The Anil Divan Foundation has launched the Friend of the Court podcast series that forensically reconstructs three major cases that senior advocate and constitutional expert, Anil Divan argued: the Jain Hawala Diaries, the Cauvery River Water Dispute and the National Judicial Appointments Commission cases. It unpacks how legal battles are shaped and the legacies they leave. Sephin Alexander is credited for the illustration.
The Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) is excited to announce the 6th edition of ConQuest: India’s Premiere National Quiz on the Indian Constitution, History and Politics. Since its first edition in 2016, ConQuest …
The Everyday In Sedition in Liberal Democracies, Dr. Singh “juxtaposes the understanding of sedition emerging from the higher judiciary with the practice of the law on the ground.” Her chosen field sites were Haryana, Maharashtra, …
In an interview with the BBC, the Pakistani singer Ali Sethi spoke of zamana (loosely translated as, the times one lives in) being the ultimate muse in Urdu poetry, or the ‘great enemy’. For, to …
The SBC Academic Committee has worked with the Library Committee to recently inaugurate the NALSAR Accessibility Lab – which provides students with visual challenges resources to work around with.
Former Vice-Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) Faizan Mustafa and Vice-Chancellor (i/c) Prof. (Dr.) Balakista Reddy inaugurating the NALSAR Accessibility Lab
The Lab consists of six systems, with 27-inch monitors, i7 systems, PEARL Scanner, Braille Printer, and other infrastructure which is required for such a lab. It also is loaded with software such as JAWS, NVDA and OpenBook which is required for the functions of the lab.
The NALSAR Accessibility Lab
In addition to this, the SBC Academic Committee is also purchasing Otter.ai, for the benefit of the students who have hearing disabilities. Otter.ai, which is a transcribing software, helps the students in getting their lectures down in a textual format – which would assist them in understanding the classes better.
The SBC Academic Committee will notify the release of this through email, and students who are eligible for access to Otter.ai can apply through the same.
The SBC Academic Committee is glad to announce that we have purchased the following news resources on a trial basis. The aim of these acquisitions is to provide students and faculty of NALSAR access to some of the best news resources across the world.
News Resources 2021
BQ Blue – Bloomberg Quint + Bloomberg + Bloomberg Businessweek
ET Prime
The Hindu All Access – Access to both website + ePaper along with BusinessLine (ePaper + Digital), Frontline, Sportstar and Crossword
The Caravan
Indian Kanoon Premium
Business Standard
LiveMint + The Wall Street Journal
NewsLaundry
The Washington Post
The Atlantic
Down To Earth Magazine
A list of links for both on and off-campus access can be found here. Login Credentials can be found here (Access Restricted to NALSAR Email IDs)
BQ Blue
BQ Blue is a subscription service to access BloombergQuint content. A BQ Blue subscriber has unlimited access to all BloombergQuint stories, columns, live shows, and videos, as well as access to Bloomberg and Businessweek content on Bloombergquint.com.
ET Prime
ET Prime is a members-only business storytelling platform from the house of The Economic Times, India’s oldest and most trusted business news brand.
The Hindu All Access
This subcription includes The Hindu (ePaper + Digital), BusinessLine (ePaper + Digital), Frontline, Sportstar and Crossword
The Caravan
As the country’s leading publication devoted to narrative journalism, The Caravan occupies a singular position among Indian magazines. Its stories present a unique mix of detailed reportage and lively and vivid writing, with a commitment to the art of storytelling, whether the subject be politics, culture, business or art.
Indian Kanoon Premium
The most famous search engine for cases – along with premium features such as annotations. Please create your own case topic to prevent over-crowding of information.
The Hindu All Access
The newspaper does extensive coverage on the Indian economy, infrastructure, international business and trade, stock and currency markets, corporate governance, apart from a range of other financial news, opinions, and insights.
LiveMint + WSH
Mint is one of India’s premium business news publications. This subscription also gives access to articles by The Wall Street Journal.
NewsLaundry
Newslaundry is an Indian media watchdog that provides media critique, reportage, and satirical commentary.
The Economist
[COMING SOON]
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is regarded as one of the leading daily American newspapers.
The Atlantic
The Atlantic is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher.
