Events & Issues
New Delhi, 18 May 2015
SAI Complex Suicide
RAGGING TARNISHES SPORTS
By Dr S Saraswathi
(Former Director, ICSSR, New
Delhi)
The recent death of a girl student
in a suicide pact of four at the Water Sports Centre in Alapuzha has once again
resurrected memories of ragging menace that refuses to die despite anti-ragging
laws and regulations, guidelines, help lines and moral and police watch. It
also raises a big question on senior-junior relationship in institutions of
learning.
The training centre in Kerala is one
amongst the 250 training centres under the Sports Authority of India (SAI) having
10,000-odd athletes. Junior athletes often face harassment in the hands of
seniors, and the suicide note now making news points to ragging. Since this
incident, a number of students have come forward to openly speak about the
in-house harassment in these centres. It seems that bullying junior athletes is
common. Harassment of juniors for various reasons gets mixed up with
ragging.
While the State Sports Minister has
directed his Secretary to probe the incident, the Home Minister has ordered a
police investigation. Besides, the State Human Rights Commission is also seized
of the matter. As in cases of suicide, the circumstances leading to the extreme
step, people responsible for athletes’ desperation, conditions of life in
sports hostels, and the role of tutors and management needs to be investigated.
No less important is the general senior-junior relationship and trainer-trainee
interaction in the premises of the sports centre and outside.
Ragging, as practised in Indian
educational institutions, is not an indigenous ‘game’, but an imported one. A
section of youth, seem to be over-willing to adopt and play undesirable,
unwanted, and indecent roles and to graciously admit ragging as part of their
culture. The foreign origin is forgotten and the game is Indianized.
Ragging means any conduct – written
words or act, which has the effect of teasing or treating with rudeness another
student and indulging in activities to cause annoyance, hardship, physical or
mental or psychological harm to another student (s) or create fears and
apprehensions of such harm. The actor is senior(s) and the victim junior (s) or
fresher in an institution. The victim is compelled by force or threat to do
certain acts which he/she won’t do voluntarily.
Thus, ragging causes traumatic experience to the victim. Worse, public
shaming, made more public through social media, may permanently unnerve them.
Interestingly, the practice of
ragging was originally linked with sports and games. It is traced back to ancient
sports culture of Greeks to receive and admit new entrants to the sports
community by senior members. The idea then was to inculcate fraternal team
spirit and not to inflict pain and hardship. The practice spread to military
academies and later entered educational institutions. Team spirit was lost in
the course leaving seniors to bully and torture juniors and force them to do
their bidding.
In the West, ragging is known by
different terms--hazing, fagging, bullying, pledging, horse-playing, etc. – all
referring to the crude form of welcoming new entrants by seniors. Hazing is
actually a technique of imparting team spirit in place of self-interest brought
by soldiers who returned to their colleges to continue education after World
War I.
In India, ragging came with the English
education during the British rule. The origin of the word “rag” is obscure, and
its connotation is associated with reveling, and rough, indecent and noisy
behaviour. The word has no desirable connotation and has come to denote rude harassment
inflicted on juniors by seniors in colleges. Very often, such acts cross the
limits of decency and jokes and amusement and become painful and demeaning and
create physical, mental, and psychological wound on the victim.
Way back in 1998, the Tamil Nadu Government
passed the prohibition of Ragging Bill followed by Kerala after the gruesome
murder of a medical student in a hostel. The Acts prescribed punishment for
ragging which included imprisonment, fine and rustication for three years. The Karnataka
Education Act made ragging a cognizable offence and started the practice of
maintaining a Ragging Register in all police stations. The anti-Ragging Act was
adopted in Andhra Pradesh as well.
The Supreme Court too stepped in and
in 2001 banned ragging throughout the country. In 2006, it directed the Human Resource
Development Ministry to form a panel to prepare guidelines to help educational
institutions curb this growing menace. The recommendations included that all
higher institutions should include information about all ragging incidents in
their brochure/prospectus for admissions.
In 2009, the University Grants Commission
came out with regulations on curbing ragging in all universities, deemed
universities, and higher educational institutions. These applied to all premises, residences and
hostels, sports grounds, canteens, etc. Further, these placed the
responsibility for checking ragging on the institutions and suggested formation
of anti-ragging committees and surprise visits to hostels by anti-ragging
squads. Indeed, it triggered an anti-ragging movement in the country, but
ineffective to prevent the cruel nightmare of young students.
Sadly, India has indeed become notorious
for ragging. A few years ago it was reported that the Malaysian Government
warned Indian students against ragging. However, in Sri
Lanka, Indonesia,
and the Philippines,
ragging is as bad as here.
As against this, US State
universities strictly condemn hazing, wherein pictures are put on websites to
wean students away from this cruel behaviour. High school hazers are said to be
inspired by the American professional athletes who seem to delight in
tormenting and humiliating “rookies” – raw beginners.
In the Philippines, Anti-Hazing Law is in
force, and an Anti-Hazing Interagency Task Force has been created. One of its
activities is to visit colleges and universities and ascertain the prevalence
of hazing-related student violence in their campuses and also gather first hand
information on the views and sentiments of students, teachers, and
administrators.
Ragging cannot be considered as a
sport in which two or more parties enjoy their participation. It has one or
more offenders and one or more victims. It is unwarranted intrusion into a
person’s liberty and is violation of human rights. As such, it has to be
treated as a crime and not as sport or fun.
Unfortunately, there is no reliable
data on ragging in any country. In India, there is a general
impression that rural students become victims, more than urban students. During
admission season every year it becomes a serious topic for discussion in
colleges.
However, one can confidently assume
that students opposed to ragging far outnumber those in favour. For, one of the
considerations of serious students in choosing colleges is the reputation the
institutions hold in checking ragging.
Ironically, despite laws and rules,
ragging continues. We, therefore, have to understand the culture of violence prevailing
among student youth – its causes, nature, and remedies. More cultural shows and
activities may help establish cordial relations in the student community and
promote a constructive team spirit. Cases of serious incidents leading to death,
suicide, and physical and mental damage to victims must be treated as crime.
Anti-ragging committees composed of
senior and junior students, faculty members, parents and an eminent member
residing in the locality may be formed in all colleges to prevent unruly
behaviour of students. After all, places of learning are educational
institutions. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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