Philanthropist Surina Narula firmly believes that a healthy dialogue is the path to be taken for remediation of any conflict. So it is no surprise that she conceptualised a conference with educationists, policy-makers and law enforcers from relevant industries to engage in conversation, once a year in Goa, giving birth to Difficult Dialogues.
This year, as International Centre Goa plays host to the fifth chapter of the annual conference, the topic to be discussed at length over the next two days will revolve around the ‘state of law’ in the country right now. Previous years’s topics have involved golbal finance and civil society, health, gender equality and education.
Needless to say, the event will witness debates and discussions on topics like the balance between accountability and independence of judiciary, relevant and desired reforms in the administration of justice, the right to an individual’s privacy versus the Aadhar judgement, gender roles in the legal profession, discriminatory laws and minorities, censorship of free speech and its role in media and the effectiveness of environmental laws.
With an inaugural ceremony today at Goa University, the knowledge partners for the festival include the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, Bar Association of India, OP Jindal Global University, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Goa University and the International Centre Goa (ICG).
Speakers at the panel include names like senior advocate of Supreme Court of India, Pinky Anand, director of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Linda Mulcahy, writer and activist Farah Naqvi and founding partner of Minerva Search UK, Ben Tucker. This year will also see an engaging college debate amongst regional winners from Bangalore, Shillong, Delhi, Goa and Dehradun, moderated by wildlife filmmaker Malaika Vaz on the topic: ‘Environment protection: A case for state surveillance or individual discipline?’
On till February 16, this conference that chooses to address pressing social and cultural issues in South Asia, will be one to look forward to especially at a critical time like the one now.