Down to Earth
Down To Earth brings to you the latest news, opinion, and blogs on the environment and science from India and South Asia.
Please note that these are trial resources, and the users are requested to log in when they need to access the resource and log out once they are done with the same to allow other people to use this resource.
Do not log into applications with the log-in credentials which have been provided.
We at the SBC Academic Committee hope that these resources are useful to the users. We are always open to suggestions, and further resources can be recommended by emailing the Committee at acad[dot]sbc[at]nalsar[dot]ac[dot]in.
The Library Development Sub-Committee (under the SBC Academic Committee) has worked with the university’s Library Committee for the acquisition of library resources worth 3.75 Crores (3.25 Crores for Law and 50 Lakhs for MBA). A total of 8361 new eBooks, 14 new eResources, and 1075 Print Books* have been acquired by the Library. In addition to this, provisions have also been made to support the IDIA to acquire software and hardware for the establishment of an IDIA Accessibility Lab for Persons with Disabilities.
The following are the details of the procurements:
FedGate – eResource Search Engine
One of the common concern which was received was that the eBooks which had been procured last year were not being used to their full potential due to there not being a unified search engine which provides direct access to these eBooks. Efforts were made to plug this hole by bringing the eBooks onto OPAC by coordinating with the Library Staff – but the solution was not ideal.
Hence, this year, a Search Engine known as FedGate has been procured which aims to integrate not only eBooks, but also some of the eResources to which NALSAR has access. FedGate also establishes a connection to our OPAC – which would bring the print books within the ambits of the search as well. The aim is that this be a one-stop destination for browsing through our collection of eResources.
The list of eBooks and eResources which are currently supported are as follows:
HeinOnline
Lexis Advance India Research
Manupatra
Cambridge eBooks
EBC Reader
Oxford University Press eBooks
ProQuest
SAGE Publications (eBooks)
Taylor and Francis eBooks
Economic and Political Weekly
JSTOR
IndiaStat
The developer has agreed to work on our other resources and eBook providers as well to integrate them into this system.
The eBooks purchased this year provide unlimited off-campus access will be available for access through our Off-Campus Access System (EzProxy). Books can be read online / downloaded from the publisher’s websites as available on EzProxy. Those resources supported by FedGate can be accessed directly from the same. These eBooks are in addition to the procurements made in 2020.
Year of Procurement
Number of eBooks
Pre-2020
42
2020 (Perpetual)
3,111
2020 (ProQuest)
1,80,000
2021 (Perpetual)
5,561
2021 (Wolters Kluwer)
2,800
TOTAL
1,91,514
Table 1.2 – NALSAR Library Procurements – Total eBooks
eResources
These eDatabases and News Portals join our already existing collection of 23 eDatabases and 2 News Portals.
eDatabases
S.No
Name of the eDatabase
Description
1
CaseMine
AI-based Judgement Search Engine
2
Maritime and Commercial Law Online (i-law.com)
Lloyd’s Law Reports, Lloyd’s Law Reports Plus, Lloyd’s Law Reporter, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Lloyd’s Maritime Law Newsletter, Shipping & Trade Law, Maritime Risk International, The Ratification of Maritime Conventions
3
Oxford’s Max Planck Encyclopedias of Public International Law
Public International Law
4
Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law
International Law
5
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law
Constitutional Law
6
IndiaStat
Statistics
7
Taxmann Additional Modules (Tranfer Pricing and International Taxation) 2 years
NALSAR in collaboration with IDIA is setting up an Accessibility Lab in the NALSAR Library. The lab aims to make the University more accessible to Persons with Disabilities. The lab would have assistive technology which will help students with disability to effectively use the resources available in the library. Some of the software and hardware required for this project have been procured under the Library Budget.
NALSAR and IDIA are both committed to fulfilling goals of the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. To provide inclusive education, necessary support that maximises academic and social development consistent with goal of full inclusion.
