Cases like these come to the fore every year once the new academic session begins despite the University Grants Commission (UGC) anti-ragging regulations having been in place since 2009.
According to the UGC regulations, ragging means “any conduct whether by words spoken or written or by an act which has the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any other student, indulging in rowdy or undisciplined 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 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.”
Two months ago, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani had, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, said there have been 30 reported ragging cases so far (2014-15) in the country. Fortunately, there has been no case of loss of life/grievous injury this time. The Union Minister says the scene has changed significantly in the past 10 years due to the collective efforts put in by the Government and other stakeholders.
However, has ragging been totally stamped out? Clearly not. Students and teachers say the menace has not completely disappeared from the campuses. Worse, only a few sufferers dare to speak up. In fact, stakeholders feel that although the UGC, MHRD’s apex body controlling higher education institutes, has been successful in bringing down ragging to a certain extent in other parts of the country, it has not able to make any difference in States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. Complaints registered with the UGC’s anti-ragging web portal (antiragging.in), National Anti-Ragging Helpline (1800-180-5522) and Aman Satya Kachroo Trust's amanmovement.org, are a pointer to this.
Cases Aplenty for the Govt
The two anti-ragging websites were formed following nationwide protests after 19-year-old Aman Kachroo, a student of the Rajendra Prasad Medical College and Hospital in Himachal Pradesh succumbed to brutal ragging by his drunken seniors in 2009. This apart, the RK Raghavan Committee was appointed by the Supreme Court in the same year for monitoring measures to prevent ragging in higher educational institutions. In subsequent years, the UGC assigned the task of monitoring its anti-ragging helpline and maintenance of related database to Aman Satya Kachroo Trust (Aman Movement), founded by Aman’s father, Prof Raj Kachroo.
According to the Trust, as many as 274 ragging incidents have been reported from Odisha since 2009. There were 36, 41, 54, 44, 71 and 28 incidents during 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (till October) respectively. Uttar Pradesh, where ragging is rampant, tops the list with 528 such incidents since 2009. The State registered 64, 105, 120, 85, 94 and 60 ragging complaints in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. Similarly, in the past seven years, West Bengal registered 351 ragging cases through the Trust, while Bihar and Madhya Pradesh reported 144 and 276 cases respectively.
While 345 cases of ragging were registered throughout the country in 2009, the number has risen to 2,806 this year so far. A total of 437 ragging complaints have been registered with the Trust this year throughout the country. Gender wise, in the current year, 372 boys from across the country registered ragging complaints with the Trust and the number is 65 for girls.
As far as the UGC’s National Anti Ragging Helpline is concerned, in the academic year of 2013, Odisha made the third highest number of calls to the helpline. Between June 2009 and June 2013, a total of 193 cases were registered in Odisha. While the largest number of calls came from Uttar Pradesh with 418 such calls, West Bengal was in second position with 267 calls. According to this data as well, more boys are falling victim to ragging than girl students. In Odisha, 173 victims were boys while 20 were girls.
If the numbers of the past two academic years are taken into consideration, according to the helpline, a total of 1,381 ragging complaints have been received from 2012 till date, and 927 of them have reached a conclusion. Of the complaints registered, 135 were made from Odisha, 223 from Uttar Pradesh, 186 from Bihar, 149 from West Bengal and 164 from Madhya Pradesh. Most of the calls had to do with bullying by seniors and mental harassment.
Apparently, colleges affiliated to Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) in Odisha, West Bengal University of Technology, Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya in Madhya Pradesh and Gautam Buddh Technical University in Uttar Pradesh are notorious for ragging cases. Usually, the menace soars around August-September when admissions to engineering and medical colleges are over.
Of these 1,381 cases, 345 cases have been forwarded to 11 regulatory bodies including the UGC, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Medical Council of India (MCI), Dental Council of India (DCI), and Nursing Council of India (NCI) for pursuance.
Where does the problem lie?
