THE ISSUE OF RAGGING:
MISUNDERSTOOD BY STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES
WHY DO WE INDIANS ALWAYS TEND TO CATCH THE "BULL BY THE TAIL" AND MAKE A MESS
OF THINGS?
By: Sharat Sindhwani
Some terms seem to get misinterpreted and distorted by the time they reach the
common man i.e. civilians for example, the term called "RAGGING". In the armed
forces a soldier or trainee officer has to undergo certain forms of punishment
like front rolling or back rolling etc. to teach him discipline and generally
it is the senior officer or JCO/NCO who RAGS his junior to make him remember
the right traditions and follow his senior's command, this discipline teaching
process is called RAGGING. This makes our armed forces a disciplined and
admired force which outshines most in the world. The Armed forces have imbibed
some of the British traditions which even today an ordinary citizen admires and
has a hidden desire to become a "uniformed and respected armed forces
personnel."
The unfortunate part is the misinterpretation of this term and misuse by the
students at the University level which reaches dangerous levels that can lead
to students' getting physically hurt or even go to the extent of committing
suicide!! This is a great set back to our progressive society.
I shall quote my personal experience at a British University if it can make a
difference and is of any use to our present day scenario. I nervously joined a
British University, Bath in Somerset in the mid 60's and wanted to experience
RAGGING at a British University mentally prepared for the worst. To my horror
on my arrival I saw a large banner "RAG WEEK" and next to it was a PROGRAMME
FOR THE RAG WEEK. This raised my heart beat to dangerous levels!! I could hear
the thumping of my heart. On collecting myself and putting my different
faculties under control (even the earth was moving under my feet) I gathered
courage to go through the program. I soon cooled down as I read it and
understood the underlying spirit which follows the sequence in my mind:-.
DAY I: MONDAY: INAUGURAL: All students to gather at 0900 hours for mass at the
church to "Thank the Lord for having given the students to a chance to reach a
high seat of learning and to receive good education which many
many in the
world are deprived of, and to take oath to help those students in the world who
have not been so fortunate. The oath included collection of clothes, books and
medicines for humans of countries who are suffering due to political reasons.
Note:- It is this collection of help in cash and kind which is termed as RAGS
which is confused with the army term of ragging a gross misunderstanding (
Kaha Baba ne logon se TAMA ko chhor dena hai samajh baithe bhole log ki
TAMAKU chhor dena hai). The notice on the board further read as: Students of
all nationalities are requested to stay for coffee after the mass and are
requested to assist with the activities as directed by their seniors". We met
again after lunch at the refractory (University cafeteria) which too was an
experience serving yourself with whatever was your choice of dishes served,
right from roast beef with Bisto gravy, Yorkshire pudding boiled vegetables and
roast potatoes to Shepard's Pie and English Fish `N' chips, paying at the end
of the que, and dispensing the used plates and the tray in the designated
trolley, which was unlike an Indian college canteen which served only "Chai
and Pakoras or samosas with hari chatni" served on broken tables and sitting
on benches. The afternoon session at the auditorium comprised of arrangement
for different groups of students to undertake different activities such as (i)
Freshers: Door to door collection of cash and RAGS as voluntary donation for
poor countries from the citizens of the town (ii) Second year students:
Arranging "road shows" to display world problems to passer-bys to raise their
sentiments to enable them to donate and then to collect cash for the have-nots
worldwide (iii) Seniors to arrange "thanks giving" and "end of week dance"
before resumption of normal educational activities of the University
DAY II: TUESDAY Freshers hired horse carts (which were generally free by the
cart owner as his contribution to the cause) and with collection bins/donation
cans in hand students approached citizens in different parts of the city (the
Bath University campus was at Bristol those days) and amazingly every household
we approached had not only used but also new clothes and the best part was all
of them immediately on hearing the door bell said "Oh the university Rag week
students! Yes we have your package and cash ready!!" The RAGGING spirit was in
every citizen. A public message by OXFAM
DAY III: WEDNESDAY Second year students had by then thought of the road shows
to be presented to collect donations for poor countries and those ravaged by
political turmoil.
