Have you heard of antiragging.in?
The news of the launch of a national web portal www.antiragging.in, promising help to students of ragging has received a mixed response from collegiates.
Metrolife spoke to some youngsters and they seemed wary of the development. “I don’t know much about this portal, though I have heard about it from a friend,” says Limcy Sharma, a fresher in Ramjas College pursuing B.Sc Life Science. “It is a good step to curb the problem but it depends on how the system will be managed. If the complaints are taken lightly and not addressed in the manner they should be, then there is no point of such a portal.”
The idea is that students from various universities, colleges and professional institutes can log on and lodge their complaints regarding ragging and also follow up with the action procedure subsequently. The name and identity of the students will be kept anonymous.
The portal has been developed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in collaboration with EdCIL (India) and the Aman Satya Kachroo Trust and will be under Rajendra Kachroo who lost his son Aman to ragging in a college in Himachal Pradesh.
The trust promises to attend to calls within half an hour of receiving them on the anti-ragging helpline 18001805522. Complaints can also be made through emails and the website will enable students to track their complaint anytime.
The 24x7 portal will manage complaints, aid follow-up and help unresolved complaints to get escalated to regulatory authorities. Additionally, it will aid enhancement of communication with colleges and universities, developing different types of data, displaying the status of complaints and maintaining reports and statistics. It will also help in creating a database for colleges and universities.
Ragging may have come down but it has not stopped completely. Nor is it associated with being “fun” anymore. Students feel humiliated if seniors laugh on their inability to perform the required task. Will a web portal be able to resolve the deep-rooted menace? How will a genuine complaint be identified from a false one?
Another fresher from Moti Lal College pursuing B. Com (Hons) Abhinav Arora, says, “Students are actually not aware of this development. I can only hope that the portal will not be misused by students who can file complaints against their
enemies, especially during election-time.”
Still others feel that “A proper system and restrictions need to be in place with regard to the portal. There should be tools to curb misuse that so that genuine students can get proper results,” says Vanshika Dahiya, who is pursuing her BA programme.
The database of the portal, created from the affidavits given by students and parents will be stored electronically and manned by the web portal. Ragging offenders who get nailed are liable to get expelled immediately.
Sajal Bhateja, campaign manager of Anti Drug Anti Ragging (ADAR) while welcoming the initiative says that lack of awareness among students will affect its usability. “There is no awareness regarding the portal. It is nobel that such an initiative has come up, but students should be made more aware.”
