[HT] Ragging forces 62 students to flee

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Ashok Das, Hindustan Times
Hyderabad, July 16, 2008
First Published: 02:43 IST(16/7/2008)

Ragging may be officially banned in Andhra Pradesh, but that has not stopped students from resorting to despicable crimes on their juniors in the name of ragging.

Official sources said that 62 students of a residential school run by the Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Education Society, a government body, ran away from the institution on Sunday unable to bear the “ragging” by seniors. The victims are students of class IX and were being “tortured” by seniors belonging to Classes XI and XII.

Apparently, the juniors brought the issue to the notice of school authorities, but nothing happened. Finally, unable to face the humiliation, the students chose to leave the institution.

“They (seniors) used to call us to the terrace and ask us to do unspeakable things. They would also force us to wash their utensils and their clothes. Above all, they would eat up all the food and leave little or nothing for us,” said one of the students, refusing to reveal his name.

The residential school is meant for students belonging to the weaker sections of society and the government takes care of their boarding, lodging and educational expenses. The initiative is part of a chain of hundreds of residential schools run by the government for poor students.

The school authorities said that they were trying to contact the victims and persuade them to come back. “We will make sure that they are not harassed by anyone in the future,” said a school official.

Local police said they had not registered a case as neither the principal of the school nor the victims had lodged a complaint.

[ToI] Colleges target ragging with CCTVs, patrol

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NEW DELHI: If Delhi University has its way, ragging may soon become extinct.

Colleges are going all out to stop it — setting up anti-ragging committees, giving out special numbers to students to lodge complaints, distributing booklets on the evils of ragging and sensitising students through the use of posters and lectures. And if that's not enough, the university has also, in association with the Delhi Police, ensured there's mobile patrolling, more pickets and two joint control rooms to monitor the campuses in the first few days of the new academic session.

Ragging is certainly the target in colleges like LSR and Ramjas, where authorities are planning to distribute booklets on the evils of ragging. This is besides the usual committees that will be set up to monitor student activity from Wednesday onwards, when college re-opens. Of course, if the committees don't seem enough, there's always the CCTVs that some college have put up. Hans Raj has, for the first time, set up four CCTV cameras to ensure that discipline is maintained, while Kirori Mal had already installed cameras last admission season. Said Hans Raj principal, S R Arora, "The measures are only in place to ensure no untoward incidents take place."

Off campus colleges too seem serious about anti-ragging measures. Said Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College principal, S K Garg, "There has been no ragging in our college for almost eight years now. As the students don't get ragged by their seniors, they do not rag their juniors either." Other colleges are preferring to increase awareness than put up strict arrangements.

Sunil Sondhi, principal, Maharaja Agrasen College, said, "We just make our students understand right on the first day that every person has a dignity that needs to be respected, not only in the first few days but through the three years that they spend in the college."

The university has also introduced many measures to ensure no ragging incident takes place. The steps, which have been made mandatory for all colleges, include restricted entry to both hostels and colleges, as well as setting up of a formal redressal system where students complaints are to be dealt with immediately. Hostels are to be kept under strict vigil, with the university asking colleges to ensure that regular and sudden inspections are made.

Colleges have been asked not to allow guests to stay in the hostel in the initial few weeks of reopening of the colleges.

Sealed complaint boxes will also be put up in colleges so that students can file complaints without revealing their identity.

[Hindu] Dancing to the beat of ‘no ragging’

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Parul Sharma

NEW DELHI: As a new batch of students begins its campus life at Delhi University this Wednesday, a non-government organisation working towards elimination of ragging has launched a song and video to combat the nuisance.

The video is available online at www.noragging.com/video

Founded in 2001, the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE) has carried out several campaigns to weed out ragging, including observing “No Ragging Day” on October 11.

It has also worked as a consultant body to the Raghavan Committee appointed by the Supreme Court to monitor measures to prevent ragging in higher educational institutions.

