Our next public lecture will be delivered by Prof. (Dr.) Francis Cody on his recently published book, The News Event: Popular Sovereignty in the Age of Deep Mediatization (Chicago 2023). The lecture will take place on April 6, 2023 at 5 pm.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Francis Cody is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Asian Institute at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on politics, language, and media in southern India. His first book, The Light of Knowledge: Literacy Activism and the Politics of Writing in South India (Cornell 2013), won the 2014 Edward Sapir Book Prize awarded by the Society for Linguistic Anthropology. Cody’s new book, The News Event: Popular Sovereignty in the Age of Deep Mediatization (Chicago 2023) explores questions of law, technology, and violence in the context of journalism and populist politics.
Book Abstract:
In the hypermediated world of Tamil Nadu, Francis Cody studies how “news events” are made. Not merely the act of representing events with words or images, a “news event” is the reciprocal relationship between the events being reported in the news and the event of the news coverage itself. In The News Event, Francis Cody focuses on how imaginaries of popular sovereignty have been remade through the production and experience of such events. Political sovereignty is thoroughly mediated by the production of news. And subjects invested in the idea of democracy are remarkably reflexive about the role of publicly circulating images and texts in the very constitution of their subjectivity. The law comes to stand as both a limit and positive condition in this process of event making, where acts of legal and extralegal repression of publication can also become the stuff of news about news makers. When the subjects of news inhabit multiple participant roles in the unfolding of public events, when the very technologies of recording and circulating events themselves become news, the act of representing a political event becomes difficult to disentangle from that of participating in it. This, Cody argues, is the crisis of contemporary news making: the news can no longer claim exteriority to the world on which it reports.
The event is open to all. We look forward to seeing you at the session!
This faculty seminar will feature a conversation between NLS faculty members Dr. Aniket Nandan and Dr. Karthick Ram Manoharan on his book titled “Periyar: A Study in Political Atheism” (Orient Blackswan, 2022). Dr. Manoharan published an article in 2020 titled “Freedom from God: Periyar and Religion” which carries the crux of the book’s argument. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A session.
Abstract
Periyar E.V. Ramasamy (1879-1973) was a rationalist anti-caste leader from South India. Known for his critical views on caste, nationalism, gender, and social justice, he earned a controversial reputation in his lifetime and after for his views on religion. Criticized by his opponents for being a ‘crude atheist’, Periyar’s critique of religion however was not a simple rejection of god, but a critique of political theology. In Periyar: A Study in Political Atheism, Manoharan discusses Periyar’s controversial, sometimes contradictory, but overall nuanced approach to religion, and explores how his criticisms of religion were fundamentally rooted in an opposition to hierarchical social power and a concern for social justice. The first academic book in English to explore this subject, Manoharan reads Periyar in the anarchist tradition, drawing comparisons with the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, to consider how Periyar was critical of both divine and secular power. With an elaborate introduction that places Periyar in historical and intellectual context, the other chapters discuss Periyar’s political atheism, his approach to Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Marxism, and concludes with a discussion of his relevance for contemporary debates on secularism and post-secularism.
The Institute of Public Policy, NLSIU along with the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and its Young Scholars Initiative (YSI) is organising a three-day conference on ‘Inclusive Development: Role of Employment and Environment’ from March 28-30, 2023. The conference will focus on inclusive development, especially the role of employment opportunities in a changing world of work and the environment in envisioning inclusiveness. The program will include contributions from senior academicians, policy makers and legal professionals as well paper-presentations from selected young scholars from across the subcontinent.
DAY 1: March 28, 2023 | 6 pm – 8 pm
Keynote Talk: Structural Labour Discrimination in India
Speaker: Prof. Jens Lerche, Professor, Agrarian and Labour Studies, SOAS, University of London Bangalore International Centre
This presentation focuses on structural labour discrimination at the bottom of the labour hierarchy in India. Globally, labour market discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender and place is well documented. This is also the case for work related inequalities and discrimination along the lines of caste and ethnicity in India.
Combining labour market data with qualitative studies, this presentation by Jens Lerche shows that structural discrimination is central to labour market segmentation, also in the modern economy. This follows lines of caste, ethnicity and place.
