Ragging started in the Greek Olympics in the 8th century

Ragging is originally a western genre. The great Indian education system can never be the source of such evil tendencies. It started as a means of torture in India after the arrival of Irish rule. History tells us that ragging started in the Greek Olympics in the 8th century. It began in the eighteenth century in the educational institutions of America and continental Europe. The first death due to ragging is said to have occurred in 1873 at Cornell University in the United States.

Romtankura stories of raging in the army during the World War can be heard. Now it is seen in many countries of the Indian subcontinent and its number is increasing day by day. Ragging is done for the purpose of getting to know each other among the new and old, to develop love and friendship, to share happiness and sorrow among children living away from home, to make jokes. It used to be limited to singing, playing like a dog, braying like a donkey, jumping like a frog, pretending to be an old man, etc.

It gradually turned violent. Forgetting all the reforms, the intellectually corrupt children started showing unacceptable behavior and indecent behavior to show their power and majesty. Svaladeep was severely beaten and stripped naked in front of everyone. Such perverted mentality and violent behavior of children who are not very young is unthinkable. Thinking that the mind is filled with hatred, sorrow and anger.

In professional institutions like medicine and engineering, ragging is more prevalent and more aggressive. Senior students consider it their right. The mind that takes pleasure in the pain of others is not satisfied with the slightest insult or hardship. Many times the mental and physical suffering is so severe that the child commits suicide due to loss of mental stability. Often the child who opposes it is killed. In 1996, P Navarasu, a first-year student at Raja Muthaya Medical College in Tamil Nadu, was rudely asked to lick his shoes.

He protested. Two days later, his body parts were found in different places. The police called it a murder after ragging. Tamil Nadu was the first state in the country to enact anti-ragging laws in 1997.
In 2001, the apex court defined ragging and said that ragging includes verbal or written messages, obscene gestures, threats, behavior that causes anger, annoyance, hardship, harm, public embarrassment or humiliation to freshmen or underclassmen, which adversely affects them physically or mentally.

In 2009, the Hon’ble Supreme Court, retired Director of Central Bureau of Investigation K. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Raghavan to prevent ragging. The University Grants Commission (UGC) issued a guideline based on the recommendations of the committee. Every student is required to fill the form and give a written undertaking that he/she will not engage in ragging when admitted to the college. Committees and ragging squads have been formed in every educational institution to prevent ragging; But if all these are followed wholeheartedly then nothing will be gained. The problem of ragging is getting worse day by day due to the visible difference in writing and observance.

A survey conducted by the UGC in 2016 found that 40% of children in India’s educational institutions are victims of ragging and only 8.6% of them complain. This is because the authorities of the educational institution do not accept or listen to the complaints. It is accepted as a tradition by the old and the young. Authorities often condone ragging by tolerating violent behavior during senior-junior identity exchanges or under the pretense of damaging the institution’s reputation.

Second, new kids don’t want to get into more distractions by complaining and incurring the wrath of authority figures and older kids. Fearing the loss of their lives and future, they feel honored to remain silent. All of these factors can lead to future complications, such as toe and arm penetration. Inexpensive waste lives prematurely.

As many incidents of ragging involve children from rich and powerful families, the institution resolves such incidents through mediation, which increases the courage of students involved in ragging. The first requirement to prevent ragging is that the authorities should recognize ragging in educational institutions as a mental disorder. Then they will be interested in solving the problem. Irrespective of caste-religion-caste-society, it can be prevented by taking a strict approach to the students involved in ragging and imposing tangible punishment.

Along with this, people should understand that the root cause of ragging is rooted in family customs and reforms and social values. Therefore, it is not only the responsibility of the educational institution to solve this problem. We need everyone’s cooperation to solve this problem.