GS Paper 4
Syllabus: Ethics: Role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values
Source: The Hindu
Context: A first-year postgraduate medical student at the Kakatiya Medical College Dr Preethi was reportedly harassed by a male senior, following which she tried to end her life.
About Ragging:
Ragging, also known as hazing refers to the practice of subjecting new students to humiliating or abusive behaviour as a way of initiating them into a group or community.
- Ragging can take many forms, including physical and emotional abuse, harassment, bullying, and even sexual assault.
- Apart from ragging, hazing, fagging, bullying, pledging and horseplaying are different terms.
Previous instances of ragging in India:
TAMIL NADU – PON NAVARASU
- Tamil Nadu passed the country’s first anti-ragging legislation in 1997 based on the Pon Navarasu case.
- Navarasu, son of the-then vice-chancellor of the University of Madras, was murdered. John David, a senior student of his college, confessed to the crime days later and surrendered to judicial custody.
- During a ragging session, Navarasu was assaulted, and forced to strip and lick David’s footwear, he was violently beaten up and killed when he refused to do so.
MAHARASHTRA – Payal Tadvi
- Payal Tadvi, a second-year MD student at Mumbai’s TN Topivala National Medical College (TNMC), had spoken to her friends about caste discrimination and harassment within the campus.
- She belonged to the Adivasi Tadvi Bhil community and was found dead in Mumbai.
Data on caste discrimination in colleges:
- A parliamentary panel found rampant caste bias within All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), as MBBS students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes failed repeatedly in their exams.
- The examiners tend to ask the name of the students and try to judge/ know if a student belongs to SC/ST community.
Laws against ragging in India:
- Indian Penal Code
- UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009
- Other institute-specific regulations
Ethical issues associated with ragging:
- Violation of human dignity
- Infringement of individual rights
- Promotion of unhealthy behaviour
- Compromise of academic standards
- The legal and moral responsibility of educational institutions
Solutions:
- Strict rules and regulations
- Awareness campaigns
- Counselling and support
- Orientation programs
- Monitoring and surveillance
