First Edition of NLSIU – SAM FinTech Moot | September 14 & 15, 2024

The first edition of the NLSIU-SAM-FinTech Moot Court Competition & Conference was held on September 14 and 15, 2024, at the NLSIU campus in Bengaluru. A total of 36 teams registered for the first edition of this competition, with 24 teams advancing to the oral rounds. We congratulate the teams from NALSAR, Hyderabad, and Jindal Global Law School who emerged as winners and runners-up respectively.

In July 2024, NLSIU, Bengaluru and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) had announced the first edition of the FinTech Moot Court Competition and invited applications from law colleges across India to register for the competition.

The moot problem was drafted by Dr. Ananth Padmanabhan, and focused on critical issues within the rapidly evolving fintech ecosystem. The event brought together leaders from the fintech industry to engage in a broader dialogue on the legal frameworks governing these upcoming technologies. Issues that took centre stage revolved around virtual digital assets, fractional ownership, and regulatory frameworks.

The competition’s final bench comprised distinguished persons from the legal community. Senior Advocates Sajan Poovayya, Jayna Kothari and Madhavi Divan, Dr. Ananth Padmanabhan, Dean of Vinayaka Mission’s Law School, and Shilpa Mankar Ahluwalia, Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, were the judges.

Commenting on the competition, Shilpa Mankar Ahluwalia said,

“We are delighted to have concluded the inaugural NLSIU-SAM FinTech Moot Court Competition & Conference, which provided a platform for bright young legal minds to engage with some of the regulatory challenges of the fintech ecosystem. It has been a pleasure to see the lawyers of tomorrow demonstrate such creativity and insight when addressing challenges of using rapidly evolving technology to deliver financial services. The Fintech Conference brought together thought leaders from the regulator and fintech industry to discuss how best to address some of these legal challenges. We look forward to a continued engagement with NLSIU in the evolution of fintech law.”

Speaking on the competition, NLSIU Vice-Chancellor Prof Sudhir Krishnaswamy said,

“This collaboration with SAM for the FinTech Moot Court Competition created an outstanding opportunity for students to engage with some of the most complex regulatory challenges in the fintech ecosystem. We are glad that we’ve brought academia, the legal profession and fintech industry pioneers together at this event and we look forward to collaborating further. Together we aim to engage with frontier law, technology and regulation issues in this rapidly evolving sector.”

SAM & Co. offered an internship to each member of the winning team. Internships are also offered to the runner-up (Jindal Global University), at SAM & Co. offices.

The Press Statement by SAM is available here. 

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Call for Papers | 2nd Edition of the Inclusive Development Conference: Housing and Urban Land Management in an Unequal World

The Institute of Public Policy and Centre for the Study of Social Inclusion, at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), and the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and its Young Scholars Initiative (YSI), are organising the “2nd Edition of Inclusive Development Conference: Housing and Urban Land Management in an Unequal World”, on March 6th and 7th, 2025, at the NLSIU campus in Bengaluru.

The first edition of the Inclusive Development Conference was held in March 2023 on the theme of Employment and Environment. These conferences are held every two years and jointly organised by NLSIU and INET. These conferences are designed as interactions between early career scholars and senior scholars.

About the Conference

Housing affordability and urban land management have become a tumultuous challenge for countries that are rapidly urbanising. These challenges are reshaping the question of urban property. Established instruments of land management, such as zoning, tenure management, building obligations, taxation, expropriation, incentives and subsidies, land readjustment, land redistribution and reform, environmental and conservation regulation, different ownership models, financialisation of land and housing, and public land management have their scope and limits. In response, new innovations are emerging in both formal and informal land management. Hybrid spaces, technology-assisted cartographies and property registries, collective property ownership, and informal property regimes are among the approaches seeking to address the dual goals of equitable access and efficient management. The convergence of law, economics, and policy is critical in shaping the future of urban development. Yet, scholarship on the interface of law and spatial dimensions of the city is scant. Where such scholarship does exist, it is often confined to isolated case studies from the Global South, which are frequently dismissed as exceptions rather than being integrated into the broader global discourse on urban studies.

