News Type: News

NLSIU has partnered with the Kannada Gottilla team to conduct sessions to orient and teach our students, faculty & staff, daily conversational Kannada. The classes would be conducted in hybrid mode by professionals from the Kannada Gottilla team for a period of 45 days. At the end of the course, participants will be equipped with basic conversational Kannada required to navigate the city and its services. For example, you would be capable of communicating with auto drivers, receiving directions, conversing with traffic cops, etc., without any difficulty. This would aid effective communication with the locals.

What you will learn:

1.Classroom session: Pronouns, simple sentences with formula, verbs, -ing form, most commonly used tenses and formula to remember it, basic conversations. Games or interactive sessions

2.WhatsApp class: Daily usage of words, sentences and daily assignments.

Faculty and staff interested in participating in this learning experience are requested to make their full advance payment by 15^th November  2023. For further details, please reach out to the Student Welfare Officer (SWO), Ms. Sunita Prabhu at .

This is the fourth iteration of the conversational Kannada classes conducted by the Kannada Gothilla team at NLSIU. The first session was held online in 2020, followed by the second and third in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

The National Law School of India University, Bangalore invites sealed bids for “Pandal and Decoration Arrangement for 31st Annual Convocation Ceremony of NLSIU, Bengaluru” from eligible bidders.

For more details, please view the official notification here.

1. Can you tell us more about yourself and your work?

I was born and raised in Kolkata and moved to Delhi for college education. After completing an integrated undergraduate degree in law and humanities at NLU Delhi, I briefly worked as a legal associate in the Delhi office of the law firm Amarchand Mangaldas. Realizing that my true calling was academics, I went back to NLU Delhi to teach legal history and simultaneously pursued an LLM specializing in Public Law. Following this, I read for BCL at the University of Oxford on a Felix Scholarship where I studied jurisprudence and political theory, constitutional theory, comparative equality law, and law in society. After receiving a robust training in analytical theory, I moved to the University of Cambridge to pursue an MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies on a Malaysian Commonwealth Studies bursary.

During my MPhil year, I wrote a dissertation on Rabindranath Tagore’s idea of state, society and nation, that received the CA Bayly prize for best dissertation. For a more in-depth intellectual engagement with the questions that my MPhil project threw up, I undertook doctoral studies at the Faculty of History in Cambridge, funded by the Cambridge Trust scholarship. My PhD thesis reconstructs Tagore as an original thinker of selfhood, sovereignty, law, freedom and universality. It shows how he went beyond the formal boundaries of politics to remake the  scope and terms of the political through his critical and creative engagement with religion, education, philosophy and aesthetics. While I have been shaped by all the cities and institutions I have inhabited thus far, my doctoral experience has been the most fulfilling. It has enabled me to finally bring together my interest in history, law and politics on the one hand, and theory, philosophy and humanities on the other, in an original way.

2. What are your main areas of interest and teaching? How did your interest in these areas begin?

I am a historian of legal and political thought researching on the key ideas that have shaped democratic and constitutional cultures of modern South Asia in the progressively global context of colonialism and capitalism from the 18t to the 20th centuries. Sidestepping the usual characterization of this period as one only marked by coercive violence, my scholarship shows how an active intellectual ferment in the Indian subcontinent fostered new ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity that did not depend on a wholesale rejection or acceptance of their European origin and history. Situating myself in the new and important scholarship of canonizing South Asian political thought, I interpret and analyze the practical choices made by Indian actors and thinkers, shot with both realism and idealism, that produced radically modified political and moral visions and vocabularies.

At Cambridge, I have taught courses on “Gandhi and self-rule”, modules on fundamental political concepts in world history in “Historical Arguments and Practices” and “Theory and Practice in History and Politics”. I have also taught and supervised papers on modern India and the global history of empires.

On developing interest in these areas:

Despite a solid legal education in India and the UK, I wanted to go beyond its abstract generality and therefore turned to the social sciences for a more grounded approach to the study of law, history and politics. Gradually, with a keen interest in humanities and philosophy, I have been able to bring my love for ideas and context together in a rich  intellectual framework. This renewed turn to theory would not have been possible without the fertile and creative space of imagination provided by the Cambridge historians of political thought.

