News Type: Event

Presentation by Dr. Liz Fisher, University of Oxford | JSW Centre for the Future of Law, NLSIU

The JSW Centre for the Future of Law at NLSIU continues its online presentation series on contemporary scholarship by leading academics, with Dr. Liz Fisher, Professor of Environmental Law at the Faculty of Law and Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford on October 27, 2025. The talk is part of a series of presentations by the Centre on contemporary scholarship by leading academics.

About the Talk

Prof. Fisher will be discussing her ongoing research on the relationship between legal expertise and environmental regulation, covering her working paper titled “Imagining the World: Environmental Problems and Legal Expertise.”

Abstract

Environmental law is often understood as a legally anomalous subject that doesn’t demand much in the way of conventional legal thought and doesn’t fit into the way law is normally classified. This presumption about the lack of fit of environmental law has resulted in a failure to recognise the legal work and legal expertise the subject involves. In this paper, building on a three year project that involves archive work in Australia, the US, and the UK, I show the type of structural legal questions environmental law gives rise to, the dangers of wishful thinking, and the law jobs (and legal expertise) the subject requires.

About the Speaker

Dr. Liz Fisher is a Professor of Environmental Law in the Faculty of Law, Oxford and has written widely on environmental law and administrative law in national common law jurisdictions. A Leverhulme Major Research Fellow from 2022-25, she is a non-executive board member of the Office for Environmental Protection, Delegate of OUP, and an Overseas Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Prof. Fisher’s work looks at the nature of legal expertise required in environmental law and administrative law in common law legal systems, by studying doctrine, legislation, legal culture and socio-political culture. Prof. Fisher’s research explores the mental constructs lawyers and legal scholars use to legally reason, particularly in relation to public administration and environmental problems. Her work is grounded in national common law jurisdictions.

How to register?

Attendees are required to register here.

The meeting link for the discussion will be shared directly to the registered email address.

For more information or queries, please write to

Webinar | Information Session on the NLS BA (Hons) | November 7, 2025

NLSIU is hosting a Live Information Session for prospective candidates of the NLS BA (Hons) Programme. This online session will offer insights into the University, the structure of the programme, and details of the application process.

The NLS BA (Hons) is a 3-year programme with the option of an additional 4th year, being offered in the upcoming Academic Year 2025-26! The NLS BA (Hons) is uniquely designed to include, Common Core Foundational Courses, Majors and Minors, Open Electives, Languages, Practice Courses and Internships.

Admission will be on the basis of an all-India National Law School Admission Test (NLSAT-BA).

Panel of speakers:

This information session is free and open to all. To register for the online information session, click here.

We look forward to meeting you at the session!

Cyber Vidhi Sangam Conclave 2025: Law at the Frontiers of Technology and Trust | By NLSIU PGD Cyber Law & Cyber Forensics Alumni

On October 24, 2025, alumni of the PGD in Cyber Law & Cyber Forensics (PGDCLCF) from NLSIU, will convene for the inaugural Cyber Vidhi Sangam – CLCF Concave 2025. This is a working forum designed to address one of the most pressing questions of our time: ‘How do law and technology evolve together to manage the risks of a digital-first world?’ We explore not just how to respond to cybercrime and privacy threats, but how to create a digital future that is innovative, fair, and secure.

Why is this forum coming together?

Cybercrime is no longer confined to the realm of financial fraud or data breaches — it has become a force that undermines the very foundations of trust in our digital lives. At the same time, privacy, once taken for granted, is steadily eroding, leaving individuals, businesses, and governments grappling with questions of control and accountability. While regulation continues to play a vital role, it is clear that legal frameworks alone cannot keep pace with the speed and unpredictability of technological disruption. The real challenge lies in rebuilding trust; trust in systems, in institutions, and in the very idea that technology can serve society without compromising its values. This is where Cyber Vidhi Sangam – CLCF Conclave 2025 steps in: a forum where voices from law, technology, policy, and industry come together to examine these urgent questions, anticipate the challenges ahead, and shape the frameworks of tomorrow.

Schedule

  • Keynote by Dr. Nigam Nuggehalli, Registrar In-Charge & Professor of Law, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
  • Panel Discussion on ‘Privacy as Leverage – Building Trust, Loyalty, and Market Edge’
  • Panel Discussion on ‘Cyberlogue: AI vs AI – The Future Between Cyber Defenders and Cyber Criminals’
View Detailed Agenda

How To Register?

Click here to register.

