Faculty Seminar | Religious Penal Clauses in Context: Country Studies in Common Law Asia

The session was chaired by Dr Mrinal Satish.

Abstract: In this paper, Dr Mrinal traces the history, interpretation and contemporary application of religious penal clauses in India. He argues that the contemporary application of religious penal clauses has a chilling effect on free speech and expression, and is being used as a tool to curtail dissent and differing points of view. He demonstrates how a few provisions have been actively used in order to prosecute articulation of counter-majoritarian thoughts and views. Analysing contemporary usage of religious penal clauses, he argues that the criminal process is the punishment intended, and that there is no serious effort to take cases filed to their logical end.

The full paper will be made available at a later date.

Faculty Seminar | In the Shadows of the State: How Rent Shape Our Cities

This session was chaired by Dr. Sushmita Pati, Assistant Professor of Law, NLSIU.

Abstract:
“My work is centred around how cities are constituted by rent. We know enough of how capital and labour make cities. But we don’t really know where to place rent in all of this. But if we do want to understand urbanisation in the global south, I argue that rent is central. To do this, I look at a peculiar form of urban villages in Delhi. In 1950s, in the bid to create a modern postcolonial city, and along with it, modern citizens, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), a statutory body created in 1957, passed an order to acquire 34,070 acres of land under section 4 of Land Acquisition Act on 13 November 1959, in preparation for the Delhi Master Plan. Most of these villages happened to be Jat and Gujjar dominated villages lying on the southern side of the city precincts. Currently, there are some 135 such urban villages or lal dora villages dotting the urban landscape of Delhi. The reasons for not acquiring the village settlement in such a curious fashion are not very clear. A fair guess suggests that this strategy speeded up and cheapened the process of acquisition. In their grandiose scheme of wanting to create an  urban revolution through a regional plan, the planning authorities could not be too bothered about the question of these newly created ‘urban villages’.

It would be decades before the urban authorities begin to get haunted by these unruly spaces, now no longer tamable by law. Urban villages ironically are a by-product of Delhi Master Plan 1962, the modern, regional plan that was supposed to end all woes of the city. At any rate, these villages remain as oddities amidst the vast landscape of upmarket residential colonies, shopping complexes, malls and flyovers. I look at two Jat dominated villages in my work- Munirka and Shahpur Jat, and their transformation as New Delhi continues to grow around them, unabated. In early years of 1960s and 1970s, these villagers try their hand at enterprises like construction and transport and other ancillary businesses whose demands were fuelled by the city. The state, also unsure of what to do with these villages, put them under a building bye-law exemption in 1963. Since they were villages that predated the Master Plan, they were not expected to abide by the building bye-laws. The exemptions therefore, were easy ways through which the state could declare the villages as ‘exceptions’ and therefore, forget about them.”

Read the full paper.

Faculty Seminar | Whither Evidence (Act) based reasoning?: Towards an Effects-based Approach in Indian Competition Jurisprudence

This session was chaired by Rahul Singh, Associate Professor of Law, NLSIU.

Abstract:
India has a nascent competition enactment. But it has an old evidence law—the Indian Evidence Act—of 1872  vintage. The competition commission has shown scepticism towards the applicability of the evidence law to competition proceedings. This article argues that such scepticism is mistaken. Based upon an intrinsic reasoning (ie arguments from the autonomous discipline of law) and two ‘instrumental’ reasonings (ie arguments emphasizing the consequences of the counterfactual), this article underscores that the competition commission ought to develop fidelity towards the Indian Evidence Act. Such fidelity (rather than scepticism) would move the needle of competition jurisprudence towards an effects-based approach in decision-making.

Read the full paper.

Faculty Seminar | All that Glitters…Recent Law Reforms and their Impact on Child Marriages

This session was chaired by Dr. Sarasu Esther Thomas, Registrar & Professor of Law, NLSIU.

Abstract: This paper looks at the intersection between child marriage and related laws with a special focus on Karnataka which is the only State which has an amendment to the child marriage law declaring such marriages void.

