UGC anti-ragging helpline is a dud

Calls getting disconnected midway, the person answering the call is rude or is disinterested in listening to you, no way of finding out if any action has been taken on the complaint you had mailed. HT reports

Calls getting disconnected midway, the person answering the call is rude or is disinterested in listening to you, no way of finding out if any action has been taken on the complaint you had mailed.

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If you have been a victim of ragging and wanted to register a complaint with the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) anti ragging help line these things may sound familiar.

A one man sub committee of the Ragahvan Committee appointed by Supreme Court to curb ragging in educational has found the UGC’s anti ragging helpline totally ineffective in addressing the problems of the students. The sub committee had Rajendra Prasad, principal, Ramjas College, Delhi University, as its member.

The committee found that the landline telephone connectivity was extremely poor. The people who handle the calls have insufficient database and do not show any empathy towards the person who is lodging the complaint.

If the call gets disconnected mid way, the complainant does not get a call back since there is no provision of outgoing calls for those who handle the calls. Incase a complaint is E mailed, no registration number is provided.

Some of the suggestions the committee has made to make the anti ragging help line effective are, phone connectivity should be clear and the calls should be answered immediately. The database should be updated and linked to a call tracking system to make sure that the person taking the call gets the required information while handling complaints.

Also, the facility of outgoing calls should be mandatory. For email complaints, an identification number should be provided so that it can be tracked by the complainant. Apart from this the committee also observed that the lack of co ordination between UGC and the various agencies associated with the anti-ragging help line prevents it from functioning productively.