4. What will you be teaching at NLS?

In keeping with my interest in Public Law, I am currently teaching Indian Administrative Law in the March 2023 term. The birth of modern administrative law involved the state shedding its laissez-faire orientation towards society and assuming a more active interventionist role in providing social and economic services to the people. Administrative law not only studies the architecture of the state associated with the welfare function but also its legal regulation based on different techniques and principles.

In the terms ahead, I hope to offer other core courses in public law, including, constitutional law and comparative law, as well as electives on my area of specialization in the history of political thought. I wish to offer courses on topics such as “Gandhi, Tagore and self-rule”, “Sex and gender in Indian Political Thought” and the “Intellectual history of freedom in the non-west”.

5. Your thoughts on starting your teaching journey at NLS? What are your plans ahead?

I joined NLS not only for its traditional pedigree as India’s premiere law school but also because this would give me an opportunity to teach and engage with some of the best students in the country who are equally representative of its social diversity. Moreover, I look forward to a generative intellectual exchange with an exciting bunch of colleagues both in law as well as the social sciences.

Other than teaching, my future plan is to pursue further research, including, converting my doctoral thesis into a monograph on Tagore’s political thought, and additionally, writing standalone articles on select themes in law, history and politics.

6. Could you highlight some of your key projects or publications?

My five key publications in the recent years are:

• Salmoli Choudhuri (2021). “Theology of the “Absent King” and the Possibility of Rabindranath Tagore’s Political Thought.” Political Theology.
• Salmoli Choudhuri (2021). “Book Review: Imre Bangha (Ed.) Tagore. Beyond His Language.” South Asia Research Vol 41, No. 3: 440–43. 
• Salmoli Choudhuri (2021). “Gender conflict over temple entry and the limits of legalizing identity politics in contemporary India.” Political Theology Network  (co-authored). 
• Salmoli Choudhuri (2016). “Ambedkar’s Liberty Concept in Comparative Constitutional Thought.” Indian Yearbook of Comparative Law (Oxford University Press) (co-authored).
• Salmoli Choudhuri (2023, forthcoming). “Sovereignty Before Law.” Global Intellectual History (co-authored).

To view more of her publications, please visit her faculty profile.

Can you tell us more about yourself?

My family hails from Delhi and it is where I was born and brought up. I completed my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Law from National Law University, Delhi. I specialised in Business Laws at the Master’s level and wrote my dissertation on ‘Data Exclusivity in Healthcare and Access to Pharmaceutical Products in India’. I then went on to pursue a specialised Masters in Health and Medical Law at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne.

My family instilled the importance of education in me from the very childhood. Education indeed has the power to change lives, and bridge social gaps. Since childhood I have been very inquisitive, and as a teenager I loved to question and know more about almost everything around me. My mother has played a major role in motivating me and helping me pursue my hobbies along with my studies.

On the personal front, I like travelling and painting and firmly believe that one can learn so much more about life from the hobbies and extracurricular activities one pursues. I undertook a one-month Thangka painting training workshop at the Thangde Gatsal Art School at Dharamshala and have trekked to the Sunderdhunga and Kafni Glaciers situated in the Kumaon Himalayas.

What are your main areas of interest and teaching? How did your interest in these areas begin?

My main areas of interest are the legal and regulatory aspects of health. My interest in health law particularly began with a seminar elective course on Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines that I took in the final year of my undergraduate law degree at the National Law University, Delhi. This was an eye-opener for me as it helped me critically analyse the intricacies of intellectual property rights and its impact on access to affordable medicines. I went on to further explore the issue relating to the data exclusivity regime and its impact on access to pharmaceutical products in India as part of my LL.M. dissertation.

Apart from being interested in health and medical law, I thoroughly enjoy teaching Law of Evidence and have also previously taught Forensic Science and the Law to undergraduate law students. What is interesting and must be appreciated about the criminal procedure laws is that its very purpose is to do justice not only to the society and the victim, but also to the accused.

Your thoughts on starting your teaching journey at NLS? What are your plans ahead?

I am very excited to be a part of the vibrant NLS community. I believe that there is a lot to learn at NLS and I would like to contribute towards the institution to the best of my abilities. Apart from beginning to teach certain core courses at NLS, I would also like to offer certain electives, particularly on health and medical law.

I also plan to dedicate a major portion of my time to researching certain niche and unexplored areas in the health and medical law sphere. This area of law has specifically gained a lot of prominence during the times of pandemic, but is not just limited to the regulatory and legal issues that arose as a result of the COVID pandemic. Through research, I would like to look at these issues from an Indian perspective and contribute towards the existing scholarship.

