National Institute of Technology, Patna, will include police personnel and members from civil society in its anti-ragging committee to check crime on the campus.

Institution director Asok De said: “For the first time, the NIT-Patna administration is going to include outsiders in its anti-ragging committee.

“Apart from deans, heads of department and senior teachers of the institution, the committee would comprise senior police personnel (either superintendent of police or deputy SP-rank officers), a representative from a non-government organisation working in the field of education, two parents’ representatives and others.”

The first-year undergraduate students, whose classes began on Monday, welcomed the initiative taken by the institution.

Gyanendra Kumar, a first-year mechanical engineering student, said: “This is a good step taken by the NIT administration to check ragging incidents because most students don’t know what ragging is.

“At the same time, we are also unaware of the punishment awarded to people if caught ragging.”

Gyanendra, a resident of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, whose IIT (Main) rank was below 20,000, said the strong measures taken by NIT-Patna against ragging will boost students’ confidence.

“Such measures add value to an institution’s reputation, thereby, upgrading its rank,” he said.

Echoing the views of the first-year student, a second-year NITian said: “When we took admission at NIT around one-and-a-half years ago, we were not aware of the various forms of ragging and the laws under which a person could be punished if he/she rags a fellow student.”

Apart from inducting civil society members and police personnel in the anti-ragging panel, the NIT administration has also decided to create awareness programmes on anti-ragging measures such as informing people about the consequences of the crime through posters.

The institution has also appointed a counsellor, Saroj Verma, who would enlighten the students about anti-ragging measures.

Director De said the institution has initiated the new steps abiding by the University Grants Commission and Supreme Court guidel- ines against ragging in education hubs.