Certificate Course on Securities Law Conducted by WBNUJS and NISM [Last Date of Application Extended to 15th May, 2016]

WBNUJS, one of the premier national law universities in India, in active collaboration with the National Institute of Securities Markets, has launched the Certificate Course on Securities Law, a programme first of its kind. The programme is meant for those, students and professionals alike, who want to begin their careers in legal and compliance domains in the securities markets, those aspiring to work with the various intermediaries in such markets, those who are working in the financial, legal and compliance domains facing exposure to the latest developments in the securities markets, as well as those seeking to supplement their knowledge base in securities laws or the securities markets domain.

The programme has been specifically designed to enable those with a legal background to appreciate the securities market inputs, and those with a securities or financial market background to better understand legal compliance and diligence requirements. The experience and insight offered by the programme will help the participants to fulfil the burgeoning demand for quality professionals proficient in securities laws in the Indian capital market, besides providing for existing professionals an exciting opportunity for continuing professional development and expansion of knowledge base.

The programme will help its participants to begin their career with organisations such as various reputed market intermediaries such as merchant bankers, underwriters to issues, depositories, stock exchanges, bankers to issues, credit rating agencies, mutual funds, compliance and investor-relation departments in large companies and industry groups, as well as consultants engaged in advising on matters such as corporate finance, restructuring, fund-raising plans, private placements, including reputed law firms. At the same time, such organisations will benefit from knowledge enhancement of their in-house executives through this programme.

The programme consists of an intensive 14 day-long classroom experience, 6 hours a day, with the core faculty members comprising top academicians and senior officials of the SEBI and the NISM. While for students, it can offer 2 weeks at a stretch, for working professionals, it can span over weekend classes only, as per convenience. Interactions with market experts, updated curriculum of global standards, policy-research based inputs, live projects and interface with market experts from SEBI, RBI and similar premier organisations, are some of the many USPs of the programme on offer. It will be held at least twice a year and is open to graduates of any discipline from any UGC-recognised university or equivalent, although students currently pursuing graduation may also be considered.

The course fee is INR 25,000/- (plus applicable service tax) inclusive of study materials. While admissions into the course will continue on a rolling basis, the first session of the course will commence in the second half of 1st June, 2016. Early bird registration benefits may be availed of. For further details, those who are interested can peruse the programme.

For further details, those who are interested can peruse the programme brochure and application form, available here , as well as get in touch with Ms. Vaneeta Patnaik, Assistant Professor (Law), WBNUJS, at +91-9874411183 or at vaneetapatnaik@gmail.com / vaneetapatnaik@nujs.edu. 

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Killer Robots: Legality of the future of warfare

They are here, accept it or not, and they raise many concerns both moral and legal. With no human in control of them, we give them the power to choose and eliminate their targets. Are we ready to give them this power to kill other humans? Are we ready to replicate human judgment? Are we ready for that arms race?

Fully autonomous weapons will be capable of selecting targets and using force without any human input or interaction. This would be a step beyond current remote-controlled drones and weapons which always has a “human in the loop”. These fully autonomous weapons will lack most human characteristics of judgment, compassion, and intentionality. These weapons will have a large military advantage, but the risks involved outweigh the benefits. The lack of compassion will make no difference for them between potential enemies and civilians. These will also give irresponsible states or non-state armed groups, machines that could be programmed to indiscriminately kill civilians. With no human in control of them, they will have no notion of the human right to life and the principle of human dignity. The use of force is only lawful when it is used to protect human life, as a last resort, and the force applied should be proportionate to the threat. It will be impossible to programme a robot to calculate all these principles in combat and they can’t be programmed to solve all situations, as during a war many unlikely situations will arise, which can’t be dealt without proper judgement and compassion towards your enemy forces. As inanimate machines, they will lack the value and respect for human life and significance of its loss. It is not only legal, economic reasons for which we respect other person rights, but the very reason for it is moral and if we breach that moral restraint on us, by giving machines the power to kill other humans, we won’t be far from our inevitable downfall as human civilization.

The next big question which arises is who will be liable for the acts done by fully autonomous weapons? No person who does something wrong should be allowed to escape his liability for his wrongful act, as that would be against the most basic principle of law. Each person should be personally accountable for the wrongful act done by him. Similarly, each state should be made accountable for the wrongful act or war crimes committed by it during the course of a war and should be punished for the same to provide retribution to victims. Though it will be easy to establish liability to a state, it is also important to assign the personal responsibility of these acts.

