News Archives - Page 2 of 31 - National Law School of India University

Call for Applications | Postdoctoral Researcher | Just Transitions on Indian Streets (JusTIS) Project

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) invites applications for a full-time Postdoctoral Researcher position to work on the Just Transitions on Indian Streets project. The position is up to March 2027 and will be based in Bengaluru, with some time spent on fieldwork in Delhi and Kolkata.

The project is the recipient of The British Academy’s Knowledge Frontiers: International Interdisciplinary Research Projects Award for 2025-27 in collaboration with the University of Oxford. Postdoctoral researchers will report to the project’s co-investigator, Dr. Anwesha Ghosh, who is faculty at NLSIU.

About the Project

Just Transitions on Indian Streets (JusTIS) is a collaborative research project that explores how Indian cities can respond to climate change in ways that are fair and inclusive for street-based workers. These workers—such as street vendors, platform workers, and informal transport operators—play a vital role in everyday urban life but are often excluded from decisions that shape the cities they help sustain. As India undertakes major urban and climate transitions, the project seeks to centre the voices, experiences, and knowledge of these workers in planning for more equitable and sustainable urban futures.

The project views the street not just as a space of mobility and commerce but as a key site where climate impacts are directly experienced, where everyday survival strategies are practiced, and where struggles for workers’ rights are played out. JusTIS develops a critical decolonial praxis of dignity and recognition, addressing the systemic invisibility and misrecognition faced by street-based workers in both climate and urban policies. By documenting workers’ knowledge, practices, and histories, the project aims to challenge top-down approaches to climate action and promote more grounded, inclusive alternatives.

With an aim to develop a deeper understanding of how cultures of misrecognition and systemic invisibility affect street-based workers, JusTIS takes a comparative approach to understanding the impacts of climate change on streets in major Indian cities. By examining the experiences of these workers in Bengaluru, Delhi, and Kolkata, the project explores how social injustices and climate vulnerability intersect with each other. The research uses an interdisciplinary methodology, including surveys, oral histories, archival research, and workshops, to capture a comprehensive picture of these issues.

Role description

The Postdoctoral Researcher will be responsible for:

Undertaking archive visits in research cities to collect relevant historical materials.
Analysing qualitative data from archives and collating it with the data from other methods, such as surveys, interviews, and workshops.
Undertaking comprehensive literature reviews on relevant topics.
Attending meetings and reading groups organised by the PI and/or Co-Is.
Co-authoring research papers with project investigators.
Assist in any other tasks as required.

Qualifications

Essential

Obtained a PhD degree in history or allied disciplines by the last date of the application

Desirable

Academic background in urban studies, environmental history, mobilities research or cognate fields
Track record of publications in high quality journals in similar research areas as the project

Experience

Essential

Formal training in archival research and a strong track record of conducting archival research in Indian archives.
In-depth understanding of theoretical approaches to the study of informal workers and social justice in cities.
Ability to manage own research and administrative activities.

Desirable

Experience of working in an interdisciplinary research environment.
Work experience in project coordination roles within a research team, including maintaining detailed records and preparing comprehensive reports.

Skills and Competencies

Excellent communication and writing skills
Strong execution rigour and operational skills
Strong presentation and time management skills

How To Apply?

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

An up-to-date CV
A statement of purpose (not more than 750 words)
Contact details and designation of two references

We will request a sample of academic writing, up to a maximum of 8,000 words (including references), at the interview stage if the candidate is selected for the next round.

Compensation

The salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience, ranging from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 120,000 per month.

For any queries, please write to

Deadline

The last date for submission of applications is February 2, 2026 by 5 pm (IST).

NLSIU Team Wins India Rounds of the 30th Annual Stetson International Environment Moot Court Competition

We congratulate the NLS student team for emerging winners in the India Rounds of the 30th Annual Stetson International Environment Moot Court Competition. The team comprised Gaurav Aswani (IIIrd year LLB), Kedar Manoj Ammanji (IVth year BA LLB) and Shashwat Shankar (IInd year BA LLB).