Seasonal labour migrants, and among them especially Adivasis and Dalits, undertake the hardest, lowest paid hyper-precarious informalised jobs, often without access to the same rights as local labourers. They do this at the the cost of their and their household’s long-time social reproduction and care which is externalised by the employers. This is a result not only of direct labour market discrimination but is also based on discrimination in access to skill and historical disadvantage. The presentation concludes with a discussion of policy recommendations.
Panel discussion & Paper Presentations NLSIU, Bengaluru
Can technological change lead to an inclusive future of work and promote inclusive development?Adoption of new technologies such as automation, AI and industrial robots in the production process continues to grow rapidly in every country. The question that has emerged globally is the impact of these technologies on employment and on overall society. In the context of a developing country with already existing inequality and social exclusion, the question is twofold: what is the future of work and is the future of work inclusive? This is a critical juncture for discussions around labour as technology has brought about not only a rapidly changing workforce, but also workplace scenarios. The emergence of gig and platform work has introduced labour law to new challenges where the employment relationship is digitally mediated and involves the algorithmic management of labour. As a response to this, lawmakers and workers’ organizations have experimented with different approaches: ranging from the demands for a bare minimum of social security and transparency in working conditions to a more comprehensive, worker-centred transformation of how gig and platform work is structured.
The ultimate effects of technological progress on labour relations will be determined by how it is used and how people, firms, governments, institutions, and international organizations respond and prepare for these changes in the economy and society. This panel will discuss these challenges faced by a developing country like India and reflect on possible ways forward, with a focus on gig and platform work.
Featuring: Prof. Bino Paul (TISS), Prof. Vijay G (Hyderabad University), Dr. Manjunath (Additional Labour Commissioner, Industrial Relations –
Government of Karnataka), Jane Cox (Attorney, India – Labor and Trade Unions), Chair: Prof. Babu Mathew (National Law School of India University)
DAY 3: March 30, 2023
Panel discussion & Paper presentations NLSIU, Bengaluru
How can inequalities and injustices of pollution be accounted for in envisioning inclusive development? Impacts of pollution (including climate change), while ubiquitous, vary in pattern and strength across regions as well as across socio-economic groups within a region. On the one hand, disadvantaged groups are more exposed and susceptible to pollution related damages with limited ability to cope and recover from the losses. On the other hand, socioeconomic inequalities further facilitate the obstruction of climate policies by wealthy elites, undermine public support for the policy, and weaken the social foundations of collective action. This panel will discuss how such environment related outcomes of must feature in the conceptualization of inclusive development.
The conference will conclude with a session on “Consolidation & Future Research Collaborations” involving a summary of the conference, an open discussion on potential future research collaborations, and opportunities for continued involvement.
For more details about the programme, please click here.
Please note, this conference is for invitees registered participants only.
For further information, please write to ,
NLSIU will be conducting a second live information session on the Master’s Programme in Public Policy on March 31, 2023 from 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. This online information session will provide information on preparing for the NLSAT – MPP and the test pattern. Faculty will also discuss sample questions during the session.
DR. RINKU LAMBA, Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, NLSIU
Please note, only candidates who have completed the registration process (i.e. those who have completed the payment for the NLSAT-MPP) will be eligible to attend the information session. Candidates who have already completed their registration may login to the admissions portal (admissions.nls.ac.in) and click on the webinar link to register for the information session.
If you are planning to appear for the NLSAT – MPP, don’t forget to complete your registration before the event. For queries or assistance, please write to
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India) Chair on IPR, CIPRA, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, KIIT School of Law, Bhubaneswar, Odisha organise an International Round Table: A Conference on “Evolving trends for an International Regime on Intellectual property, Genetic Resources and Associated TK”.
Concept Note
The genetic resources that are ‘genetic materials of actual or potential value’ have increasing interlink with Intellectual Property and Traditional knowledge. The value of Genetic Resource as an IP as well as its association with IP has been discussed on different fora in different contexts. The WIPO-IGC established in 2000 has been debating for more than two decades issues pertaining to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. Beginning with an initial non-normative approach looking at defensive protection, to need for a legal instrument in 2003, through a ‘text-based negotiations’ decision in 2010-11, the ‘intersessional working groups’ leading progress, the emergence of single negotiating text and options around new patent disclosure requirement in 2012, and finally the Chair’s draft international legal instrument on GRs and associated TK in 2019 WIPO-IGC has trodden the turfs. The Chair’s draft is considered as the ‘basic proposal’ on which the negotiations will continue leading to diplomatic conference.
