Ragging - An Article

Ragging – a sword to break the ice or tear apart the soul? The recent death of Mr. Aman Kachroo, a medical college student from a government medical college in the usually calm and sleepy hill-state of Himachal Pradesh, has brought this issue to the fore a bit earlier than usual. The very fact that this issue comes up every year, after admissions of a fresh batch, indicates we have taken this issue too lightly. A careful analysis of this complex “initiation drive” , brings into light its social, economic and political aspects. Ragging can be of two types – one a casual, “fun” form and the other a more serious type – which involve physical and emotional torture. However, such a classification is rough at best as one usually leads to the other; infact the first is used as a mask to cover the latter. Any attempt to classify the former in purely shades of white is a perverse interpretation, for ragging is essentially sadistic pleasure. Both forms involve emotional and mental distress for the victim – the degree of seriousness can vary. This aspect is especially important- as death as a consequence of physical injuries caused due to ragging itself is quite rare, more common is suicide committed by the victim owing to mental agony. Ragging destroys self esteem, confidence, and in severe cases the human spirit. The experience may be especially painful for a school student going to hostel who is yet to face the vagaries of the ‘big bad world’ and cannot handle such situations himself as his parents- his guides until now are no longer there to protect him. Ragging pits a group, rather a mob against a hapless individual and usually group mentality takes over. Very often, seniors use ragging as an opportunity to assert their higher position in the college hierarchy. I have often observed freshers commenting on how they spent twelve years of school life to reach the top of the pyramid- but now are juniors again! It is unfortunate that rising up the pyramid does not mean taking up new responsibilities or constructive leadership but just a position of absolute authority. The establishment of a rigid and non-merit based power relationship gives an indication that our school system is one of repression and one which ingrains a feudal mindset. The student feels that the only way to break free is to oppress the others – and the easy targets are the juniors, who are yet to be initiated into the hierarchy of college. In agreement to the above observations, we observe ragging bearing an inverse relationship with academic merit – an empty mind is a devil’s workshop. Ragging, as all other forms of discrimination, reinforces social inequities and order – “it puts people in their place”. Caste plays a subtle role. College society has an internal mechanism of segregation and new students and appropriately ragged into their caste grouping. Often, so called lower caste students are ragged as not being academically meritorious as they have come on the basis of positive discrimination, and dubbed as ‘reservation-wallahs’ and thus undeserving of a place in college social structure – thus becoming the outsiders in college just as they are in common society – this despite the fact many come in through the General Quota. This shows the anger of the so-called upper castes at being chucked out their position at the top of the feudal and discriminatory caste hierarchy, which cares just as much for merit as reservations. Gender discrimination also shows up – supported by the fact that women are in minority in many colleges. Women, who usually have to battle not only examinations but also social barriers to reach the college level, are usually academically equal, if not superior to their male peers. And ragging is used as an instrument to force them into submission, accept male authority, and show them their position in the patriarchal society. Women rarely are given any position of authority, discouraged from standing for elections and their aspirations crushed. Another dangerous aspect of ragging is its sexual component. A conservative society which treats sex as a taboo breeds Frankenstein’s monsters – sexually desperate youth waiting to assert their sexual identity, and not only women, but also men are the prey. Very often, freshers are made to perform sexual acts and are sexually abused, and there are rumours that they are trained by seniors to be used as sex slaves.
Women also rag a fresher, which shows us undue power in the hands of anybody is dangerous. Similarly, economic disparities also show up their ugly head and poor students are discriminated against. One also sees a rural-urban divide paying a role in ragging. Urban students, with their better communication skills and flamboyance, mock at the simple values, “uncultured” lifestyle and rough, often accented language of the rural students. One also observes that ragging is more common in Engineering and Medical Colleges – professional colleges, than in Arts and Science colleges. This may come as a surprise as those students opting for professional courses are viewed as the crème-de-la-crème of students. The institution plays as important a role in ragging as the students themselves – which use it as a tool to demoralize students and thus prevent them taking part in students’ agitations and protests. Ragging is also an expression of society which does not accept plurality and different ideas- which are supposed to make college life colourful. Thus ragging is a complex phenomenon which reflects the structure of our society and the collective conscience of society must become conscious of it, and oppose it effectively. Ragging is not only a criminal act, but also a human rights issue. Is education only a process of acquiring facts or a development of character? The solution to the problem of ragging is a multipronged approach – and it must start at the school level. The Raghavan Committee has recommended including a chapter on ragging in NCERT and SCERT textbooks and psychological counselling on anti-ragging and human rights at senior secondary level – essentially, sensitizing students about to go to college. Furthermore, a central regulatory authority to look into instances of ragging must be set up and its core committee must include not only academics, psychologists and law experts but also student representatives. Organizing initiation sessions to encourage healthy interaction between seniors and juniors may also help. A student helpline for ragging victims can also help them inform before it is too late. Completely eliminating ragging, a colonial inheritance, involves sensitizing society at large and one can only hope the relationship betweens the seniors and juniors blossoms into one of constructive interaction.