Registration fee: Rs. 3,000/-

 

Centre for Labour Studies & Nazdeek | Conference on Labour Laws and Welfare of Tea Workers in India

The Centre for Labour Studies (CLS) at NLSIU is organising a two-day conference at its campus, in collaboration with Nazdeek. This Conference is aimed at bringing together diverse stakeholders to chart a path forward for realisation of decent working conditions for workers in tea plantations across India.

Concept Note

The tea industry is one of the most significant employers in South Asia, particularly in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. According to a report of the Labour Bureau of Government of India, 5,40,840 workers were engaged in tea plantations in India in 2019. According to another estimate, the tea industry provides direct employment to over 1 million people while subsistence of another 10 million people is connected to the tea industry. Yet, despite its economic importance, tea plantation workers often face exploitative working conditions, inadequate wages, poor housing, and limited access to healthcare and education. Many of these issues stem from weak enforcement and inadequate reform of existing labour laws. Given the transnational nature of the tea supply chain, and the similarity in the challenges faced by tea workers across South Asian countries, it is vital to conduct a region-wide analysis of labour laws governing tea plantation workers. The ‘Conference on Labour Laws & Welfare of Tea Workers in India’ hopes to be the first phase of a longer engagement in conducting this region-wide analysis.

The conference will assess existing legal frameworks and their implementation on a pan-Indian level, while identifying gaps and opportunities for strengthening worker rights through legislative reforms and advocacy efforts. This assessment will be undertaken within the context of an examination of the structure of the tea value chain. The design of this conference will be in the form of panel-based substantive discussions which will foreground interventions, questions and points of discussion in the manner of a collaborative consultation. This consultation will be between leading trade unions, civil society organisations (CSOs), legal and financial policy experts, legal academicians, and labour advocates to discuss findings and devise an actionable roadmap.

This format will allow for different stakeholders to find a common platform to generate a synergy of ideas and form a concrete plan of action to implement the aforementioned legislative reforms, as well as imagine and cultivate new areas of intervention. The aim of the conference is to establish a working group involving these various stakeholders who will be tasked with the conception of a regionally coordinated action plan for advancing legislative reforms and advocating for improved working conditions in the tea industry in India. In the future, the hope is that this blueprint can result in future collaborations across South Asia.

For queries, please write to

About Centre for Labour Studies, NLSIU

The Centre for Labour Studies (CLS) is an autonomous Centre at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU). It has been set up as a multidisciplinary Centre to be able to address various issues that define regulation and governance in employment relations. It seeks to primarily engage with five issues: labour law and regulation; trade unions and collective bargaining; labour law governance, with focus on the Karnataka Labour Department; understanding employment relations and structure of industry in select sectors of informal and formal employment; precarious work and forced labour.

About Nazdeek

Nazdeek supports local organisations addressing socio-economic challenges through trust-based funding and technical support. Their partners include organisations and experts focusing on building women’s leadership in urban informal settlements, tea plantations, and the textile and garments sector. In over a decade of partnerships, they have facilitated and strengthened more than eight grassroots organisations, positively impacting at least a million of the most marginalised groups.

At present, Nazdeek’s grantees are implementing the legal empowerment model (LEM) in the states of Delhi, West Bengal, Assam, and Tamil Nadu.

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Book Talk | ‘Being Hindu, Being Indian: Lala Lajpat Rai’s Ideas of Nationhood’ by Dr. Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav

Dr. Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav, Assistant Professor, Social Science, NLSIU spoke about her book ‘Being Hindu, Being Indian’ at the Indian Heritage Academy (IHA), Koramangala, Bengaluru, on September 24, 2025.

The talk, hosted by IHA in collaboration with Azim Premji University, was followed by a moderated Q&A session with the author.

About the Book

The book contests the dominant interpretation of Lala Lajpat Rai’s nationalism as the precursor of Savarkarite Hindutva and highlights the internally differentiated nature of ‘Hindu nationalism’.  It brings to light the pluralist Indian nationalism Rai once articulated, and shows that, as a Hindu Mahasabha leader in the mid-1920s, Rai organised a Hindu politics in the service of a secular Indian nation-state, a position fraught with internal tension.

Committed to making history accessible without compromising on disciplinary rigour, Bhargav’s book is based on her doctoral research and was published by Penguin Random House India in February 2024. It also covers the themes of religion, majoritarianism, secularism and caste. (Source: IHA)

About the Author

Dr. Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav is a historian of modern South Asia. She is interested in nationalism and secularism, and religious and political thought, in general. She was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Multiple Secularities Research Group, University of Leipzig, Germany, and ICAS: M.P., New Delhi, India. Vanya has also taught modern South Asian history to undergraduates at Oxford.

