Dear Reader,

In India, ragging-related deaths have assumed proportions of a ‘national epidemic’. The Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE), in its report on the “State of Ragging in India”, points out that between 2022 and 2024, ragging led to 51 deaths. The cases are tragically trending upwards, with medical colleges in India being the worst offenders, accounting for almost 39 per cent of the cases reported. Ragging was banned by the Supreme Court in 2001, and based on the R K Raghavan Committee report in 2006, the UGC issued even more stringent anti-ragging guidelines in 2022, defining it as “human rights abuse”.

Implementation of laws against ragging remains inconsistent at best. Article 14 looks at cases of ragging deaths and speaks to distraught families of victims, and experts, to find that while the guidelines mandate specific measures, the consequences for the accused have remained limited. In spite of the serious nature of the allegations, many of the accused have been released early or granted bail. This is a situation that has to be addressed on a war footing to ensure accountability and justice for India’s young.

As population pressures increase, tribal communities in India, who live in and around forests, are forced to migrate and create new settlements. However, as per their customary law, these new habitations do not attain identity and form until they are blessed by their deities and ancestral spirits—bestowed through a unique and ancient social ceremony. This ceremony, elaborately conducted in conjunction with neighbouring villages, also demarcates the territorial boundaries of the new settlement, which is then sought to be legally sanctified by the government.

Very few have witnessed such ceremonies, which are rare and largely restricted to community members. Recently, मैं भी भारत gained access to one such ceremony in Aaamatola village in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district. The story brings you glimpses from this ancient ritual.

Refuse is a stark and enduring problem in urban India. With few robust mechanisms for waste disposal, garbage heaps and littered drains are in plain sight. In Sehore in Madhya Pradesh, waste has become such an overwhelming presence on the streets that it has begun to impinge on the lives of the citizens—with families even refusing to marry into homes near overflowing drains.

In a reflective and insightful article, Ground Report flags the cesspools of untreated garbage, sewage and chemicals dotting the city. This severe urban and civic neglect has been especially noticeable in the poorer parts of the city with voices being raised about the undemocratic and skewed allocation of resources, with the more affluent garnering most of the attention and monies from the municipal and local authorities.

Ludhiana, in Punjab, a manufacturing and industrial hub, with nearly 3.5 lakh migrant workers, makes nearly ninety per cent of India's bicycles. But, for the workers, for whom the bicycles are a lifeline to commute to work, summers can be deadly. With temperatures soaring, they have a difficult choice—either to risk a heat stroke or forgo their daily wages, the latter being their only means of sustenance.

Continuing its series on the impact of heat on various segments of India, The Migration Story reports from Ludhiana where roads leading to industrial spaces have seemingly prioritised cars over bicycles. Proposals for new and dedicated cycle lanes for workers have either not been implemented or have been shelved. Wherever they exist, they are quickly and illegally turned into parking lots for cars. As alternate modes of commuting are unaffordable, this leaves the workers, the backbone of the industrial prowess of the city, to face the heat.

For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.

Warmly,

Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF