Profiles of Individuals working at
Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU, Bangalore
Full time staff
Ms. Arlene Manoharan
Fellow and Co-ordinator of the Centre for Child and the Law
Programme Head – Juvenile Justice
Programme Head – Justice to Children through Independent Human Rights Institutions
Dr. Niranjanaradhya V. P.
Fellow and Programme Head – Universalisation of School Education
Dr. Neetu Sharma
Fellow, Projects Manager
Mr. Pramod Naikodi
Research Associate- Legal
Ms.Anuroopa Giliyal
Research Officer- Legal
Administrative Staff
Ms. N. Pushpa
Administrative-in-Charge
Mr. Kumarswamy T
Project Cordinator (Field)
Mr. Nisar Ahemed
Driver-cum-Attendant
Consultants
Dr. Archana Mehendale
Senior Researcher- Consultant
Ms.Sumitra Acharaya
Consultant
Ms.Swagata Raha
Sr. Research Assistant-Consultant
Ms.Triveni Makani
Jr. Research Assistant - Consultant
Mr.Arka Brata Goswami
Jr. Research Assistant - Consultant
Ms.Sonali Kusum
Jr. Research Assistant - Consultant
A. Full time Staff of CCL, NLSIU
Ms.Arlene Manoharan, MSW (Tata Institute of Social Sciences - TISS, Mumbai)
Fellow and Co-ordinator of the Centre for Child and the Law
Programme Head – Juvenile Justice
Programme Head – Justice to Children through Independent Human Rights Institutions
After having graduated from TISS in 1990, she has worked in various Field Action Projects till mid 1999. These include the Special Cell for Women in Distress, a TISS project at the Office of the Police Commissioner, Mumbai, and subsequently in three civil society organizations working with children on the street – i.e. Snehasadan, Mumbai, Ragpicker’s Education and Development Scheme (REDS), Bangalore, and Chaitanya, Bangalore. She was a Core team member cum trainer for the Street Educator’s Training Programme through Action Research, (SETPAR), a project initiated by Fr. George Kollashany sdb, and subsequently a partnership with the Institute of Development Research, Amsterdam (InDRA), Amsterdam University, as part of an international programme for the Urban Poor (1994 – ’98).
She joined CCL in July 1999, and has led the JJ team since June 2002 and the project on Justice to Children through Independent Human Rights Institutions since October 2009. She has made an significant contribution to Child Rights in general and JJ in particular, having undertaken extensive research, published articles, designed and conducted Capacity Building Programmes on JJ at the State & Regional level on request of the Department of Women and Child Development, Govt of Karnataka, and submitted recommendations for Law & Rule reform to the Government of India and the State Government on various child rights legislation. She is currently a Core Team member of the Juvenile Justice National Desk, a nationwide network through which she spearheaded a campaign to lobby for approval of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) by the Planning Commission (2009). She played a nodal role in contributing to a long term vision and strategy for the Centre, in generating funding for various projects as well as in pioneering innovative educational programmes at NLSIU such as the two PG Diploma Courses in Child Rights approved by the University authorities in 2008, one of which had involved an institutional partnership with TISS, Mumbai. She represented NLSIU on the Selection Committee under the JJ Act and was nominated to the Karnataka State Legal Service Authority Sub Committee on Child Rights. She completed a month long International Summer School on Human Development and Human Rights organized jointly by the University of Humanistics & Kosmopolis Humanist Inst for Global Ethics & World Citizenship, Utrecht, Netherlands in co-operation with the Centre for Study of Culture & Society, Bangalore, India (2007). She has been heading the Centre since April 1st 2009, as Centre –Co-ordinator.
Dr. Niranjanaradhya V. P. (PhD in Education)
Fellow and Programme Head – Universalisation of School Education
Prior to joining CCL in 2003, has worked extensively in the area of school education and has taught education as a subject as well at the undergraduate level. In addition to other qualifications, also attended the one month long International Summer School on Human Development and Human Rights organized jointly by the University of Humanistics and Kosmopolis Humanist Institute for Global Ethics and World Citizenship, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
As a team leader of the universalisation of schools education programme, has been able to influence the policies related to the universalisation of school education in the state. While driving the entire field extension programme situated in Bidadi taluk of Bangalore: contributed to: the competency based base line assessment tools by involving teachers, and drafted Model Bye Laws to bring about SDMCs under PRIs through participatory action research. In the capacity of a consultant and a co researcher with UNESCO and Action Aid International India contributed to the policy paper on Fundamental Right to Education. He has also organized a range of state and national level workshops, conferences and seminars on right to education. He has published more 16 papers and articles in various newspapers and academic journals and 5 books/reports on the issue of right to education.