Vanya’s research has been published in leading peer-reviewed academic journals, such as the Journal of Asian Studies, Global Intellectual History, Studies in Indian Politics and Religions. Being Hindu, Being Indian: Lala Lajpat Rai’s Ideas of Nationhood is her first book. (Source: APU)

Her detailed profile can be accessed here.

Faculty Development Workshop Series | Teaching Criminal Law: Curriculum, Syllabus & Pedagogy | By NLSIU & NUS

The National Law School of India University, Bengaluru (NLSIU) introduces the Faculty Development Workshop Series.

The first workshop in this series, focussing on Criminal Law, will be held on November 15 & 16, 2025. Titled ‘Teaching Criminal Law – Curriculum, Syllabus and Pedagogy,’ this inaugural workshop is being organised in collaboration with the Centre for Asian Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore (NUS).

The two-day immersive and interactive workshop will focus on teaching methodology, pedagogy, and classroom instruction techniques from leading academics of criminal law across Asia.

Aim of the Workshop

  • To enable academics to gain exposure to criminal law pedagogy from distinguished international experts in the field and to understand different methods and approaches to teaching criminal law.
  • To provide academics from across Indian universities and law institutes an opportunity to share and reflect on their own teaching methodologies and to receive feedback and suggestions from the expert panel and from each other.
  • To discuss a suggested syllabus to teach substantive criminal law and introduce a forthcoming textbook on Criminal Law in India (authored by Mrinal Satish, Stanley Yeo, Wing-Cheong Chan, Michael Hor, and Neil Morgan), and the textbook companion project initiated by NLSIU.

Who should Attend?

The workshop will be ideal for early-stage academics, and law faculty members with up to seven years of teaching experience.

What will you Gain?

  • A unique opportunity to learn from and interact with distinguished criminal law scholars and academics on approaches to teaching criminal law.
  • A comprehensive deep dive into the principal domains of substantive criminal law, reflecting the thematic structure of Indian substantive criminal law.
  • Direct interaction with academic peers and colleagues engaged in teaching criminal law.
  • A certificate of participation, on completion.

Resource Persons

  1. Mrinal Satish, Professor of Law & Dean (Research), NLSIU
  2. Stanley Yeo, Visiting Professor of Law, NUS
  3. Wing-Cheong Chan, Professor of Law, Singapore Management University
  4. Michael Hor, Professor of Law, University of Hong Kong
  5. Ronnakorn Bunmee, Assistant Professor of Law, Thammasat University, Thailand
  6. Kunal Ambasta, Assistant Professor of Law, NLSIU

Schedule

Click here for the workshop schedule.

How to Apply?

  • Candidates interested in enrolling into this workshop should submit a formal request for registration through this form by October 20, 2025. Please note, registration is mandatory.
  • The selection shall primarily be based on the CV, academic and professional background of the candidate, and statement of purpose. During the selection process diversity of backgrounds shall be given due consideration.
  • Successful applicants will be notified by October 25, 2025, and must complete the full payment to NLSIU by October 31, 2025 (5 PM IST).

Fee

As there are limited slots for this workshop, enrollment will be based upon selection and subject to full payment of the Workshop Fee of INR 20,000 (all inclusive).

Please note: The workshop fee covers the certificate, reading materials, lunch & tea during the sessions. As this is a non-residential workshop, participants are requested to make their own accommodation and travel arrangements to the NLSIU campus.

Important Notes

  • Attendees are expected to participate in workshop activities and break out group discussions. There will be no formal assessment, research papers submission or exams.
  • A certificate of participation will be issued to those who attend and complete the workshop.
  • There shall be no refund of any fees should the participant cancel the enrollment or fail to attend the workshop.

For academic queries, contact Kunal Ambasta ().
For other queries, please write to .

 

Workshop on Generative AI and Consumer Law Project: Enhancing Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanisms

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay), are hosting an online workshop as part of the ‘Generative AI and Consumer Law Project’ investigating how large language models (LLMs) can be used for building public solutions for enhancing the efficiency in India’s consumer grievance redressal system. This event is scheduled for Monday, September 29, 2025, from 5 PM to 7 PM.