In many regions, in the Global North and the Global South, the expansion of urban centres has been marked by the commodification of land and housing, further deepening the divide between the wealthy and marginalised communities. Public policies and legal frameworks often struggle to keep pace with the complexities of this expanding urban fabric, leading to gaps in affordable housing provision and sustainable land management. While innovative solutions like collective ownership models and inclusive zoning regulations have shown promise, the questions remain are (1) how can these innovations be effectively scaled in a world marked by deep economic and social inequalities? (2) What governance changes are desirable to design a responsive urban land management?

Call for Papers

The conference aims to examine the complex interplay of housing, law, economics, and spatial justice in an unequal world, and we welcome scholars and practitioners to participate. Applicants may choose to focus on one or more of the following prompts while developing their abstracts:

  1. What are the recent developments in the discourse of housing rights? What are the socio-economic drivers behind the shift in these discourses?
  2. What are the spatial dimensions of the expansion of capitalist markets in real estate that lead to specific forms of housing projects? What are the innovations in land management on the ground mediated by technology as well as financial instruments?
  3. The rise of condominiums as patterns of human settlements are simultaneously marked by urban vacancy. Are the existing regulatory frameworks sufficient to contain inequality contributed by financialised housing markets?
  4. As urbanisation is intensifying, there is a growing demand for public services. Yet, the liveability of these cities is not improving. Rather, patterns of gentrification are visible in spite of interventions for urban services. What are the good practices across the globe to make urban property valuation more inclusive?
  5. Informal housing has frequently, albeit wrongly, been equated with illegal housing. How has law played an active role in the politics of dispossession?
  6. How has the accumulative logic of neoliberal governance aggravated spatial inequality? In what ways has this neoliberal logic disproportionately impacted the lives of marginalised populations?

The themes we have identified and will be listed on the call for abstracts/papers, including but not restricted to, are as follows:

Housing Rights, Social Justice, and Economic Policy

  • Housing as a human right and its intersections with law and economic policies.
  • Legal and economic frameworks promoting or hindering housing justice.
  • Focus on marginalised communities and global perspectives on housing rights.

Capitalism, Real Estate, and Urban Governance

  • Impact of financialisation and real estate speculation on housing markets.
  • Role of neoliberal governance in shaping urban inequality.
  • Legal and economic governance mechanisms affecting urban development

Innovations in Land Management and Urban Sustainability

  • Emerging models in land management, including hybrid spaces and collective ownership.
  • Technology-driven tools and their role in equitable urban development.
  • Legal and economic frameworks promoting sustainable urban growth and environmental justice.

Gentrification, Urban Vacancy, and Inclusive Development

  • Spatial inequalities caused by gentrification and urban redevelopment.
  • Addressing urban vacancy through legal and economic policies.
  • Best practices for promoting inclusive urban growth and equitable public service distribution.

Informal Housing, Dispossession, and the Politics of Space

  • Legal and economic dimensions of informal housing and dispossession.
  • The politics of identity, space and inequality in urban development.
  • Comparative perspectives on marginalised communities and their housing challenges.

Law, Finance, Technology, and Urban Inequality

  • Intersection of legal frameworks, financial instruments, and technology in urban land management.
  • Effects of financialisation and technological advancements on urban (in)equality.
  • Impact on marginalised populations and spatial inequality in cities.

Instructions for abstract submission

Submit an abstract within 1,000 words. The abstract should ideally fall under one of the themes. When reviewing the abstracts, we will look for theoretical considerations/ assumptions, research questions, methodology, nature of evidence used to draw conclusions, and findings.

We encourage PhD scholars in the final year of writing up their doctoral work, postdoctoral scholars, and early career scholars (within 5 years of their PhD) to submit their abstracts for consideration.

In order to submit your abstracts, please visit the following announcement by the Institute of New Economic Thinking – Young Scholars Initiative (YSI).

