Study on Ragging in India
icekin — Wed, 2005/12/28 - 18:20
I did this report sometime in June 2005 to analyze what ragging was all about. I realize this is a controversial topic and likely to attract attention from both sides of the debate but I felt it was worth publishing my idea on the matter as well. You can contact me on your views about this, but please keep them constructive.
Contents
1) Introduction
5) Development of Ragging and Related policies
6) Reasons for Ineffectiveness of Anti-Ragging
a) Difficulty in Curbing Ragging
i) Identification
ii) Location
iii) Proving
7) Mindset of Ragging
i) Tradition
ii) Interaction
iii) Assistance
iv) Mental Strengthening
b) Diversity
8) Possible Solutions
9) Conclusion
1) Introduction
Actions that are meant to make friends can sometimes end up hurting another. This is a practice started long ago, probably out of goodwill and reason like many other things, but now appears to be having a negative consequence. A practice that is now ingrained into the life of every college student in India , it is now more of a tradition. When it started, authorities probably closed one eye towards the then minor issue, but it is now a strictly forbidden practice, one punishable by law.
Ragging is officially outlawed in India . Look at corridors in any college and you will find posters warning about the consequences of ragging. And yet, it happens every year, through every new batch of students. No amount of rules and reinforcements by any authorities can possibly stop this from happening, at least to the slightest extent. Ragging is interestingly an idea that is officially wrong yet unofficially practiced so widely that it makes the black markets look like nothing.
The purpose of this independent study is to try and understand the concept of ragging, how it occurs, why it occurs and the possible outcomes as well as the effectiveness of the current measures taken against it. I have tried to keep this whole report neutral and try to provide evidence wherever possible. The idea of this report is not to promote or condone ragging; it is merely to gather more information on the subject from a variety of perspectives. I have included stories and opinions along with this report that both support and criticize ragging.
To gather information, I have spoken to a wide number of students, mostly from students of my college as well as friends in other places. I also spoke to teachers who told me of their views on the subject. Most of my sources have however requested that their identities be kept confidential. I am keeping my focus purely to colleges, since most of the reports reflect that this is where it mostly happens. Even 11th and 12th standard ragging is not that prevalent and only seems to happen in boys' or boarding schools.
2) What is Ragging?
Ragging is an open form of discrimination, commonly practiced in educational institutions. The origin of the word 'ragging' is not clear, but the term is commonly used and understood only in India and to some extent its neighboring countries like Bangladesh , Pakistan and Sri Lanka . A similar practice called 'Hazing' exists in North America , but it is practiced differently and mostly in fraternities rather than upon all freshmen. On a broader note, some level of senior upon junior oppression possibly exists everywhere, but the level to which it is practiced may vary and if it is not a major issue, the incidents may go unreported.
In south East Asia , bullying is common in junior schools where the bullies are often the victim's senior or sometimes even classmate. However, bullying occurs only till 10th standard at most, and is certainly not a major issue in college.
3) Origins and History
A tradition called the 'rite of passage' existed in several cultures and societies, during which a new member had to perform certain tasks to become a part of a group. The rite of passage exists in several cults, religions and even during birthdays. The rite of passage is an unofficial ceremony of sorts, and signifies some achievement upon its completion. It is possible that such rites of passage also started out in colleges and soon become a tradition that laid the way to today's practice of ragging.
The practice of ragging is probably quite old. I recently spoke to the friends of my grandfather who are all over 70 years of age and studied medicine and law in Chennai during the 1950s to 1960s. They tell me that ragging had existed in the college long before their time. I was unable to get them to recall the exact details of how they were ragged to understand whether the practice has changed much. My uncle who studied engineering during the 1970s did however comment that ragging during his time was far worse. He was apparently made to punch a brick with his raw fist till the brick broke. He also recollected a time when his seniors made him run several laps around the running track as a 'punishment'. A friend of my father who studied in Hyderabad in 1963 said that he was made to dance barefoot on the basketball court on a hot afternoon. Some of his friends were made engage in mud wrestling in their underwear.
4) Present State and Focus
Ragging is a major issue in India and as also been under the spotlight of the media at times when it resulted in deaths or major incidents. Discrimination exists everywhere in the world: in schools, offices and even in the very courts where anti-discrimination laws are to be reinforced. The question is as to what degree the discrimination occurs in each case.
