She was, however, in for a rude shock when she soon learnt that the government circular was a mere sheet of paper without any concrete measures. A bunch of her seniors asked her to either sing or dance, and entertain them. Once that was done, she was required to recite all the alphabets from A to Z, with an example for each alphabet.

Madhumathi is losing confidence in the tall claims made by the government. The Government, in a recent circular to all engineering colleges in the state, has warned principals and lecturers to check ragging otherwise their colleges run the risk of losing their affiliations.

In the circular, it has been made clear that persons held for ragging will, on conviction, face jail term to the extent of one year besidesfine upto Rs 2,000.

If a student held for ragging could not be dismissed in view of his being in the final year, his or her degree certificates will be embossed indicating his or her involvement in a ragging incident. The transfer certificate too will give those details.

The Government has asked the colleges to display the warnings on their notice boards. The colleges are required to lodge a complaint with the police if such incidents are reported and to allocate separate portions of hostels to accommodate first-year students.

Some senior students however bemoan steps taken to check ragging. ``Cases of ragging may have been reported from private engineering colleges... But my classmates never indulged in any such act'', claimed Ramnath, a final-year student of the UVCE, run by the Bangalore University.

``For the past six years, not a single case of ragging has been reported from our college. We neither have any such experience nor exposed our juniors to it'', he claimed.

Arun Udupa, a III-year BEstudent from a Bangalore-based engineering college that is notorious for ragging, was resentful of the government measures. ``Is it not the only occasion for us to know our juniors''. He, however, sought to claim that they would not resort to cruelty in their enthusiasm to rag juniors.

In some college hostels, the threat of jail for ragging appeared to have made an impact. ``Earlier, each student was made to go through the grind, as a compulsion. Now, things have changed and ragging is a very low-key affair'', said Rodrigues, who stays at a hostel.

Meanwhile, the engineering colleges have been advising students against getting themselves involved in ragging incidents. This would, besides bringing disrepute to the college, ruin the career of the student, the principals have told students.