DAY IV: THURSDAY: Final year students approached the Bristol University
students and Bristol University approached the Bath University students to
invite each other to their RAG DANCE on Saturday night and to declare the theme
of the dance. They also enlisted names of students willing to go abroad for
voluntary service during their mid term holidays.
DAY V: FRIDAY: Both universities arranged and decorated their respective
auditoriums for the dance and the Trainee lady doctors and nurses from Bristol
university undertook a theme "The Tramp" and dressed as tramps "Normal dress
covered with a dress made up of newspapers, conceptual head gear etc."
DAY VI: SATURDAY : Taking stock of RAG collections followed by a lunch feast
still to be followed by a jam session, the first student dance of the academic
term.
It would not be out of place to say that our students should rightly understand
the meaning of ragging and shun torture of juniors under the garb of "get to
know them" this kind of RAGGING of freshers which makes their life hell is not
of any use to themselves nor the society they are going to enter. RAG WEEK is
to make them into responsible citizens who care for their own national issues
as well human suffering at large. They have come to university to become better
humans not barbarians.
It would also not be out of place to say that our student elections tend to
become apolitical and money is collected from shop keepers as "protection
money" to help them make banners and publicity material. Imbibing correct
values is the essence of good education. It is a competitive world and one has
to out shine the other by displaying the values imbibed during one's college
life. Student unions should fight for better faculty, better, libraries and
books, better canteen facilities and undertake activities which would improve
social activities and standards. Choose themes and work on them.
The most important thing and problem ahead of them is global warming. They
should stand united with NGOs and organizations such as the Eco Task Force,
Forest Department, Wild Life Institute and other establishments to seek their
guidance and declare war on climate change which will adversely affect the
lives of their families and successors. It will bring them closer to nature and
keep them away from gang wars and dirty politics. Those interested in politics
should join political parties and fight for the right Muddaas" say better
infrastructure, transport, road traffic management and issues like these and
should not allow seasoned politicians to misuse them for meeting their ends.
Dharti Ma's protection should become the priority theme for colleges and
student unions should follow recognized UNEP programs in time before disaster
over takes this earth's happiness, the gravity of which is not realized nor
understood by many.Student unions should act intelligently and form non
political citizens pressure groups to eradicate social evils like drug use
amongst students, corruption eradication at various levels. Donot think that
India's freedom fight is over yet, there is much to be done non politically
as citizens of your country. Street shows against joblessness and it's causes,
need for entrepreneurship development to generate employment suited to
contemporary times in India. Student's should fight and display their intellect
in intelligent matters and not self defeatist activities which lead to suicide.
Child is the father of man they say. Become sensitive to protecting your
identity as Indians and donot allow yourselves to blindly drift towards western
cultures which donot suit us. What is good for Peter is not necessarily good
for Paul or Mary similarly what is good for the west is not necessarily good
for India say the question of homosexuality, drug abuse etc. Think, plan and
have the collective moral strength to stand for the right cause and become
better citizens. Why should the Hon'ble Supreme Court have to give directions
which one's common sense should give?
--- In [email protected], Harsh Agarwal <harsh1...@...> wrote:
>
>
> Ragging- Why the problem still exists?
> http://themenaceofragging.blogspot.com/
>
>
> In July 2008, CURE analysed ragging incidents of past the 5 years and
> did a comparative study with the cases reported after the Supreme Court
> judgment of May, 2007. It was shocking to know that even after the SC
> judgment, 11 cases of death due to ragging and 5 cases of attempted
> suicides were reported by the media and there was no significant
> decrease in ragging. After making so much effort to curb ragging, why
> is the government still not able to successfully deal with this menace?
>
>
> Let
> us understand some of the important fundamental issues associated with
> ragging which need to be addressed if we want to get rid of this social
> menace. These are the issues which have been ignored or have not been
> addressed with the right spirit.
>
>
> Anonymity of the Complainant:
> This is the first step to solve the menace and one of the key elements
> if we want to encourage the fresher to report any incident of ragging.
> There is tremendous fear in the minds of the freshers and huge
> possibility of backlash because of which the fresher decides to
> tolerate ragging and as a result almost 99.99% of the ragging cases go
> unreported and problem remains suppressed. Provisions like putting a
> compliant box/ setting up helpline number or expecting the fresher to
> report the incident to anti ragging cell/committee donât work because
> such provisions fail to convince the fresher of complete anonymity and
> his /her safety.
