Of Bridges and Breaks - The constitution at crossroads

India International Centre' (IIC) is going to organise an important session under the title 'Of Bridges and Breaks - The Constitution at a Crossroads' on November 23, 2021, at 5:30 pm.

During the session, discussions on topics like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 and discrimination law will take place with keynote speakers Professor Mohsin Alam Bhat, Associate Professor, Executive Director, Centre for Public Interest Law, Jindal Global Law School, O P Jindal Global University and Thulasi K Raj, Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Kerala High Court and Visiting Fellow, Melbourne Law School, Australia.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) has been a lightning rod of controversy, drawing out starkly different public views about the law's legitimacy. Conspicuously, discussions on the subject have heavily relied on the language of the Constitution and its promise of equality, non-discrimination and secularism.

However, there is much about the constitutional guarantee of equality that needs clarification before it can be meaningfully applied in the case of the CAA. This is especially so in the case of discrimination law, a field of law that protects individuals and groups against discrimination based on characteristics like race, religion, sex and caste.

A new year-long series of monthly conversations will be jointly curated and presented with Charkha, the Constitutional Law Research Centre, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. The conversations have been envisaged to spark thoughtful, nuanced discussions on some of the most significant constitutional challenges of our times. The conversations will focus

on three broad themes – understanding Indian democracy, unpacking Indian federalism and unearthing civil liberties.