The India Rounds saw participation of 37 teams from India and Nepal, hosted by Surana&Surana International Attorneys at the School of Law, Christ University, Bengaluru between January 9 and 11, 2026.

The NLS team was up against NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad in the Finals after winning five rounds (two Prelims, Octa-Finals, Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals).

Gaurav Aswani was adjudged as the Best Speaker of the Final Rounds. The NLS team has qualified for representing India at the International Rounds.

NLSIU last won the international rounds in the 23rd Edition in 2019.

About the Competition

Organised by the Stetson University, Florida, this is the 30th edition of the competition, which is considered a grand-slam moot. The case every year involves emerging and important issues of International Environment Law and the forum of the dispute is the International Court of Justice.

The theme for 2025-26 is ‘Prior Informed Consent and Benefit Sharing in the Context of De-Extinction.’

The 30th Annual Stetson International Environmental Moot Court International Finals will take place in person at Stetson’s Gulfport, Florida campus on April 15-18, 2026.

A Note from the Team

“We would like to thank Ananya Tangri (Vth year BA LLB), Shruti Jain (Vth year BA LLB), Saumitra Khullar (IIIrd year LLB) and faculty at the University for their guidance and time over the course of our preparation. We also express our gratitude to Dr. Mahesh Yaranal (Librarian In-Charge) and Mr. Jayaram (Reprographer) at the University for their assistance overnight before the Final Rounds, especially with producing bulk copies of case documents and compendiums within a few hours.”

The team would also like to thank their junior researchers – Siddhant Singh (Ist year BA LLB) and Charvi Singh (IInd year BA LLB) for their able assistance throughout the last few months.

Gallery

Call for Quotations | Appointment of Statutory Auditors

The National Law School of India University, Bengaluru (NLSIU), invites sealed quotations from eligible firms/companies for the “Appointment of Statutory Auditors.”

Interested parties are requested to submit their quotations in accordance with the terms and conditions outlined below.

Date of Issue of Quotation: 7.01.2026
Last Date for Submission: Up to 5.00 PM on Friday, 23.01.2026

For more information including terms and conditions, read the official notification here.

NLS Student Nandil Biswa Sarma Completes IRONMAN 70.3 In Bahrain | December 2025

We congratulate our student Nandil Biswa Sarma (Vth-year BA LLB) for completing the IRONMAN 70.3 in Bahrain on December 5, 2025.

The IRONMAN 70.3 Triathlon Series is a premier half-distance triathlon series consisting of over 100 qualifying races in over 40 countries, regions and territories across the world. We spoke to Nandil and asked him to share more about the race and his training.

What were the components of the race?

The Ironman 70.3 event is a triathlon consisting of three disciplines, all of which have to be done consecutively. It consists of a 1.9 km swim, a 90 km bike ride, and a 21.1 km run. All distances combined total 70.3 miles, and that is where the name comes from.

How did you balance your studies at NLS alongside training?

I am in my fifth year of the B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) course, so I had the option of choosing three electives out of four courses, with one being a core course. I chose my electives in such a way that I had time almost every day of the week to train, with none of my classes falling into the evening 5-7 pm slot. That gave me the flexibility to train consistently on weekdays, and I would do the longer workouts over the weekends. I would sometimes have to compromise on training because of assignments, projects, or exams, but I mostly tried to plan my training around those.

What challenges do you plan on taking on next?

I plan to complete the Full Ironman in May, which would include a 3.8 km swim, a 180 km bike ride, and a 42.2 km run. I want to do it before I graduate from college. After I graduate, I aim to pursue a career in litigation.

Gallery

Conference on ‘Beyond New Urbanism? Environment, Sustainability and the Small Towns in India’ | By NIT Meghalaya and NLSIU

Inaugural Function of Conference

A two-day conference on ‘Beyond New Urbanism? Environment, Sustainability and the Small Towns in India’ was organised as a collaborative event between Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Meghalaya and National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru. The conference was held during December 12-13, 2025, at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Meghalaya campus in Cherrapunjee-Sohra. Over two days 45 academic papers were presented.

