News Type: Event

In this week’s faculty seminar, Kiran Suryanarayana will present his paper titled “Customary International Law and Specially Affected States: A TWAIL Perspective” on Wednesday, 29 November 2023. Prof. Harisankar Sathyapalan will be the discussant.

Abstract

Customary International law (CIL) (along with treaties) can be described as the cornerstone of the international legal system. In this paper, I hope to interrogate the current two-part test for CIL, i.e., identification of state practice and opinio juris with a view to determine three things. Firstly, whether the two-part test is itself of a customary character, the answer to which would play a critical role in reshaping the notion of CIL itself. Secondly, to justify the proposition of a “specially affected states” standard to replace the “widespread, general accepted” practice test, which is currently endorsed by the International Court of Justice. And thirdly, to briefly examine some of the challenges with this novel standard, including its potential for actualization within an increasingly multipolar world. I think that a critical drawback for the system proposed in this paper is its lack of parsimony, which within a municipal system poses several challenges for enforcement authorities. However, within an international system with a weak system of enforcement that relies on political bargaining as opposed to legal decision-making, this lack of parsimony might imply an unworkable standard. I hope to think through (in brief) some preliminary suggestions/solutions to this issue. 

Dr. Sushmita Pati, Assistant Professor, Political Science, NLSIU, participated in a panel discussion organized by the Centre for Writing Studies (CWS), O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), on Friday, 24 November 2023.

The theme of the discussion was titled ‘The Proof and the Pudding: Evidence in Academic Writing’. Dr. Sushmita Pati, participated in the first panel on ‘The Intangible and the Material: Piecing, Producing and Arranging Evidence’, from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm.

Dr. Vebhuti Duggal, Assistant Professor at Ambedkar University, Delhi, Dr. Vidya Subramanian, Associate Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) and Dr. Devyani Gupta, Associate Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), were the co-panelists for this panel discussion.

As a part of the commemoration of Constitution month, Dr. Arun K Thiruvengadam, Professor of Law, NLSIU will be in conversation with Dr. Usha Ramanathan, a human rights activist who works on the jurisprudence of law, poverty and rights. This lecture is being organised by Champaca Bookstore and NCBS (National Centre for Biological Sciences) Archives.

Abstract of the talk

NLS faculty Dr. Samyak Ghosh will be presenting his paper titled “Antaja Kings in Mleccha Land: The Political Imagination of Jāti in an Early Eighteenth-Century Royal Court” on November 22, 2023 . Dr. Chandrabhan Yadav will be the discussant for this paper.

Abstract

In the early eighteenth century in Brahmaputra Valley, the concept of jāti (people) entered the realm of elite courtly literature. The region consisting of the fertile floodplains of the Brahmaputra River was then ruled by the kings belonging to the Tungkhungia lineage (henceforth Tungkhungia kings). Around this time, several waves of Brahman migration into the region (from Gangetic South Asia) and particularly the Brahman presence in the court of the Tungkhungia kings created possibilities for new intellectual explorations. One of the results of this early eighteenth-century cultural encounter was the ways in which kingship was reconfigured in Tungkhungia courtly literature through its negotiations with the political concept of jāti. In this chapter, I trace the consequence of this cultural encounter through a close reading of the Assamese Dharmapurāṇa, an early eighteenth-century Tungkhungia courtly text.Further, by incorporating philological and art historical methods of reading an early eighteenth-century punthi or illustrated “book”, I demonstrate the ways in which jāti emerged as the foundation of a new political based on the reconfigured knowledge of kingship, expressed both in words and in images.

NLSIU is organising a workshop as a part of the Public Health and Indian Constitution (PHIC) Project on 17th November, 2023 from 10 am to 3.30 pm at the University campus.

The University initiated this two-year project in 2022 with the objective of analyzing the contemporary public health themes at the helm intersection of law and health. The project,  supported by the Thakur Foundation, aims to evaluate the constitutional framework within which the duties, powers and limitations of the government on public health are debated and scrutinized by the courts.

About the Workshop

The workshop aims to review and provide critical comments to the research team looking to develop a cases and material compendium of Public Health under the Indian Constitution. The research team comprises NLSIU Vice Chancellor Prof. Sudhir Krishnaswamy as principal investigator, faculty member Prof. Nanditta Batra and Academic Fellow Mr. Kiran Suryanarayana. The compendium is designed to function as a repository for all relevant constitutional case laws (along with critical Notes, Comments, Questions and Reflections) with respect to the interface of public health regulations with constitutional guarantees. The event aims to bring together subject-matter experts from industry, government bodies, policy organisations, think-tanks and academia.

