Bhubaneswar: Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier's mischievous wink in a movie song stole many young hearts, turning her into an Internet sensation overnight, but winking in colleges here could lead to stern action.
Higher education minister Ananta Das said on Friday that ragging in any form would not be tolerated in colleges. "Even eve-teasing, verbal abuse and winking will invite strict action," he said.
"We are carrying out massive awareness programmes to sensitise senior students about the punitive actions that would be initiated against students if they indulge in ragging. Stringent action will be taken against them if they get involved in such acts. If need arises, the students will be expelled," Das said.
According to the reports of the Aman Satya Kachroo Trust, the monitoring agency of University Grants Commission for the National Ragging Prevention Programme, 391 ragging cases have been reported in the state since 2009.
The Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) has reported the maximum number of 178 cases during this period, the highest for any single institution in the country.
Although Das seemed to be unaware of the report he assured that the state government would take necessary measures to bring an end to the menace of ragging in state institutions. "I would comment on the issue only after getting a detailed report," he said.
The ragging menace appears to have assumed threatening dimensions in the state with Odisha standing fourth in the number of complaints being received. The Kachroo report reveals that Uttar Pradesh topped in campus ragging cases since 2009 with 871 complaints followed by Bengal (580), Madhya Pradesh (536) and Maharashtra (266).
Ragging cases have been reported in the state every year in the state since 2009 though the number of complaints kept varying.
While the number was 30 in 2015 it dropped marginally to 28 in 2016 and then rose again to 46 in 2017. Till March this year, nine cases have been registered.
According to the data, boys are more prone to ragging than girls in the state where of the total 391 victims 342 were boys. Significantly, maximum cases of ragging in the state have been reported from BPUT with major colleges under the university based in Bhubaneswar. Cases have also been reported from KIIT University and some other private colleges in the state.
Biplab Prakash Mohanty, a student leader of BPUT, said that most cases of ragging go unreported as the institutes concerned try to dispose of the matter through the " compromise" mode.
"Such cases need serious inquiry and it is high time the authorities initiated stronger measures to prevent ragging than just routinely constituting anti-ragging cells," he said.
"The victim is weak either in terms of caste or economically. He or she could be from a rural background, thus making them less privileged than others," said Asit Behera, a social activist.
Former students claim that a number of ragging incidents are kept tightly under the wraps. "We only know about the incidents that are reported but the actual number of cases would be much higher especially in the rural areas and engineering colleges. We need strong institutions to deal with these issues," said Pritish Mohapatra, a former student of Institute Technical Education and Research (ITER), Bhubaneswar.
