Sociology project semester 1

DR. RAM MAHOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

SOCIOLOGY
PROJECT ON:

(FINAL DRAFT)

FOIBLES THROUGH THE EYES OF A STUDENT : RML

SUBMITTED BY: UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

DEVANSH RATHI DR. SANJAY SINGH

ROLL NO: 053 PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY

SECTION ‘A’

B.A. LLB (Hons.), SEMESTER I

SIGNATURE OF STUDENT: SIGNATURE OF PROFESSOR:

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 Sociology project semester 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my gratitude and deep regards to my teacher, Dr. Sanjay Singh for giving me such
a challenging topic and also for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant
encouragement throughout the course of this thesis.

I also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to my seniors in the college
for their cordial support, valuable information and guidance, which helped me in completing
this task through various stages.

I am obliged to the staff members of the Madhu Limaye Library, for the timely and valuable
information provided by them in their respective fields. I am grateful for their cooperation
during the period of my assignment.

Lastly, I thank almighty, my family and friends for their constant encouragement without
which this assignment would not have been possible.

DEVANSH

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 Sociology project semester 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………4

Hostel-life………..…………………………………………………………………………………...5

Mess………………………………………………………………………………………………….….6

Ragging…………………………………………………………………………………………..……8

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………9

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 Sociology project semester 1

INTRODUCTION

Living with one’s parents for a long time and leaving them suddenly and shifting to a whole
new place with a whole new bunch of people from different regions and religions can be a
very strenuous process. Every year, thousands of children give CLAT to find a seat in the
best National Law Universities (NLU) of the country. Out of more than 45000 children, there
are only 1800 seats for the 18 NLU’s of the nation. Hence, the competition is very tough and
children do their best to reserve a seat for themselves in the top NLU’s. The image that is
portrayed in the society of these NLU’s is very fancy and lavish. One’s parents and peers
think them as one of the best colleges of the nation. They even think that their child would be
in safe hands and would live a hygienic, sanitary life. Is this all true? All this really happens?
Or is it just superficial? But as soon as the student begins their college life, they came to
know that what all they thought was just the one side of the coin. They were just told of all
the pleasing sides of the college making the student completely unaware of the blemishes of
the college which the student faces as he began his college life.

Through this project we would be focusing on the peccadilloes of not all NLUs but that of Dr.
Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow. There are small blemishes in the
college whether it be regarding that of mess or of hostel cleanliness or that of ragging. The
project would include the small flaws and the difficulties faced by the students. The project
here shows only the peccadilloes that a collegiate faces while still loving and having a strong
feeling of respect for RML, Lucknow.

This project would consist of my ideas, experiences and the observations and the opinions
and experiences of my fellow mates and seniors. It won’t include any research or content
from net, books or any other reading source.

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 Sociology project semester 1

HOSTEL LIFE

 Washrooms – as children we were taught of the importance of having a hygienic life

right from the childhood not only by our parents but also by teachers in the school
life. And once these good habits are inducted in a child, any contradiction or any
mitigation of the habit seems to give a sense of discomfort and ruffle. It was expected
that the washroom of the hostel wont be the same as we have in our homes but a
certain standard was set to be maintained which was not met.
It is obvious if more than 100 boys will use a washroom it will get dirty. But instead
of cleaning the washroom once a week as it is done in RML it should be made clean
once in 3 days because the hygiene of the students cannot be compromised and this all
not matches the standard that National Law University, Lucknow carries.
Moreover, there are four washrooms on each floor of the 3-storey hostel. Each
washroom has 5 bathing rooms to accommodate a large no of students who are in a
rush early morning as they have to leave for the college. But out of these, around 2 -3
bathing rooms don’t have door locks on them which make them completely futile. So
now to accommodate a lot of students, there is a increasing pressure on the left
bathing areas which are in so called good position.

 Corridors – if one has visited the boy’s hostel, one will see that there are big dustbins
in the end of each corridor which are used by students to throw of waste food,
wrappers of biscuits and even eggs. Due to lack of vigilance and a sense of lassitude
on the part of the security guards, stray dogs of RML enter the hostels and litter the
dustbins. So, when one opens up his eye to get ready for the school, thinking of
glimmering rising sun, what one sees is littered garbage all over the corridor.
However, I accept there is fault on the parts of students also. Instead of eating in the
common eating hall, students take their plates and eat in their respective rooms. After
eating they don’t keep their plates in the mess hall but beside their room gates which
becomes another reason to attract not only dogs but also flies and mosquitos. It
becomes a sight of disgust and aversion.

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 Sociology project semester 1

MESS

After coming to RML, I realised my home’s food importance. And this is not my thought
alone but of every other batch mate and even seniors. For the initial 2 weeks when the college
started the mess food was far better compared to the food given us at later date. One
pragmatic reason that can be inferred maybe is because student’s parents were with them. So
the mess staff wants to give an image that the food provided by them is upto the standards
and the norms.

