Juniors in college: The ragging saga
Originally to rag was to make fun of someone, but that was essentially confined to non-violent activities. Ragging in this day and age, has reached terrible heights and assumed vast proportions and rightly qualifies to be crime.
RAGGING IS the growing menace that would eventually intensify furthermore unless the HRD Ministry takes up the issue more seriously and leads up to forming harsher anti-ragging laws. There has been an Aman Kachroo, there will be more if mere spectatorship and indifference continues.
Originally to rag was to make fun of someone, but that was essentially confined to non-violent activities. Ragging, commonly known as ‘hazing’ in United States of America, in this day and age, has reached terrible heights and assumed vast proportions and rightly qualifies to be crime. There has been a recent uproar on medical students being ragged and a peculiar link to the movie ‘3 Idiots’ was raked up. And that was it…. The hullabaloo died out. On January 4, reports of those 18 medical students charged of ragging being let off with a Rs 5000 bond surfaced.
Reportedly only 60 per cent of the ragging that takes place reaches the ear of the college authorities and if such is the case, perhaps 40 per cent of the total gets reported to courts, police and most importantly, the public – needless to say institute authorities like to keep themselves aloof of controversy and taint.
The evil called ragging has resulted in many students being permanently disturbed mentally or physically. There is a common belief that the ordeal is over once the incident gets over but that is anything but true. Sexual ragging amounts to almost 33 per cent of the ragging that takes place in institutes today, and there have been instances when the one subject to such experiences faced lasting effects. Noted doctor of psychiatry, Dr Samir Parikh said to a journalist, who was filing a report on the issue, some years ago, “Sexual ragging has an impact on the psyche as sexual self-esteem is a very important part of a young adult’s life. The memories of the incident can impinge on the long-term social and sexual life of the victim.”
Now since this is the real world and to expect a Ranchod (3 idiots, Aamir Khan) here would be foolery, juniors by and large give in to these transient monsters aka seniors. The most grotesque form sure is the one that has the sexual overtone but other forms of ragging has serious effects too. “Verbal insults, innuendoes and harassment are the kinds that can totally ruin a student’s personality. So, these should be thrown out of the system,” remarked Parikh.
Now since this is the real world and to expect a Ranchod (3 idiots, Aamir Khan) here would be foolery, juniors by and large give in to these transient monsters aka seniors. The most grotesque form sure is the one that has the sexual overtone but other forms of ragging has serious effects too. “Verbal insults, innuendoes and harassment are the kinds that can totally ruin a student’s personality. So, these should be thrown out of the system,” remarked Parikh.
Reportedly there have been 88 ragging cases in 2009 alone of which 12 have resulted into death, either by suicide or as a direct consequence. What has transpired from all these is a national anti-ragging helpline, respective councils issuing circulars to colleges, a Supreme Court ruling and authorities ‘condemning’ these events each time one occurs. All colleges today have an anti-ragging cell but what worries is the fact that these cells are formed by those seniors who perpetrate such episodes. Hence the idea of an anti-ragging cell is either misconstrued or not, but the plan comes to a cropper for sure.
A few non-government organisations have taken up the cause, of which the prominent ones are SAVE (Society for Abolition of Violence from Education) and CURE. 31 deaths have occurred in the past decade due to ragging and the figures are testimony of the jeopardy that the education system faces.
A few non-government organisations have taken up the cause, of which the prominent ones are SAVE (Society for Abolition of Violence from Education) and CURE. 31 deaths have occurred in the past decade due to ragging and the figures are testimony of the jeopardy that the education system faces.
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