Panel to check ragging in private hostels

Now ragging has moved out of the four walls of the college to private lodgings. Even the government has taken note of such activities, as a recent circular of the State government has directed district-level anti-ragging committees to monitor privately-managed hostels.

Even academicians admit the need to monitor private lodgings.

According to VTU Vice-Chancellor H Maheshappa, it is difficult to keep tab on private hostels. “The hostels are often scattered across the city. So it is very difficult for college managements to keep an eye on their activities, which is why we advise parents not to put students in private hostels,” he says.

Negative impact

According to experts, it is extremely important to check these activities, as ragging often has negative impact on students. Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor N Prabhu Dev says the university will take strong action against their students indulging in ragging.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy against ragging. If any such incident is brought to our notice, we will handle it on war footing. It is extremely important for affiliated colleges to keep a check on it as awareness factor among students is often not very high,” Prabhu Dev said.

Over the years, college managements have introduced strong penalty for ragging.  Students claim that they opt for private hostels due to poor conditions in the college hostel.

 “Majority of students do not indulge in any activities that hurt freshers. However, mild forms of ragging often happen in the hostels,” said a fourth year student of a prominent engineering college.

The Centre had directed the states to constitute two state-level as well as district-level committees to combat ragging in campuses last year. The state-level monitoring cells would comprise the governor, minister of higher education, vice-chancellors of various universities and the police commissioner.

District-level committees have also been asked to keep vigil on incidents of ragging as well as alcoholism in educational institutions.