Background

NLSIU’s engagement with the Government of Meghalaya increased after the initiation of P. A. Sangma Fellowship that supports the governance in the state. The Fellowship was instituted in 2021 and so far 30 fellows are appointed in different government departments of Meghalaya.

About the Conference

For the conference, the faculty of the Master’s Programme in Public Policy at NLSIU facilitated two panel discussions:

Current P.A. Sangma Fellows serving under the Government of Meghalaya

The first panel discussion was on the question of sanitation in small towns. The panelists included Milind Mhaske of Praja Foundation, Rituparna Nath of Janaagraha and Aseem Acharya of Foundation for Inclusive and Sustainable Habitats. The panel was moderated by Tikender Panwar, former Deputy Mayor of Shimla. This panel deliberated;

the technical capacity questions of solid waste management in small towns,
questions of legacy waste,
people’s participation in the processes of waste management,
the state of affairs of city finance for waste management, and
the role of bureaucrats and politicians in vision building for sanitation

The second panel aimed to show case the works of P. A. Sangma Fellows towards the environmental governance in Meghalaya. Five fellows were the panelists. They were: Bethelda Shadap, Chingreela A. Sangma, Dapbiang Warjri, Darikiman Syiemlieh and Marlehiki Langstang. This panel was moderated by Professor Sony Pellissery of NLSIU. The panel explored:

how fellowship contributed to deepen the Public Service Act of Meghalaya,
fieldwork based work of fellows towards accountability in benefit sharing of natural resources of water and land,
interventions of fellows towards bringing equity and efficiency measures in tourism related legislations and programmes, and
strengthening of community institution works through engagement between communities and government

Two doctoral students oat NLSIU, Meghashree Dev and Shefali Jain also presented their papers during this conference.

Conference Participants

Book Talk | ‘Ordinary Indians, Extraordinary Democracy: How Citizens Forged India’s Constitutional Foundations’

Authors Rohit De and Ornit Shani discussed their recently released book, Assembling India’s Constitution: A New Democratic History, with panellists Arvind Narrain and Arun Thiruvengadam, at the Bangalore Internation Centre on December 16, 2025.

About the Discussion

The Preamble of the Indian Constitution begins with “We, the people of India,” but do we really know how true that rings?

In popular memory, the Constitution often appears as the work of a few eminent figures. Assembling India’s Constitution reveals a more layered story; one in which citizens, communities, labour groups, women’s organisations, and emerging political movements actively influenced constitutional ideas. Across the country, people petitioned, campaigned, debated rights, and pushed the Assembly to consider questions of citizenship, minority protections, gender equality, land reform, labour, and democratic participation. And crucially, the Assembly listened.

Drawing on years of archival research, authors Ornit Shani and Rohit De illuminate how debates unfolding outside the Constituent Assembly; sometimes in distant or overlooked regions, filtered into its deliberations, shaping decisions that continue to define India’s democracy. They sought to make constitutional history accessible, grounded, and alive, inviting readers to see the Constitution not as a static text but as a living achievement of millions.

The authors offer a short presentation of the book, followed by reflections from panellists Arvind Narrain and Arun Thiruvengadam. The event concludes with an audience Q&A.

Watch The Full Discussion

About The Speakers

Ornit Shani
Associate Professor of Asian Studies, University of Haifa
Ornit Shani is Associate Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Haifa and the author of How India Became Democratic: Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise, winner of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation Prize (2019). Her research explores citizenship, bureaucracy, and the making of democratic institutions in India, with particular focus on archival histories of political processes.

Rohit De
Associate Professor of History, Yale University
Rohit De is Associate Professor of History at Yale University and the author of A People’s Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic (2018), which won the Willard J. Hurst Prize (2019). His work examines how ordinary citizens shape constitutional life, with research spanning legal history, political culture, and the lived experience of law in modern South Asia.

Arvind Narrain
Lawyer & Author
Arvind Narrain is a lawyer and writer, currently visiting faculty at the National Law School. He is the author of India’s Undeclared Emergency: Constitutionalism and the Politics of Resistance, and co-editor of Because I Have a Voice: Queer Politics in India and Law Like Love: Queer Perspectives on Law. As part of the legal team challenging Section 377 from the High Court to the Supreme Court, he has been a key voice in India’s queer rights movement.

