The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Messages say ragging a culture at NIT Anuradha Shukla Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 20 “If I was ragged in the first year by my juniors, I did the same to my juniors”: reads a message posted on the Internet by an ex-NIT student. Skeletons are tumbling out of the campus cupboard now. Nine students accused of driving Amit Kumar to suicide have been arrested. But the rot is far bigger and older. If one goes through the messages posted on Yahoo website by ex-alumni of the Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology institute, ragging, mostly in its extreme form, seems to have become a culture in the college—probably no news to the authorities in denial. A slap on his left ear that lead to an internal bone fracture seems inconsequential to Mayank as compared to death of Amit Kumar. A student of the 1996-2000 batch, he goes ahead to describe how he invited the wrath of seniors for not remember the name of one of his seniors. “Seniors are sick and pervert”, he writes. “May Amit’s soul rest in peace.” “The ragging starts with non-physical ways and when junior refuses to budge, the physical part begins, writes Jawahar, another ex-NIT student, earlier called the Regional College of Engineering. The alumni write in the messages—full of hate for the seniors— that the ragging is done in the name of introduction and gets bold soon. “It is nothing but weak acceptance of the command of the seniors by their juniors,” one ex-student writes. The ragging is part of a cycle wherein the seniors want to rag their juniors because they too were ragged. Sriram, a 1999 pass out from the NIT relates to the harrowing experience of almost all of his batch mates who were made to undergo “severe physical and mental abuse” making them lose respect for the seniors “who caused physical and mental suffering ”. When the abuse went beyond the tolerance levels of some juniors, they even wanted to hurt the seniors who tortured them, indicates another hate message. One such anonymous message, the most explicit, goes into graphic details on how to punish these ragging seniors. He calls it “shedding sexual inhibitions exercise in real life conditions.” Another asks if only the ten guys named in Amit’s suicide note and expelled form the college now were the ones responsible since everyone who got ragged, ragged their juniors propelling the chain forward. The loneliness and isolation on the campus for the new entrants far away from home for the first time also contributed to the trauma. “What kind of mental state I will be in when I am so far away from home and I also have to go thru ragging”: reads the message by Rajesh, from Arunachal Pradesh. Rohit (2000-2004 batch) writes that he himself witnessed many of his hostel friends getting slapped as many as 100 times a day from their “so-called smart seniors.” One alumni writes that the sad drooping faces of the juniors bore witness to the level they had to stoop and compromise with their self-respect to be able to make their seniors feel like god.
	Classes turn foul with carcass behind school Arun Sharma Tribune News Service Kapurthala, October 20 Students and staff of a government school here are everyday greeted with the foul smell of animal carcass dumped near the campus’s boundary wall by residents of a nearby village. More than 275 students from class VI to XII study at the Government Senior Secondary School in Khalupur, 8 km from here. The campus is on the outskirts of a village and residents here have been using the land adjoining the back of school to dump dead animals for years even after repeated requests from the school staff to stop the practice, asking the panchayat to change the dumping site. The principal of the school has even proposed to provide a land for the purpose but it was allegedly rejected by the panchayat time and again. “Every day, one or two students have to leave class midway due to the complaints of vomiting and headache. In the monsoons, we have to shift our classes to an open place far from the school building as it becomes impossible to sit amidst this obnoxious smell,” said Mr Harbhajan Singh, principal of the school. “It is not less than a punishment with this foul smell following you everywhere,” complained Gurpreet, a girl student of Class X coming from Gopipur village. “How can one concentrate on the studies?” A few days ago, Surinder, a student of Class XI had to go back home as he started vomiting due to the smell. Meanwhile, sarpanch of the Khalupur village, Mr Sohan Singh said the panchayat is helpless as Hansus— the persons who carry dead animals to the spot do not heed instructions. When contacted, Mr Surinder Singh Atwal, DEO (secondary education), Kapurthala said the matter has not been brought to his notice by the school staff. “But if the staff complains in writing, the problem can be discussed with the Deputy Commissioner.”
	Quacks cashing in on gastroenteritis scare Anil Jerath Tribune News Service Phagwara, October 20 While local health authorities deal with gastroenteritis cases in the Onkar Nagar and other slums areas where more than 200 cases of the disease have been reported since September 29, quacks in the villages and slums across Phagwara are making the most of the scare. It has not only put slum dwellers at risk of consuming dubious medication but also exposed the local health department’s laxity in putting a check on the quacks. A self-prepared oral re-hydration bottle and a couple of injections and drugs like Paracetamol, Rantidine and Vovran is all these self-confessed doctors offer for a fee between Rs 20 and Rs 25, depending upon the case. People queuing up at such clinics and other places where quacks and unauthorised practitioners operate from has become a common sight in villages and slums across the subdivision. Besides a lack of awareness, the confidence earned by these quacks during their stay in the colonies is seen as a reason for their growth. “We do conduct raids and initiate action. As far as their activity during this gastroenteritis scare is concerned, we have already deployed a team of health staff headed by a medical officer in each slum,” said a health department official. “Besides spending a couple of hours in the colonies and slums everyday, the paramedical staff and health workers distribute medicines too.” To ensure that the slum-dwellers are sensitised, the health department has decided to make public announcements about the deployment of medical teams, the official added.