The list of software/hardware procured under the Library Budget is provided below:
S.No
Name of Product (Software / Hardware)
1
Angel India Online Daisy Player
2
Snow 7 HD Plus Video Magnifier
3
JAWS Talking Screen Reader for the Blind
4
ZoomText Screen Magnifier / Reader for the Partially Blind
5
OpenBook Scanning and Reading Software with Peral Hi-Speed Camera
A Google Form was opened for surveying the need for books amongst the student body – and in addition to this circulated the catalogue for LexisNexis amongst the Faculty Members as well as the Oxford Political Science Collection. In addition to this, orders for the Fiction and Non-Fiction collection of books which the students had requested for in 2020, but could not procure due to logistical difficulties, were placed and will be procured this year. The breakup of the books is provided below. Please note that the names of collections are code-names given during the procurement process. The exact list of books will be released soon and updated on OPAC.
Name of Publisher
Name of Collection
Number of Books*
LexisNexis
Phase 4.4
104
Bloomsbury Hart
Phase 4.5
82
Orient Blackswan
Phase 4.2
29
Oxford UP
Phase 4.2
101
EBC
Phase 4.2
1
Multiple
Phase 4.6
104
Multiple
List 4.7.1
38
Multiple
List 4.7.2
14
Multiple
List 4.7.3
25
Multiple
List 4.7.4
70
Multiple
List 4.5.5
45
Multiple
List 4.7.6
54
Multiple
Academic Committee Survey (Phase 1)
5
Multiple
Fiction / Non-Fiction (Phase 3 / 3.2.1)
150
Multiple
Fiction / Non-Fiction (Phase 3 / 3.2.2)
253
TOTAL
1075
Table 4 – NALSAR Library Acquisitions 2021 – Print Books * Books subject to availability with vendors and publishers
DELNET Membership
The NALSAR Library is now part of the DELNET Network of Libraries. DELNET has been established with the prime objective of promoting resource sharing among the libraries through the development of a network of libraries. It aims to collect, store, and disseminate information besides offering computerised services to users, to coordinate efforts for suitable collection development and also to reduce unnecessary duplication wherever possible.
Our access to resources includes a cross-library book delivery service, access to DELNET catalogues, and technical support to the library. The Library Development Sub Committee along with the Library Staff will soon devise a mechanism to enable the cross-library book delivery service.
OPAC / FedGate Kiosks
Two OPAC / FedGate Kiosks are being procured to make it possible for students to search for the available eBooks as well as the location of the print books in the library for easier access to the books.
Further steps will be taken to increase the ease of access of the print books in the library.
UI Changes to eLibrary Website
The eLibrary website has been updated to serve the students and faculty with easier ways to sort through the resources available. Sorting through the eDatabases has been made easier as sub-headings categorising the resources has been made, and the table of contents generation engine has been upgraded to ensure better performance.
Conclusion
I would firstly like to thank the tremendous efforts of Mr K. Somaiah from the Library without whose hard work and sleepless nights this exercise would not have been possible. I would like to thank the Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Faizan Mustafa, for his constant support and cooperation and vision to make NALSAR Library one of the best among the NLUs. I would also like to thank the Faculty members in the Library Committee, Prof. K V K Santhy (Chair), Mr Hota Agnikumar, Mr Sudhanshu Kumar and Mr Mahendra Shukla. The members of the Library Development Sub-Committee (Yashwanth Samayam, Utkarsh Mani Tripathi, Krishna Mohan, Ashish K James, and Ruchika Prabhu) have worked tirelessly to sort out the lists and also coordinate with the student body, and are also working on more projects for the betterment of our library. I would also like to thank the Library Staff, including Mr K Krishna (Assistant Librarian) as well as Mr B. Irfan from the IT Department for coordinating with us on the technical end of things. Lastly, I would like to thank all the students who have helped us with drafting the lists and helping us arrange our documents – without whom our work would have exponentially harder.
The SBC Academic Committee and the Library Development Sub-Committee will soon be sending a thread of emails as and when the resources are activated, along with details as to how to access them.
We are also planning to hold a session where we explain the resources and how to access them, both for the benefit of the faculty and the students, especially the first-year students. Details about this will also be sent out in due time.
DGV Rithvik Member, NALSAR Library Committee, Convenor, SBC Academic Committee, Head, Library Development Sub-Committee, NALSAR University of Law.