Arun Thiruvengadam
Professor of Law, NLSIU, Bangalore
Arun Thiruvengadam is Professor of Law at the National Law School, Bangalore, with degrees from NLS and New York University School of Law. His teaching and research span Indian constitutional and regulatory law, comparative constitutional law, South Asian law and politics, and welfare rights. He is the author of The Constitution of India: A Contextual Analysis (2017) and co-editor of five other books. He has held academic positions at the National University of Singapore and Azim Premji University and has taught as visiting faculty at institutions across the world, including the University of Zurich, Central European University, City University of Hong Kong, and the University of Toronto.

Reflections from the ‘PPEL in the Global South’ Conference | Dec 11-14, 2025

The annual conference ‘PPEL in the Global South,’ focussed on Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law, was held from December 11-14, 2025, at the NLSIU campus. The primary objective of the conference was to provide a visible platform for scholars from India and other regions of the Global South to engage in sustained dialogue with peers from across the world. It also aimed to contribute to building a coherent intellectual community in India across philosophy, law, political theory, economics, and related disciplines.

About the Conference

The conference brought together 65 participants from universities across India, South Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, the UK, and Australia. A total of 59 papers were presented across 22 thematically organised panels. Panel themes included, among others, AI and Ethics, Free Speech, Structural Wrongs and Power, New Directions in Law, Constitutional Law in the Global South, Economic Competition and Exploitation, and Rethinking Political Theory in India.

Reflecting the objectives of the conference, participants represented diverse career stages as well as institutional and disciplinary backgrounds. The conference included 15 PhD scholars and participants from 23 Indian universities and 28 universities abroad, spanning the Global North and South. In addition, two special sessions were organised for NLSIU students on Navigating Academic Careers and Writing and Publishing in philosophy, the social sciences, and law. Several NLSIU faculty members participated as presenters and moderators, alongside students, particularly from the NLS BA (Hons.) and BA LL.B. (Hons.) programmes, who were actively involved as student organisers.

The final day of the conference featured an open roundtable discussion on the outcomes and future directions of the PPEL network. Participants agreed to establish a formal mailing list to sustain the network, organise a series of smaller workshops in both online and offline formats, and initiate a mentorship programme involving early-career and senior scholars. The possibility of special journal issues based on thematic groupings of conference papers was also discussed.

Overall, the philosophical anchoring of the conference enabled dialogue among participants from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and affirmed the importance of collaborative and interdisciplinary research across philosophy, politics, economics, and law.

Here is the full schedule.

Reflections from the Organisers

Kritika Maheshwari
Assistant Professor, TU Delft

The idea of the PPEL in the Global South Conference stemmed from a form of frustration that I felt while having an academic career in Europe for more than 10 years now, where I felt there was a missing space for people to talk about real philosophical and political issues about the Global South with Global South scholars. And I transferred my frustration to many of my other colleagues, including Bastian, and pitched this idea of hosting a conference of this nature somewhere in India.

I would like to thank our main collaborators at NLS, Dr. Dayal Paleri and Sidharth Chauhan, who have been our biggest support in helping us not just plan the entire conference, but also help us so smoothly execute over the last couple of months together.

And besides that, we also managed to find a lot of support outside of India with institutions like International Network for Economic Method (INEM), the University of Hong Kong and Purdue University. They supported us financially, ensuring that we were able to help scholars and students from across India to come here and participate.

Bastian Steuwer
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Ashoka University

I’ve found that often when I talk to people in Europe, people are interested in talking about issues of the Global South and they’re interested to learn more. There is goodwill but there aren’t many opportunities for people to engage and to learn and to understand more about issues as they would arise from the Global South. And so, we were hoping to get some of the people that have the goodwill and that are interested in trying to change the status quo a little bit and facilitate a step forward in those conversations for those people who are interested and willing.

