On March 14 and 15, 2020, the NLIU Law Review, in association with India Foundation, organized the second edition of the NLIU-India Foundation Constitutional Law Symposium. The event was initiated in 2019 to contribute to the literature and enhance the discourse on contemporary issues of constitutional law. Much like the first edition of the event, the second edition saw great participation from law students, academicians, legal practitioners and professionals across the country. The Symposium saw a paper presentation competition on the first day, followed by several panel discussions engaging legal experts on the second day.
The paper presentation competition called for submissions from law students across the country. The NLIU Law Review, through its multi-tier review process, shortlisted submissions which were subsequently presented at the event. The discussions on the first day pertained to topics such as the right to be forgotten, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and transgender rights, with the presenters also suggesting novel solutions to address the lacunae in the existing legal framework.
The paper presentation was followed by panel discussions and plenary sessions on the second day. Mr. O.P. Rawat, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, delivered the keynote address in which he discussed the manner in which EVMs have revolutionised elections and emphasized on the importance of constant progress and improvement. He went on state “laws are as good as the individuals who uphold the law”. This statement struck a chord with the members of the legal fraternity and the student community present in the audience.
Subsequent to the keynote address, the first plenary session was held on the topic “Sovereignty in the Digital Age”. The panel comprised notable speakers from the field of law and academics, such as Ms. Anuradha Shankar, ADGP, Madhya Pradesh Police; Mr. Vinit Goenka, Secretary, Centre for Knowledge Sovereignty and Mr. Bharat Panchal, Chief Risk Officer, FIS Global. This session was chaired by Prof. (Dr.) Ghayur Alam, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, NLIU Bhopal.
The Symposium also saw a second plenary session on “Rethinking Parliamentary Democracy” where the panellists addressed the student body in order to facilitate awareness and engage in discussion on key democratic issues in the country. The panel for this session included legal luminaries such as Hon’ble Mr. Justice G. Raghuram (Retd.), Director, NJA Bhopal and Mr. R. Venkatramani, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India. This second session was chaired by Prof. (Dr.) V. Vijayakumar, Vice-Chancellor, NLIU Bhopal.
A concise summary of the address delivered by the panellists at the Symposium has been put together by the Editorial Board at the NLIU Law Review. Click here to read the same.