Hygiene is another important aspect that should be addressed properly in the college. The
plates provided to us are not properly cleaned and sometimes have some stain of water left on
them which makes it difficult for the students to eat as this gives a nauseating feeling. The
mess staff which comprises of young chaps of almost the same age as of ours are required to
give us food by using the gloves and not bare hand and this rule is something which is most
oftently violated. Even the condition inside the mess kitchen is not even satisfactory. And
recent news was also there in one of the local daily to support the above comment.

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Living in an era where boy and girl seems to be on equal footing but there are not and to
one’s surprise this is the time when girls have superseded the boys in terms of the food items
and quality they get. There is minute discrepancy in the menu given in the boys and girls
hostel and a large mismatch in terms of the quality provided.

GIRLS HOSTEL BOYS HOSTEL

One can go in a deep thought to find why there is even a minute difference in the menu and
the quality provided in both the hostels. One possible reason as comprehended by me is since
boys eat in a large proportion to girls, the quality of boys hostel mess is deliberately declined
so that the food budget does not exceed and stay within the pocket.

Apart from this many of our batch mates are also tired of the monotonous menu that is
followed. Eating the same aloo ki sabzi & daal makes the day mundane. However, Sunday
and Wednesday are two days where we sometimes get a special dish which makes our day!

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 Sociology project semester 1

RAGGING

Ragging often takes a malignant form wherein the newcomers may be subjected
to psychological or physical torture. In 2009 the University Grants Commission of India
imposed regulations upon Indian universities to help curb ragging, and launched a toll-
free 'anti ragging helpline' but it is still practised in many of the universities including RML
Lucknow.

At the time of registration we were made to sign anti-ragging paper where we were told that
any practise of ragging won’t be entertained in the college and the child will have to go
through serious repercussions. RML has a culture of ragging unlike many other known
universities. It was evident on the first night of ours in the college. Despite of having such
assurance and a proctorial board the batch of 2022 faced many ragging incidents. The fellow
mates said they were made shirtless and were forced to do many acts including sexual in
nature. In one such incidence, one of the students lodged a complaint in the University Grants
Commission (UGC) which made the matter of grave seriousness. Before this also many
complaints were made but all these were made at the college level which had no serious after-
effects. But this complaint persuaded the college authorities to take some serious actions
against the offenders. Following which the offenders were made to pay a penalty of Rs.5000
which was however repealed in the future.

The concept behind ragging is to make a bond between the freshers and their seniors but there
is a limit to everything and it becomes very difficult to know when that limit is crossed.
Asked from the seniors, many of them said that they take ragging because their seniors also
took their ragging. As I said its more of a culture in RML to take ragging.

What my notion behind doing this practise is that the seniors try to dominate the newcomers
and show their superiority over them. They just take ragging for the sake of ragging and they
actually even don’t know why they are taking ragging. Asking freshers stupid questions to
which there are no answers, making them do things that are depressing and against the
morales is their one of the ways to dominate the juniors.

If one wants to make a bond with their juniors, there are other ways to have this done inspite
of resorting to things that have been declared as illegal.

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CONCLUSION

Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow is usually ranked at 6th or 7th
position in the list of 18 NLUs which is topped by NLSIU. The college holds a very
important place as it is the best law college of the state and the students that are from Uttar
Pradesh keeps it as a priority in the NLU list. Established in 2005 it has marked its presence
in almost all fields whether it be academics, sports, mooting, debates or any other co-
curricular activities. But there are always some small faults which cannot be seen by anyone
living on the outside of the college but by someone who knows and is a everyday part of the
college. Though the problems discussed above doesn’t seem to make a major issue and are of
trivial nature but are of such significance that can affect the collegiate. Where there is a
problem there is also a solution with it.

Authorities should tackle the problems with iron hands and should not let any situation arise
that forces the students to lodge complaints in the UGC as this not only makes the matter
widespread but also downgrades the image and reputation of the college. More effective steps
and punishments should be taken by the college authorities to deal with the evil. The
university should arrange counselling session for freshers so that they can speak their mind.
Anti ragging cells though established should be made more strict. The mess staff should be
made adhered to follow the procedural standards of hygiene and even an attempt should be
made to increase the quality of food for the boys hostel and should give a change once a
while from the tedious menu. Any short coming on their behalf should result in immediate
warning with a future warning to be dismissed. Sanitary conditions in the corridor and
especially the washrooms should be on the priority list as it is one of the aspects that cannot
be compromised. Students will also play their role in keeping the college neat and clean and
would totally co-ordinate with the college authorities in case any problem arises.

Through this project we have not at all lost the love and respect we carry for our college,
RML. The attempt we tried to make through this project was to make aware others about the
small problems that the students of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University face.
Every college carries some foibles within it and it is the duty of the college authorities and
even the students to mitigate those to the extent they can because for the students the college
becomes the home for a span of 5 years and no one would want that their homes be in the bad
shape.

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