NUJS Diversity Report 2019 Released

"NUJS is home to people of diverse socio-economic backgrounds from across the country. Their background often influences their performance in curricular and extra-curricular activities at NUJS. Similarly, the perception of discrimination and experience of discriminatory behaviour is seen to considerably differ among respondents. The Report is an attempt to create a census of the student body, mapped against diversity indicators such as gender, caste, income, schooling, fluency in English, etc. It analyses 544 responses received from the batches of 2014 to 2018, based on a survey conducted in the Winter Semester 2019-20."

The Report is divided into three parts:

1. Demographics: Basic Demographics; Family Background; Financial Background; Educational Background; Linguistic Background; and Admission Category
2. Performance at NUJS: Academics; Research Publications and Paper Conferences; Moots, Debates & ADR; Committee Membership and Office Bearers; Career Choices, Internships and Placements
3. Life at NUJS: Peer-to-Peer Support Systems; Peer Influence to Engage in Activities; Peer Behaviour and Discrimination

The report was conceptualised by Rohit Sharma from the batch of 2020 and has been compiled by Gatha G Namboothiri, Mahima Cholera, Nikhil Iyer, Rohit Sharma, Roma Bhojani, Siddharth Sonkar and Shrikrishna Upadhyay. The comprehensive questionnaire was answered by an overwhelming majority of the general body members and was prepared by Nikhil Iyer, Siddharth Sonkar and Mihika Poddar.

The report begins with a foreword by Ms. Kalpana Kannibiran, professor and director at the Council for Social Development, Hyderabad. Ms. Kannabiran writes "..All of this (the data) underscores the urgency of thinking through questions of barrier-free access, hostile environments and other robust processes of inclusion that are intersectional and systemic. Most important of all it is the recognition that intersecting normativities bolster and reproduce privilege in NUJS and other law schools similarly placed..". She describes the importance of such a report in the "operationalization of the Preamble in spirit and conviction of Article 15(2) in institutional design and implementation".

The Executive summary describes the diversity survey as "an attempt at presenting the census data collected from students of NUJS in a proper perspective which enables both institutional changes in the future and individual changes in the immediate". The summary covers the objectives, methodology and key findings of the survey.

The report is inclusive of exhaustive indicators that examine the intersectional nature of the social and economic factors that influence the life at NUJS and the performance at NUJS. It also analyses in detail the demographics of the college.

The complete text of the report can be accessed here.