Dr. Neetu Sharma
Fellow, Projects Manager
She has been working on the issues of child rights and rights to food for more than 10 years. Before joining CCL 3 years ago, she has worked with Bachpan Bachao Andolan in New Delhi and has been on the advisory committee of the organization called The Child Trust. She has also worked as the National Coordinator for the Foodfirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) International, India in New Delhi where she was also editing a quarterly newsletter on right to food.
At the CCL, she has been primarily responsible to manage various projects and ensure proper implementation, monitoring, reporting, fiscal control as we as communication within and outside the Centre and with the donors. She has also been coordinating the various capacity building courses being developed and offered by the CCL, NLSIU. At present she is the Course Coordinator of Post graduate Diploma in Child Rights Law.
She is also conducting a study on Right to food and Law in India and in the meanwhile making attempts to evolve a programme on Right to Food at CCL.
Mr. Pramod Naikodi
Research Associate- Legal
Pramod has completed his Bachelor of Arts from Karnataka University, he has also completed his Law from Karnataka University Dharwad. He has worked with Spoorth Mahila Mandal, Ujjval Organisation and Ashraya Organisation. A trained lawyer with experience of working on issues like empowerment of Muslim women and children in difficult circumstances, he has been a part of the team working on Juvenile Justice. He has been able to sustain the field engagement of the Centre by regularly making visits to various institutions under the Juvenile Justice Act and facilitating legal help to the children and families in the justice system. He has been able to closely work with the state in transforming the system and bringing justice to children languishing for many years in custody. He is also been able to inspire and get more students of NLSIU involved in the JJ team’s work. He joined Centre for Child and the Law in 2003 and is part of the Juvenile Justice team.
Ms. Anuroopa Giliyal
Research Officer- Legal
Anuroopa Giliyal has completed her B.A. LL.B from University of Mangalore. She has around 11 years of experience in various issues relating to women, children etc. Further she was a practicing lawyer and has assisted many eminent lawyers in the field of Human rights and has keen interest and specialization with respect to disability studies and alternate dispute resolution. She is well versed with British and American sign language. She played an active role in setting up a legal services unit to provide free legal aid to persons with disabilities. She has assisted in the teaching of the criminal law course in National Law School of India University. Further she also worked at the Institute of Law, Ethics and Medicine (TILEM) in National Law School of India University. Before joining Centre for Child and the Law she has worked with the society for Child Development, Alternate Law forum. She joined CCL in July 2009.She is a part of the Juvenile Justice Team.
Administrative Staff
Ms. N. Pushpa
Administrative-in-Charge
She has been serving this esteemed institution since its inception in 1988-89 in Old Campus (Central College Campus). During this period she worked with various departments - Registrar’s Office, Admission Office, typing/data entry work like reading materials, examination department work, salary statements & letters pertaining to accounts department, reading materials of UGC sponsored refresher course, etc. After a break she joined Centre for the Child and the Law in March, 1998 (initial period of the Centre) and has been discharging all the administrative jobs including financial matters pertaining to the Centre. She was also handling Registrar’s office work also for a couple of years (when Prof. Babu Mathew was Registrar as well as Faculty Co-ordinator of CCL).
She has also been given the responsibility of looking after the main administration and finance, of newly started Centre supported by the UGC on Social Exclusion (Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy) from July, 2008 onwards. She has 13 years of experience in this esteemed institution.
Mr.Kumarswamy T
Project Cordinator (Field)
Kumar has completed his Masters in Arts (Sociology) from KSOU Mysore. He has also completed a Post Grduate Diploma in Desktop Publishing.He had previously worked with the Center for Child and the Law as the office coordinator for the extension office for teh Education Project at Bidadi and provided library assistance at the Centre for study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy. He rejoined Centre for Child and the Law in December 2009 as the Project coordinator (field). he has actively coordinated mant state level capcity building workshops for School Development and Monitoring Comittees (SDMCs). he is also the resource person for state level SDMC training, comunity participation training and many other trainings conducted by the Education department of Government of Karnataka. While he was with the Centre for Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, he coordinated state level capacity building workshops on Dalit Rights and the Law organised by the Government of Karnataka. He also coordinated the study on Karnataka Dalit Movement a proposed project of the Centre for Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy
Mr. Nisar Ahemed
Driver-cum-Attendant
Mr. Nissar has been working in the Centre of child and the Law for the past 6 years. His role becomes important especially in the presence of extension office of CCL located in a rural setting and far from the city. When he is not driving the car he helps in the administrative and manual work like photocopying, postage etc. at the Centre. With the launch of the Post Graduate Diploma in Child Rights Law his assistance has become even more important. The University also utilizes his services whenever any other driver is on leave or not available.