TALON: Sentry Robot

It is important for individuals to be held criminally responsible for unlawful or immoral acts, to not only provide retribution to victims but also to deter such behaviour in future. It also shows that victims’ rights have been recognized and the wrongdoer is punished for the harm they suffered.

Men are held responsible for crimes, not machines. For a crime to be established two basic elements are supposed to be present. There must be an act and mental state i.e., mens rea. It would be impossible to prove mens rea or mental state of robots as they won’t have the intentionality to commit a crime. The commanders cannot be held liable for acts of a robot as it would be difficult and almost impossible for them to have knowledge of acts committed by fully autonomous weapons during the course of a war. This would only arise if the autonomous weapon sends some kind of communication before taking the action and selecting targets, then such target would need a human to take the final decision and fall out of fully autonomous weapons scope. It would also be impossible to punish robots as they aren’t humans and commanders can escape liability by saying they didn’t have control or prior knowledge of robots acts.

Under Civil liability, the victims bring an action for compensation as a remedy to damage suffered by them. It would be difficult for them to bring and maintain a suit against manufacturers and impossible to bring a suit against military personal as most of them are immune under civil law. The manufacturers can claim manufacturing defects and software-based deficits to escape liability under civil law. The last resort would be a strict liability compensation system, which will require victims to only prove harm and not how it occurred. Not all legal systems will be ready to adapt this system and this will only provide compensation to victims and not deter such actions in future. The risks involved changes to be made and conflicts which will arise will be much greater than advantages of fully autonomous weapons.

Based on these arguments it is recommended that development of such weapons should be banned before they become reality.

About the Author:

Aatif Salar is currently a second year BBA-LLB(Hons.) student at Faculty of Law, IFHE, Hyderabad.

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In The Service Of All: Interview of Keshav Datta, Co-Founder of Sarvahitey

Volunteers celebrating with local children from the slums of Delhi. 

Sourya Banerjee catches up with the Co-Founder of Sarvahitey, Keshav Datta, alumni of Amity Law School, Delhi.

Sarvahitey is a NGO which works in the NCR region, which not only educates, trains and helps children living in the slums of New Delhi but has also organized numerous cloth donation drives and relief donation drives, specifically during Nepal Earthquakes.

Sourya (S): How did the idea of Sarvahitey come to you? 

Keshav (K): I think it can be safely said that it is not an outcome of a sudden proverbial epiphany. When we look back, the conception of Sarvahitey seems like the most obvious and natural thing for us. Sarvahitey was formed initially by 6 members: Smriti Mehrotra, Sanskriti Srivastava, Prem Prakash, Bharat Datta, Ankit Malhotra, and me i.e. Keshav Datta. All of us had been associated, and still were, with various socially inclined organizations. All of us were involved with other NGO's, non organized social initiatives, social action groups, and so forth. But Social Service had not yet become a regular part of our daily lives, and that essentiality was missing. But a constant yearn to do more, disappointment with the state of affairs vis a vis the existing organisations, and a lack of opportunities to contribute towards the society prompted us to create such an organization ourselves, which can allow everyone and anyone to contribute to the society, each in his/her own way.

(S): What were the initial hurdles that you faced?

(K): As per us, we have been rather fortunate in our endeavors. No initiative of ours has ever failed, and we've never under achieved our targets. In fact, the hard work of volunteers, generosity of donors, and our pure sincerity has brought us an  unexpected and overwhelming growth. For example, we never expected to be able to send relief material for about 5000 people hit by Nepal Earthquakes; we had never expected to be able to teach about 180 underprivileged kids regularly, and that too without an overflow of funds. Perhaps the only hurdle is to attract someone towards Sarvahitey such that he/she comes to one of our drives for the first time. Because once a person joins us in any of our drives, he/she is bound to return and enjoy the nectar of social service, which is actually a great service to Self.

(S): How many volunteers does Sarvahitey had till now?

(K): There are more than 100 volunteers, out of which about 40 remain regular and active.

(S): How do you manage your law school/legal profession, and your social service work?

(K): I think it's all about passion and interest. Sarvahitey is our passion; in fact, it is a necessary part of our lives now. We can't imagine our life without it. Now, once a person has so much enthusiasm for a project or initiative, excuses such as lack of time or energy fade away.

However, the modus operandi of Sarvahitey is such, that even the busiest of persons can take part in the initiatives. Keeping in mind the engaging student and work life, we have customized the model of Sarvahitey, such that we plan the projects and drives during the weekdays, and execute them on weekends, which are off-days. The members communicate on WhatsApp, Facebook, etc., during weekdays, and execute the field projects during weekends. It's simple and effective.