“The USP of the song and video is that it is not only the first of its kind on ragging, but the lyrics of the song, the composition, singing and the design of video have all been done by first-year students,” says Harsh Agarwal, a CURE member.

This latest venture, believes CURE co-founder Varun Aggarwal, will add a new dimension to the campaign against ragging. “The campaigns till now have been preachy, while the youth of today do not like to take orders. They want to know why they should not indulge in ragging. This is what the video does in a beautiful and convincing way,” he explains.

[IndiaEduNews] Ragging - The first social encounter at college

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July 14, 2008

New Delhi: Come mid July and all the universities and colleges across the country will be agog with excitement. With the commencement of the new academic session, students look forward to serious academics, besides receiving the freshers in their midst.

That is where the phenomenon called ragging comes into the picture.

The Central Government may have banned ragging, in all forms, in all educational institutions; freshers however, take ragging as a means of interaction with their seniors and vice-versa.

The word ragging, according to the Oxford Dictionary, means fund raising programme of stunts, parades, and entertainment organized by students. That is how it is done in most of the western universities, from which, incidentally, we Indians have borrowed and adapted what is known as college ragging.

Ragging has become an annual 'tradition' in which the victims are solely the freshers.

This ritual is more of 'tradition' and gets its strength from the fact that those ragged in the first year see to it that they have their revenge next year when they are in the 'driver's seat'.

Ragging gains its justification from the fact that it 'breaks the ice' between the seniors and the freshers. It is basically envisaged to be some kind of 'interaction', they say. But interaction is a two-sided affair where both the sides put forth something about each other.

Contrary to this, here the only one who tells anything about himself/herself is the fresher, that too in a way, which his senior will like.

It is also considered a grow-up tonic by the raggers, which is a must for the freshers as they stand on the threshold of a new world.

Many individuals generally confuse ragging with bullying. It must be made absolutely clear that ragging is not bullying. The differences are subtle but well defined. Ragging has a large number of people involved in it and is quite prevalent, though it is not so with bullying.

Tips for freshers:

- Do not dress snazzily, it will catch attention.

- Keep a low profile.

- Move about in groups. If the seniors catch a few of you together, you will not be too nervous.

- If things go out of bounds, report to the authorities. Remember law prohibits ragging.


Tips for the seniors:

- Originally ragging was meant to be form of social interaction, light hearted way to meet the freshers and to get acquainted with them. Make an effort to adhere to this ideology.

- The freshers are by and large a timid lot. You ought to try and make them comfortable instead of enhancing their fears and apprehensions.

- Light banter, jokes, teasing, innocent but foolish acts etc are fair enough but avoid physical violence at any level (in any degree) whatsoever.

- Similarly do not force the youngsters to do things that have clear cut sexual overtones. Enjoyment is a must but it must be utterly devoid of vulgarity.

- Treat the youngsters with kindness car and sympathy, so that they are encouraged to look up to you, instead of hating you or avoiding you throughout the academic session.

Remember!! The Central Government has said, "We intend to abolish the practice of ragging and/or harassment from all Colleges and Institutions, in an effort to clean up the social stigma that it causes. In no other country's education institutions ragging takes place except in India. We intend to introduce stricter laws against ragging. Our objective is to make the campus areas free from any social injustice, mental, physical and/or sexual harassment that thousands of students face each year during their first few months in college. The enactment of the 'Prevention of Ragging in Colleges and Institutions Bill, 2005' would see the decline and finally abolition of ragging on campus areas."

A happy College Life to all students!!!

[ThaiIndian] With squads, cameras Delhi University gears up to stop ragging

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July 14th, 2008 - 7:10 pm ICT by IANS -

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) The college corridors and canteens, classrooms are abuzz with breathless chatter of freshers. On the grounds, throngs of newcomers are moving about with nervous excitement. The new session of Delhi University is beginning Wednesday, and the fear of being ragged is in the air. But student volunteers constituting the anti-ragging squad of Delhi University are all set to do the rounds of colleges and catch anyone ragging newcomers.

