The recent shocking and heinous incident of ragging at Al Qamar College of Nursing at Gulbarga, Karnataka, of a Dalit nursing student proves that the menace of ragging is far from over.
The government has now roped in Virat Kohli, the swashbuckling batsman of the Indian Cricket team, for help. Which means the star batsman will soon be donning more than one feather in his royal cap.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, which quotes unnamed sources in Ministry of Human Resources and Development, an anti-ragging message endorsed by the star batsman is going to find its way to our televisions sets very soon.
In addition to television commercials, about 1.5 lakh posters designed along the lines of “Show your swagger, don’t be a ragger” and “You wanna kill your career? Then go ahead, pull the trigger” will be soon circulated among all educational institutions.
These posters will also have helpline numbers and details of penalty on those found guilty.
“The need to create awareness and make an anti-ragging environment within educational institutions will always remain. Students should be encouraged to report cases of ragging. Our campaign will create awareness among students, parents and administrators,” Inder Mohan Kapahy, a member of UGC, told HT.
India’s fight against ragging is a long-pending one. But it was only in 2007 that it saw an intervention from the Supreme Court which recognised ragging as an act of human right abuse.
Though it seems like the menace has declined, there is no concrete data available to prove it.
For now, we hope Kohli’s message will reach the right people and atrocious incidents such as Kerala’s are behind us.