Ragging is just a more clearly and openly practiced form of discrimination. The fresher hair cut, dress code, compulsory introductions in Hindi are all examples of how openly this is practiced. Due to some major incidents, ragging has, in recent years become a national issue for Indians. Several laws have been introduced and most colleges are required to have an anti-ragging committee with clearly stated goals and measures. The recent emergence of the Stop-Ragging Movement also shows that the issue is given much importance.
5) Development of Ragging and Related Policies
Ragging has existed for a long time, but laws against it were formed much later when colleges realized that the matter had significant impact on the lives of freshmen. Today, most colleges in India have strict laws to punish offenders who engage in ragging. There is also a law that requires all colleges to have some form of committee to curb ragging and to issue clear rules to all students to discourage potential offenders.
It is not clear as to how ragging was allowed to exist openly for several years before authorities started acting against it. It is possible that somehow ragging was mostly trivial and the few major incidents that did occur went unreported. Another possible reason was that the lack of emphasis given to the matter by authorities. In fact, the laws against ragging were reinforced only after a few high profile incidents caught the attention of the media and country as a whole. This included deaths of some freshmen due to unintended accidents during ragging or in some cases, suicide.
Current college laws against ragging include temporary suspension from college, monetary fines, and public revelation of the offenders; names and in some cases expulsion from the institution. At a national level, ragging is an offence punishable by law, possibly even leading to imprisonment in extreme cases.
To assist freshmen, some colleges have counselors who talk to victims of severe ragging to help them cope with it. While beneficial, some students and even parents have commented that the counselors are not effective since they try to fix the problem after the damage has been done. In fact, few colleges can truly claim to have no ragging on their campus and even such claims cannot be verified.
6) Reasons for Ineffectiveness of Anti-Ragging
a) Difficulties in curbing ragging
i) Identification
There is no clear, well defined way to identify ragging. For instance, if a person were to use offensive language at another student, would that be ragging? Does an incident have to consist of physical abuse for it to be termed as ragging? Many students have stated that ragging can be harsh while not being physical. It is perfectly possible for a person to intimidate a freshman by just threatening him and hence make him perform antics, without laying a finger on him.
Is ragging possible between batch mates? While this may seem absurd, there are some students who are meek and timid by nature and are easily taken advantage of by their own batch mates. There was even a case of one student who was ragged by his juniors.
If there was a mutually provoked, physical fight between a senior and a junior, would the junior unfairly be given the benefit of doubt? Most colleges act based on complaints from victims, but there is no way to even verify the complaint. In fact, most anti-ragging committees are biased towards the freshmen and give little chance for an accused senior to explain his side of the story. And for a senior who has been ragged by his juniors, such a system can't provide any help.
Different students also have different levels of threshold to humiliation and pain. Some may enjoy the ragging throughout while their peers would be having a nightmare. The former would not even sulk while the latter would have probably reported the matter. It is difficult for authorities to decide which account to believe and subsequently decide whether any ragging took place. In many cases, incoming freshmen initially enjoy the ragging until it suddenly exceeds their threshold for patience. The same students then turn against ragging as they did not expect the consequences to end up as such.
ii) Locating
The major difficulty in curbing ragging is locating it. No one can say when or where a freshman will meet his seniors and how they will act towards him. Not every senior may rag, and one who approaches a freshman just to interact should not be accused. It is not practical to for the anti-ragging committee to try and keep an eye on every freshman. Most of the ragging has been known to occur in places where the anti-ragging committee and other authorities have no presence. Hostels, indoor courts and secluded areas are some of such places. For this reason, ragging has been associated with boarding schools and hostels though it can also occur in the academic buildings and classrooms.
Many anti-ragging committees started patrolling the hostels at nights, while conducting sudden checks in some rooms. The offenders however managed to exploit this system by posting a person as a 'sentry' to inform the arrival of the authorities in advance. Authorities try to locate ragging by encouraging victims or anyone with information to come forward and disclose it. Unfortunately, the authorities are often careless in dealing with the information and tend to disclose the names of the informants publicly when they announce their achievement of how they captured the offenders. The informers are then boycotted from the batch or even beaten and this discourages anyone else from coming forward to disclose information.
