The Right to Read Campaign

Imagine yourself in a world without books, the pain of living like that. This campaign is all about me and the 700 million other people who are denied the ‘right to read’.

– Moiz, 5th year, LLB, NUJS

On 7th November, 2009, NUJS became the venue for the Right to Read campaign that seeks to accelerate change in copyright law and raise public awareness on the issue of access to reading for the print impaired.

The panel discussion that marked the beginning of the campaign was moderated by Dr. Shamnad Basheer, IPR chair, NUJS. He introduced the four panelists and topic: Copyright laws and access to read for the print impaired He also announced the measures that NUJS would be taking for making legal education inclusive like setting CLAT paper access to all differentially-abled and providing free education for the deserving students.

Dr. S.S. Roy steered the discussions in the right directions by pointing out the economic constrains faced by NGOs and others who work with the print impaired and the largescale implementation failure of the existing laws for the print impaired.

Dr. S. Patnaik from the School for Blind explained the violation of copyright law in the process of conversion of books in Braille form, inability in understanding of many available audio records due to the difference in accents, etc. He recommended an amendment in copyright law.

The 3rd panelist, Ms Chandrima Bhattacharya from the Telegraph offered media support for the campaign.

Dr. Rukmini Sen, Asst. Professor, NUJS, suggested an amendment to the Protection of Disabilities Act, 1995 that would broaden the definition of access so as to include access to all kinds of information (educational, literary, etc). She also supported the amendment of Copyright law and referred to the UN Convention on the Blind… of which India is a signatory.

After the panel discussion, the stage was set for comments and inputs from the supporters, the audience, was vehemently insistent on public action to make more books and atleast one newspaper available in Braille form.

Rahul Cherian, one of the co-founders of Inclusive Planet, an organization that has spearheaded the collection of more than 10000 books that are compatible for the visually challenged and put them up in their website ‘Bookbole’, urged for more support for the cause

The campaign ended by enlightening many and opening a new world of words for many more.

Legal Aid Drafting Workshop

The Legal Aid Society conducted a “Workshop on Drafting of Basic Legal Documents” on the 22nd August, 2009. This Workshop was meant for the 5th year students of the University as well as representatives of several eminent NGOs of Kolkata. The primary aim of the Workshop was to impart basic knowledge of legal drafting, both civil and criminal, to the audience. The civil law drafting session was conducted by Mr. Protik Prokash Banerji, a reputed civil lawyer of the Calcutta High Court and the criminal law drafting session was conducted by Mr. Joymalya Bagchi, one of the most eminent criminal lawyers from the Calcutta Bar. This was followed by a discussion of the representatives of the NGOs with Mr. Banerji and Mr. Bagchi and a sumptuous lunch for the participants in the programme from outside the college.

Further Mooting Triumphs

NUJS building on its excellent mooting records posted an impressive win at the 2nd NLS International Arbitration Moot Court Competition. The team, consisting of Udit Sood, Vivek Menon, Shabdita Gupta and Kartik Khanna, faced some stiff competition at the quarters and withstood a tough panel of judges in the finals to come out champions.

Recent Moot Achievements

The NUJS Mooting flag flew high within the final rung of competitions in the National Mooting Season. The team, consisting of Prateek Dutta, Rohan Sahai and Mayur Bhandari, won the NLS–NFCG Corporate Governance Moot. Sashwata Dutta, Abhudaya Agarwal and Geetanjali Shankar reached the semi-finals of the D.M. Harish International Moot at GLC, Mumbai. Prajna Mahapatra, Vidyulata and Abhijeet Sinha emerged runners-up at the Annual KLA Moot Court Competition, while Prajna bagged the Best Lady Advocate Award. Similarly did Prateeks Shroff and Dutta along with Kaushik Krishnan fall just one short at the Surana Corporate Law Moot Court Competition at Jodhpur. Looks like the green patch is back to stay.