	‘Cardiologists should not generalise surgeries’ Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 20 Before going in for the use of stents or bypass surgery, the cardiac surgeons should take comorbidant conditions like diabetic mellitus, stroke, lung problems, renal failure and cirrhosis of liver into account and each case should be individualized for treatment— a general agreement reached upon among cardiologists from different parts of the world at the fourth International Conference of cardiologists, organised by the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons at Barcelona in Spain last week. Giving details about the consensus reached upon among cardiologists, Dr Ashwani Suri, Chief Cardiac Surgeon at the Tagore Heart Care and Research Centre who attended the conference, said the doctors want specialists not resort to generalisations as far as cardiac surgery were concerned. On-pump or off-pump surgery mode was also a topic of discussion at the conference. “The result of off-pump bypass procedure is not as good as on-pump mode in the long run,” he informed. “Statistics show that only 10-15 per cent cases are done on a beating heart in the UK and to the tune of 20-25 per cent in the US.”
	‘Admirers of classical music diminishing’ Arun Sharma Tribune News Service Kapurthala, October 20 Admirers of classical music in both India and Pakistan have been diminishing and an instrument like ‘rabab’ has almost lost its identity in the sub-continent barring a few places in Pakistan, says Ustad Ghulam Hassan Shaggan, the 77-year-old khayal legend from the Kapurthala Gharana. Ustad Shaggan has today come from Lahore to participate in three-day Baba Jassa Singh Heritage Festival to tomorrow. Ustad Shaggan is the son of famous Bhai Lal who used to sing shabad kirtan at the Golden Temple in pre-partition days. The exponent of khayal gayaki, Ustad Shaggan is the grand son of Ustad Ata Mohammad who learned music from Ustad Mian Banne Khan, who belonged to the Gwalior gharana. Ustaad Shaggan has been awarded the Fakhar-e-Music, Sangeetkar-e-Azam, Aftab-e-Music, Shehanshah-e-Music, Sangeet Acharya, Jadoo-e-Music, and Sitar-e-Imtiazat at various music conferences around the globe including UK, France, Morocco, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
	5 thefts in one week, police baffled Tribune News Service Phagwara, October 20 As many as five cases of theft have been reported from the city in the just one week, causing panic among the residents. According to police, in the latest incident, thieves took away with them a generator set, a LPG cylinder and some bags containing cement from a house under construction of Mr Harsh Gupta near the Phagwara bypass last night. On Tuesday, in a daylight burglary, thieves entered the official residence of Mr S.R Goel in the Sugar Mills colony near Maal Godam road and decamped with valuables worth Rs two lakh, including cash and gold ornaments. On Sunday, valuables worth Rs 1.7 lakh were stolen from the house of Mr Parshottam Lal Passi at Manav Nagar in Hadiabad locality. Last week, burglars decamped with cash, jewelry and other valuables from two houses of NRIs in Guru Harkrishan Nagar locality. Thieves also burgled the house of Mr Satpal in Street No. 3 taking away 22 tolas of gold ornaments, cash worth Rs 20,000, a video camera and other valuables. In the next case, theft took place in the same locality in the house of Mr Dharampal, who lives in England. From here, video camera, DVD players, new clothes and some valuables were stolen. Though the police have started investigations with the help of dog squads and fingerprint experts, but no headway has been made so far. When contacted, Phagwara DSP, Mr Navjot Singh Mahal said patrolling in the city had been beefed up.
	Five booked for trespassing, intimidation Tribune News Service Phagwara, October 20 Phagwara Sadar police today booked five persons on charges of criminal trespassing and intimidation with the view of grabbing a piece of land. On a complaint of Mr Mota Singh of Rehana Jattan village, police had registered a case under sections 447, 506 and 34 of IPC against Harbans Lal, Sheebu, Swaran Singh Grewal, Amarjit Singh Grewal— all from Rehana Jattan village and Harbans Singh alias Bant, presently residing in Dhahan Kaleran village. The complainant had alleged that the accused had uprooted the banana plants from a plot in the name of his father Mr Piara Singh with an intention to grab the plot.
	Free corrective surgery for polio patients Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 20 Free corrective surgery for over 700 polio patients will begin at a three-day camp from tomorrow at the Lions Bhawan. The camp is being organised by the Lions Club, Jalandhar and Lions Club International. As many as 304 patients have already registered themselves for the operation, said Dr A.S. Kumar, President and Mr Ravi Manuja, District Governor of the Lions Club here. They added that medical experts from the PNRS Society from, Bhavnagar, Gujarat would operate upon the polio patients. Patients who could not be operated upon during the camp would be made to undergo the surgery at Bhavnagar, said the club secretary.
	Wife held for husband’s murder Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 20 On Karvachauth, police today arrested Sunita and Dilwar for murder of Vijay Kumar—Sunita’s husband. The police had earlier arrested Manoj Kumar of Mangu Basti for the murder. The deceased used to work at the grocery shop of Dilawar, Sunita’s paramour. The duo was arrested on the basis of a FIR filed by the brother of the victim. The accused have been booked under sections 302 and 34 of the IPC.
	Divali Fair in Cantt area Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 20 Vajra Corps will hold a Divali mela on October 30 at the Kotoch Stadium in cantonment here. Apart from shopping, people could also enjoy other activities like cultural show, tambola, horse riding, games and on-the-spot competitions at the fair, Lt Col U.K. Vaish, the organising secretary, said. A Divali bumper raffle draw would also be held in the evening and lucky winners would get attractive prizes, he added.
	14-year-old student missing Tribune News Service Phagwara, October 20 A 14-year-old school student has been missing from the Mansa Devi area of Satnampura locality since Tuesday. According to sources, Sunny— son of Mr Tarsem Lal, a resident of Mansa Devi area went to the school on a bicycle in the morning of 18th October. He has neither reached the school nor has come back home since then. After a thorough search of the area, police was informed of the missing student. They have registered a case.
	Man crushed to death Tribune News Service Kapurthala, October 20 A resident of Defence Colony was crushed to death by a truck near Old Grain Market here today. According to police, Joginder Singh (37), who owned a motor garage in Old Grain Market, was going on a scooter when he was run over by a truck.