The genetic resources that are ‘genetic materials of actual or potential value’ have increasing interlink with Intellectual Property and Traditional knowledge. The value of Genetic Resource as an IP as well as its association with IP has been discussed on different fora in different contexts. The WIPO-IGC established in 2000 has been debating for more than two decades issues pertaining to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. Beginning with an initial non-normative approach looking at defensive protection, to need for a legal instrument in 2003, through a ‘text-based negotiations’ decision in 2010-11, the ‘inter sessional working groups’ leading progress, the emergence of single negotiating text and options around new patent disclosure requirement in 2012, and finally the Chair’s draft international legal instrument on GRs and associated TK in 2019 WIPO-IGC has trodden the turfs. The Chair’s draft is considered as the ‘basic proposal’ on which the negotiations will continue leading to diplomatic conference.
NLSIU will be conducting a second live information session on the LL.B. (Hons.) Programme on March 24, 2023 from 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. This online information session will provide information on preparing for the NLSAT – LLB and the test pattern. Faculty will also solve sample questions during the session.
Please note, only candidates who have completed the registration process (i.e. those who have completed the payment for the NLSAT-LLB) will be eligible to attend the information session. Candidates who have already completed their registration may login to the admissions portal (admissions.nls.ac.in) and click on the webinar link to register for the information session.
If you are planning to appear for the NLSAT – LLB, don’t forget to complete your registration before the event. For queries or assistance, please write to
The next public lecture will be delivered by Prof. (Dr.) Rajeev Bhargava on his book titled “Between Hope and Despair: 100 Ethical Reflections on Contemporary India”.
About the speaker
Prof. (Dr.) Rajeev Bhargava is a well-known political theorist whose work on individualism and secularism has received international acclaim. He is currently an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi (CSDS), and Director of Parekh Institute of Indian Thought, CSDS. He was also CSDS’s Director from 2007 to 2014. Rajeev Bhargava has been a Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and University of Delhi, apart from teaching at several international universities.
About the book
“India’s collective ethical identity is under duress. We don’t seem to currently agree on what our collective good is. Some groups believe that India is finally rediscovering its Hindu identity and becoming a great nation-state. For others, this change has brought us on the verge of losing our civilisational character of being inclusive but not any less Hindu.
Is it possible to bring these groups with divergent views to discuss each other’s point of view? And do so reasonably, with an open mind? Rajeev Bhargava thinks it is. He believes that the legitimate concerns of all those disenchanted with the idea of an inclusive, pluralist India can actually be addressed within the basic framework of India’s constitutional democracy.
Through these short, elegant and lucid reflections on contemporary events, he takes the readers to the founding narrative of the republic and clarifies its ethical ideals. Readers are asked to join the process of reflection, to criticise with empathy, particularly where the moral compass to properly guide individual and collective action is lost and offer positive appraisals where due. If we get the fundamentals of our original ethical vision right, then, Bhargava subtly suggests, we might yet save our country from further polarisation and may even heal some of its divisions.” (Source: Bloomsbury)
The QAMRA Archival Project at NLSIU invites you to a guest lecture by Prof. Craig Konnoth on Epistemic Discrimination.
About the Speaker
Prof. Craig Konnoth is Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. He writes in health and civil rights, as well as on health data regulation. He is also active in LGBT rights litigation, and has filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit on LGBT rights issues. His publications have appeared or will appear in the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the Hastings Law Journal, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Iowa Law Review, the online companions to the Penn law review and the Washington & Lee Law Review, and as chapters in edited volumes. In 2022, he was named UVA’s John T. Casteen III Faculty Fellow in Ethics, a program that supports integrating ethical analysis and reasoning into courses. In 2021, he was awarded a Greenwall Foundation Fellowship, which is the nation’s foremost fellowship in bioethics for early career scholars.