Most colleges have put freshmen in different hostels from seniors to protect them. No senior is allowed to enter the freshmen hostel and vice versa. This has made ragging more difficult, but the offenders still manage to gather the freshmen in other areas like football grounds or nearby parks to rag them. One group of freshmen also commented that the isolation of the juniors in a separate hostel had increased the intensity of the ragging. They reasoned that since the offenders get fewer opportunities to meet the freshmen and rag them, they make full use of every opportunity they get.
iii) Proving
Ragging leaves no physical traces or concrete evidence. The damage done is often more mental. A freshman who has been stripped naked and humiliated has no proof to offer the authorities. It is also not advisable to simply give the freshmen the benefit of doubt, since that is a loophole that could be exploited. Witness accounts could also be exaggerated since in most cases the witness is a friend or batch mate of the victim. Some victims also do not wish to report the case or file a complaint due to fear. In fact, in some cases, even when the offender was caught red-handed, the victims merely stated that there was no ragging going on and what happened was only junior-senior interaction. It becomes difficult for authorities to justify their punishment to the offenders in such cases.
b) Rule based filtering
All colleges currently apply the rule method to curb ragging. When an offender gets around the rule or exploits a loophole in the system, more rules are created to combat the problem.
The problem is that rules can always be exploited through the vulnerabilities in them. A little thinking can let any senior cook up a few more ways to get around the system and still rag his juniors. Conversely, a junior can also abuse the benefit of doubt given to him and convict a senior. An added problem: As the number of rules increases, it discourages interaction between juniors and seniors. At the most extreme case, a senior who is even seen talking to a junior could be suspected. This is unhealthy for social interaction.
c) Inefficient Anti-Ragging
Several colleges have implemented a anti-ragging council purely to comply with the legal requirement to do so. It also makes parents more confident to know that their children have protection against ragging in the college they are attending. In most colleges, the anti-ragging staff does not track down the offenders. Some students even state that ragging is effectively encouraged by not taking proper action against the offenders. Some colleges also hide the details of ragging incidents to avoid tarnishing the reputation of the college in the light of the media.
7) Mindset of Ragging
How does a person who gets ragged in one year become the oppressor the next?
Indians culture emphasizes on mutual respect, respect to elders and society. No major religion or culture in India imparts the concept of oppression upon another individual, physically or mentally. At home, no man rags his younger siblings. He may tease them, but in the end he cares or them and protects them. He certainly does not humiliate them or injure them. No person rags the boy next door because he is junior in age.
Yet, how does the same person become a oppressor when he reaches seniority in college? His juniors may not be his siblings, but a person would not invest or rather waste his time into some silly activity just for the sake of tradition and payback.
a) Reasons for Ragging
Below are the most common reasons as to why students rag or allow themselves to get ragged. This also partially explains as to why ragging still continues despite the efforts to thwart it.
i) Tradition
Ragging is very much ingrained into the life of every college student in India . Most incoming freshmen expect to be ragged, but are not aware of the details. Ragging has been around for a long time, and no one can say how and why it existed for such a long time before suddenly becoming a major issue. This is in fact one of the reasons why it is hard to stop; it has become a widespread phenomenon. Even if a new college were to be opened somewhere, one can be quite certain that ragging will occur for the second batch of freshmen. The prolonged practice of ragging has allowed it to build up a great deal of momentum. The effort required to stop ragging in India can be compared to the force that would be required to stop a ship moving at full speed. Some even see ragging as a duty, as a lesson that they were taught and one that they should teach to the next generation. Many who rag do it because it was done to them or because they can. Humans don't necessarily have an inner desire to hurt or humiliate others, but the ragging promises a once a lifetime opportunity to oppress another without getting into trouble. There are laws against ragging, but if well planned, the offenders can carry it out without risk of getting caught. In fact, a lot of ragging probably goes unreported. One student even compared ragging to having a free slave for a semester, one that you could get to do your chores and homework and entertain you when you were bored.
ii) Interaction
There are several students, both freshmen and seniors who still believe that ragging is a necessary icebreaker that sparks the college social life among a person and his peers. Many students state that ragging brings the freshmen batch together, because they face a common hardship or encounter. The fresher dress code makes all the students feel equal regardless of their background or socio-economic status. This is in fact the same reason why schools imposed uniforms, they did not wish for students from a poor family to appear inferior to a student who could afford branded clothes. It is a popular opinion that ragging enables one to know his seniors better. The statement cannot be verified though since no one can say if it is possible that a student could have become well acquainted with his seniors even if he had not been ragged.