One of the things we quickly agreed upon was that we wanted to make it about a 50-50 split between people from outside of India and people from within India, and that worked out quite well. We also tried to find a good mix between more established and junior academics. The idea was to have early career academics along with those with more established careers and reputations, so that they could connect and learn from each other.

We decided to focus on PPEL to look at disciplines that engage in some form of normative reasoning. We had a lot of moral and political philosophy talks. We also had political theory talks, talks about Indian political theory, and what it means to do Indian political theory in the first place. We had talks by normative economists. We also obviously, at a law university, had talks by legal scholars.

Reflections from Participants

David Estlund
Lombardo Family Professor of Philosophy, Brown University

I was delighted to attend the PPEL conference. I gave a talk which led to a fantastic discussion which was very useful to me. The title of my talk was ‘Is Purely Structural Wrong an Illusion?’ The basic problem that I talked about was this somewhat mysterious idea that’s very influential. That social structure itself can be wrong, irrespective of any individual wrongdoing. On one hand, that’s a little bit of an obscure idea, but on the other hand, there’s something funny about the cases that we’re invited to think are ‘wrong’ in this way. Even though the ‘wrong’ is not supposed to be by agents, the cases that look a lot like cases would look if they were by agents. And so, I argued that’s why they seem ‘wrong.’ And it was a very useful discussion, and the whole conference has been extremely useful with fascinating discussions. And I’ve always wanted to get to India, and this is the perfect way to do it, so I’m glad to have been here.

Heng Ying
PhD Fellow, University of Hong Kong

It was a great honour to be here and present at the first PPEL Global South Conference. My talk was on ‘Moral Progress as a Discourse.’ I challenge how philosophers prescribe how we should make progress from this perspective of thinking. I think the kind of style philosophers promote in their works has some problems that we should be aware of. So that’s a part of my ongoing research. I think what matters more is how we preserve our ethical freedom, the freedom to think about alternative forms of society and be able to pursue that. I really enjoyed the conversation at the session. People raised great questions, some which really helped me think about the image I had in my head about improving society. The people here were really nice and supportive. I really enjoyed being here and thank you so much.

Jaya Ray
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Lakshmibai College, University of Delhi

I discussed my paper ‘Too Many People: Ethics of Procreation and Population Control.’ In my paper, I try to see the problem of overpopulation and over consumption as an ethical issue in population ethics. I base my argument on the ethics of procreation, and I try to give a philosophical foundation for the debate between procreative autonomy and intergenerational justice. I explore how they interplay with each other with a lot of philosophical arguments as both are very strong, intuitive fundamental values. I ask: is there any solution we can reach?

Nicole Hassoun
Professor, Indiana University

I was excited to be at the PPEL Conference in Bengaluru. I presented on inequality measurement in a talk titled ‘Measuring and Mitigating Inequality: A New Sufficiency and Equity Based Approach.’ I have a new measure that looks at how much people have over an income distribution and how inequalities matter more when people are less well-off below some threshold. And so, I’m hoping it’ll be useful to other academics, researchers. I had a great time at the conference meeting all kinds of interesting people doing really good work. So, thanks for having me!

Tarun Menon
Faculty, Azim Premji University

I presented my work related to power, trying to understand how power structures work and how one can use empirical data to infer whether or not there’s a power structure in some part of society. I was very happy with the response to the talk, the questions and the way people talked about it. It’s really great to have people from a variety of disciplines, to get feedback on your work from them. I really think the way the conference has been shaping up has been extremely encouraging. It’s been extremely successful so far. All of the talks have been really insightful and I’m grateful to the University and to the organisers for putting together such a smooth and intellectually stimulating conference.

Hin Sing Yuen
PhD Candidate, TU Delft

I was very happy to be here at the PPEL Conference in Bengaluru. My presentation was titled ‘Becoming Humanity: Reconceiving Humanity and Existential Risk through a Buddhist Lens.’ In this talk, I explored the concept of humanity in the context of extinction ethics and population ethics. I really enjoyed my time here in Bengaluru. The arrangements were amazing. Everything ran very smoothly. The lunch here was amazing and yeah, I’m enjoying some tea and snacks here. Thank you so much for organising this.

