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.

IPTLS Career Workshop

At a time where AMSS is planning to downsize, becoming a lawyer with a leading IP firm or an IP policy maker seems to be far more exciting. All this and much more was shared by IP expert Prof. Shamnad Basheer, who is currently IPR chair at the University, in a talk on career options in Intellectual Property Laws. The talk, which witnessed an unprecedented turnout, was organized by the Intellectual Property and Technology Laws Society (IPTLS) on 28^th November.

In an extremely informal yet informative session, Prof. Basheer enlightened us about the myriad opportunities that lay ahead of us in this exciting field. Starting off on a humorous note, Prof. Basheer delved into the various forms of legal work in the field of IP. What could otherwise have been a boring session was considerably enlivened by Prof. Basheer’s many interesting titbits about the legal industry and practice.

Responding to queries, Prof. Basheer emphasized on a J.D instead of an L.LM especially in the field of IP and if working in the U.S. is on your priority list. He also cautioned the students about choosing foreign universities carefully, taking into consideration both general and specific field rankings. Prof. Basheer ended the session asking the students to follow their passions and assured them that the perks would follow automatically.

Workshop on Banning of Exit Polls

The Constitutional Law Society organized a workshop on ‘Banning of Exit Polls: An Attack on Freedom of Speech?’ The workshop was held in Room 006 on 27^th November 2008. Members of the faculty and students had an intense and extremely informative discussion over the various issues concerning the topic viz. accountability, credibility, the actual informative content of exit polls, the staggered form of elections and their possible impact upon the Indian voter. The legal aspect of the discussion revolved around reconciling the right to information, the right to freedom of free speech and expression and the right to free and fair elections.

Mock US Parliamentary Debate at USIS

An American diplomat wished everybody a happy Halloween through his false specs and nose, kick starting what was to be a fun filled evening at the American Library, as students from various Kolkata colleges (Jadavpur University, Calcutta International Academy, City College and NUJS) participated in a mock US Presidential debate on 31^st October 2008.

People felt that the “McCain-guy” looked more like Obama and vice-versa...Each began with lines of the actual first Presidential debate. McCain talked about Democrats and Republicans coming to sit together and decide the future of the country. Obama stressed on how they needed change from the last eight years of the Bush rule. The first five minutes felt like one was watching a quick replay of the three presidential debate rounds. Once they had to start fielding the panellists’ questions though, things finally spiced up. The questions ranged from terrorism and Iraq to the recession, tax cuts and questions on finance policies. Some questions also came from obscure corners such as what would Obama’s policy be on the extraction of Shale oil and what was McCain’s stand on a woman’s reproductive choice. Policy towards China was questioned, and issues of illegal immigration, nuclear power and racial discrimination were also discussed. As one panellist from Jadavpur University said, in indignation at “McCain” having corrected her facts, “The panellists have done their homework.”

In all fairness, the two contestants knew their statistics excellently well and knew perfectly the real senators’ stands on all issues broached. Both the “candidates” were quick on their feet and there were enough jibes from Obama to McCain in reference to his “failing memory” to keep the interest running. Obama kept going out of order by interrupting McCain’s speech, which was fun to watch (not the speech: the interruptions) and they drove the moderator to slip them a slip requesting them to not speak out of turn…

Amongst other things, it was funny when McCain spoke of the “abortion of women,” and also how badly he felt about the war in Iraq. “I was in the army. So were my fathers and grandfathers…”

“Obama” won the mock debate by 42 to 22 votes.

Some things are just fore-ordained.