>
> The best possible way to tackle this problem
> is by making it mandatory for every college in the country to do a
> weekly/fortnightly anonymous survey of the entire first year batch to
> find out if any sort of ragging is taking place in their college. The
> idea is to encourage the students by approaching the entire batch and
> maintaining absolute anonymity rather than waiting for a whistle blower
> to come forward and report the incident. Unless we make this important
> provision, the college authorities will continue to live in oblivion
> and feel that ragging is not a problem in their institution.
>
>
> Awareness:
> This is another key element in solving the problem. Though ragging has
> been banned but since the time it has been banned there is an
> atmosphere of confusion prevailing in the campus. There is confusion as
> to what is ragging what is not; what will happen to the seniorâ"junior
> interaction in the absence of ragging. Reason as to why ragging has
> been banned, what are the ill effects of ragging, what is its origin?
> Where did it come from? â" These questions have not been answered.
> Colleges are unaware as to what awareness on ragging means.
> Distributing contact numbers of faculty members or information that
> ragging has been banned is certainly not awareness on ragging. It is
> very important to disseminate right information about ragging, about
> its origin, highlight its ill effects, where all it is prevalent, why
> is it irrelevant in todayâs time, etc. Also, we need to introduce
> alternative and healthier methods of interaction to replace ragging to
> break the ice between the seniors and freshers.
>
>
> Psychological Menace:
> Ragging is more of a psychological problem than anything else. Ragging
> is perhaps the only Social and Human Rights problem in the world in
> which the victim himself/herself becomes the perpetrator of this crime
> in a short span of one year. This problem can best be solved by going
> into the roots of this menace and understanding its psychology.
> Psychological concepts like Stanford Prison Experiment, Miligram
> Experiment, Stockholm syndrome, which have close similarities with the
> psychology of ragging need to be studied carefully to understand this
> problem and look for appropriate solution.
>
>
> Role of Media:
> Be it publishing a front page picture of a Delhi University boy giving
> rose to a girl to portray ragging or writing only about the provision
> of FIR or quantum of punishment with regard to ragging, media has
> failed to disseminate the right information and essential knowledge
> about ragging. Since the Supreme Court judgment in 2007, the role of
> the media with regard to ragging has been more to spread sensation.
> Though there is a long list of guidelines made in the Raghavan
> Committee report but media chose to highlight only a few sensational
> ones. Today all that the country knows about the Raghavan Committee
> report is about provision of filing an FIR or about provision of
> sending director of a college to jail but is completely ignorant about
> the dozens of other important recommendations/guidelines which can be
> key to solve the problem of ragging.
>
>
> Hard Approach:
> This provision should be used as deterrence and as the last resort when
> all the other softer efforts fail to curb ragging. Firstly, we need to
> look from a 17-18 year old fresherâs point of view and understand that
> a young student who joins the college with a dream to become a doctor
> or an engineer will be extremely scared to use the provision of FIR and
> later get involved in a court case. Secondly, gathering evidence to
> prove any ragging incident has always been very difficult as nobody
> comes forward to testify. Thirdly, we need to ask ourselves that is it
> easy to de-recognize an institution or stop its fund if it is several
> decades old and there are several hundred students studying in it? What
> will happen to the future of those innocent students who were not
> involved in ragging? Fourthly, successful implementation of hard
> approach depends largely whether various stakeholders of ragging are
> convinced that it is bad.
>
> Presently ragging is seen as an age
> old ritual by the college community, there are conflicting views about
> ragging, for some it is a painful torture whereas for others it is a
> healthy interaction or a personality development exercise. When
> knowledge about ragging is so low then how will we be able to implement
> these harsh measures?
>
>
> Unless and until we act on the above
> issues seriously, college authorities will continue to label ragging
> deaths as suicides due to academic pressure; majority of the ragging
> incidents will continue to go unreported; seniors and teachers will
> continue to believe that ragging is a healthy interactive and
> personality development exercise; media will continue to report only
> sensational stuff about ragging; parents, relatives and society will
> fail to understand the pain of the ragging victim, and as a result of
> all this, the harsh provision to curb ragging might soon loose its
> deterrent effect and we may never be able to solve this problem.
>