After Aman’s death in 2009, the UGC passed a regulation, directing every college to take preemptive measures against ragging. These include submission of anti-ragging oath affidavits during admissions at colleges or online at antiragging.in and amanmovement.org, accommodating freshers in a separate hostel, surprise raids in hostels, providing brochures/information booklets to every fresher containing the telephone numbers of the anti-ragging helpline and the nodal officer of the affiliating university (if the case has taken place in a college), wardens, heads of the institutions and members of the anti-ragging squads and police.
Prof Kachroo says of the 35,000 colleges in the country, only 10 per cent comply with the guidelines of the UGC. “The rest do not bother. For them, it’s business as usual. They are yet to realise that the definition of ragging has changed over the years from just being a friendly interactive session between freshers and seniors to a serious affair of violence,” he says, adding that States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal are not cooperating in implementing the anti-ragging norms.
He says that there are three components of the anti-ragging programme — registration of the complaint, compliance of UGC norms by colleges and creating awareness. “Whenever a call is made to the anti-ragging helpline, the Trust registers it and makes sure that it is solved to the satisfaction of the student. But among them, there are 30 per cent of serious cases which are difficult for the Trust to handle. Under these circumstances, we forward it to the UGC and it sends them to the regulatory bodies that govern the educational institutions concerned. The problem with the entire anti-ragging programme is that these 30 per cent cases are not followed up by the regulatory bodies. Their dilly-dallying is the reason behind so many registered complaints remaining pending. At the end, it is the traumatised students who suffer even more,” Prof Kachroo says.
The RK Raghavan Committee also made similar observations. “Wherever any incident of ragging is reported and institutions do not take adequate steps for redressing the grievance, regulatory bodies must conduct inquiries through fact-finding committees. Unfortunately it is not done, and this is evident from the number of ragging complaints pending with these committees over the years,” Raghavan, former CBI chief, had stated during a review meeting of the anti-ragging committee earlier this year.
Members of Society against Violence in Education (SAVE), an anti-ragging NGO, feel that the UGC has not been doing much in addressing all complaints. “Of the four lakh calls that the National Anti Ragging Helpline gets every year, only an average of 1,000 are registered. Be it sexual abuse, harassment or physical assault, there complaints are numerous. The UGC claims that the remaining calls are fake, which is hard to believe, as no other similar helpline gets so many fake calls,” says SAVE member, Gaurav Singhal. He feels the lack of awareness is the reason behind the five States registering the highest number of ragging cases in the country.
Recommendations Just on Paper
Of all the recommendations made by the RK Raghavan Committee that have been accepted by the apex court, making them legally mandatory, two important ones still remain unimplemented in a majority of colleges in the five States.
The committee had recommended a dedicated cadre of hostel wardens for colleges and universities who would look into ragging cases. But as of today, the existing faculty members double up as hostel wardens and, being already overburdened, they are unable to focus on hostel-related ragging incidents. “Hostels are places where the maximum numbers of ragging cases happen. Yet, we do not have personnel in any of the colleges in these five States who can come to the rescue of affected students when required,” says Gaurav.
This apart, the panel had recommended that regulatory bodies cut down funds for institutions under their purview that repeatedly fail to prevent ragging related incidents or are lax in reacting to such incidents. Neither of the two recommendations has been implemented yet.
In December 2013, the UGC issued several guidelines to check ragging at educational institutions. It asked colleges and universities to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and alarm bells at vital points on campus. However, the guidelines remain on paper because of paucity of funds.
Again, in a circular issued a month ago to educational institutions, the regulatory body stated that the anti-ragging measures should include identification of trouble triggers and surprise checks at hostels, student accommodation, canteens, recreational rooms, toilets, and bus stops. The institutions are also asked to take legal action in cases where the culprits are identified through CCTV footage, the circular reads.
Measures in Place
The allegations, notwithstanding, higher education authorities claim that all measures are in place making the institutions ragging-free. Higher Education Secretary GK Dhal, Odisha, claimed that the Department has been swift in taking action against any ragging case that has been brought to its notice. “But there is a need for strengthening anti-ragging cells in all educational institutions and we have issued orders in this regard. Members of these cells would undergo awareness camps for proper handling and understanding of ragging cases,” he adds.
