A Click Into The Future.

        For The Sake Of Argument catches up with Tejaswini Ranjan, Co- Founder of Click Internship, as she opens up about what makes Click Internship click.

Q) How did the idea initially come up? When was it (year)? How many people were initially involved?

-The idea is very simple, to create the largest website for legal internships in India. It came up in 2013. Initially, five people were involved; four founding members (Anuj Tiwari, Gaurav Singh, Shambhavi Mishra and Tejaswini Ranjan) and the mentor. Niteesh Kumar Upadhyay mentored us all through the process.

Q) Why name it Click Internship?

- Click indicates connection, and the website is all about internships. We found both the words fitting together exclusively. Click Internship is appealing too.

Q) Were people around initially convinced about the idea?

- Yes. (The secret for our energy.) People around have been supportive all-round the process. Our mentor (founder of knowledge steez) channeled us all through the process and helped us to advance the team and the website.

Q) There are already a few sites which deal with the same topic. Do you see them as competition or collaborators?

- Evidently, the other sites are competitors to Click Internship.

 Q) What were the primary problems faced while starting?

- College schedule was the leading problem we were facing at the primary stage. We are still facing it.

Q) Any advertisement problems?

- Facebook has been the chief mode of advertisement for us. We are looking for other options too.

 Q) How do you balance college and your passion?

- A balance has to be maintained. We had this in our mind while we were working on this endeavor.  Till now, we have efficaciously done our work in our best effort.

Q) Current Problems?

- Academic schedule is a problem. But, now the Click Internship team has been developed. We have prepared a proper circulation regarding the work to be done by our team members.

Q) Where do you see yourself one year from now?

-Click internship targets to be recognized the major legal internship site in India. The acknowledgement is aimed both in terms of number and worth.

Q) Is Click Internship going to be a specialist internship site or are there plans to diverse in the future?

-Click Internship is going to be a specialist legal internships site. We don’t have any divergent and deviating plans, as of now. 

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‘Is Death Penalty a suitable punishment?’

 1. COST

Many opponents present, as fact, that the cost of the death penalty is so expensive (at least $2 million per case), that we must ironically choose life without parole ('LWOP') at a cost of $1 million per year for an average of 50 years. Justice for all estimates that LWOP cases cost $1.2 million - $3.6 million more than equivalent death penalty cases. There is no apodictic proof that the upfront costs of the death penalty are significantly higher than for equivalent LWOP cases.

Edwin Sutherland in his book titled Criminology, wrote:
"It is not cheaper to keep a criminal confined, because most of the time he will appeal just as much causing as many costs as a convict under death sentence. Being alive and having nothing better to do, he will spend his time in prison conceiving of ever-new habeas corpus petitions...”

Annual cost increases are based upon: 1) prison costs, 2) medical costs, including the immense cost of geriatric care associated with LWOP; 3) injury or death to the inmate by violence; 4) injury or death to others caused by the inmate. 5) the risk and the perceived risk of escape; and 6) the justifiable lack of confidence by the populace in our legislators, parole boards and judicial system, that is, the possibility that a violent inmate will be released upon society. It can be said that points 1-5 are incurred by death row inmates too, but the difference is that they will average 6 years’ incarceration vs. 50 years for LWOP convicts.

Also, in the U.S a study called “The Death Penalty and Plea Bargaining of Life Sentences”, found that to repeal death penalty laws did not see a significant savings in trial costs. In states where the death penalty is the maximum punishment, a larger number of defendants are willing to plead guilty and receive a life sentence. The greater cost of trials where the prosecution does seek the death penalty is offset, by the savings from avoiding trial altogether in cases where the defendant pleads guilty.

 Lastly, the cost for justice does not have to be so if appeals are only allowed where they are relevant in proving one's innocence and eliminate those used merely as delaying tactics, there would be finality of trial and it would save millions in taxpayer money.

