UGC's initiative against ragging is a welcome step

It is fun for few but torture to many innocent students. Ragging is a menace that has resulted in hundreds of deaths and snatched away brothers from sisters, son and daughters from their parents for no geneuine reason. Ragging is just a lust to draw pleasure from other's agony. University Grant commission has brought new regulations for prevention of ragging in colleges and universities. To achieve its goal, UGC is planning to have consultations with different statutory bodies like AICTE, MCI, DCI, NCI, NCTE, etc., and Chairmen of State Councils of Higher Education and state Education Secretaries. In India, prevention of such menace is not be possible merely with enactment of crime laws. UGC has all the ammunition in its weaponry to stop and eliminate this from recurrence. UGC has threatened the institutions where such incidences take place to deal with stern actions like slashing the financial help and it can prove its effectiveness as these institutions have to deal strictly with the elements involved in such acts once they are deprived of funds received from UGC.

UGC has also issued guidelines in 1990 to prevent ragging and consequent upon it several institution has taken several measures to eliminate it completely. Indian Institute of Technologies deserve appreciation in this context as incidences of ragging are rarest in these institutes.

What is ragging?

As per the Supreme Court of India explanation of ragging given in a judgement in 2001 "Any disorderly conduct, whether by words spoken or written or by an act which the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any other student, Indulging in rowdy or indisciplined activities which causes or Is likely to cause annoyance, hardship or psychological harm or to raise fear or apprehension thereof in a fresher or a junior student or asking the students to do any act or perform something which such student will not do in the ordinary course and which has the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment so as to adversely affect the physique or psyche of a fresher or a junior student, is termed as ragging".

Hence, ragging includes following activities/acts:

• Teasing and handling junior students with rudeness
  
• criminal intimidation
  
• assault, sexual abuse
• murder
• Harassment in any form
  

Why do the students get engaged in such activities?

The motive behind ragging is to drive pleasure from sexual abuse, extort money and to prove the supremacy by senior students over junior's. When Juniors become seniors they learn from their seniors their experinces and try to emulate their actions when they become seniors. As human behavior differs from person to person, brutality takes its dangerous form when a person commiting it has a criminal mindset. Its a sort of legacy that is being passed on by seniors to their juniors. Once it is stopped it becomes easy to prevent.

Consequences of the ragging:

It is reported by an NGO that thiertyone students have died in India due to ragging between 2000-2007. Seven students died in 2001. Several students unable to bear the agony of this drastic act are compelled to commit suicide. Not only junior students, senior students who commit such type of acts have to face consequences of such acts. They are either restricated from the instutions or end up in the jails and face the criminal proceedings against them.

Parents and guardians of both victims as well as culprits face mental agony as they have to arrange huge money for their wards to get them admitted in prestigious institutes and live their life with shattered dreams. Parents who feel proud in telling parents of other students that their son or daughter is pursuing studies to become doctors or engineers feel ashamed when they learn that their wards have been expelled from the institute for ragging junior students.

What need to be done?

Ragging needs to be replaced by introduction. First day of the session should be reserved for the introduction of students among themselves and should take place in presence of teachers. Junior students must be alloted accomodation either in different hostels or in different wings of the same building. Protection must be given to Junior students for a month atleast.

Any complaint by a junior student (oral or written) must be taken seriously by authorities and students named in the complaints must be warned of the consequences.

Warnings against ragging must be given widest publicity by pasting pamphlets etc on hostel and institutions notice boards.

Stern action must be taken against the culprits so that others take a lesson from it.

Government finances to the institutions not taking precautions and actions against ragging must be stopped or slashed and action against authorities responsible to stop it must be taken immediately.

My own experiences:

I was very much excited when I got admission in the universty which is considered one of the best universities in the world. After completing all the admission related formalities, there was orientation program for the new students. Vice chancellor of the university addressed the gathering and told us that we're very lucky to get admission in this university. In the evening, we went to our hostel and after sometime few senior students came to our room and asked us to come to their room. When we entered their room, we found five senior students sitting on chairs and cot. First we're asked to sing song, then to dance. Later on one of the senior student stood up and ask us to take our cloths off. Other juniors removed their clothings but I didn't remove my cloths. Some of the seniors were known to me as they happened to be friend of my cousin studing in senior classes. Later on one senior came to me and told me that since I've a reserved nature and good personality, I'll be able to become the leader in future.

After one year, we all junior became seniors and developed friendship with some senior students. Interesting thing to note was that seniors who took our ragging were now afraid of us as we've formed our own gang. Anyways, we came in contact of some seniors who were very notorious and were even expelled from the universities for one year for their notorious acts like fighting etc. One night they invited us to their room. To our surprise, they have some newcomers with them. When we took our place, these seniors atrted ragging junior students. The most objectionable act of these seniors was to ask junior students to sexually abuse in our presence. We could not tolerate this and told our seniors to stop all this nonesense. At last, those helpless juniors got free from their clutches and left the room. Next day eight students were expelled from the university for ragging junior students. However, name of any seniors who invited us in the night to their room was not in the list of expelled students.

Girls were also not behind in ragging their junior girl students and sexual assault of junior girls was common those days.