(S): Do you feel that the civil society as a whole has failed in its duties to help the economically marginalized? 

(K): It will not only be arrogant, but may also be incorrect on our part to state such. The civil society is so vast, so diverse, and so much bigger than our circle of knowledge, that it is not upon us to state that they have failed. 

Creative fondant workshop held at an Orphanage

However, it can be at least said that there is a juggernaut scope for the members of civil society to rise up, and do something for the society. With the rise of social media, we have also seen the rise of mass scale opinions of various sectors of civic society; it will be great to see a similar rise of a class of people, who actually take up actions and do something for the society.

(S): What is your biggest source of inspiration which keeps you going through all difficult times?

Christmas celebrations with children living in slums

(K): The biggest sources of inspiration for us are the smiles, the love, and the warmth, which we receive from the people. Whether it be celebrating Christmas in a Slum, whether it be dancing with underprivileged kids, or whether it be singing with kids from an Orphanage, each such moment of reception of a smile or a hug, is a great booster.

Apart from that, Lord often arranges for us to meet such people who keeping their heads low, contribute infinite more times to the society. Each person, who has something to teach us, is an inspiration.

(S): Where do you see Sarvahitey in 5 years?

(K): Sarvahitey, as the name suggests, is for the 'Hittah' of All, i.e. for the welfare of All. 5 years down the line, we would deem ourselves successful if Sarvahitey acts as an agency of change in the society. Sarvahitey would aim at benefiting maximum number of people. 

Winter Blanket Donations Drive

From the point of view of our educational drives, we would want to be able to render regular tuition classes to about 500 students, and provide them with good quality education. In near future, we will also take up Organ Donations Drives, where we would be spreading awareness about Organ Donations in India, and encouraging people to pledge their organs. 5 years down the line, we would aim at reducing the gap between supply and demand of organs to be donated, in India, which would ultimately save many lives.

(S): What has been your proudest moment regarding Sarvahitey? 

(K): Within one year, Sarvahitey has been published twice in newspapers circulated pan-India. However, we do not measure our success by such accomplishments. We measure our success by the outcome of our projects, i.e. our impact on Society. To that effect, it is very difficult to pin point one moment. 

Volunteers teaching slum kids

However, one particular incident comes to mind: We teach at a Arya Samaj Gurukul. When we began our project there, we had observed that the kids there did not have enough confidence in themselves, and their future. We took it upon our self to enhance their exposure, teach them modern sciences, and resolve their queries. It was a proud moment for us, when after a year of teaching, we could gauge the changing mindsets of students there, their ambitions widening, and yearning learn expanding. It was an ecstatic moment for us, when one particular student of ours, who had squared in his future as being a 'Pandit', now wanted to become the Prime Minister of India. To allow him to expand his horizons was our achievement and proud moment.

(S): How can others like you help you, or collaborate with you? 

(K): It's very simple: Call/WhatsApp/Message me. Simply contact me, and I shall resolve all the queries, explain our method of operation, and answer any question. We have various ad hoc and regular projects, and it is upon the volunteer to pledge any way he/she wishes to contribute.

Contact details:

Number- 09871919591

Email- keshavdatta11@gmail.com

EDITORS NOTE: Sarvahitey has been doing an amazing job in NCR for the last couple of years. But it is very very difficult for them to continue working without proper financial support. We urge all our readers to share this post extensively so that some kindhearted people may find out about Sarvahitey and come forward to financially help and support them in their endeavors. Thank you. 

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ISLAMIC FINANCE: SOME ELEMENTARY DEETS.

“When the dinar and the dirham were first minted in the form of metal coins, Iblis the accursed held them happily. He then placed them over his eyes and said to them, ‘You are the fruit of my heart and the delight of my eyes; through you, I will drive people to become tyrants. I will cause them to become disbelievers and lead them to Hell. . .”

-         Ibn Abbas

In my interactions involving economic systems, I have consistently been asked to throw light on an enigma that is Islamic Finance. People often tend to condemn the discipline (along with Hawala) as sinister.

Islamic finance, at its roots, is about making finance Sharia compliant. The fundamental difference between the discipline and conventional western capitalism lies in the philosophical understanding of the nature of money. Today, money itself is perceived as a commodity; financial institutions enter into specious deals that have no rooting in the real economy or involve assets over which they have no ownership or claim. Traders are free to take speculative positions and earn emolument. Complex instruments birthed through financial engineering like derivatives or swaps; or the latest contrivance by central banks, dubbed Quantitative Easing or QE involves creating money out of nothing.