2.      RETRIBUTION

People often associate capital punishment with the ‘an eye for an eye’ concept. This is not entirely wrong. But a more appropriate term would be RETRIBUTION. Yes, retribution and not revenge, as some would tend to call it. Retribution is the primary purpose of just punishment.  The underlying principles behind retribution are that:

·         all guilty people deserve to be punished

·         only guilty people deserve to be punished

·         and that the punishment must be in proportion to the severity of their crime

This argument states that real justice requires people to suffer for their wrongdoing in a way appropriate for their crime, and in the case of murder, what their crime deserves is death. The measure of punishment in a given case must depend upon the atrocity of the crime, the conduct of the criminal and the defenceless and unprotected state of the victim. Imposition of appropriate punishment is the manner in which Courts respond to the society's cry for justice against criminals and an attempt for the victim’s families to turn the page.  

The sophomoric argument of asking: "Why do we kill people to show people that killing people is wrong?" That “two wrongs do not make a right”, amounts to treating executions and murders as equivalent. Our answer to this is that murder is defined as the UNLAWFUL killing of a person with malice aforethought. It follows therefore, that the word “murder” simply cannot be used to describe executions since the death penalty is but the application of the law and a sentence of a Court of Justice. Comparing executions to murders is like comparing imprisoning people to kidnapping.

A cliché argument used by opponents to capital punishment is the futility of combating violence with more "violence," that “you can't fight fire with fire”. But there is a difference between violence and punishment. Law enforcement and punishment is to crime what water is to fire. Fire-fighters spray water on a burning building with such force that the flames have no choice but to back down.

What separates crime from punishment, good from evil, are not their physical aspects but rather their moral aspects, what we call in Criminal Law the mens rea. Just because two practices share a physical similarity doesn’t mean that they are morally identical. Moral aspects examine the intention and motivation behind one's actions. Abolitionists tend to focus on the death penalty's physical aspects to demonstrate that it is the same as murder while completely ignoring its moral aspects. Executing someone is not killing someone for the sake of killing, like might be the case in murder, but to show the person that his atrocious crimes will not go unpunished – he simply cannot walk away, and that any wrong he has caused, a similar level of harm will be imposed on him.

Human rights activists would argue the right to life. But the way we see it, when you take the life of someone else, YOUR right to life ends with his. If you show no respect for sacred human life, then why should the State show respect for YOUR life?

By- Deena Bhoyroo

Middlesex University ( Mauritius Branch)

Sources:

PRO DEATH PENALTY WEBPAGE, <http://www.wesleylowe.com/cp.html#life>

BBC, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/capitalpunishment/. 

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Chasing Dreams- The Knowledge Steez Story.

Read About Niteesh Kumar Upadhyay as he talks about his brainchild, The Knowledge Streez from the time he was a Law Student, to becoming a professor of CNLU and his future plans.

Q) How did the idea initially come up? When was it (year)? How many people were initially involved?

-While I was pursuing B.A.LLB (2005-2010), I was always eager to participate in conferences and call for papers; and looked for different internship opportunities. But, information about these was rarely available on Internet, and looking into newspapers and associated sources was a tough task. This ticked in me the idea of knowledge steez, which I actually started to help students like me. Knowledge steez was started in the February,2012.. Initially, it was started by me but later on, Vivek Kumar Verma gave a depth to its working. 

Q) Were people around initially convinced about the idea?

-Not really. Some people claimed knowledge steez to be the carbon copy of other websites which are already accessible to law students. But the USP of knowledge steez is the frequency of its posts and the simplicity of the website. We have tried to keep the website very user friendly.

Q) How was the initial capital raised? What were the other financial difficulties?

-The initial captial was raised from FPF (Family Provident Fund…lol). Furthermore, opening and running knowledge steez has not cost us much.

Q) Where did the idea for the name come from?

-Earlier, the name of knowledge steez was knowledge mafia. I altered the name on the advice of one of my teachers at NUJS, Kolkata. He suggested me to keep something simple and professional. Working upon the same, I landed up with the name knowledge steez (steez means something unique).

Q) What were the primary problems faced while starting?

-Primarily, hectic academic schedule, finding resources and person who can upload such resources, were the problems I was through. But, now with Vivek’s support, I am able to carry out my work at ease. I pay my sincere thanks to him.

Q) How were outsiders approached/ advertisement problems?