Please note, this event is open to participants by invitation only.

For any queries relating to the workshop, please write to or

We are excited to welcome Prof. Sudipta Kaviraj to the NLS campus during the second and third week of November. Prof. Kaviraj is Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies in Columbia University, and Distinguished Visiting Faculty at NLS.

Prof. Kaviraj is visiting NLS from November 14 to 22 during which he will be engaged in a number of activities, including our next faculty seminar on campus.

On November 15, 2023, he will present his paper titled “What is Western About Western thought?”. Our faculty member Dr. Karthick Ram Manoharan will moderate the discussion.

Abstract

The question at the centre of this paper is part of a larger debate. Though the more limited question is hardly ever asked in academic discussions, the larger question – how can knowledge – or more broadly and less helpfully- thought in the world outside the West can be decolonized is at the center of lively debates surrounding the ‘end’ of postcolonial theory. Even this question can be asked in two significantly separate forms: about decolonizing knowledge in these societies; or, alternative, knowledge about these societies, which would presumably include knowledge produced in the Western academia about these societies. The two propositions make a lot of difference. This essay, therefore, deals with that larger question of the humanistic and the historical sciences indirectly, because I believe that without becoming clear about this smaller question – what is Western about Western thought? – which might strike people as odd, we cannot make much progress. Indeed, my claim is that so much of uncertainty still attaches to the first discussion – whether we are making any progress at all or not – is precisely because the second question is not seen with clarity as being a precondition to making progress in the first.

The University along with the mental health organisation Amaha is organising a workshop on ‘Emotional Wellbeing’ this Saturday, November 11, 2023.   The workshop is open to students currently in leadership positions and anyone else who is interested to learn more about vision boards.

About the workshop

Topic: Creating Your Own Vision Board

No matter what time of the year we’re at, it often brings with it motivation, goals, dreams and plans. It’s a time of feeling purposeful and driven. And creating a vision board can help transform that purpose and drive, into action!

Whether you have clear ideas of what you want, or you are feeling unsure or overwhelmed about how this year is turning out, then this workshop is for you. Using prompts, visuals, and some creativity, you will learn how to create your very own vision board- to help feel motivated and clear headed. Bring your most ambitious dreams and aspirations and the vision board will help you plan for them!

Objectives:

• To understand how vision boards work- is it manifestation or something more?
• To enable in identifying and setting SMARTER goals that increase the chances of turning your vision into reality
• To learn how to use your vision board to track success and build on setbacks

Please note: All students to carry a pen and paper to the session.

We are excited to announce that Prof. Sudipta Kaviraj, Professor, Columbia University, and Distinguished Visiting Faculty at NLSIU, will deliver the MK Nambyar Annual Lecture for 2023 on 17th November.

The talk will be delivered on the topic ‘Genealogy of the Constitution: On the Originality of Indian Political Thought’ from 6.30 PM to 8 PM in the BIC Auditorium, Bangalore International Centre. The lecture is being co-sponsored by the National Law School of India University and the Bangalore International Centre.

About the Speaker 

Prof. Sudipta Kaviraj is presently Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies in Columbia University.  Prior to joining Columbia University, he taught at the Department of Political Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.  He has also taught Political Science at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and been an Agatha Harrison Fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford.

Professor Kaviraj is among the finest political thinkers in contemporary India.  He is a stalwart of the Subaltern Studies collective, extremely well-versed with Marxist scholarly traditions in the West and outside of it, and remains a keen analyst of the foundations and trajectories of modern Indian constitutional politics.  His scholarship has inaugurated novel methodological and theoretical frames for comprehending modern and premodern India without disconnecting from the conceptual repertoire of mainstream understandings of political community.  His recent publications include journal articles titled “What is Western about Western Thought?” (2023),  and “Disenchantment Deferred,” (2016), and essays in edited volumes about religious pluralism (2014; 2021).   His books include The Imaginary Institution of India (2010), Civil Society: History and Possibilities co-edited with Sunil Khilnani (2001), Politics in India (edited) (1999), and The Unhappy Consciousness: Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay and the Formation of Nationalist Discourse in India (1995).

