New Delhi, July 20
More than 14 months after the Supreme Court directed the government to nominate an independent agency to monitor the progress of anti-ragging measures in colleges, the government has zeroed in on one. Ironically, the government enterprise — Education Consultants Private Limited (EdCIL) — tasked with selecting the agency has rejected the entry of Dr Rajinder Kachroo, father of Aman Kachroo, killed last year during a ragging incident in Tanda, for a private research firm based in the capital.

The job is set to be assigned to DRS (Development and Research Services), a professional services firm specialising in electoral and media research. DRS has annual revenues of over Rs 40 million.

A heartbroken Dr Kachroo who felt he was fit for the job told TNS today, “We thought we were in the best position to inspire confidence among students. That’s what the Supreme Court wanted the agency for. After Aman’s death, I have been passionately involved with the anti-ragging campaign. But our entry was rejected.” Dr Kachroo applied under the name of Aman Satya Foundation Trust and had on board NGOs like SAATHI (from Rohtak) and SAVE (from Kolkata), which have been working in the social sector.

It was in May last that the Supreme Court, taking suo motu cognizance of Aman Kachroo’s death, ordered the government to “nominate” immediately an independent agency to see that colleges implement anti-ragging guidelines and also to analyse the nature of calls being made at the National Anti-Ragging Call Centre which the HRD Ministry established soon after Aman’s death.

The call centre, also being managed by EdCIL, hasn’t achieved much. It has so far received 1.8 lakh calls; of these, only 400 cases (0.2 per cent) have been registered, with no report of follow-ups. The UGC anti-ragging guidelines had said colleges, not responding to students’ cries, could lose grants or recognition in worst cases. Not a single such action has been reported in the year after Aman’s death, though 12 more students have died of ragging over this period.

Meanwhile, Rajinder Kachru asks why EdCIL had to wait this long to appoint an independent agency to ensure progress on the front when the SC had given the government the power to nominate the same immediately. Though a formal contract with DRS is awaited, ministry sources confirmed to TNS that the agency had been selected and would survey anti-ragging measures in a random sample of higher education institutes over a year. The RK Raghavan committee, appointed by the SC, is due to meet in end July.