Comments on: Death By Ragging – Students, Parents Outraged

By: vishal sharma

vishal sharma — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 05:50:54 +0000

i totally agree with the point of the author but let me tell that the state govt. is also responsible for this case.
to prove this point let me quote the words of our health minister of himachal pradesh, Dr. Rajeev Bindal, in a press interview he told the media that he new about the ragging case which took place in tanda as he was called up by some unknown student of the medical college on 8th of march informing him about hte ragging case.
having known about the case, why didn’t he take immediate steps against the culprits????????
i myself belong to a family in shimla which is a strong supporter of BJP.
even my family members hold prestegious positions in the state working committee of BJP but as far as this case is concerned, i have to blame the for not taking appropriate steps to curb this menace.

vishal sharma
engg. student
akal college of engg. & tech.
baru sahib.

By: Naren

Naren — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:26:52 +0000

Thanks for the reply and your clarifications! I appreciate it.
Just to make some points
I agree that the TMC case in 2001 was not good (I do not know the exact details though). But this time the government appears to be taking a strong step in taking action against the perpetrators.
The govt. has decided to bring in the 1992 legislation and pass it in the monsoon session.
It seems to me that the SFI leader is using the situation to attack the state government and make some political gains.
By quoting him in your article I felt you only helped him in his endeavors.

I agree with your statement that the objective here is to clear up the ragging mess. I am totally against ragging and feel anyone found involved in it should face strict punishment!
The issue should not be politicized which is why I was not comfortable with you quoting a communist leader.

By: TOI

TOI — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 13:22:59 +0000

http://himachal.us/2009media/ragging.pdf

By: Ravinder Makhaik

Ravinder Makhaik — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:01:36 +0000

@ Naren

Nowhere in the story is there a mention of a congress or a BJP Government.

Not me, you have added a tinge of politics to it by first disclosing and then trying to defend a BJP Government.

For me beyond political parties, “A government is a government”, nothing more, nothing less.

You seem to have taken offense to a SFI leader being quoted.

However, the point he did make was had the then government in 2001 not intervened from condoning the offense of ragging and had the Tanda Medical college authorities been given a free hand to set their house in order, things in 2008 probably would not have reached such tragic proportions.

There is valid reasoning in that argument.

Governance is a serious issue and should be treated so.

Unless autonomy is not allowed in functioning of such institutions, part of the blame is bound to land on the desk of the authority that meddles in their affairs.

Whosoever it may be, acts of omission or commission should be dealt without favour or biases.

To give teeth to your argument you have also pointed out – “student bodies (plural!)”.

Student bodies are not just political outfits. Besides the SFI leader a first year medical student to has been quoted in the story.

You would be surprised that from a bunch of first year medical students (Boys) at IGMC, Shimla, not one was willing to be named and were much to afraid about appearing on camera for national TV.

The objective and issue at hand is to clear up the ragging mess that has been permitted to become murderous over a period of time and not defend governments.

Equating about a right to go to a pub with ragging is an absurd argument.

By: Naren

Naren — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:51:23 +0000

I wonder why this author is trying to politicize this tragic episode by blaming the BJP government.
Quoting an SFI (a Communist student organization) leader to say that the student bodies (plural!) are blaming the State government as well is extremely poor journalism.

The only people to be blamed here are the senior students and the college authorities only. Society should start an active organization against such acts. The initiative shown by people in claiming rights to go to a pub will be better served in preventing ragging in colleges!