iii) Assistance
Ragging comes associated with the attractive package of help from seniors. This often includes free notes and books, help with academics, job placements and other areas. For this reason, many freshmen strongly favor ragging. It is again not possible to state whether a person would receive any help at all even if he was not ragged. However, many teachers unintentionally reinforce ragging when they keep advising students to consult their senior batch for advice on various matters like old notes, past papers etc. Many freshmen even now heavily depend on their seniors for help on various matters. As a result, they are unaware of the alternate sources of information and help that may be available to them.
iv) Mental Strengthening
Ragging is commonly believed to toughen up the freshmen so that they become capable of bearing hardships. Many freshmen believe that ragging makes them capable of handling real world challenges and learn to be street wise. In fact, one father even commented that ragging would be good for his son because it would make a man out of him.
Other factors and reasons as to why ragging occurs:
b) Diversity
Let us compare India to any other large populous country like China or the United States . Activities like ragging are far less common and hazing, where it occurs, only happens to those who join a special group or fraternity. In hazing, the person knows what he is getting into and has a choice, since not all freshmen have to join the fraternity. Ragging is simply imposed on all freshmen.
Also see Appendix A: National Service in other countries
One difference between India and the other nations is diversity. India is very diverse, with over 18 national languages, 28 dialects and 8 different known religions. We have various ways of differentiating and categorizing people, by race, state, language, religion and caste, even though no caste system legally exists. Every difference could give an additional reason for a senior to pick on a junior who varies from the norm. Some believe that diversity plays no part in ragging since all the juniors are ragged. However, ragging is not always imparted equally. In some colleges, students from other states are ragged more by the local students. NRIs also report that they are ragged more since the majority of students think that NRIs buy their way into college, rather than earning it. Many agree that if a student is too different from the norm, he is likely to be ragged and outcaste more.
c) Prior Lack of Interaction
Many students in India lack healthy interaction until they reach college. Healthy interaction should also ideally include a circle of friends of all genders. College is often the student's first experience at living in a hostel or being ragged. Till 12th standard many students mainly engage in pure academics. Upon entering college, they find themselves disoriented. This makes them attractive targets for being picked upon. Students from rural areas and villages suffer the most from this cultural shock and hence experience the worst forms of ragging.
d) Influences from Society and Media
As the practice of ragging is quite old, many of today's parents have probably undergone ragging at one time. Those who have had positive experiences advise their children to take part in ragging to avoid being outcaste from the group. The problem is that ragging is not moderated by anyone. There is no set plan or purpose, except to do whatever the senior commands. There is also no one to control the situation should something get out of hand. Most seniors are often organized in ragging and set some sort of control over each other, but this could be overridden at any time, harming the victims. One student commented that TV and movies (e.g. Munna Bhai MBBS) portray ragging as a humorous activity, hence promoting it by making freshmen think that they will not be harmed or abused.
8) Possible Solutions
Is ragging beneficial and should it continue? Such a question when posed to students has several views both in favor and against. However, as a democratic country, we must reinforce the concept of human rights. Any human has the right to free thought, speech as well as opinion, if he does not hurt anyone else with his actions. This means all students should be allowed to walk away from ragging if they wish to, without suffering any negative consequences. Those freshmen and seniors in favor of ragging can be allowed to engage in the activity, but at their own risk. This is probably the desired situation, since it does not outlaw ragging, but limits it. The problem with trying to ban ragging is: "Can ragging be stopped even if it is decided to?" No Anti-Ragging squad can save a freshman when he is surrounded by his bullies; they can only address the complaint afterwards. This is like treating a wound, rather than preventing it from occurring in the first place. The scar will still remain. There are far more ways in which ragging can be done than it can be prevented. Every law and rule can be bypassed or exploited with some thought.
