Strengthening Communities and Building Systems
Fifteen legal reforms for a progressive Karnataka
Summary: This briefing book focusses on reforms that will create the most widespread, on-the-ground change for the citizens of Karnataka while also creating or improving avenues that enable them to excel.
We at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy present our second Briefing Book for the state of Karnataka. This is in keeping with Vidhi’s successful series of briefing books which have contained a host of ideas that have been taken up for action by a number of governmental authorities.
In this second briefing book of suggested legal changes, to strengthen communities, we have chosen three broad themes to structure our suggestions around – education, child development, and women’s empowerment. Some reforms that we suggest are incremental – amending the existing laws on public libraries and the state women’s commission. Other reforms look to build on ideas already in the public domain (rights of women farmers) or seek the creation of entirely new laws (private university regulation).
On systemic and institutional reforms, we have three broad themes– technology, urban development and governance institutions. These too consist of a combination of small and large measures that look to address existing issues (use of government land) and future problems (use of Artificial Intelligence) that the government will have to address.
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About the Authors
Akhileshwari Reddy is a Research Fellow at Vidhi, Karnataka. Her work focuses on the protection of human rights and environment. At Vidhi she has worked on various projects including those on solid waste management, waste picker welfare, urban ground water management and human-wildlife conflict in India. She graduated with a B.A., L.LB (Hons.) degree from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS, Kolkata) in 2016. In 2017, she completed her Masters in Human Rights Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on the Marchant Foundation Scholarship and the LSE Master’s Award. Her articles on human rights issues in India have been published by various Journals. She also regularly contributes to the Deccan Herald, The Wire and Down to Earth. She is an avid reader and especially enjoys reading fantasy fiction.
Alok Prasanna Kumar is Co-Founder and Lead, Vidhi Karnataka. His areas of research include judicial reforms, Constitutional law, urban development, and law and technology. He graduated with a B.A. LL.B. (Hons) from the NALSAR University in 2008 and obtained the BCL from the University of Oxford in 2009. He writes a monthly column for the Economic and Political Weekly and has published in the Indian Journal of Constitutional Law and National Law School of India Review apart from media outlets such as The Hindu, Indian Express, Scroll, Quint and Caravan. He has practiced in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court from the chambers of Mr Mohan Parasaran, and currently also co-hosts the Ganatantra podcast on IVM Podcasts.
Deepika Kinhal is Senior Resident Fellow and leads the Judicial Reforms work at Vidhi. She is currently managing multiple independent and engaged projects which explore the intersection of law and policy with other disciplines such as technology, design, management etc. She is working towards making the JALDI (Justice, Access, and Lowering Delays in India) mission at Vidhi a multidisciplinary, collaborative, innovative hub for judicial reforms. Deepika is currently a part of the experts group set up by the Supreme Court’s E-committee to envision e-courts phase III project. Her work at Vidhi across the years has focused on studying court management systems across different levels of judicial hierarchy, with specific attention on tackling government litigation across these levels. She regularly writes in leading print and online media on issues concerning judiciary, women and child rights. She also collaborates with other CSOs in conducting legal awareness camps and has conducted gender sensitization and legal trainings in police departments in Karnataka. She graduated from NLSIU, Bangalore, in 2012. Since then she has worked at CAM (real estate and capital markets) and Dua Associates (litigation team) before joining Vidhi. She is a trained Carnatic singer with a brief stint at All India Radio and in kannada movies.
Divij Joshi was a Research Fellow at Vidhi.
Shashank Atreya is a Research Fellow at Vidhi, Bengaluru. He is a graduate of law and business administration. He works primarily with the Karnataka Government to advice various departments in the areas of municipal governance, urban development, urban transport and education. In his past assignments, Shashank worked as an Associate with Chase-India, a public policy consulting firm in Delhi.