Abstract
American antidiscrimination law and theory divide discrimination’s causes into two categories. On the one hand, there is address animus and bias. Individuals unreasonably hold harmful opinions about certain groups because of a negative attitude towards those groups. I refer to this as attitudinal discrimination. On the other hand, discrimination may be structural, where discrimination based on one factor—say money—is structurally related to a specific characteristic like race. This is commonly referred to as structural discrimination.
But some examples of discrimination fall into neither category. Consider the following examples:
During the perilous yellow fever outbreak of 1793 in Philadelphia, black pastors Absalom Jones and Richard Allen volunteered black people to assist with public health efforts based on the “assurance that people of [their] colour were not liable to take on the infection,” an assurance they later found to be false.[1]
More recently, Dorothy Roberts recounts how she faced representatives from the NAACP who, along with black advocates, doctors, and Congresspeople, supported drugs supposedly tailored to the supposedly unique biology of black people.[2]Roberts convincingly argues that this understanding harms black people in the long run.
Black Americans similarly have endorsed claims that they were immune to COVID-19 and discouraged vaccination in the black community.[3]
These cases described above fall into neither traditional category of discrimination. They do not necessarily involve unreasonable discrimination because of negative attitudes: in the first two examples, actors relied on what they (reasonably) believed to be robust medical authority, and in all three cases, attitudes are hardly negative. Nor is there any structural relationship to some additional characteristic like money.
I refer to this form of discrimination as epistemic discrimination. On this account, the discriminator in question does not have unreasonable attitudes towards the group. Rather, they believe the claims of sources of information that they reasonably consider reliable—for example, foremost medical authorities. This very early stage project will situate epistemic discrimination against “classical” forms of discrimination, address the comparative moral and legal liability of discriminators, and examine epistemic remedies for epistemic discrimination.
This week’s faculty seminar will feature a talk by Dr. Ashwini Tambe on the topic “When will the dawn of divorce arrive?”: An Itinerary of Pre-Legal Ideas about Divorce in Stree Magazine, 1930-1955″. NLS faculty member Prof. (Dr.) Sarasu will be the discussant.
About the speaker:
Dr. Ashwini Tambe is the Director of WGSS (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Programme) and Professor of History and WGSS at George Washington University. Dr. Tambe is a scholar of transnational South Asian history who focuses on the relationship between law, gender and sexuality. She is also the Editorial Director of Feminist Studies, the oldest journal of interdisciplinary feminist scholarship in the United States. Over the past two decades, she has written about how South Asian societies regulate sexual practices. Her 2009 book Codes of Misconduct: Regulating Prostitution in Late Colonial Bombay (the University of Minnesota Press) traces how law-making and law-enforcement practices shaped the rise of the city’s red light district. Her 2019 book Defining Girlhood in India: A Transnational Approach to Sexual Maturity Laws (University of Illinois Press) explores how the expectation of sexual innocence is distributed in uneven ways for girls across class and caste groups. Both books examine the direction and flow of transnational influences. Her new book Transnational Feminist Itineraries (Duke University Press 2021, co-edited with Millie Thayer) features essays by leading gender studies scholars confronting authoritarianism and religious and economic fundamentalism.
Abstract:
In this paper, it is described how a Marathi monthly magazine for women, Stree, prepared the ground for the social acceptance of divorce before it was legally available. The magazine’s contents in its first two decades of publication gave unusual attention to the plight of women who sought to free themselves from difficult marriages, at a time when divorce was inaccessible for Hindu women in much of the region. Opinion articles and readers’ letters to the editor demonstrate a range of rhetorical strategies to positively depict divorce in a context where it was vilified as a culturally alien practice. In effect, this paper explains how the magazine sought to indigenize divorce among Marathi readers. In focusing on a community that produced a significant number of reformists and legislators who helped formalize Hindu women’s legal right to divorce at a national level, this study of Marathi readers, legal advisors, and commentators traces an itinerary of reformist ideas about divorce before they gained national legislative success.
This presentation focuses on structural labour discrimination at the bottom of the labour hierarchy in India. Globally, labour market discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender and place is well documented. This is also the case for work related inequalities and discrimination along the lines of caste and ethnicity in India.