‘Coordinated action can help solve problem of climate change’

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

SHARING THEIR JOY: Gold medal winners Aditya Sudarshan (left), Pooja M. Garg, Arun Sri Kumar, Ramya Raghuram and Jagannath Iyer at National Law School of India University’s 15th annual convocation in Bangalore on Sunday.

Bangalore: “The problem of climate change can be solved through coordinated action by all the stakeholders. I believe the legal profession has a unique opportunity and a significant responsibility because it is a profession whose intellectual exercises have a direct bearing on government thinking and action across the globe,” said R.K. Pachauri, Director-General of The Energy Research Institute (TERI) and Chairman, Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change.

At the 15th annual convocation of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) here on Sunday, he said in the area of environmental actions, the judiciary had been pacesetter and had established a record that gave every citizen a great deal of strength in demanding the protection and preservation of the environment.

“My major concern on legal issues [is] related to global environmental matters, particularly in respect of the growing threat of climate change,” he said.

“In my view, laws are a reflection of values, ethics and aspirations of society. If this reality can be elevated to the global level in the context of climate change, the legal profession would have a profound impact on the thinking, articulation and implementation of solutions across the globe. We have a short window of time during which if all responsible sections of society do not take the lead in creating a resolve and compelling rationale for action, the consequence would be dire and irreversibly disastrous,” he said.

He urged the graduates to focus in this area “with seriousness”. A. Jayagovind, Vice-Chancellor, NLSIU, said the law school had established a Centre for the Study of Law and Social Exclusion. “This is an initiative of the University Grants Commission. NLSIU is one of the 13 institutions selected on all-India basis by UGC for setting up the centre,” he said.

He said with the proliferation of national law schools, candidates had to write as many entrance tests as the number of law schools. “This problem has been taken note of by the Supreme Court and it has directed us to explore the possibilities of conducting a common admission test. The vice-chancellors of leading national law schools have met in this connection and there is consensus regarding the need and the mechanism for conducting such tests,” he said.

However, he said that national law schools are not like the IIMs or IITs funded by the Union Government.

“We all owe our existence to the State Governments. Therefore, the IIT and IIM model is not exactly relevant. However, we hope that the Central authorities would respond positively to our concerns so that we may whole-heartedly engage ourselves in conducting the test, the score of which may be used by all legal institutions aspiring to operate at the national level,” he added.

Prof. Jayagovind said that 10 per cent to 15 per cent of NLSIU’s students pursue higher education in leading universities across the world. This year, Ramya Raghuram has bagged the Rhodes Scholarship to go to Oxford University. Jagannath Iyer and Chandralekha Ghosh have won Erasmus Mundus scholarships to pursue LL.M in Law and Economics. Neha Sachdev will be pursuing her LL.M in New York University, he added.

K.G. Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of India, gave away the degrees to the graduating students of M.Phil, LL.M, MBL (Master of Business Law), BA, LL.B (Hons), Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Rights Law, Post-Graduate Diploma in Medical Law and Ethics, Post-Graduate Diploma in Environmental Law and Post-Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law.

Arun Sri Kumar walked away with eight gold medals, while Ramya Raghuram bagged six gold medals. Pooja M. Garg and Aditya Sudarshan won three gold medals each, while Tanya Agarwal and Amit Yadav won two medals each. Jagannath Iyer, Bhimsen Chandrasen Rao, Subalakshmi Naskar, Shweta Dubey and Jayanth Srinivasan secured one gold medal each.

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