{"id":37845,"date":"2025-02-22T19:18:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T13:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=37845"},"modified":"2025-03-22T15:51:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T10:21:47","slug":"ragging-deaths-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/22-02-2025\/ragging-deaths-in-india","title":{"rendered":"Ragging Deaths in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ragging remains a deeply entrenched issue in India&#8217;s higher education institutions, despite Supreme Court guidelines and University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations aiming to curb it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Ragging?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ragging is any <strong>act of physical or psychological abuse<\/strong> usually by senior students toward juniors under the pretext of initiation or camaraderie.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It ranges from verbal abuse and forced tasks to extreme physical torture and sexual exploitation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Menace of Ragging in Education institutions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to records accessed through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/right-to-information-rti\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/right-to-information-rti\/\"><strong>Right to Information (RTI) Act<\/strong><\/a>, <strong>78 <\/strong>deaths have been attributed to ragging from <strong>2012 to 2023.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The UGC\u2019s dedicated helpline has logged over <strong>8,000 complaints <\/strong>in the past decade, with cases rising by <strong>208%<\/strong> between <strong>2012 and 2022.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Government Steps to Curb Ragging<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Supreme Court Guidelines: <\/strong>In <strong>2009,<\/strong> the Supreme Court of India ordered the implementation of a ragging prevention program. The program included the following steps:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Anti-ragging helpline:<\/strong> A toll-free helpline or call center to be set up.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Regulations:<\/strong> Directed the <strong>University Grants Commission (UGC)<\/strong> to frame regulations to curb ragging in higher education institutions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Anti-ragging committee: <\/strong>Mandated the UGC to constitute an Anti-Ragging Committee and an Anti-Ragging Squad.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a landmark verdict, the <strong>Vishwa Jagriti Mission v. Central Government &amp; Others, 2001,<\/strong> the Supreme Court made ragging a punishable offense and mandated strict institutional measures.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Role of NGOs:<\/strong> Organizations like<strong> Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE) <\/strong>actively track cases and push for legal action against institutions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>UGC Anti-Ragging Regulations (2009):<\/strong> UGC established a<strong> 24&#215;7<\/strong> anti-ragging helpline and mandated annual affidavits from students and parents against ragging.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It allowed UGC to withdraw funding from non-compliant institutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Raghavan Committee in 2007 <\/strong>was constituted by the Supreme Court of India to address the menace of ragging in educational institutions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The committee recommended treating ragging as a punishable criminal offense under the <strong>Indian Penal Code (IPC).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reasons for Persisting Ragging<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lack of Stringent Implementation:<\/strong> The Supreme Court issued anti-ragging guidelines<strong> 15 years ago<\/strong>, but they have largely remained on paper.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>UGC regulations <\/strong>mandate action against colleges that fail to prevent ragging, but the regulatory body has not invoked these provisions since the helpline\u2019s establishment in <strong>2009.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unaccountable System:<\/strong> Victims often struggle with an ad hoc, non-transparent process where complaints are not adequately addressed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Institutional Inaction: <\/strong>Despite the mandate for Anti-Ragging Squads and surprise inspections, the UGC does not maintain any record of actions taken.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Low Compliance: <\/strong>UGC guidelines require students to submit anti-ragging affidavits annually, yet RTI data shows that only <strong>4.49%<\/strong> of students have done so in the past decade.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Failure in Legal Enforcement:<\/strong> Institutions are required to file an FIR within 24 hours of a ragging complaint, but UGC does not track compliance with this directive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Strict Enforcement of Guidelines:<\/strong> Authorities must ensure full implementation of Supreme Court and UGC regulations, holding institutions accountable for lapses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Technology-Based Solutions: <\/strong>Expanded CCTV surveillance in campuses to deter ragging incidents.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Secure online portals and ID-based dashboards to enable anonymous reporting by victims.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Legal Clarity: <\/strong>There is need for amendments in laws to ensure strict penalization of offenders, including faculty or management complicit in ignoring complaints.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/express-exclusive\/ragging-deaths-complaints-spike-system-stuck-in-grey-zone-supreme-court-guidelines-on-paper-9845397\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ragging remains a deeply entrenched issue in India&#8217;s higher education institutions, despite Supreme Court guidelines and University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations aiming to curb it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37845"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39602,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37845\/revisions\/39602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}