Sharia sees money, merely, as a store of value with no inherent, intrinsic worth. A twelfth-century thinker, Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad Ghazali, in an nalysis of money said, ‘[Allah had created Dirhams and Dinars] so that they may be circulated between hands and act as a fair judge between different commodities and work as a medium to acquire other things’, and that, ‘whoever effects the transactions of monay is, in fact, discarding the blessings of Allah, and is committing injustice, because money is created for some other things, not for itself.’. It is a means to an end, a medium of exchange, and not an end in itself. It cannot be created from thin air, and is devised to facilitate real economy transactions; and in that spirit Sharia outlaws transactions aimed at earning a profit out of purely financial transactions, or usury. This brings us to what is widely thought to be the definition of Islamic finance: Banking without interest or riba. A wanting definition.

Islam was not alone in its admonition of interest. The Church had also placed an injunction (before it was lifted) against usury. Though many look at Islam’s ban on riba as an appurtenance of backwardness, I think it holds some rationale: If investing money in interest bearing instruments in prohibited, investors will be forced to turn their capital to real-economy projects as hoarding is considered as a waste of resources (assuming the owners of capital are rational.). Once again, Ghazali chips in with all too prescient words on investors: ‘it becomes easy for him to earn money on the basis of interest without bothering himself to take pains in real economic activities. This leads to the hampering the real interests of humanity, because interests of humanity cannot be safeguarded without real trade skills, industry and construction.’

But, what may be considered as a real economy transaction? It is a transfer of ownership from one person (the seller) to another (the buyer). As per Islamic jurisprudence, ownership is desideratum for a trade to take place. One cannot sell what one does not own. A principle addendum is that the seller must be in possession of the commodity involved in the trade; that the seller cannot sell and profit from something the risk of which she does not assume. This is a vital proviso to ensure accountability and prudence in any trade. By assuming commensurate risk, participants may be weaned off harum-scarum actions.

Islamic scholars have enshrined a manner in which capital may be deployed to earn ‘permissible profits’. At the core of all such methods lies the establishment of a risk sharing mechanism by which an investor partakes in the profits earned and the losses incurred by the project which was the principal of the investment.

One large scale project that comes to mind is that of the social banking experiments by Islamic states starting in the 1950s—especially in Egypt and then Pakistan. The most notable of these experiments was conducted by Dr. Ahmed Elnaggar in the Egyptian town of Mit Ghamr. Mit Ghamr was a small and sparsely populated town on the banks of the Nile. The Mit Ghamr Savings Bank transfigured the conventional ‘creditor-debtor’ relationship to a more Sharia prudent ‘risk-sharing’ relationship. No interest was paid on deposits nor any collected on loans made; the depositors were investors who were partakers in the profits earned by their investments, and the bank only engaged in what would now be called ‘Real-Economy’ transactions. The Mit Ghamr Savings Bank functioned more as a vehicle for savings and investments and less as a commercial. The Savings Bank was later incorporated into the Nasser Social Bank—which was also ‘interest-free’. (This is one of many instances of Islamic finance in action in the 20^th and the 21^st centuries. There exist many other instruments, most notable of which is the revolutionary Sharia compliant bond or sukuk. But, I must reserve a discussion on this front for another time.)

Financial markets today offer a motley array of instruments that, according to Islamic scholars, amount to gambling. A lot of transactions involve speculating on the movement of various markets. By entering into such trades and employing the various strategies available to the modern trader, investors are able to earn a positive return even from a market in decline. Such trades have no grounding in real economy transactions. As the financial crisis of 2008 has sufficiently clarified, various financial products—like Collateralized Debt Obligations and the notorious Credit Default Swap—not only brazenly courted uncertainty, but also marred transparency that is vital to the success of any transaction.

Islamic finance is steeped in, and arises out of the concept of equality and justice because Sharia seeks to extend it to every aspect of human interaction—even economics and finance. It is a fast growing industry and may well prove to be a beacon of virtuosity in a world mired by crony capitalism.

NOTE:

The opening quotes and the words of Ghazali have been borrowed by me directly from a published work—Heaven’s Bankers by Harris Irfan—that introduced me to the world of Islamic finance, and has played an indispensable and vital role in assisting me develop the ideas that I have presented in this article.

  

About the Author: 

Abhishek Anirudhan is a student of Economics at Fergusson College, Pune. His areas of interest include Money, Finance and International Relations

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