After the Supreme Court directive calling for institutions and principals to take stern action to ban ragging, the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) set up an anti-ragging squad last year, which with the help of Delhi Police, monitors college campuses at the beginning of the new academic session to prevent the dreadful ragging incidents.

For most students, the thrill of starting college is overcome by the fear of getting ragged by seniors. And though it has been banned, there have been stray cases of ragging on the campus and in college hostels.

Amrita Bahari, president of DUSU, said the union has taken all steps to ensure that the new students don’t start their college life on a harrowing note.

“We are very serious about the issue of ragging and have sent out strong messages in the form of campaigns and posters in college campuses, asking students not to rag anyone,” Bahari said.

“Our anti-ragging squad, which constitutes 16 students for the north campus and 10 for the south campus, is all set to do the rounds from the beginning of the new academic session and hold up anyone caught ragging,” Bahari told IANS.

Most of the students in the squad are under-graduates, and there are some of the post-graduate level and from the Law Faculty, she said.

DUSU has also spoken to college principals and hostel wardens and put up posters in the colleges informing students about the Supreme Court directive.

Plans are afoot to also launch a helpline for new students so that they can get help if ragged and get counselling.

More than 20 colleges under DU will install CCTV cameras in the vicinity of their colleges in order to check ragging and eve-teasing. The cameras will be installed in a month’s time.

Delhi University Proctor Gurmeet Singh said earlier: “This year, more than 20 colleges will install CCTV cameras to monitor and check activities such as ragging and eve-teasing. The presence of the CCTV cameras is not going to be publicised as we want to take the offenders by surprise”.

Bahari added: “The CCTV cameras will be a big boon since they will help nab culprits. They will be installed in less than a month’s time.”

[HT] Video campaign to curb ragging

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Swaha Sahoo,
New Delhi, July 14, 2008
Last Updated: 02:42 IST(14/7/2008)

For students, teachers and freshers of Delhi University, the message against ragging might be given through a video this session. Packed with images of youth and fun and backed with statistics on the dark side of ragging, the video has been made by NGO CURE (Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education).

CURE has been working closely with the Raghavan Committee, set up by the Supreme Court to monitor the measures being taken to prevent ragging in educational institutes across India.

“We plan to go to colleges and show the video to freshers, seniors and teachers so that they are sensitised towards what consist healthy interaction and how a simple joke might prove fatal for someone,” said Harsh Aggarwal, a member.

The video, which can also be accessed at www.noragging.com/video is based on detailed research by CURE. “Despite the Raghavan Committee guidelines, 89 cases of severe ragging were reported in 2007-08. There were 11 deaths and another five attempted suicides,” said Harsh.

Out of these cases, 21 per cent were of sexual abuse, 43 per cent led to physical injury while the rest were of verbal abuse. In 50 per cent cases police had intervened. “A comparison benchmark (statistics of last five years) reveals that nothing has changed. Rather the annual average in the last five years was 46 and there were 5.6 number of deaths,” said Harsh. “So we need more stringent measures to curb incidents of ragging,” he said.

Video: Amit's Story

Amit was a 17 year old college student

Do YOU know what happened?

We know what happened…

Watch it here NOW

http://www.noragging.com/video

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GETiChKfYvg

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3078663984675125660&hl=en

We have a CURE…

Please forward to everyone you know... One visual can make a difference... Ragging will be history soon...

"Be the change you want to be" -- Mahatma Gandhi

Want to show it to a large audience in your college? Write to info@noragging.com for a full-resolution version.

[ToI] Ragtime blues: DU does a clampdown

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NEW DELHI: If it's friendly ragging that you've been looking forward to with the start of the academic session from July 16, here's a dampener. Delhi University has sent out the message loud and clear to colleges — ragging is not to be allowed. As part of a series of measures based on recommendations of the R K Raghavan committee, colleges will this year not only appoint disciplinary squads, but also step up mobile patrolling in the campus by the Delhi police.