Vice-Chancellor of BPUT, JK Satpathy, says all colleges under the University have constituted anti-ragging cells to make their campuses ragging free. Even the BPUT has its own anti-ragging committee. “Whenever there is a ragging complaint, the college principals are directed to look into it and submit an inquiry report. And if we are not satisfied with their inquiry, the BPUT anti-ragging committee conducts an independent inquiry to see that the student gets justice,” Satpathy says. He, however, adds that many a times, it has come to their notice that not all cases registered under ragging are actually ragging.
The Pro Vice-Chancellor of Uttar Pradesh Technical University, DS Yadav, has a similar opinion. “We also help students in registering police complaints in case of serious offences, but if the problem persists, then it has more to do with behavioural/attitudinal problems of students,” he says.
The scenario in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu was one of the first States in the country to enact the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Ragging Act way back in 1997. Pon Navarasu, a student of Annamalai University Rajah Muthiah Medical College, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, was murdered on November 6, 1996. This murder, which occurred during a ragging incident, led to the passing of the first anti-ragging legislation in India. According to the University Grants Commission, 31 cases of ragging were reported from the State in 2013 on the national anti-ragging helpline number. Tamil Nadu has the fifth highest reported cases of ragging in the country.
Anna University, which has over 571 colleges in its fold, has strict measures to curb ragging. The punishment includes two years imprisonment, fine of `2.5 lakh, dismissal from the educational institution and denial of admission in any other educational institution.
According to reports on Aman, an NGO campaigning against ragging, 28 cases of ragging were reported from Tamil Nadu as of 24th October this year. In 2013, there were 32. The case files that includes the names of the colleges, victims, nature of ragging and the status of the complaint are available on their website. “On receiving a complaint, we contact officials of the college and the nearest police station. We find phone numbers from the respective websites. We look for officials in charge of ragging or for the Principal/ Registrar/Dean of Students welfare, etc. We try to make the contact in 30 minutes,” says Kachroo.
Out of the 28 cases reported so far, 24 students are men and only four are women. There is a similar pattern in the previous years as against the common perception that girls are an easy target. “Ragging amongst girls is less. It is a fact,” Kachroo says.
When asked how a particular student is handled, he says, “Our people give much confidence to the students. We follow up on the case until a solution is sought. We do not forget about any case. That is the best assurance we can give. If a student wants his/her name to be kept anonymous we maintain the anonymity.”
In February last year a leading newspaper reported that at PRIST University, Thanjavur, four first-year college students were allegedly stripped and abused by seniors; at SRM University, a senior student threatened his junior against standing in the elections and ragged and harassed him for a week. In January last year five students of SRM University were reportedly brutally attacked by at least 30 seniors in two separate incidents for allegedly resisting ragging.
SRM University now has separate anti-ragging committees for each department with the contact numbers and email IDs of nodal officers and committee members displayed on their website. When edex contacted the nodal officers, they claimed that they have not received a single complaint of ragging so far and denied any cases of ragging in this academic year when asked about cases reported by the media in Jan-Feb this year.
PRIST has also declared its campuses across Tamil Nadu 100 per cent ragging free and claims to have set up disciplinary committees and anti-ragging committees at each of the PRIST campuses. These committees under the direction of the Head of the institution, comprises the department heads and senior faculty members. However, there were no contact numbers of anti-ragging squads on their website.
It is in this context, where colleges seem to be in denial that social activists, working in the field, say authorities need to act more strictly than they are doing now, so that there is a sense of fear among students who indulge in the menace. “Ragging cannot be completely rooted out from our society because it’s in the mindset of the student, but what we can do is instill a deep sense of fear in them that ragging can cost them their career,” says Prof Kachroo.
diana@newindianexpress.com
(with inputs from Suraksha P in Chennai)