IDIA’s Annual Awards and Conference on “Law, Leadership and Creativity”

IDIA Charitable Trust (an organisation working towards empowerment of the underprivileged through legal education) recently held it’s IDIA Annual Awards Ceremony and Conference on 15-16 September 2017 in New Delhi. The session rounded off with a CHAMPS training session for IDIA scholars and team leaders on the 17th.IDIA Annual Awards 2017Each year, the IDIA Charitable Trust hands out awards to individuals and institutions that have taken time out and championed the cause of legally empowering the underprivileged. This year, the awards ceremony (at the Constitution Club of India on 15 September 2017) was graced by legal luminaries such as Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri (Judge, Supreme Court of India) , Justice Gita Mittal (Acting Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi), Justice Ravindra Bhat, Justice C. Hari Shankar (Judge, High Court of Delhi), Mr. Salman Khurshid (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India) and Prof. (Dr.) MP Singh (IDIA Trustee, Chancellor - Central University of Haryana and Visiting Professor - NLU Delhi).The awards evening and dinner that followed was generously hosted by IDIA well-wisher Mr. Abhimanyu Bhandari, Managing Partner, Axon Partners LLP.The evening began with Justice Gita Mittal meeting with all the IDIA Scholars (underprivileged students trained by IDIA who are now at the various law schools in India). She was joined by Justice Harishankar.Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer, Founder and Managing Trustee of IDIA welcomed all the dignitaries to the dias and began by introducing the IDIA movement and the key challenges faced.Justice Sikri, the keynote speaker congratulated IDIA for doing a commendable job by training IDIA Scholars who could then advocate the cause of their communities in unparalleled ways. He noted that it was important to bridge the gap between “Bharat” and “India”. Speakng about the times when law was regarded as the last option, he was happy that IDIA was engaged in sensitizing more students to law as an attractive career option. Much to the delight of the audience, Prof. MP Singh narrated some stories about Justice Sikri from their days in Law Faculty, when Justice Sikri was a student and Prof. MP Singh a law professor! It turns out Prof Singh sought out Justice Sikri in the library since he had heard that Sikri was the class topper.The various IDIA awards were then handed out by dignitaries on the dias including Justice Sikri, Justice Hari Shankar, senior counsel Salman Khurshid and Prof MP Singh. The awards were handed out to institutions and individuals that had partnered with IDIA to champion the cause.The institutions that won the awards included Citi India, Sony Pictures Networks Distribution India Pvt Ltd, Allen & Overy and the Centre for Social Justice.Amongst the individuals, IDIA champion awards were handed out were Justice Prabha Sridevan (former judge, Madras High Court), Abhimanyu Bhandari (Founder, Axxon), Prof Yogesh Pai (Assistant Professor, National Law University Delhi), Rajneesh Singh (founder, Do-zen), and Suhaan Mukerji (Partner – PLR Chambers).Next, IDIA Stars 2017 awards were presented to IDIA’s student Team Leaders, who spent countless hours leading their teams at the various law schools, while balancing their classroom commitments.This year’s awardees were: Oyshee Gupta (IDIA Bihar), Prajoy Dutta (IDIA Gujarat-Nirma), Aashna Jain (IDIA Rajasthan), Rishav Buxi and Mohana Moparthi (co-TLs, IDIA Mumbai), P J Theja Saai and Avinash Reddy (co-TLs, IDIA Hyderabad), and Abhishek Verma (IDIA West Bengal).Last, but not the least, awards were handed out to top performing IDIA Scholars who best embodied the attributes of CHAMPS (Creative Holistic Maverick Problem Solvers). Winners included: Vipan Kumar, Yamuna Menon, Mohammed Danish Gani, Manash Mondal, and Nazrul Molla.This was followed by a creative outpouring of stage performances by some of the IDIA scholars, ranging from musical renditions to poetry reading. Short IDIA videos including one showcasing the stories of two inspirational IDIA Scholars moved the audience. Over dinner, the various guests interacted with IDIA Scholars.IDIA Annual Conference on “Law Leadership and Creativity”The day after the awards ceremony, IDIA held its Annual Conference on “Law, Leadership and Creativity” in collaboration with the Indian Law Institute (ILI), New Delhi. The conference, supported by Manupatra, focused on various topics relating to law and creativity. Creativity is the first attribute of CHAMPS (Creative Holistic Altruistic Maverick Problem Solvers) - the attributes that IDIA works towards inculcating in its Scholars, and law students.After opening remarks by Prof Basheer and the welcome address by Prof Manoj Kumar Sinha (Director,- Indian Law Institute), Justice Ravindra Bhat (Judge, High Court of Delhi) gave the foundational address, touching upon various aspects of creativity in the law, and setting the tone for the rest of the day’s discussions. He noted that balancing out various competing concerns in law...

IDIA’s Annual Awards and Conference on “Law, Leadership and Creativity”

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