Vidhi’s ‘The State shall not discriminate’ report suggested that that research and jurisprudence on the subject in India has fragmented across various different subjects such as secularism, family law, caste and reservations, gender studies, queer studies, disability rights, citizenship and statelessness, and other topics. Judges have also been speaking past each other, politics on related issues has become partisan and polarised, and Indian law has fallen behind developments in other jurisdictions. This discussion is an attempt to find some common ground on these subjects, even if it means just alerting more people working across different areas that there is a foundational problem at play.

Agenda

1:15 PM – 1:30 PM: Presentation on Vidhi’s Report

1:30 PM – 2:15 PM: Opening Remarks and Basic Principles Many key issues in applying the right against discrimination are arguably linked to disagreements over the basic principles underlying the right and the appropriate test to be applied to assess violations of the right. The lack of consensus on these issues may be seen not only in conflicts between judgments but also in disagreements between judges on the same bench e.g., in the EWS reservations judgment. This situation demands an exploration of how a consolidation of views can be achieved.

2:15 PM – 3 PM: Caste Discrimination and Affirmative Action Caste discrimination remains a persistent reality in India despite the implementation of large-scale affirmative action programmes over decades. In many ways, caste discrimination has been the paradigmatic question for Indian discrimination law and requires special concern. The effectiveness of laws on caste atrocities, the characterisation of reservations as an exception or facet of the right against discrimination, the implication of such characterisation, the relationships between different protected groups, the limit or ceiling on reservations, and the institutional framework for affirmative action have been some of the difficult problems for those working on this area. ~~~

3 PM – 3:20 PM: Tea and Snacks~~~

3:20 PM – 3:50 PM: Sex Discrimination Certain forms of discrimination, such as sex and religious discrimination, have seen some degree of litigation, though connections between them have not been fully explored. Jurisprudence on sex discrimination may have seen some progress over the years, but progress in social conditions is still lacking and outdated methods of addressing the subject continue to haunt our courts. Specific issues such as the position of women in intimate relations, patriarchal religious rules and opportunities for women in workplaces deserve attention.

3:50 PM – 4:20 PM: Religious Discrimination Jurisprudence on religious discrimination, on the other hand, has seen less development and currently requires urgent work. This is evidenced not only by disputes such as those related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 and the hijab ban, but also by concerns about the growth of religious majoritarianism, hate speech/crimes and the formal and informal association of governments in these developments.

4:20 PM – 5:00 PM: Non-Citizens, Unlisted Grounds and Private Discrimination Scholars and practitioners working on the right against discrimination in India are required to deal with the seeming textual limitations in our Constitution when it comes to non-citizens, unlisted grounds and private discrimination. The former two issues are exemplified in disputes such as those on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, marriage equality and domicile reservations, while the last is not only a long-standing and widespread issue but also an increasingly urgent one in the context of religious conflict.

5:00 PM – 5:15 PM: Closing Remarks

Our speakers include Saurabh Kirpal (Sr. Adv., Supreme Court), Aditya Sondhi (Sr. Adv., Supreme Court and Karnataka HC), Prof. Rajeev Bhargava (political theorist and author), Prof. Vidhu Verma (Professor, CPS, JNU), D. Shyam Babu (Senior Fellow, CPR), Talha Abdul Rahman (AoR, Supreme Court), Alok Prasanna Kumar (Co-Founder and Team Lead, Vidhi), Dr. Gauri Pillai (Assistant Professor, NLSIU), Thulasi K. Raj (Advocate, Supreme Court and Kerala HC), Dr. Bastian Steuwer (Assistant Professor, Ashoka University), Rupali Samuel (Advocate, Supreme Court), Rahul Bajaj (Attorney, Ira Law and Co-Founder, Mission Accessibility), Ganesh Gaigouria (Doctoral Student, CPS, JNU), and Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj (Advocate, Supreme Court and Delhi HC).