Gallery

Call for Applications | Research Position – Criminal Justice Projects (1 Vacancy)

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) invites applications for one Research position to work on Criminal Justice Projects. This is a full time role on contractual basis for a period of one year, based in Bengaluru.

About the Project

NLSIU is undertaking research projects which involve empirical analysis of criminal justice issues. The projects will use public legal data to study the process and decision-making of judicial institutions. One of the projects will utilise natural language processing tools to mine data embedded in judgements and orders, addressing major research questions related to criminal justice system outcomes in India. In particular, the study will examine sentencing patterns, undertrial incarceration, bail decisions, and the influence of social groups and regional disparities on these outcomes. By creating a new, publicly accessible dataset that includes the full text of case decisions and hearings, the project aims to facilitate a broad spectrum of research on various legal and social issues, potentially benefiting a wide range of stakeholders interested in legal reforms in India.

Role Description

The Researcher will work under the supervision of faculty members leading these projects – Prof. Mrinal Satish, Prof. Aparna Chandra, Prof. Rahul Hemrajani and Prof. Nikita Ahalyan. The projects involve desk, as well as field research and will be responsible for the following tasks:

Navigate the eCourts platform to identify and document important structural elements of the Indian legal system.
Hand-code cases from the eCourts website to develop a robust training dataset.
Analyse judicial decisions to extract and synthesise data.
Assist in the development of the legal database and open data portal.
Conduct detailed research on judicial performance metrics, including sentencing patterns and bail decisions.
Help prepare documentation, reports, and presentations for dissemination among legal scholars and policy-makers.
Engage in regular project meetings with the team and collaborate across different segments of the project.
Handling administrative responsibilities under the project.
Working with project leads in writing reports/papers relating to the project.

A. Qualifications

Essential

LL.B degree OR Masters Degree in an allied discipline, with demonstrated training and experience in coding and analysing large government datasets.

Desirable

Candidates with relevant research experience will be preferred.
Candidates who have experience in undertaking empirical research will be preferred.
Prior experience with coding or statistical analysis is desirable.

B. Experience

Essential

0-5 years of work experience in an academic or professional setting with demonstrable evidence of research and writing ability.

How to Apply?

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

An up-to-date CV
A statement of purpose indicating, for instance, why you have applied for this role, how it fits in your career trajectory, and why you are a good fit for the role (not more than 500 words)
Contact details and designation of two referees
A sole-authored writing sample (published or unpublished)

Compensation

Salary will be commensurate with qualification and experience and will be in the range of Rs. 50,000-Rs.80,000 per month.

For any queries, please write to

Deadline

The last date for submission of applications is January 9, 2026 (5 PM IST).

Live Information Sessions | NLSAT Programmes | January 2026

NLSIU is conducting live information sessions during January 2026 on the NLS BA (Hons.), the 3-Year LL.B. (Hons.), the Master’s Programme in Public Policy (MPP) and the PhD programmes. These online sessions will provide information about the University, the structure of the respective programmes and the application process.

Here are the details of the sessions (in order of the upcoming events):

Master’s Programme in Public Policy (MPP)

January 7, 2026 | 6 PM – 7 PM | Webinar on Careers in Public Policy
Speakers:
1. Dr. Srikrishna Ayyangar, MPP Chair and Associate Professor, Social Science, NLSIU
2. Dr. Devyani Pande, MPP Vice-Chair and Assistant Professor, Public Policy. NLSIU

Register for the Webinar

PhD Programmes

January 8, 2026 | 6 PM – 7 PM
Speakers:
1. Dr. Arul Scaria, PhD Chair and Professor of Law
2. Dr. Shiuli Vanaja, PhD Vice-Chair and Assistant Professor, Social Science

Register for the Webinar

Admissions Open

Admissions are currently open for the above-mentioned programmes. To apply, visit nlsatadmissions.nls.ac.in.

For any queries regarding NLSAT, write to .

We look forward to meeting you at these sessions!