The steps, which have been made mandatory for all colleges, include restricted entry in both hostels and colleges, as well as setting up of a formal redressal system, where students complaints are to be dealt with immediately. Hostels in particular are to be kept under strict vigil, with the university asking college authorities to ensure that regular and unannounced inspections are made. The university in fact has asked colleges not to allow guests to stay in the hostel in the initial few weeks of reopening of the college in the academic session.

Added M M Rehman, deputy proctor, DU, "Delhi police will also be helping us implement these measures. Pickets, especially in front of women's colleges, will be put up and any act of indiscipline and ragging will be dealt with strictly under the university's statutes and ordinances." Sealed complaint boxes are also to be put up in colleges, so that students can file complaints without revealing their identity if they so wish, he added. Extra vigil is also to be kept at all eating joints in the campus area, so that ragging outside college premises does not occur.

The university has also set up two joint control rooms, one each in the north and south campus (north campus: 011-27667221 and south campus: 011-24119832) to take care of complaints that come in.

Colleges meanwhile are also gearing up. Said Ramjas principal, Rajendra Prasad, "We had implemented many of the anti-ragging steps last year itself. A private security agency had been appointed to ensure that security is maintained and to strictly check all identity cards." This year too, the college plans to hand out booklets to new students which will spell out the provisions and rules on ragging in the university. The college will also set up two mobile numbers — of the principal and the administrative in-charge — which will be prominently displayed so students can file any complaints.

Others are following suit. Said a senior teacher in SRCC, "Over the past few years, ragging has been replaced by friendly interactions with senior students. In the hostel though, some incidents of ragging do happen, which is what the college will be keeping a strict eye on this year."

http://missionadmission.in

[EducationWorld] Delhi: Tightening screws

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Even as a new academic year has begun and bright-eyed students are streaming into college campuses across the country, the R.K. Raghavan Committee, appointed in December 2006 by the Union HRD ministry, (following a Supreme Court directive) to suggest and monitor measures to eliminate intimidation, molestation, assaults etc aka ‘ragging’ in college campuses, has severely criticised college managements for lack of seriousness in curbing the ragging menace. At the third review meeting of the committee held on June 11, Raghavan, a former CBI director, made his displeasure clear with the “post-office like attitude” of higher education regulatory organisations such as UGC, AICTE and Medical Council of India.

“These regulatory bodies have become too close to educational organisations and believe in tokenism. But I have told them in no uncertain terms to punish institutional manage-ments not following our anti-ragging guidelines endorsed by the Supreme Court on May 16, 2007,” he says. Raghavan’s annoyance with apex level regulatory organisations is shared by the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), which together with Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE), was instrumental in helping the Raghavan committee formulate its anti-ragging code circulated to colleges and universities before the beginning of the academic session last year.

It’s routine for UGC and other regulatory bodies to issue stern instructions to college managements at the start of every academic session. But thus far no college has been penalised for ignoring these instructions. Due to inaction of past decades, these warnings are seldom taken seriously by college authorities and senior students, and ragging continues unabated. Last year despite the strong anti-ragging recommendations made by the Raghavan Committee and endorsed by the Supreme Court, more than 70 cases of ragging were reported in a span of five months in the English media. The number of unreported cases and those reported in the vernacular media are many times more,” says Harsh Agarwal, who co-founded CURE along with Rajiv Ram in 2001.

In the June 11 meeting attended by representatives of UGC, AICTE, Medical Council of India, Dental Council of India, Nursing Council of India, UGC informed the committee that a separate cell has been constituted within the commission to investigate ragging-related complaints from colleges and universities. Moreover a visiting committee has been constituted by UGC to sensitise institutions about the scourge of ragging. The visiting committee will have powers to recommend dilution of grants under various UGC schemes for colleges and universities not complying with the anti-ragging measures stipulated by the Raghavan Committee.