Dr Sarasu takes the position that the stand taken on declaring child marriage void by the One Man Core Committee/ Justice Shivraj Patil Committee, the Karnataka Amendment to the PCMA, and the Court in obiter in Independent Thought as well as Karnataka based studies on child marriage in Karnataka, does harm to the child/ woman (child rights or life cycle approach).

Read the full paper. 

One Day National Webinar | National Webinar on Misleading Advertisement

The aim of this webinar is to familiarize its participants with the legal implications of misleading advertisements and
ways by which the consumer protect themselves from such malpractices. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, has
empowered CCPA and Consumer Commissions to regulate Misleading Advertisement. This webinar will address the
role of CCPA, ASCI, NGOS and other concerned stakeholders in protection of consumer from misleading advertisement.

Time : 4pm – 6pm 

Zoom Meeting ID : 961 9908 8945  Passcode: 570950

Speakers 
Ms. Nidhi Khare,
Chief Commissioner, CCPA,
Additional Secretary, Ministry of
Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution, GoI

Prof.(Dr.) Ashok R Patil,
Chair Professor,
Chair on Consumer Law and Practice,
National Law School of India University,
Bangalore

Prof.(Dr.) Keshav Rao, Vurrakula
Vice Chancellor,
National University of Study and
Research in Law, Ranchi, Jharkhand

Mr. Y G Murlidharan
Founder Trustee,
Consumer Rights Education and
Awareness Trust, Bengaluru

Dr. Anita A. Patil
Associate Professor
Ramaiah College of Law, Bengaluru

Call for Papers | National Seminar on ‘Strengthening Agricultural Water Use Law, Policy and Management in India

The Centre for Environmental Law, Education, Research and Advocacy (CEERA), NLSIU, and University of Agricultural Sciences,GKVK, Bengaluru, in collaboration with ICAR-IIWM, Bhubaneswar, is organising an online National Seminar on ‘Strengthening Agricultural Water Use Law, Policy and Management in India on 26th March, 2021.

The programme will strictly be on registration basis and only paid participants are permitted to present papers. We invite papers on the following themes:

  • Use of Technology in Water Conservation and Usage
  • Multi-jurisdictional Comparative Analysis of Water Conservation Policy
  • Accountability and Transparency of the Government in Agricultural Water Regulation
  • The Regulatory Role of the Central Government: A bane for Sustainable Agricultural Water Practices
  • Agricultural Water in India: Compromised by Economic Growth
  • Public Private Partnership in Water Management and Utilization
  • Efficient Management and Administration of Water Resources: Possible Avenues
  • Striking balance between Right to Livelihood and Conservation of Water
  • Exploitation of Government Agricultural Programs
  • Re-Thinking Decentralization in Water Use and Management
  • Sustainable Development Goals and Agriculture sector
  • Sustainable Agricultural Practices
  • Water and Food Security
  • Water Policy for the Agricultural Sector with special emphasis on Climate Change perspective

Who May Attend?

  • Agricultural scientists, academicians, Ph.D. scholars and students from law universities, agricultural universities and university of environmental sciences and management.
  • Farmers’ Associations, Agricultural Associations and Water Users Associations.
  • Officers of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Agriculture,Environment,Forest & Climate Change and officers of Pollution Control Boards.
  • Industry professionals, officers from the irrigation department,water management experts, environmental engineers, EHS managers, lawyers and consultants

Submission Rules:

  • Maximum of two authors.
  • Each author to register individually.
  • Register by sending an abstract of 500- 750 words along with name and designation of author(s).

Important Dates:

  • Last date to Register and Abstract Submission: 20th March, 2021
  • Date of seminar: 26th March, 2021

Registration Fee: Rupees 750/- (inclusive of GST).
For further details, write to .

 

International Roundtable | Achieving global food security through instrumentalities of plant variety and other related disciplines

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India) and Chair on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) &  The Centre for Intellectual Property Research and Advocacy (CIPRA), National Law School of India University, Bangalore is organising an International Roundtable on ‘Achieving global food security through instrumentalities of plant variety and other related disciplines (Patent, Trade Secret, ABS & Regulatory framework).