Dr. Sony Pellissery Participates At The Second World Summit for Social Development | Nov 2025

Dr. Sony Pellissery, Professor and Co-Director, Centre for the Study of Social Inclusion (CSSI) at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, spoke at a virtual solution session at the Second World Summit for Social Development, held between November 4-6, 2025. The session was titled ‘Universal Social Protection for a Just, Sustainable and Inclusive Future- Financing, Implementation, and Intergenerational Solidarity.’

Session on Universal Social Protection

Prof. Sony spoke on why finance alone does not address the challenge of universalising social protection in South Asia. He spoke on four sectors where universalisation of social protection has been a challenge — construction workers, gig workers, domestic workers and scheme workers with the government. Both in the segments of construction workers (builders paying a premium as social security contribution for workers in order to gain approval of building plans) and gig workers (those who receive service paying a fraction of service fee through apps) finance has not been a challenge. But, in the segment of domestic workers, collection of contributions from employers has been a challenge. A positive element in that segment is mobilisation of women to resist violences they have been subjected to, and bargaining capacity for wages when they are organised. The case of scheme workers with the government faces another set of challenges, particularly with minimum wage. The positive aspect in this segment has been access to several benefits like insurance for healthcare. These comparative cases show how sectors are widely divergent when the question of universalisation in the informal sector is addressed.

For the panel, Prof Sony was joined by:

Moderator: Paul Ladd, former Head of UNRISD (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development) and currently Director of Sustainable Development for the UNECE Region

Speakers

Isabel Ortiz, Director, Global Social Justice – “Advancing Global Social Justice: Solutions to Tackle Inequality and Finance Universal, Inclusive Social Protection” Background and Rationale
UN Deputy Secretary-General or other high-level UN representative – Global leadership and multilateral commitments
Lok Bahadur Thapa, Ambassador of Nepal to the UN – “Regional Leadership and Multilateral Support for Social Protection in LDCs”
Government Representative from Tanzania – “National Pathways to Achieving Universal Social Protection: Policy, Practice, and Political Commitment”
Christina Behrendt, Head, Social Policy Unit, ILO Universal Social Protection Department – “The role of the ILO in advancing the implementation and monitoring of social protection systems, including floors”
Gray Panthers – “Social Protection Across Generations: Dignity for Older Persons and Intergenerational Solidarity”
Beena Pallical, Co-Chair, Global Forum on Communities Discriminated by Work and Descent (GFoD) – “Innovative and Ethical Financing: Towards a Global Fund for the Most Marginalised”

About the Summit

The first World Summit for Social Development was held in Copenhagen in 1995, following which 177 nation-states adopted a political resolution to fight poverty.

30 years later, the second social development summit was held in Doha. More than 40 Heads of State and Government, over 230 ministers and senior officials, and nearly 14,000 attendees took part in the summit.

Takeaway

The 3-day summit ended with the adoption of the Doha Declaration.

The Doha Political Declaration of the Second World Summit for Social Development (2025) reaffirms global commitments to the Copenhagen Declaration, the 2030 Agenda, human rights, and inclusive multilateralism, acknowledging that progress on poverty eradication, decent work, and social inclusion has been too slow and uneven. Leaders highlighted persistent and emerging challenges – including rising poverty and inequality, informal and precarious work, gender gaps, youth unemployment, weak social protection, digital divides, climate change, conflicts, demographic shifts, and strained global financing. The Declaration commits countries to accelerate poverty eradication through social protection floors, quality education, decent work policies, support for small enterprises, gender equality, and targeted investments in health, food security, resilient infrastructure, and sustainable agriculture. It emphasised universal health coverage, digital inclusion, safe use of emerging technologies like AI, strengthened labour rights, and inclusive policies for children, women, older persons, migrants, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities. The text stresses the need for major reforms to the international financial architecture, expanded development financing, fairer tax cooperation, and stronger support for developing countries. It concludes with a pledge to strengthen follow-up mechanisms, enhance multilateral cooperation, and conduct a five-year review from 2031 to assess progress and renew commitments toward achieving social development for all.

Click here to know more.