Here are some steps to that could limit ragging:
a) Training Anti-Ragging Committees
Most Anti-Ragging personnel lack proper understanding of ragging or how it occurs. They are easily outsmarted by offenders who use sentries to warn of their arrival. Courses should be given to Anti-Ragging personnel to educate them on prevention techniques. Ideally, they should be taught the psychology of ragging so that they may understand how to approach the problem and deal with offenders.
b) Public education
Many incoming freshmen expect to be ragged, but are unaware of the fine details. The anti-ragging committee could conduct a talk or session during the orientation to tell them about the details of ragging, of how it is done and what the seniors hope to achieve by doing so. Most colleges currently have a notable speaker, like the head of the anti-ragging cell to speak about ragging during orientation, but most of such talks are directed at potential offenders by stating the penalties imposed. Few speakers actually educate freshmen on how they can act when confronted. The key to helping freshmen avoiding ragging is probably to instill unity.
c) Unity
Most researchers have pointed out that ragging is effective since the seniors are united in provoking a group of disoriented freshmen who are still new to their surroundings. The problem to instilling unity is that there is really none to begin with. A batch of freshmen students are complete strangers to one another. Freshmen are defenseless as there are no friends or anyone around to stand up for them when they face abuse. Some possible ways to try and instill unity:
i) Pep Talks
Colleges could get a motivational speaker to give a pep talk to freshmen on learning to develop responsibility and standing up for oneself and his or her peers. This talk should instill some sense of confidence and courage in freshmen and prevent them from thinking that they will be alone and helpless in a confrontation.
ii) Encouraging Extra Curricular Involvement
It could be made mandatory that every freshman has to participate in some club or activity. This will force him to bond with at least some of his peers and prevent any student from becoming a 'loner' in the batch and hence an easy target for ragging.
iii) Conduct icebreaker activities
In US colleges, all freshmen are part of a social program in the first year of college for a small fee. This program is conducted by the hostel department itself, not by any student organization. The program consists of weekly activities like sports, picnics, even visits to movies. Such activities help freshmen meet each other and socialize more.
d) Improve Information Access
A major reason for freshmen supporting ragging is the help promised by the seniors in the long run. Most of this help comes as information and books which could possibly be obtained by alternate means. The best person to clarify queries from is the teacher and the notes will anyway be aggregated through the course of the semester. Colleges should advise teachers to offer help first hand before directing a student to a senior for more information. These measures will allow freshmen to act independently, making them rethink the decision to join ragging.
The bottom line is that ragging is a group phenomenon. The best defense to ragging is to combat it the same way: for an entire group of freshmen to opt out of it. If individual confidence and group unity can be cultivated, this is possible.
Some tell me that if an entire batch of students decides to opt out of ragging, there could be large scale fights between juniors and seniors. Somehow, this is an unimaginable situation. No student will risk putting his entire academic life and career on the line for the cheap thrill of being able to push around some students for a semester. If there are mob fights, police will be involved and the offenders will be severely prosecuted.
9) Conclusion
Ragging is not an isolated case study. At large, it is about human rights and democracy. It is not that different from slavery or being a prisoner, perhaps not that extreme. By allowing ragging, we are accepting the fact that it is alright for others to steal our will. Not every student who rags intends to hurt or injure another. In fact, those with such sadistic pleasures are probably a minority. Removing ragging means having to provide alternate methods for interaction between juniors and seniors. Ragging has its benefits as well, so a better official system could be implemented to permit rich interaction between students while keeping extremities under control.
Appendix A: National Service in Other Nations
In some countries like Israel , Thailand , Taiwan and Singapore there is a program called National Service. This requires that all male citizens of age 18 serve in the country's armed forces for a period of two to three years before entering college. In Israel , female citizens also serve. The national service is compulsory because these countries are small and do not have large full time armies to defend from outside attacks.
When a person undergoes the rigors of military training for three years, he or she toughens into a more matured person. Such people do not get ragged easily or rag others because they see little point in doing so. In fact, there are foreign students who are doing their bachelors degree in India after completing their National Service. They have had little problem in standing up to ragging. It is not practical to start a national service program in India just to prevent ragging. But, it is the self confidence instilled by the armed forces in its soldiers that makes them resistant. The national service also allows for soldiers to overcome cultural shock and problems with social interaction.
Under possible solutions to limit ragging, one suggestion was to give pep talks. The objective of this is to instill self confidence, similar to national service, but at a less intensive level. The idea of making freshmen join at least one club activity should also help overcome cultural shock and social interaction problems.
References :
CURE : http://noragging.com
Stop Ragging : http://stopragging.org
More references to come later.
Last Updated : July 15th, 2005
