected to it'

# "Reporting against seniors who have ragged us will only antagonise them further. We have to study in the same college together for two-three years, and they can make things difficult for us in various ways later on. We thus just try to take things in our stride and forget the ragging as soon as it's over." ·

# "Complain? Why me?"

College authorities  (on Supreme Courts concern and directive over ragging)

# "It's like cutting the nose to spite the face. The apex court's concern in this matter is welcome but the order holds the college principal responsible, which is not justifiable. I cannot be expected to remain on the move from one corner of the college to another just to ensure that no ragging takes place."

# "I welcome the Supreme Court order, but disaffiliating colleges is perhaps a little too strict."

Dean of a national institute (on asking the ragging incident of his institute) ·

# "I'm aware of the incident. But I cannot talk without prior permission from my director who is now out of town. The concerned student may even be back in the institute. But I cannot confirm anything."

UGC

# "We can act only after loadging the complaint from college or other concerned authorities".

The Legal Face of bridling ragging

Expressing concern over increased incident of ragging, the Supreme Court has observed that ragging cannot be checked merely by making it a cognisable offence. It is a criminal offence under several state acts.
Tamil Nadu is the first state in the country officially passed a bill in the state assembly. Tamil Nadu government had earlier issued the Prohibition of Ragging Ordinance in the year 1996.

A circular "Prohibition of ragging in colleges and hostels'' was issued by the Chief Secretary of the state of Karnataka stating the following points:
The principals of colleges and wardens of hostels are responsible if cases of ragging are reported from their institutions.
In extreme cases, the institutions concerned may be disaffiliated from the university or the academic body concerned, the University Grants Commission and the All-India Council of Technical Education.
The West Bengal government passed the Bill on prohibition of ragging in the year 2000. The convict can be fined Rs 5000 or two years of rigorous imprisonment or both. Offenders may also be expelled from their institutions without any scope for re-admittance.

Maharastra Government appointed a panel to advise the government to help enact an Act on the lines of the Anti-Ragging Act in the state of Maharashtra. The Maharashtra government also passed Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1999. It reads, "Ragging means display of disorderly conduct, doing of any act which causes or is likely to cause physical or psychological harm or raise apprehension or fear or shame or embarrassment to a student in any educational institution."

The anti-ragging Act of Kerala government defines ragging as 'teasing, abusing, playing practical jokes or causing hurt or asking student to do an act which he is unwilling to do.' It further said, Students found ragging directly or indirectly or abetting within or without educational institution are liable for imprisonment for a term which may extend up to two years with a fine which may be up to Rs 10,000. Depending upon the severity of the case, the guilty can be either suspended or dismissed and can also be debarred from gaining admission in any institution for five years.

Supreme Court ordered strictly prohibiting ragging and authorised the University Grants Commission (UGC) to freeze grants of colleges which fail to curtail the practice of ragging. The college can be disaffiliated from AICTE and UGC where ragging takes place in its extreme ways.

UN declaration on Human Rights and Dignity of the human being states that "Parties to this convention shall protect the dignity and identity of all human beings and guarantee everyone, without discrimination, respect for their integrity and other rights and fundamental freedom... (Ch. 1. Article 1) and everyone has the right to respect for private life. Students movements such as of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morchas (BJYM) anti-ragging campaign in Mumbai's colleges, (followed by the suicide of 16 yr. old Indu Anto in the Sophia College campus) can yield considerable results in student community.

 

The Social Psychology and control of ragging

Our educational system and social system teaches the survival of the fittest, and not the survival of the noblest. When a school teacher is beating the student for his sum got wrong, he is not only understanding that his calculation have to be correct but also the powerful can dominate over the weak. The roles may vary during higher studies or in jobs, but the understanding pertains. Success is determined in terms of material wealth and the spiritual growth is ignored.
Personality has been degraded to a set of popularly accepted success factor, good grades in classes and source for earning.
Most of the educational or non-educational institutions/organisations have no other ways of measurement or models.
The media which are dictating the lives of youngsters have phenomenal impact on their understanding and conditioning. Popular institutions are not able to offer an alternative. The key is the absence of value education and social understanding. No single factor in the community can be blamed for the same. Ragging is a clear impingement on human rights. Do we have a proper understanding of Human Rights either through our curriculum or through our daily interactions.? NO.

Ragging is a coercive act to humiliate a person. Does it generate revenge? The juniors repeat the same acts when they become the "grand seniors". The story continues…

No effort, whether it is with or without law, can be succeeded unless we are giving adequate importance to value factors. In the absence of a bold machinery to execute the law, a self enlightment both from institutions and from students can travel a long way in eradicating this nasty practice.

A forum of college authorities parents and students is vital in this respect. One such group points out-"The phenomenon of ragging gets its breath from the fact that the priorities in mind of the young are well defined, which are mainly success and endless fun. If they get success, all they want now is fun. And if they get no or incomplete success, then frustration leads them to fulfil their desires in any way. Only they don't get the opportunity. And when a tradition gives them the opportunity and saves them from the social stigma (which still exists somewhere...), they fulfil their desires with some gruesome acts under the disguise of ragging.
So an ill-defined concept of fun and a less thought of concept of moral values results in a bizarre phenomenon." It is encourageable that such observations are coming from the student-community itself and hope they will take the lead for a more sensible partnership among students, parents and institutions.

-The Team Education Observer, Credits: www.noragging.allhere.com

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