About the project

In November 2023, the NLSIU, with support from Meta, announced a research project in the field of generative AI and legal system reforms. The project was executed along with IIT Bombay, in collaboration with the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) as the knowledge partner.

In this project, we use Llama 3.2, Meta’s publicly accessible large language model, to develop and test Grahak Nyay: a citizen-focussed chatbot and Nyay Darpan: a decision-assist tool for Consumer Commissions in Consumer Law. The chatbot’s purpose is to streamline consumer complaint procedures and provide answers to consumer law queries in India. The decision-assist tool, also a part of this research, aims to facilitate the search and summarisation of case laws, offering support to judicial authorities in consumer affairs. As part of this project, earlier in May 2025, NLSIU organised the first edition of NLSIU AI & Law Forum that brought together research scholars, innovative legal tech start-ups, and impactful civil society organisations that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to address legal challenges and contribute to systemic legal reforms.

About the workshop

In this online workshop, NLSIU and IIT Bombay will discuss in detail the ideation and execution of the ‘Generative AI and Consumer Law Project’. This will include:

  • Conceptualisation and building of Grahak Nyay; technology, knowledge base creation, testing, benchmarking, documentation and demonstration of the chatbot.
  • Conceptualisation and building of Nyay Darpan; training corpus, strategies, evaluation and documentation and demonstration of the tool and its capabilities.

This workshop seeks to bring together professionals and research scholars in AI and law for a collaborative dialogue. Your invaluable insights will be instrumental in guiding the project’s future direction.

Registration

To register for the workshop, click here.

For queries regarding the workshop, please reach out to

Panel Discussion on ‘Streamlining Dispute Resolution in Defence Procurement: Impact of ADR’ | By HAL Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) Chair in Business Laws, NLSIU

NLSIU’s HAL Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) Chair in Business Laws organised a panel discussion on the theme ‘Streamlining Dispute Resolution in Defence Procurement: Impact of ADR’ on September 11, 2025.

About the Panel

This panel discussion examined the evolving dispute resolution landscape in defence procurement contracts with a focus on the role of arbitration and mediation in defence acquisition disputes. It also explored recent developments, challenges, and best practices in the field.

Panellists:

  • Mr. Ravi Kiran Vaddiparthi, DGM (Contracts), CO HAL:
  • Mr. Vidhyadharan M K, Chief General Manager (O) Legal, BEML
  • Ms. Akanksha Singh, Assistant Manager, Legal, BEML
  • Dr. Harishankar K. Sathyapalan, Associate Professor, NLSIU

About the Panellists

Mr. Ravi Kiran Vaddiparthi

He is currently working as Deputy General Manager, Contracts at Corporate Office, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bengaluru.

Ravi was born and brought up in Visakhapatnam. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce (B.Com.) and a Bachelor’s degree in Law (B.L. from Andhra University, as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management (IRPM) from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. He has practiced as an Advocate at the Visakhapatnam Bar Counsel in the fields of civil law, labour law and consumer law, and has handled several litigations of PSU’s, banks, private individuals, including matters related to arbitration, real estate, land acquisition, matrimonial disputes, matters relating commercial contracts (tenders), etc., before tribunals and forums. Due to his keen interest in corporates, he joined ABB, an MNC in Bengaluru in 2004, handling national and international commercial contracts for the Asia-Pacific region. He extended his support in the fields of legal and contract management, handled several construction (highways), power substations, metro projects including DMRCL, Jaipur Metro, BMRCL with 750 DC, Commercial Contracts.

For more than a decade, he has worked at the HAL Corporate Office supporting all types of aircraft projects (fixed and rotary wing) like LCA, LUH, ALH, HTT-40, Do-228, Hawk, Su 30, MIG -29 etc including overhaul, aerospace, procurement of different engines, negotiating and finalising commercial contracts with vendors, OEMs. This included export business of HAL to several countries, consultancy services, non-consultancy services, supply chain issues and more. He has been instrumental in finalising long-term contracts i.e., General Term Agreements, with several original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for doing ease of business.

