New Delhi, Sunday, July 24, 2011: A Parliamentary panel has expressed dismay at the anti-ragging guidelines at colleges across the country, terming them as inadequate and ineffective in curbing the incidents which are targeted at freshers.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD, headed by Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, also expressed unhappiness over lack of analysis of phone calls made by distressed students to the anti-ragging helpline. They felt that had the calls been studied, it would have helped evolved a better strategy to counter the menace.

The Committee said that the present set up to deal with cases of ragging was inadequate and stressed on the need of “zero-tolerance” towards the menace. At a recent meeting, the Committee quizzed Vibha Puri Das, Secretary Department of Higher Education, on ragging in higher educational institutions.

Das is understood to have apprised the members of various steps taken by the government to curb ragging at colleges, including a round-the-clock anti-ragging helpline and an e-mail facility for students to seek help or register complaints of ragging incidents.

The UGC had framed regulations on curbing ragging in higher educational institutions in 2009 in order to prohibit, prevent and eliminate the scourge. Under the regulations, all educational institutions have been directed to form anti-ragging committees to check such incidents. They empower educational institutions to punish perpetrators depending upon the severity of the crime. Students indulging in ragging can be suspended, barred from attending class, rusticated from institutions and even be charged under provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

(News Agency)