The last date to submit your abstracts is November 5, 2024.

Important dates:

  • Last Date for abstract submission: November 5, 2024
  • Notification of selected Abstract: November 15, 2024
  • Full paper submission deadline: December 30, 2024
  • Notification of paper acceptance: January 25, 2025
  • Notification for the panel: February 15, 2025
  • Conference: March 6-7, 2025

Financial Support

A limited number of scholars will get financial support to cover travel and accommodation expenses.

 

Organising committee at the NLSIU: Dr. Aniket Nandan, Dr. Sneha Thapliyal, and Prof. Sony Pellissery.

Organising committee at the INET-YSI: Sunanda Nair-Bidkar, Bikram Barman, Christina Kujur, and Sattwick Dey Biswas.

 

For any further information, please write to

 

Call for Applications | Assistant Professors (One – Year Contract)

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) invites applications from well-qualified individuals, dedicated to academic teaching, scholarship and institutional service for the position of Assistant Professor.

Assistant Professor (One – Year Contract)

Subjects: Contracts, Public International Law, Family Law, Law and Development, Human Rights Law, Civil Procedure Code, Property Law, Administrative Law, Intellectual Property Rights Law, Legal Theory, Economics.

Duties and responsibilities:

  1. To provide an average of 6 hours per week during term of undergraduate and/or graduate class teaching averaged across the three twelve-week teaching terms of the year and to provide feedback on students’ work.
  2. To design and deliver lectures or classes over the year during term time to undergraduates and/or graduates; and to produce lecture notes, course materials, and reading lists as required. In addition, to design and deliver lectures and classes over the year in the University’s Professional and Continuing Education department.
  3. To liaise, as required, with other faculty teaching the subject.
  4. To undertake an appropriate share of other Faculty administrative duties, dependent on career-stage, including service on committees.
  5. To participate in the governance, intellectual life, and academic activities of the University.

Who Should Apply?

Essential Qualifications

  1. A master’s degree with at least 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point-scale, wherever the grading system is followed).
  2. Communication, interpersonal, time management and organizational skills necessary to undertake pastoral care and administration for both undergraduate and graduate students and the ability to work with students from diverse backgrounds to enable them to reach their full potential.

Desirable Qualifications

  1. Candidates who have published in high-quality academic journals will be preferred.
  2. Candidates with demonstrated academic excellence in their university education will be preferred.
  3. Candidates should demonstrate evidence of the skills needed for higher education teaching and a research record commensurate with the stage of their career.
  4. Candidates should demonstrate their commitment to the University’s goals and objectives.

How to apply?

Interested candidates are required to submit applications through online mode only by completing the Google form available here, and uploading copies of all required certificates. Without these certificates, the application form will not be considered.

Your application must include:

  1. A statement of purpose of not more than 800 words.
  2. A full CV that includes a publications list.
  3. A sample or samples or written work, published or unpublished (co-authored pieces should be identified as such). In the case of pieces of written work exceeding 20,000 words, candidates should indicate which part or parts they wish to draw to the attention of the selection committee.
  4. Details of two references.

Application Deadline

The last date for the submission of the application is 5:00 pm, September 30 (Monday), 2024.

For any queries, please write to

Call for Applications | Assistant Manager – Operations (02 positions)

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) was established in 1987 to be a pioneer in legal education. Over the last three decades the University has consistently been an innovative leader in legal education and research in India and has been ranked First among Law Universities in the National Institute Ranking Framework for the last seven years.

The University invites online applications from accomplished professionals for 2 positions of Assistant Manager – Operations. These are full-time positions, based out of the NLSIU campus in Bangalore involving field and desk work.