Mr. Vidhyadharan M K

After completing his B.Com., Vidhyadharan pursued Law from Government Law College, Calicut and enrolled with the Bar Council in January 1995 as an Advocate. He started his practice in the Office of the District Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor dealing with cases by and against the government including criminal matters involving State and continued till 2000. Following that, he was appointed as Probationary Law Officer in Canara Bank, through the Banking Service Recruitment Board, and served in that position till 2009. While in Canara Bank, he got opportunity to associate with the formation of Mediation Centre at Nyaya Degula, Double Road, Bengaluru in 2007.  He headed the legal section of Canara Bank at its Head Office as Manager (Law). In October 2009, he joined BEML Limited, a defence PSU, and has headed its Corporate Legal Cell since. He has dealt with matters before the Supreme Court of India, High Courts, Civil Courts, Criminal Courts, Labour Courts, Industrial Tribunals, CAT, CGITs, Consumer Commissions, etc., across India. He has dealt in ad-hoc/institutional arbitrations including international arbitrations, statutory arbitrations like MSMEDA, Lok Adalats, mediation, conciliations. He has also dealt in matters before the FEMA cum PMLA Tribunal and Appellate Tribunal, Electricity Regulatory Authority and Appellate Authority, CLB, NCLT, NCLAT.

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Panel Discussion on ‘Inequality in India: Recent Debates and Policy Implications’

NLSIU hosted a panel discussion on ‘Inequality in India: Recent Debates and Policy Implications’ on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. Dr. Arjun Jayadev of Azim Premji University and Dr. Himanshu of Jawaharlal Nehru University were in conversation with NLS faculty Dr. Shiuli Vanaja and Dr. Angarika Rakshit.

About the Panel

Inequality has been a central issue in the development process of India. Post 1991, while India has experienced high rates of economic growth, it has also observed rising levels of income inequality with increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of few. In the past few months, there have been debates and discussions around income inequality with some proposing that India has made considerable progress in reducing income inequality as compared to other countries while others refuting this argument. The measurement of inequality was central to these discussions and debates. In this discussion, the panel members addressed these recent debates on inequality and its policy implications. Additionally, income inequality was discussed in the wider context of its interconnections with social inequality and regional variations across India.

About the Panellists

  • Dr. Arjun Jayadev teaches Economics at the Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. He has previously taught at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is also a Senior Economist at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and was an inaugural post-doctoral fellow at the Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University. His research combines quantitative and theoretical analysis of finance, development, political economy and intellectual property. He is one of the primary authors involved with the CORE economics textbook project in collaboration with economists from around the world.
  • Dr. Himanshu teaches Economics at Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi. He is also visiting fellow at Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi. Prior to joining JNU, he was a research fellow in economics at the Centre de Sciences Humaines and C R Parekh fellow at Asia Research Centre of the London School of Economics. His areas of research include issues related to poverty, inequality, employment, food security and agrarian change. He has been involved with various government committees including Expert Group on Measurement of Poverty (Tendulkar Committee), National Statistical Commission and the Ministry of Rural Development.  Himanshu received his PhD in Economics from JNU.

Discussant: Dr. Shiuli Vanaja, Assistant Professor, Social Science, NLSIU

Moderator: Dr. Angarika Rakshit, Assistant Professor, Social Science, NLSIU

This event was jointly organised by Dr. Angarika Rakshit and Dr. Shiuli Vanaja in collaboration with NLSIU’s Research Office and the NLS BA (Hons) Programme Committee. 

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Book Discussion | ‘The Cambridge Companion to Periyar’

NLSIU organised a book discussion on the volume ‘The Cambridge Companion to Periyar’ on Sunday, September 14, 2025.

Edited by A.R. Venkatachalapathy (Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies) and Dr. Karthick Ram Manoharan (Assistant Professor, NLSIU), this volume addresses multiple aspects of Periyar’s life, politics and thoughts from different perspectives, engaging with new material. Dr. Manoharan was joined by the following panellists in a discussion on this key thinker of the Dravidian Movement:

About the Book  

The ‘Cambridge Companion to Periyar’ is a timely academic intervention which brings together scholars working on different aspects of modern Tamil politics, taking diverse perspectives, to comment on Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, the significant thinker whose thoughts inform political practices in contemporary Tamil Nadu. As the chapters seek to demonstrate, Periyar’s thoughts can have a pan-Indian and a global significance, informing conversations on caste, gender, religion, regionalism, nationalism, and social justice. Likewise, in the wake of wider conversations on bringing diversity to the academic disciplines, this volume on Periyar will draw attention to a non-canonical thinker whose important intellectual and political contributions transcend the limits of his context. The volume brings together established academics in the field as well as early career researchers to provide the first of its kind companion to Periyar. Tapping new sources, challenging myths, and crossing disciplinary boundaries, this volume presents a Periyar for the times.

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The Hindu | T.N. CM Stalin unveils portrait of Periyar on Oxford University campus

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