Highlighting the prevalence of ragging in educational institutions, a national helpline has received nearly 160,000 calls in just eight months.

Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari informed the Lok Sabha that between June 20, 2009 and Feb 5, 2010, the helpline got 1,59,414 calls.

Of these, the helpline registered 350 complaints. The minister said these complaints were forwarded to the concerned institutions.

"A total number of 18 complaints have been responded by the concerned institutions," she said.

According to NGO Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education, the number of ragging cases reported from July 2008 to June 2009 was 88, the number of ragging deaths 12 and number of attempted suicides due to ragging five.

The Supreme Court has banned ragging in all education institutions.