The Assistant Manager – Operations will report to the COO (Chief Operating Officer) and will be responsible for undertaking the following tasks:

  • Responsible for supporting the daily operations of the University facilities and ensuring it is maintained to a high standard;
  • Managing and supervising housekeeping, catering and other contract staff;
  • Implementing standard operating procedures;
  • Ensuring vendor services are received as per SLAs/Scope of Services and rated for performance;
  • Responsible for the maintenance, repair and overhaul/replacement of all machines and equipment in the campus;
  • Responsible for the upkeep, up gradation and proper functioning of all facilities on campus including – civil, mechanical and electrical infrastructure;
  • Conducting regular inspections and preventative maintenance activities to identify potential faults or malfunctions and address them proactively;
  • Responding promptly and efficiently to emergency situations, troubleshoot issues, and coordinating necessary repairs to minimize disruption to operations;
  • Performing miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned from time to time; Providing technical guidance to stakeholders and engineering teams;
  • Knowledge of environmental and safety rules, regulations, and policies. Ability to conduct inspections to ensure compliance;
  • Ability to handle multiple priorities, work independently, and meet deadlines;
  • Comfortable working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment;
  • Demonstrated ability to work and communicate effectively with others; Developing and implementing operational strategies to ensure efficient and cost-effective operations.

The deadline for the submission of the application is 5 pm, 18th September, 2024.

For more details, view the official notification here.
To apply, click here.

NLSIU signs MoU with the Andaman & Nicobar Police to impart advanced training on newly enacted criminal laws

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Andaman and Nicobar Police to impart advanced training on the newly enacted criminal laws. This collaborative effort aims to equip law enforcement officers with a comprehensive understanding of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita – 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Surkasha Sanhita – 2023, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam – 2023.

The training programme, will be offered by NLSIU’s Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) department, and will provide officers with a foundation to the new criminal codes. This initiative is in accordance with the university’s commitment to disseminate knowledge of law and legal processes contributing to bridge the gap between academia and law enforcement, thereby strengthening the criminal justice system.

The MoU was formally signed in the presence of Shri Devesh Chandra Srivastva, IPS, Director General of Police, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Dr. Mrinal Satish, Professor of Law and Dean (Research), NLSIU.

 

NLSIU Celebrates 78th Independence Day | August 15, 2024

The NLSIU community came together to celebrate our 78th Independence Day on Thursday, August 15, 2024. The tricolour was hoisted by Ms. Chandrama, a member of the housekeeping staff, accompanied by the University’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sudhir Krishnaswamy, and Registrar Prof. N S Nigam.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Nigam said:

“Yeats, in his poem, ‘Second Coming’, said that the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity. My takeaway from this was that, we are no longer independent if we are driven by our worst fears, and we want to lash out at others. And that’s a negative part of it. The positive part of it is that if you truly want to be independent, we must have the courage of our convictions. In the moral and ethical field, it’s important to have convictions. Not just deeply felt, but deeply thought out…

On this Independence Day, the leaders of the freedom struggle were also fiercely independent in a personal sense. We want to be inspired by these leaders not only by their actions but also in the manner in which they conducted themselves. We really have an obligation to work hard at our convictions, to seek out alternatives to our arguments, and to weed out misleading or mistaken facts that have a bearing on our decision making. This responsibility is even more so the case today in the current tech and social media-driven world where fake news can be generated quickly and to great effect.”

Reflecting on her personal experience, NLS Faculty Sahana Ramesh said:

“My middle and high school and university years gave way to a far better understanding of the Indian struggle for freedom, the founding principles of our nation, and the need to imbibe these as we celebrate each year of Indian independence. Terms like democracy, secularism, unity, and equality started gaining importance in my daily life. I began to see Independence Day celebrations as occasions to celebrate these values, but also as a constant reminder that they must be reflected in our day to day life. Today, as I stand here as a trained lawyer and as a faculty member at NLS, I’m appreciative of the privileges that I have been able to enjoy because of the struggles of our forefathers. But I’m also cognizant of the fact that we must ask ourselves what we as individuals and as an institution can do, as India progresses.”

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Invitation to teach Elective Courses at NLSIU | November 2024 Term

NLSIU invites interested persons to offer Elective Courses at the University in the second trimester (November 4, 2024 to January 22, 2024) of the Academic Year 2024-25.