-Most importantly, knowledge steez functions for the benefit of law students. It is a non- profit organization; hence, any kind of advertisement is not appreciated. Expectantly, anything as such won’t be entertained in future, too.

Q) Current Problems?

-No problems ….lol

Q) Which direction do you see it heading now/future plans?

-I have always tried looking for means to eliminate the problems of the legal community. Keep supporting students of legal fraternity, and helping them attain success in their lives; is my sole motto. With our strategies placed, we have made the target to achieve of 1 lakh visits per month.

Q) How did you decide to start 'Click Internship'?

- Click Internship is a platform for Law students to check internships that are available and choose those internships that suit their purpose and convenience. It is a great effort by my students from CNLU, Patna. As projected, within a year Click Internship will be the largest source of internship database for law students in India.

Q) Any tips for future start-ups?

-We have plans to start a website related to scholarships and fellowships for law students of India. The same will be executed soon.

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From Dorm To Destiny- The Lawctopus Story.

 

Read Tanuj Kalia's journey from winning Legally India's "Best Blogger" competition with the LegalPoet, to starting Lawctopus and guiding it to become India's most popular website for law students, as we talk about his and Lawctopus's past, present and the future.





Sourya (S): How did the idea initially come up? When was it(year)? How many people were initially involved?

Tanuj (T): Scene 1:
From my 2nd year in law school, I was freelancing for LegallyIndia.com, which is now India’s leading online portal for the legal community.
Legally India also launched a blogging competition around then, where my blogavatar LegalPoet won the ‘Best Blogger’ award of Rs. 35,000! That felt rich.
Being a law student, I was slightly disappointed that Legally India did not publish more content related to law schools or for law students. That irritated me.
Scene 2:
Then in 3rd year Chicken Pox struck me. It was ugly, put me in bed for long with nothing to do. An idle mind is a devil’s workshop!
I had an, "Aha.!" moment! A website for law students!
I remembered how LST’s (a pre-law coaching company) lawstudent.in used to be a great resource. (It’s not working for now I think).
I also knew how an Orkut community called ‘legal internships’ contained useful insights on legal internships: how to apply, what sort of work one can expect, stipend etc.
Scene 3:
The idea took concrete shape during the bed-rest.

I jotted down ideas on the back of a book (Rabindranath Tagore’s biography published by NBT): what all will the website contain, team etc.
When I came back to college, I (very excitedly) pitched this idea to my friends. Some were interested, some were not. And we launched from, as the fashion goes, NUJS’ dorm room.

(S): Were people around initially convinced about the idea?

(T): No. Some were.
But I did send a 20 page document to the people who are now the co-founders.   

(S): How was the initial capital raised? What were the other financial difficulties?

(T): Finances have never been a problem. Starting a website doesn't require any money really.

(S): What were the primary problems faced while starting?

(T): None of us can be called a 'tech guy', so we did face a problem on that front (includes design).

(S): How were outsiders approached/ advertisement problems?

(T): We didn't start with the idea of making money so we never thought of not getting advertisers as a problem.
The best way to approach a potential advertiser is to do it via a contact who might know that advertiser. For example, I get in touch with people who've interned at a particular organisation to connect me with the boss.

Q) Current Problems?

(T): Current problem: whether to keep Lawctopus as a pure content website or whether to introduce other features (career counselling wing, for example).
Also, on a personal note, whether to go into a completely entrepreneurial terrain or not.

Q) Which direction do you see it heading now/future plans?

(T): Future plan is simple: more content, better content, diverse content. That seems simple and benevolent.
However, in case we decide to move to other things, we'll be heading towards more kickass things.

Q) Do you see other start-ups as your followers or competition?

(T): Project Cloud is one venture which I am fond of. I see them as a competitor. Others (and one doesn't need to look far) are copytitors.

Q) Any tips for future start-ups?

(T): Tips:

1. If you have an idea; do some basic research and then start (START). Start it off as an experiment.
2. Read on the subject: Seth Godin, for example.
3. Persistence pays. You don't launch a popular website, you build one.
4. Have fun along the way. Don't be too serious about the money, the idea or the future. Otherwise, you'll die very young.

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