Activist who is on countrywide tour to conduct anti-ragging workshops in colleges arrives in city next week
Activist who is on countrywide tour to conduct anti-ragging workshops in colleges arrives in city next week
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There are people who crib about the way our society works and then there are the ones who take up a stand and stir a revolution. Harsh Agarwal (30) belongs to the latter category. A former employee of the Planning Commission of India, he left his lucrative job to be one of the co-founders of CURE, an NGO which works to curb ragging in colleges across the country.
On a 12-city tour to conduct workshops related to anti-ragging and one of them being Pune, Harsh pointed out that though the city might not have reported cases of ragging, it was not free of the menace either. He is coming to the city on February 9 and 10 to conduct anti-ragging workshops in a few private colleges. However, he said the response has not been great.
For example, he had written several letters to the University of Pune asking for permission to conduct workshops in colleges affiliated to it, but was yet to receive a response.
"It's quite disheartening; I have sent letters to about 200 colleges of India but sadly I have received few responses. Considering the fact that this workshop is conducted free of cost, college authorities don't have anything to lose except an opportunity to inculcate this knowledge in their students."
In fact, inspired by President Pratibha Patil's speech which was delivered this Republic Day, wherein she raised an alarm against ragging, he even penned a letter to the President as well as the HRD ministry and concerned regulatory authorities asking them to encourage such workshops to be conducted in colleges.
"My targets are the medical and engineering colleges but I would love to go to the arts and commerce colleges as well."
When asked how his workshop would be different from others, he said, "There will be a 20-minute documentary film to start with followed by lots of other activities, games and informal thinking exercises. It won't be just another humdrum workshop."
Apart from this, he also emphasised that it's the mindset of the students that needs to be metamorphosed.
"Students who indulge in such things need to think how it affects the victim; you cannot send 50 students to jail but can definitely try to change their mind frame and this is what I intend to do with CURE," he concluded.
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