About the Session

“The thinking on political theory that went into the making of the Indian Constitution was not derivative, but highly original. The constitution is based on a long tradition of highly original Indian political reflection. This originality lay in the framers’ forceful critique against some basic axioms of Western political theory. As illustrations, I shall present Tagore’s thinking on religion and modernity, Gandhi-Tagore-Nehru’s on the idea of the nation, and Ambedkar’s late deployment of Buddhism. Indian nationalist thought also displayed a contending tradition that accepted and elaborated on fundamental Western ideas – as in Iqbal and Savarkar. The constitution sought to develop a state-form that was based on a rejection of the European idea of a nation-state – though this is sometimes obscured, because the framers used a Western-derived language. Thus, those who believe that the constitution is ‘Western’ or colonial are in error; and their search for an alternative is based, ironically, on an imitation of modern Western ideals.”

The lecture will be followed directly by a Q&A session with the audience (around 30 minutes) and will be moderated by NLS faculty Dr. Rinku Lamba.

Registration

The event is open to the public. RSVP here.

This weekend, NLSIU is excited to host a campus reunion for the batch of 2003 as they celebrate two decades of their graduation from law school.

The batch will reunite on cmapus on October 21, 2023, and will be spending the day on campus re-connecting with batchmates, faculty, and other members of the NLS community.

The first such campus reunion post pandemic took place in July 2022 with the batch of 2011. We have been delighted to host more such reunions over the past year with various batches enthusiastically reaching out to the University!

Schedule

11:00 pm – 11:15 pm Registration – Classroom 104, OAB
11:15 am – 11:30 pm – Welcome address by the Registrar – Classroom 104, OAB
11:45 am – 12:00 pm – Time Capsule – Looking back, Looking forward | Alumni are invited to write a message for the 35th/ 50th year reunion, which the University will preserve in a physical sealed time capsule – Classroom 104, OAB
12:00 pm – 12:30 pm – Interaction with the former & present faculty members – Classroom 104, OAB
12:30 pm – 01:30 pm – Lunch with faculty and staff – Training Centre
01:30 pm – 02:00 pm Campus tour & Group Photo – Training Centre to Library

We look forward to hosting more such milestone gatherings for other batches and courses in the years ahead!

Moments from the Reunion

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in collaboration with CAMP Arbitration & Mediation Practice Private Limited and Foundation for Sustainable Rule of Law Initiatives (FSRI) is organizing a one day residential workshop on mediation advocacy for lawyers and legal academics on Oct 19, 2023 from 10:00 am – 6 pm at NLSIU, Bengaluru. Interested candidates may apply for this workshop by filling out the form below.

Programme Description:

Serving as an effective representative of a client in mediation presents lawyers with distinct challenges and opportunities that differ from advocacy in court or arbitration. While advocacy in court or arbitration involves presenting the strongest possible case to a neutral decision maker, advocacy in mediation focuses on helping the client to discover what is truly in the client’s best interest and guiding them through a negotiation process to further those interests, and to reach a satisfactory, voluntary resolution. Lawyers must become expert negotiators and skillful diplomats to meet the challenge of the mediation process. This mode of practice creates great opportunities to assist clients in achieving their goals and can lead to true client satisfaction.

Programme Objectives:

This workshop is designed to provide an overview of the skills needed to be an effective representative of a client in mediation. The workshop covers:
● How mediation differs from other methods of dispute resolution
● The basic structure of the mediation process
● The fundamentals of successfully negotiating in a mediated environment
● How to work effectively with a client to prepare for mediation
● Being persuasive in a mediated environment to achieve a “win/win”
● Styles of mediation and choosing a mediator
● Confidentiality, finality, and other core legal issues of concern to lawyers representing clients in mediation

Eligibility: Lawyers & Legal Academics

Fees: Rs. 8,500/- +18% GST

Resource Persons:

● Dana Curtis, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School.
● Laila Ollapally, CAMP Arbitration and Mediation Practice Private Limited.
● Victor Schachter, The Foundation for Sustainable Rule of Law Initiatives.
● Howard Herman, JAMS Foundation Mediator
● Claudia Bernard, Mediator, UC Law San Francisco (Formerly called University of California Hastings College of the Law )
● Dr. Harisankar KS, Associate Professor of Law, National Law School of India University; Chair Professor (In-Charge), DC Singhania Chair on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

A certificate of participation will be provided on successful completion of the workshop.

To submit the application form, click here. 

Application deadline has been extended to 11:59 pm, Sunday, 15 October.

For further queries, please write to