An elective course at NLSIU requires 40 hours of classroom engagement. These courses may be delivered in the following format:

Full Term Elective with 40 hours of classroom engagement spread across 10 weeks (November 4, 2024 to January 22, 2024). All classes of full-term elective courses shall be conducted in-person on campus.

Elective Courses vary in their focus and pedagogy. Three types of Elective Courses are common at NLSIU:

  • Taught Course (predominantly lecture/discussion based, with an exam);
  • Research Course (focused on review of primary and secondary research leading to a Term Paper);
  • Practice or Clinical Course (focused on field work, simulation, drafting or litigation exercises examined through the clinical methods).

All classes shall be held between 08.50 hours and 19.10 hours on weekdays only.

The University will reimburse one economy-class airfare, to-and-fro from Bengaluru for domestic flights only. The University will make necessary arrangements for accommodation for individuals selected to teach electives after mutual discussion for 10 days only. The University will not be able to provide any reimbursement for international flights.

Individuals who are desirous of teaching elective courses at NLSIU  must invariably possess a graduate and post-graduate degree in law or the Social Sciences. Post-qualification experience of 3 years or more will be preferred. Alternatively, they may have at least 7-10 years of post-qualification experience in legal practice. Individuals who have published widely in their fields of expertise, shall be preferred.

To apply, kindly fill out the form here. The last date to submit the form has been extended to September 22, 2024.

Your proposal shall be reviewed by the Academic Review Committee (ARC) of the University. The course shall be finalised after registration of choices by students. Please note that a course is offered only if it meets: (1) the approval of the ARC, and (2) a minimum number of students as required by the University’s Academic Regulations subscribe for the course.

For any academic queries please contact Prof. Harisankar K Sathyapalan at . For any other queries, please contact Ms. Sneha Kumari at

FAQs

Here are some FAQs that will help you gain a better understanding of the electives courses and the process for applying to teach these courses. To know more, please click here.

Call for Applications | Archival Project Associate – QAMRA Archival Project, NLSIU | 01 position

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), invites applications for one full-time role at the Queer Archive for Memory, Reflection and Activism (QAMRA) based out of the University campus for a period of one year. This position will be based in Bengaluru.

About the Department

QAMRA is a physical, multimedia archive that chronicles the lives of persons marginalised on the basis of gender and sexuality in India. It is hosted at the National Law School of India University in Bengaluru. QAMRA’s activities span archival processes, research and public engagement.

Responsibilities

This is a full-time position based out of the NLSIU campus in Bengaluru. The Archival Project Associate will report to the Director, QAMRA.

  1. Lead and supervise end-to-end archival processes including acquisition, sorting, cataloguing, curating and digitising collections.
  2. Contribute to research projects, the oral history collection, and take on teaching roles when necessary.
  3. Develop and organise public engagement activities, and contribute to the QAMRA Blog.
  4. Identify funding opportunities that align with QAMRA’s priorities. Develop compelling grant proposals, including project descriptions, objectives, methods and outcomes that meet funders’ expectations.
  5. Facilitate researcher access in the archives.

Qualifications & Skills

Essential

  • Candidates with a postgraduate degree in social sciences, information sciences, communications, law or a related field with a minimum of 55% aggregate marks.
  • Familiarity with queer histories and mobilisation in India.
  • Demonstrated interest in research.
  • Be willing to acquire new skills in archiving, including software programmes.
  • This role requires good communication and time management skills, and an organisational mindset.

Desirable

  • Candidates who have experience working in archives, and with archival software.

Experience

Essential: Candidates with 0 to 2 years of work experience.

Desirable: Previous internship or related experience at an archives is a plus.

How to Apply?

Please use the Google form available here, and include the following documents:

  • An updated CV
  • A statement of purpose (500 – 800 words).
  • Contact details and designation of one professional reference

For any queries, please write to

Deadline

The last date for submission of applications is August 26 (Monday), 2024, 5 pm.