The Vice-Chancellor had constituted the following Covid-19 Committee for the B.A.LL.B.(Hons.) programme on May 5th 2020 to recommend examination pattern and related issues about the commencement of the next academic session:
Prof. Amita Dhanda (Chairperson)
Prof. N Vasanthi
Dr. Neha Pathakji
Mr. Sourabh Bharti
Mr. Ashish K James, Convenor, SBC Academic Committee.
The report was made in two parts, and the same are attached below:
The Academic Committee is happy to announce that we will be conducting an Essay Writing Competition in the following manner:
The 1st and 2nd year batches will be divided into one category (Category 1) and the 3rd, 4th and 5th years will be in a separate category (Category 2).
Category 1 and Category 2 participants will have different topics to choose from. The top 2 entries for each topic in each category will win Rs. 2250 for the first prize and Rs. 1000 for the second.
The deadline for the competition is 23:59 (11:59 PM) on 5th June, 2020 (Friday). This will be a strict deadline. Any submission after the above-mentioned date will be subject to the docking policy as is applicable for project submissions.
The word limit for the essays should be strictly in the range of 2000-2500 (Excluding footnotes).
Co-authorship will be allowed as long as it is participants within the same category. A maximum of 2 authors can co-author the essay.
General Guidelines:
New Times Roman, size 12.
Bluebook citations 20th ed.
1.5 line spacing.
No speaking citations.
The topics for Category 1 are:
What are the philosophical justifications and values of criminal law?
Write on the theme of how overdependence on criminal laws for individual independence and institutional and social stability speak poorly about society’s ability to handle human conflicts by other means.
The topics for Category 2 are:
Corporate Board Diversity: A critical examination of mandatory inclusion of woman directors.
Unfair Prejudice Remedy and the role of directors.
Please make your submissions by replying to the thread sent by the Academic Committee dated April 8, 2020.
The new NALSAR eLibrary Website aims at reducing clutter and increasing productivity. With the website built horizontally, with tabs for various aspects of the website, it is easier and faster to get to your end destination, be it off-campus e-resources or our policy page. The new eLibrary also highlights the University’s various Academic Publications and Student Groups and provides a common gateway to the same.
Here, we shall highlight the new features which we have brought to our library website:
First is our e-Database Resources and our e-Book Resources, which can be found under the “e-Resources” tab. Here, we have listed out all the resources NALSAR currently has access to and the page provides links to go directly to the home page of these resources. In addition to this, we have also provided the links to the e-book databases which we currently have access to, this is arranged publisher wise and will provide you with the list of e-books we have access to.
The Second is our Open Access Resources, again found under the “e-Resources” tab. We have consolidated multiple lists of open access resources which provide you access to both resources in India as well as International and other Foreign Sources. These include Open Access Journals related to law and social sciences as well as resources which provide access to general information about the legal systems of various countries and their legislatures, judiciaries and other important organisations. Since this is an ever-growing list, and if you see something missing or you feel you can contribute to the same, email us at acad.sbc@nalsar.ac.in with the subject “eLibrary – Open Access Resources”, and we will update it.
The third is our Policy tab. Here, you will find all the policies enforced by the University. The Academic Policies include the Misconduct Policy, the credit-hour-attendance policy, as well as the Academic Regulations. We have also included the Library Policies as well as general University Policies and Policies from the other Committees under the SBC, such as the Constitution of the Student Bar Council and the Hostel and Campus Welfare Rules. The eLibrary website is also open to hosting any policy which is drafted by any student group/committee on the website, email us at acad.sbc@nalsar.ac.in with the subject “eLibrary – Policies”, and we will update it.
The Fourth and finally is our Important Updates tab. Here, we wish to put up information or updates from the Academic Committee, Library and the University, such as this text, which you are reading right now. There is an RSS Feed which one can subscribe to (https://library.nalsar.ac.in/feed=rss) and we run the latest updates on the homepage as well.
We plan on adding more features to this website soon, such as the Electronic Book Bank, our joint project with the Social Responsibility and Student Welfare Committee, and the Faculty Contact Information Database – a database of, well, faculty contact information. We have more ideas down the line and we can’t wait to share them with you.
We hope you like this website, and we look forward to hearing back what you feel about this, and any feedback you’d want to give.
– The Library Development Sub-Committee under the SBC Academic Committee in collaboration with the Library Staff and the IT Dept.