Consultants
Dr. Archana Mehendale,
Doctor of Philosophy (Social Sciences), NLSIU
Senior Researcher-Consultant
She worked with the Centre for Child and the Law from November 1997 to April 2000. She has done her post graduation in social work (TISS-1992) and her doctorate in social sciences (NLSIU-1998). She is a visiting faculty at TISS on their M.A (Elementary Education) programme and has also been a visiting faculty on the Masters in Advanced Studies on Child Rights, a programme of IUKB and University of Fribourg, Switzerland. She has done consultancies on child rights for various organisations including Child Relief and You, ActionAid, Concerned for Working Children, Bangalore, EveryChild, Christian Children's Fund and National Institute for Advance Studies, Bangalore. She has also taken up various research projects for government that include: Sarva Shikha Abhiyan, research-cum-documentation on Inclusive Education in Karnataka for the Joint UN-Government of India Programme Janashala. She has also authored more than 16 papers on the issue of child rights, child labour and right to education for various journals. She was nominated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India as a Member of the Central Advisory Board on Education Committee set up to draft the Central Bill on Free and Compulsory Elementary Education in India. She has also been a member of the Working Group constituted by the National Commission for the Protection of Rights of the Child, Government of India for reviewing Child Labour Act and the Right to Education Bill. She has played a key role in developing the academic courses on child rights at CCL and launching the PG Diploma in Child Rights Law
Ms.Sumitra Acharaya
Consultant
Ms.Sumitra Acharya has obtained her LL.M in Family Law from National Law School of India University, Bangalore in the year 2000. She started her career as Research Associate with Ms.Flavia Agnes (Advocate), Majlis,Mumbai. She joined Center for Women & Law, National Law School of India University as a Research Associate. During this period she worked for the UNICEF project supported by DWCD & NHRC in bringing out a Manual for judiciary to combat trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation. She has also written a part of the report on the implementation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act for the “Centre for the Study of Casteism, Communalism and the Law( CSCCL)” (NLSIU) supported by Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt of India. During this period she has also worked as a coordinator for the Gender and Law Association (GALA) of Washington College of Law. In the year 2005 she has worked as a Research Assistant/Law Clerk to former Chief Justice of India Hon’ble Y.K.Sabharwal for seven months at NewDelhi. Currently she works as an independent lawyer and legal consultant to Karnataka State Commission for Women.
Ms.Swagata Raha
Sr. Research Assistant-Consultant
Swagata has completed her B.A. LLB (Hons) from the National University of Juridical Sciences in 2005. She then worked with the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) till October 2007. During her stint with SAHRDC she principally authored Introducing Human Rights – An Overview Including Issues of Gender Justice, Environmental and Consumer Law, New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2006 and edited Human Rights and Humanitarian Law - Developments in Indian and International Law, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007. She taught courses on Legal Methods, Family Law, and Gender and Law at the School of Law, Christ University, Bangalore. She also worked with the Lawyers Collective, HIV/AIDS Unit, Bangalore and was involved in the campaign on the HIV/AIDS Bill. She has several publications on issues concerning human rights, gender, and disability law. She is presently consulting with CCL on the UNICEF-supported project - Justice to Children through Independent Human Rights Institutions.
Ms.Triveni Makani
Jr. Research Assistant-Consultant
She has graduated from National Law School of India University, 2008. She joined Centre for Child and the Law in November 2009. She is part of the Juvenile Justice team.
Mr.Arka Brata Goswami
Jr. Research Assistant- Consultant
He has done Masters in Law (LL.M) in Human Rights from National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore in 2010 after completing B.A.LL.B from the Department of Law, Calcutta University in 2008. Presently he is working as a Research Assistant on an UNICEF project at the Centre for Child and the Law (CCL). He has interned at United Nations High Commission for Refugees, India, National Human Rights Commission, Action Aid, Bangalore and Human Rights Law Network, Kolkata. He has also completed a general course on Intellectual Property Rights conducted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) with distinction. He has published an article on Biodiversity in the Social Science Research Network in 2010.
Ms.Sonali Kusum
Jr. Research Assistant - Consultant
She has completed her LLM from NLSIU. She interned with various organizations including NHRC. She has presented a research paper as a speaker on Witch Craft at the conference organized by Law and Social exclusion in NLSIU Bangalore. She had been instrumental in working with NGOs involved in child literacy issues, in this regard, She had worked with Aashayein Foundation and taken classes for Slum children. She had been an active member of the NGO called Jan Sahyog Foundation and was involved with them in working for child literacy programmes and also as team member organized a walkathon in Bangalore on the same and also addressed a press conference.