Reflections from the NLSIU PACT Conference 2024 | Project on Pluralist Agreement and Constitutional Transformation

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) organised a conference on August 2nd and 3rd, 2024, in Bengaluru as part of the Pluralist Agreement and Constitutional Transformation (PACT) Project. We hosted 21 panelists from across different locations in India and abroad, who presented their papers across five panels: i) Studying India’s Constitutional Founding: Methods and Archives; ii) Key Constitutional Choices: Democracy, Federalism and Social Transformation; iii) Forgotten Histories of Constitution Making; iv) Minority Rights in Indian Constitutionalism; and v) Deliberative Institutions in Indian Constitutionalism.

PACT is an international collaboration that aims to produce cutting-edge scholarship on India’s constitutional founding, establish a new digital archive on Indian constitution making, and learn from historical and contemporary public engagements with the Constitution. Led by SOAS University of London, PACT collaborators include the Universities of Oxford, York, the Centre for Law and Policy Research, Bengaluru and NLSIU. The conference explored Indian constitution-making as a process of reaching pluralist agreement between contending actors and constitutional transformation over time.

Keynote Address by Hon’ble Justice B V Nagarathna

Hon’ble Mrs. Justice B. V. Nagarathna, Judge, Supreme Court of India, delivered the closing keynote address on the topic ‘Home in the Nation: Indian Women’s Constitutional Imaginaries’.

Excerpt from the talk: “Indian constitutional  democracy was not destined to greatness, it has earned it. In this  arduous struggle to earn our stature as a mature democracy, our  founding fathers and mothers have made countless sacrifices. Every successive generation has built this great country. As a part of this wide landscape of diversities, we should introspect as  to whether founding ideals have been secured. Such an introspection would also provide a template for conversations  about building a better tomorrow. We, as a nation have come a  long way, but we have a longer way to go before truly meeting all  the ideals of the founders, in the sense that they were envisaged. Fortunately, there is the Constitution which touches, moves and  inspires our collective lives like a North Star. It is a permanent reminder that a more democratic, a more  equal, a more just, and a more tolerant nation continues to remain an ideal, even in contemporary times…The valuable endeavours and efforts of our Founding  Mothers must be carried forward by every succeeding generation  of not only women but by all concerned. They did not limit  themselves to only gender rights or women’s position in Indian  society. The responsibility lies with us.”

Watch the full video of the talk here:

Keynote Address by Prof. Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Prof. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Laurence S. Rockefeller Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University, delivered the opening keynote address.

Reflections

Prof. Sudhir Krishnaswamy,
NLSIU Vice-Chancellor and, Co-Investigator, PACT Project

“The Pluralist Agreement and Constitutional Transformation (PACT) project is about two years old now and we have been working as part of a multi-university team based out of SOAS, University of Oxford, University of York and the National Law School, trying to develop a new understanding of the formation and process of the agreement that made the Indian constitution. The project has two parts – one part is to try and rethink and rework the archive of constitutional material that we take to be a useful corpus to understand the creation of the Indian constitution; and the second part focuses on developing new theoretical models to understand that transformation. Even in the outline of the sessions, some part is empirical and some part is more normative and theoretical. This conference is an opportunity for us to deepen our understanding of what we might have achieved or not in the last two years and invite, what I think, is an excellent group of scholars who are already engaged in this period of Indian constitutional history, to share their work with us, and take this conversation forward.”

Professor Rochana Bajpai,
Professor of Politics, SOAS, and Principal Investigator, PACT Project

“It’s an honour and a privilege to be here at this fantastic institution which has produced much groundbreaking scholarship on the making of the Indian Constitution. There are many of us in this conference who’ve contributed a great deal to the understanding of constitutions and constitutional history.

PACT was envisaged as a research collaboration which would try to take forward the idea of constitutions as negotiated agreements between diverse groups of individuals. A key and often neglected aspect of the Indian Constitution is the fact that it was negotiated between very diverse groups of individuals who came to an agreement on a text, and in a divided world in which we live today, it’s extremely hard to come to agreement on any topic. The fact that such a diverse group of individuals at one of the most critical and violent and conflict-marked moment were able to reach an agreement is an achievement, however flawed the outcome of that agreement may be.