Could you highlight some of your key projects or publications?

I co-authored a paper titled “Sustainable Development Through Smart Cities: Issues and Challenges” that was published in Indian Journal on Environmental Protection in September 2022. I am currently working on a paper on the ‘Right to not know’ and another one which analyses the concept of ‘health security’ from a bottoms-up approach by giving due weightage to the interests and contributions of all segments of our society.

To reach out to Bhanu, please write to

We congratulate Dr. Nigam Nuggehalli, Registrar, NLSIU, who has been appointed by the Government of India as a member of the Approving Panel for implementation of General Anti Avoidance Rulings (GAAR). The three-member statutory committee will decide on the application of the GAAR, under the Income Tax Act, 1961, to transactions referred to the Panel by the income tax authorities. The GAAR is meant to apply to transactions that are considered as abusive or exploitative of the tax legislation.

According to an official notification released by the Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance, the other two members of the committee are Shri. Rajat Bansal, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi, and Justice Chander Shekhar, retired Judge of the Delhi High Court, who will chair the committee. The term of the approving panel is one year.

Speaking on his appointment, Dr. Nigam said: “I look forward to serving on the Approving Panel. I have been researching GAAR related issues for some time now and it’s a great opportunity to contribute to the GAAR framework in India.”

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself/your background?

I hail from Bangalore, and completed my B.A.LL.B.(Hons.) from Hidayatullah National Law University and LL.M. from NLS. I had the opportunity to work at the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and on transactional matters in a law firm. These diverse experiences have broadened my perspective towards the industrial approaches to law. My keen interest in the theoretical side of law has inspired me to start my academic career after gaining experience on the professional front.

2. What are your main areas of teaching? How did your interest in these areas begin?

I teach Environmental Law and Financial Market Regulation (FMR). During my previous professional engagements, I had encountered situations where the knowledge of FMR helped me in dealing with complexities of transactional matters and government contracts. There were also situations wherein I was able to contribute to add new dimensions in the workings of PSU based on knowledge of FMR. It captured my interest when I experienced that a contract structured on FMR principles could bring clarity in complex transactions.

During my work at AAI, I was also involved in matters pertaining to environmental issues and thus developed an interest in the tight rope walk between environmental law and developmental activities. Laws governing environment protection are primarily anthropocentric and when the interest of human development takes precedence over protection of environment there are instances of violating these laws. The margin for error is absent in environment protection and certain actions are from a point of no return. I always felt frustrated when human development and self-centred interests of certain groups were destroying the environmental balance and hence, I would like to work towards protecting the environment.

3. In your opinion, please elaborate on the importance of these subjects you teach at NLS.

Financial Market Regulation and Environmental Law are areas that impact each one of us with or without our knowledge. The dynamism of Financial Market Regulation keeps one involved in the field to be a part of continuous changes in financial markets. Currently, machine learning, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology are the driving forces of markets. Financial market adopts technologies and are developing financial instruments at a very fast pace. Law regulating the market has to develop addressing the issues especially investor protection and asymmetry of information.

Environmental Law is facing challenges with rapid industrialization and economic development. Environmental law is seen as an impediment to development, but on the contrary, it is a field that governs the behaviour in the developmental activities. There are contrasting perspectives on what is allowed and what is not like in the instance of the forest dwellers required to relocate outside the core forest areas and there is tourism developing near the forest areas. There cannot be a denial of the right to livelihood of the two groups and but which one should take precedence is evident. Environmental law has numerous conflicts that need to be addressed and to protect the interest of those who cannot reach the pedestal of justice.

4. Since you are also an NLS alum, could you briefly share your experience at law school?

My law school days were a highly enriching experience. I had the opportunity to learn from inspiring professors who not only motivated me to push my limits in the classroom but also in my professional life. The seminars during my LL.M. year allowed me to delve deep into research on different areas like cryptocurrency and revenge pornography. The theoretical underpinnings that I learnt at NLS helped me overcome professional challenges with ease.

5. Your thoughts on starting your teaching journey at NLS? What are your plans ahead?

It feels great to be back! After having been a student here, I’m looking forward to being a part of the faculty. I endeavour to translate my professional experiences into my classroom teaching and also theorise the same in due course.