Context:

• Recently, a 17-year-old boy died due to ragging in West Bengal’s Jadavpur University, who was a second-year undergraduate student of the PSG College of Technology in Tamil Nadu.
• He has been left brutalized, physically and mentally, for refusing to yield to monetary extortion by his seniors. 

About Ragging:

• R.K. Raghavan Committee: As per the Panel, ragging is a form of “psychopathic behavior and a reflection of deviant personalities”. 
  • The Supreme Court-appointed R.K. Raghavan Committee had captured the causes, and suggested actionable remedies, in its 2007 report, ‘The Menace of Ragging in Educational Institutions and Measures to Curb It’. 

Concerns:

• Failure of Rules and Regulations: Multiple pieces of legislation and regulations prohibiting ragging on campuses have failed to end these dehumanizing raggings. 
• Failure of Execution: Despite ‘The UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions 2009’, the stakeholders have done little to prevent it. 
  • In 1999, a University Grants Commission (UGC) Committee had recommended a “Prohibition, Prevention and Punishment” approach to curb ragging. 
• Exposal of Gaps in the System: These cases of ragging expose the gaps in the system. 
• Cruel Acts: Acts of ragging have taken perverse and cruel forms, including through sexual abuse. 
  • Ragging has become an act of indiscipline and has evolved into one that involves elements of criminality. 
• Lack of Prevention: The Raghavan Committee pointed out, many State laws only seek to prohibit, and not prevent, ragging. 
  • While prevention must lead to prohibition, the reverse need not be true.

The Path Ahead:

• Supporting Environment: Institutions must create an encouraging atmosphere where teachers and hostel wardens are the first point of contact for victims. 
• Accountability: There must be greater accountability by educational institutions to prevent ragging. 
• Strict Regulations: The regulatory authorities must ensure a ragging-free campus. 
• Academic Standard: Institutions must maintain academic standards. 
• Implementation and Enforcement of Laws on a Strict Manner: Governments too must be earnest in implementing regulations.

News Source: The Hindu