The PACT project seeks to understand how this process of agreement was arrived at between these diverse groups of individuals, and there are two sets of stories that we seek to foreground in the work we do which takes multiple forms – it’s archival, it’s digital, and it seeks to build new theoretical models. One story is that of forgotten amendments, of committees and amendments that were tabled or not tabled formally, whether they made their way into the Constitution or not. And with the help of the Quill project in Oxford, we are documenting and visualising that process in a new digital platform. The second story is that of forgotten histories of those who may have made representations,  petitions, mobilizations of various kinds in relation to the Constitution; which then make their way either on to the plenary debates or to the final Constitution but which nevertheless engaged with Constitution making, as the pioneering work of historians has shown us in recent times.

These are the two neglected stories of constitution-making that we seek to foreground. We seek to learn from the example of how in the midst of pluralism and diversity, negotiations are conducted to reach outcomes which then last over time. The Indian constitution is a key example of a constitution in the Global South that is one of the longest lived, for all its flaws, and that continues in the present to elicit participation from people around the country, particularly the marginalised. We seek to learn from this process and we see it very much as a collaborative process.

Through the engagements and the research that the PACT project fosters, we seek to learn from what the Indian example can teach us about how negotiated agreements are arrived at in these contexts, and what we can learn from this process in a context which is marked by growing autocratisation, and growing concentration of power (political and economical) in smaller and smaller hands around the world.”

Prof. Ornit Shani,
Senior Lecturer, Department of Asian Studies, University of Haifa

“It was a very rewarding experience! This is my first visit to NLSIU. I very much enjoyed meeting and interacting with faculty and students. The discussions at the conference were exceptionally engaging and fruitful. Thank you NLSIU for the wonderful hospitality.”

Panelists Prof. Ornit Shani and Dr. Rohit De presented a brief overview of their argument from their forthcoming book ‘Assembling India’s Constitution: A New History of Constitution Making’ (Cambridge University Press and Penguin Random House 2025). The book explores the making of the Indian Constitution as it emerged outside the Constituent Assembly, driven by diverse publics across the breadth and length of India’s territory and even beyond it.

Dr. Rohit De,
Associate Professor, Department of History, Yale University

“As an alum, it was a pleasure to come back to NLSIU and meet at the Training Centre (a building that had come up in my first year!) and find NLSIU to have grown as an intellectual hub and a space for ideas. The students and faculty, especially the expansion in the social sciences, makes NLSIU the place for not only invigorating and rigorous conversations, but also one where the participants understand the stakes of scholarship for the times we live in. I hope to return for more conversations.”

Prof. Achyut Chetan,
Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, St Xaviers University, Kolkata

“It was an absolutely lovely conference, particularly on the making of the constitution because we hardly remember that history. We think about the constitution as a political document, as a legal document, but rarely as a historical document. Therefore, to dedicate two full days with so many scholars looking at the history of the constitution from various perspectives is very important at this particular juncture of history. The quality of the discussion was very high, very provocative, and stimulating. I have learned a lot, and I believe I’ve also contributed to the discussion.

My paper was on the idea of introducing gender to constitutional history because most histories of the constitution are gender neutral. People talk about secularism, democracy, rights, reservations, and all kinds of issues which are related to the Constitution, but they’re blind to the gender aspect of all these things. And in most cases, I believe they end up making a mistake of universalizing the male gender.

My presentation was largely based on my own work, which I did on the role of women in the making of the constitution; not just women, I would say the role of feminists in the making of the constitution. I believe that feminists played a significant role in shaping the document, the 1950 constitution. There is not a single article in the constitution which does not have a feminist touch.