“We will publicise the measures against ragging in our campus as per the committee directives and are ready to implement them,” says Dr. A.K. Agarwal, dean Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi.

According to Harsh Agarwal of CURE the HRD ministry and regulatory bodies must list the measures they have taken in the past year to enforce the recommendations of the Raghavan Committee. “They must detail cases where they have punished raggers. Even to this day, ragging victims have no idea about the complaint registering authority. Last year CURE sent a proposal to the HRD ministry to launch an anti-ragging campaign but didn’t receive any response. Ditto when we proposed to declare October 11 as ‘No Ragging Day’. It is really unfortunate that despite our offer to help them on this issue, regulatory bodies are not willing to involve us. CURE will be closely monitoring the progress and hopes that this year the HRD ministry and other regulatory bodies will be serious about strictly punishing institutions that tolerate this humiliating ritual,” says Agarwal.

CURE is all set to mount a nationwide awareness campaign against ragging and is hopeful the HRD ministry will support it. Meanwhile freshers subjected to harassment are advised to contact CURE or SAVE for support. “Ragging is a criminal offence punishable under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. And under the Raghavan Committee’s guidelines it is incumbent on institutions to file FIRs related to ragging incidents and support the victim. So, don’t fear when you step into college life,” advises Agarwal.

Autar Nehru (Delhi)

[PunjabNewsline] INSO to constitute anti-ragging cell in Punjab varsity

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Punjab Newsline Network
Thursday, 10 July 2008

CHANDIGARH: Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) has decided to constitute a Anti-Ragging cell to curb the menace of ragging of students.

INSO PU campus chairman, Sukhdev Kundu said that INSO activists would ensure that no ragging or disrespect is done to any new student. The menace of ragging raises its ugly head every year as soon as the new session begins in educational institutes and it is the duty of every student that no such things should happen this year in the PU and its colleges, he added.

INSO leader said that INSO would also educate the students about the ill-effects of ragging and its ramification. He said that only last year a student of Government Medical College, Sector 32 had allegedly committed suicide. In view of this, INSO has decided to launch a special campaign against the ragging as it was against the principles of humanity and equality. INSO, which always works for the welfare of students community, has decided to curb this menace with the help of the students itself, he further added.

INSO has started an Anti-Ragging helpline round the clock in all educational institutes of Chandigarh so that fresher students can take help of their seniors when they encounter any such situation. INSO activists would sort out any such matter. This helpline will work 24 hours and the numbers issued by INSO Chandigarh Unit are 9815727470, 9814300049, 9876010307, 9915230813, 9876092345, 9872960887.

Kundu said that students can call these help line numbers at any time and students would never find themselves alone at any point of time during their entire session.

[ExpressIndia] PU not to spare those found guilty of ragging

Express News Service
Posted online: Saturday , July 05, 2008 at 02:49:05

Chandigarh, July 04 In a meeting held to discuss the problems related to ragging, Dean Social Welfare Professor Naval Kishore today said that no one would be spared if found ragging on the campus. The university has decided to divide the campus into five parts for better monitoring.

The meeting discussed the recommendations of the Raghav Committee stating that an FIR should be registered against anyone found guilty of ragging. It has decided to register and maintain details of hostel students online. Different teams will be formed to take stock of different hostels and surprise checks will be conducted by them during night.

Talking to Newsline, Professor Naval Kishore said, “We have decided to buffer up the security system from this year and both girls as well as the boys hostels will be under the scanner and ragging of any type will not be tolerated. The university is all set to take the strictest action against the ones involved in ragging.” Another issue discussed today was regarding the working of the CCTV Camers. Vice-Chancellor Professor R C Sobti said that the cameras should be repaired at the earliest as they can be of great help in tracking those involved.

[NDTV] Emergence of the ragging nuisance

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