Odisha ranks fourth among States in campus ragging

Bhubaneswar: Odisha ranked fourth among five States in the list of campus ragging in India, revealed a grievance report submitted at the UGC in the past five years.

As per the statistics based on the grievances lodged with the UGC under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) between 2013 and 2017, total 207 allegations were reported from Odisha during the years, out of which most of the complaints were from the educational institutions affiliated to Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT).

Especially, the students accommodated in the hostels on premises of the colleges or universities were the victims of ragging.

The ragging number has been increased in the past three years in Odisha. While 30 ragging incidents were reported in the year 2015, the number dropped to 28 in 2016. Again the number rose to 46 in 2017.

The grievance report revealed that Uttar Pradesh topped the position in campus ragging list with the number of complaints of 461, around 15% out of total complaints reported across the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh (357) and West Bengal (337).

Besides West Bengal, other the neighbouring States of Odisha — Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh — also witnessed significant rise in ragging during the period with the number of ragging complaints.

Total 640 complaints from across the country were filed in 2013. The number reached 901 in 2017, on an average 41% increase in India. While the number of complaints was 423 in 2015, total 515 complaints were lodged with the college authorities in 2016.

Other States also reported rise in campus ragging in the past five years. Bihar was placed fifth in the list with the number of 170 ragging complaints during the years.

Similarly, Tamil Nadu reported 165 ragging incidents, Maharashtra 160, Kerala 151, Rajasthan 143 and Karnataka 139. The States with least number of ragging incidents included — Arunachal Pradesh (two), Goa (two), Sikkim (four), Meghalaya (four), Mizoram (five) and Manipur (six) respectively.

However, there is no such incident was reported from the State of Nagaland and Indian union territories including Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.