Talk on Human Rights in the Pre-British Period

At the talk on Human Rights in Pre-British Period organised by the Centre for Human Rights on 22nd February, Justice B N Krishna enthralled an audience with a speech which was equal parts Sanskrit, equal parts humour and equal parts historical insight. Refuting the widely held notions of Human Rights as being gift of the British to India, Justice Krishna showed by way of examples how the ideas of human rights albeit within a uniquely duty based system existed in pre British India. He fielded questions from the students and faculty with much élan and had the audience listening in rapt attention.

NUJS Law Review Symposium

The first ever NUJS Law Review Symposium was held on the 14th February, 2009. It was chaired by Mr. K.P. Pathak, Additional Solicitor General of India and was addressed by several eminent persons which included Mr. A.K. Samanta, former D.G.P., West Bengal, Mr. Oishik Sircar, Human Rights Scholar and Mr. Shameek Sen, Lecturer, NUJS. The symposium also hosted presentation of papers by several students of the University and saw keen participation by the faculty members. There also plans to expand the Symposium and rope in greater participation starting next year.

NUJS eJurix Legal Essay Competition UPDATE

Dear Participants,

We extend the deadline for submisions for the Competition by one week. Your soft copies must therefore, reach us by the 24th of Feb. and hard copies by the 27th.

For all those still having technical problems with the E Jurix passwords, please use them on Internet Explorer from version 5.5 onwards. The EJurix team has assured us that the passwords are working fine at their end, but will look into the matter further in case you still have problems.

For all those who still havent received an EJurix ID and password, this is to assure you that we have forwarded your names and email ID's to the EJurix team and they will come back to us with IDs and passwords, which we shall forward to you as soon as we get them. In the meantime, please feel free to begin independent research on the topics.

Please do not hesitate to get back to us with any queries if required at nujs.writersblock@gmail.com


The complete list of Rules and Regulations may be downloaded here.

Kindly note that the last date for submitting the soft copy is 24th February 2009 and for the hard copy is 27th February 2009.

All participants shall receive a free eJurix account to be used for research purposes.

For your free ejurix a/c send in an e-mail to nujs.writersblock@gmail.com with your name and contact details.

Corporate Law Lectures

NUJS was recently witness to a series of lectures entitled ‘Corporate Law – Principles to Practice’ by Mr. Edward Walker-Arnott. Mr. Walker-Arnott, currently a consultant at Herbert Smith LLP, and formerly a Senior Partner (1992-2000), is widely acknowledged to be an expert in the realm of contemporary commercial law and usage. Additionally, having been a supervisor of company law at Trinity College and a Visiting Professor at University College, London, he is no stranger to academia either.

At NUJS, we were fortunate to have a total of seven sessions, which attempted to encompass almost all of the major strands of corporate law; ranging from corporate governance to share capital, insolvency issues or investor protection stratagems. Mr. Walker-Arnott, in addition to dealing with the provisions of law in India and UK, or theoretical concepts associated therewith, also frequently took anecdotal recourse to his own rich reserve of professional experiences in order to further elucidate a point. It can only be hoped, at the end of this lecture series, that students at NUJS have come alive to the variegated workings of the world of corporate law, where most of us might be striving to carve out a name for ourselves in the days to come.

Shekhar Sumit (Class of 2009)

New Attendance Rule

The old system, whereby up to five marks out of a hundred in any subject were awarded on the basis of the number of classes a student attended in a semester, has been scrapped with effect from the current semester. For the present, the five marks in question will be added to the grand total in the end semester written examinations. From the next semester onwards, so we are told, five marks will instead be set aside for class participation. Proformas shall no longer be accepted either. However, the rule that a student must have a minimum of 66% attendance to be eligible to write their test is still in force.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, the logic behind the move was that quality classroom teaching and not marks should the incentive for students to attend class; students will soon realize that if they do not attend class, their understanding of a subject will be hampered and their academic performance will anyway suffer. Other supporters hail the decision because they believe it will address a patently unfair situation which existed under the earlier rules: some students having access to committee proformas which they have been known to use for illegitimate purposes.

While this move was hailed by some as the best New Year’s gift they ever received, others among the faculty and students were heard sounding a more skeptical note. They predicted that with no incentive to come for class, attendance will drop drastically and academic development will suffer. Is this cynicism justified? Only time (and attendance registers) will tell.