What I presented here was more focused on the methodology or the strategies of doing this history once you start becoming gender sensitive. So, what are the right places to look into if you want to find women’s voices or suppressed voices? What are the ways in which you can interpret some of the historical data? I do qualitative research. So I think interpretation of the data plays an important role. We have still not been able to retrieve all the necessary data regarding the making of the constitution. Once we do that, we also need to interpret them with a very sensitive, gendered lens.”

Lauren Davis
Senior Documentary Editor, PACT Project, University Of Oxford

“I presented on the Quill project methodology and how we’re taking a methodology that we have, developed in Oxford to use specifically, in relation to American materials and applying it to the case of the Indian constitution. I talked a little bit about gathering sources and bringing together those sources and being able to visualize what certain proposals, amendments, pieces of text, debates, looked like within the context in which they were being debated. Also, the state of the constitution at any given point along the timeline of negotiation, how that helps us understand the contents of the constitution in new ways.

I think it’s always exciting to sit in a room and hear from different experts in the field, and listen to them present on topics that they’re so knowledgeable on. I personally don’t come from a history or law background. My area of specialization lies in editorial and archive management, so having that sort of input from the subject matter experts is really useful when it comes to thinking about the work we do at Quill.

The Indian constitution material is, just the volume of it is so much larger than anything we’ve ever worked with before, so I was really interested in showing people what we’re doing in-person. The American Constitution was debated in a much shorter period of time and resulted in a much shorter document, so a methodology like Quill is a lot easier to navigate. In this instance where the document itself is so much longer and the process is so much longer, I’m interested to know whether it is as effective as it could be i.e., the platform itself. It is just so much easier to get that feedback when you are able to have conversations.”

Sarfaraz Hamid,
Archival Researcher, PACT Project

“The paper I presented was on the National Archives and the Indian Constitutional history. I spoke about two aspects. The first one was about the National Archives as a primary and physical repository of housing the records of the Indian constituent assembly. The second aspect was my experiences of working as a part of the PACT project. I was introduced to this project by Dr. Udit Bhatia, in 2022, and then I came in contact with the others who are associated with PACT.

I must say that NLSIU, SOAS, and the University Of Oxford, have helped a lot in shaping the understanding of the Indian Constitution, alongside the constitutional work led by CLPR. I had an amazing colleague, Manas Raturi, working with me at the archives. Together, we managed to find more than 500 files from the National Archive, Public Records and the Rajendra Prasad Private Papers. About this conference, I must say that the mix of history and politics in this conference was very evident.”

Adrija Ghosh,
pursuing a DPhil in Law, at the University Of Oxford

“The aim of my presentation was to explore the persistent ambiguities surrounding the constitutional entrenchment of minority educational rights under Article 30 of the Indian Constitution. My interest is in uncovering how much of the contemporary debates surrounding the said provision emanates from the contestations that may have existed at the time of constitution-making, and to understand what the nature of these contestations were.

I was very grateful for the opportunity to participate and present my doctoral research at the conference. Importantly, it created an avenue for me to receive feedback from scholars who have produced the very best of scholarship in the area. Presenting my doctoral research at a relatively early stage, and having others engage with it, has indeed been a valuable experience. It has helped me clarify a lot of my own thoughts about the research that I’m undertaking.”

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NLS Faculty Member Appointed to the Karnataka High Court Sub-Committee to Frame Admiralty Rules

NLS faculty member Dr. Harisankar K Sathyapalan has been appointed to the Karnataka High Court Subcommittee to frame Admiralty rules for the Karnataka High Court. The Committee was constituted by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India Dr. D Y Chandrachud.

According to an official notification by the High Court, the sub-committee will comprise two members: the Registrar (Judicial), High Court of Karnataka, Bengaluru and Dr. Harisankar K. Sathyapalan, Associate Professor of Law, NLSU. This subcommittee has been constituted prepare draft rules pertaining to practice and procedure of Admiralty Jurisdiction, including fees, cost and expenses in such proceedings, under the Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017, following which it will submit it before the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court and District Judiciary Rules Committee for approval.

The official notification is available here.