The two-day programme will be held on March 5 & 6, 2021. With an excellent line-up of expert speakers and presenters from around the world, this roundtable aims to analyse and deliberate upon the state of art in the global PVP scenario with special reference to India.

This round table will help to equip Researchers/Scientists/Students/Faculty involved in developing and protecting new plant varieties and related intellectual property (patentable inventions, trade secrets, biological data) or genetic material (ABS) for achieving global food security. Further, awareness amongst various stakeholders in the country would amount to an increased plant variety and other IP portfolio and competitiveness of the seed industry both
domestically and globally, thereby achieving balanced economic growth.

More details along with the schedule of the two-day programme are available here.

Introduction to Careers in Law | Interactive session for high school students

Have you ever been curious about a career in law? Do you have doubts about your aptitude for the law, or whether you will fit into law school? If you are interested in pursuing legal education and want to know more, sign up for the ‘Introduction to Careers in Law’ session on March 20, 2021!

National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, in collaboration with the Bangalore Sahodaya School Complex and Edchemy, is organizing this session to provide high school students of Class X, XI and XII an introduction to legal education, and to a career in law.

Over a 90-minute session, students will interact with faculty from NLSIU, ranked as the No 1 Law School by NIRF.

Why attend this session?

1. Equips students with skills critical to many vocations including the legal profession, journalism, academia (in law and in social sciences), civil services, cause-advocacy, politics, etc.

2. Addresses doubts on:

  • Whether legal education is the right path for you
  • Whether you have an aptitude for the law
  • What studying law entails
  • How to gain admission into law school
  • What life in law school is all about
  • What are the opportunities that lie beyond law school

3. Provides a glimpse into NLSIU’s Foundations for a Legal Education (FLE) Certificate Course that will help make your transition from high school to law school easy and effective. Enrolments open till March 18, 2021.

Sign up if you are interested, or even merely curious about pursuing a career in law!

Date: March 20, 2021
Time:  3 PM – 4:30 PM

To receive the link for this event, register here. Last date to register is March 19, 2021.

 

A Career In Public Policy Webinar Series 2021 | Webinar 7

Institute of Public Policy, NLSIU is conducting its 7th webinar as part of the ‘A Career In Public Policy Webinar Series 2021.’ Faculty members from the Institute of Public Policy and alumni from the Masters in Public Policy programme will discuss practice. research and opportunities in the Public Policy discipline.

The webinar will take place on February 27, 2021 between 12 pm and 1 pm (IST).

Zoom Meeting link: https://bit.ly/2PaUG0d

Panelists:

Avantika Gode | MPP 2014-16
Director, Public Policy
Razorpay

Aashish Xaxa
Assistant Professor
Institute of Public Policy

Nanditha Kalidoss | MPP 2014-16
Global Health Fellow
Factly, India-Facebook
Partnership

Sukhbeer Singh | MPP 2015-17
Consultant, DAMU
Smart City Mission, MoHUA

For queries, contact:
https://www.facebook.com/mpp.nlsiu/

A Career In Public Policy Webinar Series 2021 | Webinar 6

Institute of Public Policy, NLSIU is conducting its sixth webinar as part of the ‘A Career In Public Policy Webinar Series 2021.’ Faculty members from the Institute of Public Policy and alumni from the Masters in Public Policy programme will discuss practice. research and opportunities in the Public Policy discipline.

The webinar will take place on February 13, 2021 between 12 pm and 1 pm (IST).

Register here: https://cutt.ly/ykHXbQW

Panelists

  • Snehil Singh (MPP 2015-17)
    Policy Manager Ola Mobility Institute
  • Pratik Harish (MPP 2014-16)
    Partner, Pragma Development Advisors
  • Devarchan Banerjee (MPP 2016-18)
    Associate Consultant Dalberg
  • Srijoni Sen
    Asst Professor Institute of Public Policy

For queries, contact: