Feminism And What Really Begets It: A Personal Tribute to Carrie Fisher

              I probably wasn't even fully 9 years old, when my Star Wars crazy mother meticulously produced VCDs from a dingy video library and made me watch Episode I, II and III, thereby effectively ruining the greatest cinematic plot twist of all time. In those days, the only summer problems I had, were questions about how and why Palpatine managed to turn Anakin rogue.Episode IV, V and VI followed and I remember being enamored by Han Solo and Luke Skywalker but most distinctly, I was in awe of the unapologetic and indomitable spirit of Princess Leia. Oh, I wanted to be her, and how! All with some developments of course, since I also wanted to be a Jedi Master, but those are just minor details.

So you can imagine my shock, denial, and the consequent pained acceptance, upon waking up that morning to bold headlines that declared, "ACTRESS CARRIE FISHER DIES AT 60" and a seemingly morose, unhappy mother who barked across the hall that I was to mix my own milk. In a first, both mother and daughter shared a common sorrow for a non-familial loss of someone that neither of us knew personally.

To be honest, post Star Wars, I've only ever seen/heard of Carrie Fisher in a smattering of other movies and so perhaps it is fair to say that for several million across the globe including myself, she went down as Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, who bravely fought off Vader's forces, called out Han for being a "stuck up, half-witted, scruffy looking nerf herder", wielded a gun better than Luke and was subjected to watch her planet and foster parents be decimated by the Death Star. To me, the star struck 9 year old, if this was not ceaseless bravery, then what was really?

I grew up in a women-only household, comprising of a fairly badass working mom with a Leia-esque temper and tongue, a reasonably competent (and I will always deny I said this) sister, an orthodox and determined grandmother and a decrepit yet surprisingly loud, perennially ill great-grandmother, who - as she reiterates - is three years older than the Queen herself! At this juncture, it is probably safe to say that a character like Leia, boded well in our lifestyle.

I don't really know how to describe the way I am, at 20. What I do know is that I stubbornly don't understand the difference between a man's job and a woman's job. I didn't want a doll or a car, but books and being occasionally treated to a film with an already ruined plot twist. I didn't dress in pink or blue, but clothes that I thought were comfortable. I did all the things I wanted to do, much against the behest of the mother-and-above units. I played tennis,swam and got tanned, ran, scraped my knees, roasted in the sunlight, picked up defunct pistols (licensed, I assure you) and rolled in the mud. As a happy consequence of my activities and much to their chagrin, the women in the house gave up on me, concluding that the dog and I were kindred spirits.

None of this came easy, of course. When you're like that in a world that isn't quite like that, you tend to get picked on. Everyone tried all possible avenues to dissuade me from being so socially contemptible. I've pretty much had it all in various permutations- cousins nagging me for keeping my hair too long and too boring, friends who've teased me for being "too much like a boy", family that still goes on about how I need to dress better and the most prevalent and prominent one of them all - being a prude. Except, to this day, I absolutely do not understand what it is about my myriad of actions that is termed too un-ladylike for me. I'm not supposed to sweat and stink, nor wear shorts for tennis or wear comfortable clothes at a party instead of the oft chosen LBDs and am meant to keep my locks braided instead of choosing to flip them around in a layered cut, because of exactly what again? I've never known and I'm not sure that I ever will. That being said, I don’t think I'd actually blame anyone, given social conditioning en generale.

Now, to the point of why Carrie Fisher's passing has begun this conversation in my head. In the 13 years since I first watched Return Of The Jedi, I've subconsciously strived to model myself into a personal interpretation of Leia. To me, Carrie Fisher did not just play Leia, she was Leia.  I've watched her repeatedly in endless interviews and found that she really was the embodiment of fierce independence, unfailing feminism and undiluted wit. She never once hesitated to call out the blatant misogyny or unfairness of anything and wasn't afraid to apologize or accept her mistake whilst challenging the very archetype that catapulted her to fame. She had such a strong sense of right and wrong which, to me, was everything that Leia depicted on screen. She showed us,by example, how important it was that as women- and more generally as human beings - we take our position seriously and that cowing down to rampant patriarchy is not something any of us were born to do.

I've never been one who was very ostentatious about her opinions on the happenings of the world since, as a matter of principle, I think that everyone has the right to reserve their own relative thoughts and opinions of the same - unless of course, it is an actual travesty like the election of Donald Trump. In the same maverick fashion, I don't believe in having to be loud about things that you do for the sake of humanity's betterment. Much like I did in my childhood, I prefer the quiet, strong way of being a feminist - you stubbornly refuse to accept the patriarchal norm and keep going about while doing your own thing.

You don't sit quiet when you see or hear something that is fundamentally wrong and you aren't behoved into being nonchalant about it. I think that the most raucous, resounding way that you can assert your identity as a feminist is to act more than you speak. Fight for your worth, whoever you are - male, female, both, neither - and never forget to be gracious about it. Let nobody tell you what to do and what not to do since I can assure you that there are no diktats about what you "should" be doing because of how and where luck decided to place you. Nobody is any less or any more because of their sex, orientation, race, or anything of theirs, really -because, at the end of the day, all of us are humans.

Not ducks.

That is why we need more people who are as proud and brutally honest as Carrie was. She was an unending source of inspiration, in and out of her role as Leia and in the same breath, a beautiful human being. It is really purveyors of the cause like her, who should make us ask questions like that in the title (which I'm clearly very proud of).

This is a profound moment in my adult life because I'd like to think that I've succeeded in growing up to be my own version of Carrie/Leia. There's a long way to go, but I'm fairly certain I'll get there - to the mild distaste of a few generations of progenitors, I'm sure.

This one is for Carrie. The Force was strong with that one.

About The Author: 

Spandana Durga is a third year Mathematics Honors student at Miranda House, University Of Delhi. She is deeply interested in art history and public policy development (as utterly unrelated as they are), is a staunch feminist and is a devoted Federer fan.

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Interview with Vandita Morarka: Policy & Legal Officer, Safecity & Founder PenPal Inc.

Q) The most obvious question first, did you choose law or did it choose you?

I can truly say Law chose me. I have single-mindedly wanted to pursue Law in one of its varied forms as a career option from as far back as I can remember.

Q) You have been involved with numerous initiatives and organizations throughout your law school life. How do you balance the already hectic law school life with your other activities?

I find that being involved with other organizations and initiatives helps me streamline and focus better when it comes to Law school. In terms of balancing, on most days it’s touch and go. But I think its manageable if it’s truly what you want to be doing

Vandita (Center) with participants of a Gender Workshop in Ryan,
Goregaon

 since if you’re dragging yourself without enjoying the learning process – you often find ways to create imbalance yourself. I am also pursuing an MA (Hons.) in Public policy, so the additional work here stimulates my interest and keeps Law school from being monotonous. Since a lot of my work is related to law or policy work, work itself becomes a constant learning process for me. In fact, other activities have helped my understanding of Law more deeply than the LL.B. course or Law school itself may have.

Q) Tell us about your experience with EXAP.

The EXcellence in Arts Program (EXAP) at Sophia College for Women has been an unforgettable experience. It’s an immersive, selective program that one undertakes alongside their regular BA course. For me, it opened up a world of knowledge that I had had no idea about. EXAP is brilliant also for the mentoring it provides you, in close contact with senior professors and academicians while giving you the freedom to develop your own thinking process. Beyond research, we were taught diligence, integrity and a social consciousness oft missing from our regular formal education structures.  I’m sure I speak for my EXAP cohort when I say that we take ahead all that we learnt in EXAP each day and it continues to reflect strongly in our work and personal life.

Q) You were part of a team which conducted a research study of the Third Gender community in Mumbai. How was your experience and what motivated you to take up that specific cause?

We had to decide on selecting a research topic soon after the NALSA judgment. What worked as the deciding factor for us was how much silence these issues were shrouded in. We wanted to bring them to the forefront and engage people and communities while at it. This motivated us to understand on-ground perceptions, histories and gaps in awareness and acceptance of Third gender persons to help better implementation of the law in India.

My experience was interesting, as it exposed several in built prejudices and biases within me and taught me to re-examine my approach towards development work completely. My favorite part of our research was the case studies of Third gender persons. I think that brought forth the human factor behind the need to address issues that Third gender persons face and that is often lost behind fancy research terminology. This has also stayed with me and has motivated me to create awareness on Third gender issues and continue research on similar issues: most recently having completed a research paper on “Inclusive Education for Third gender persons in higher secondary and college education”. The research study has been an unmatched learning experience.

Q) What awareness and changes do you think  are necessary in India to properly integrate the Third Gender as an integral part of the society?

I am still learning the struggles and challenges that everyday life brings to Third gender persons.I do realize that while societal perceptions must change and evolve to accept gender as a spectrum and not a binary, we must work alongside to develop institutional structures that protect and promote the interests of those that lie outside the gender binary. Key focus areas, in my opinion, must be addressing educational gaps, creating employment opportunities, providing healthcare access and devising strategies to address gaps in societal status. I am of the belief that the best answer to this question can be given by Indian Third gender persons themselves. It would aid policy immensely if more emphasis was given on giving voice to a larger number of third gender persons when creating solutions designed to benefit them.

Q) Please tell us something about PenPal Inc. How did you come about with that idea?

PenPal Inc. was an idea born out of a 2 am conversation between myself and a friend from Pakistan. Our friendship had shown to each of us a different side of the other’s country (India & Pakistan). This is when I thought it would be fun to give other people a chance to explore something similar. We aimed to use conversation and civilian dialogue between people to bridge gaps between nations and that’s how this idea came about!

Q) You have been associated with Safecity as a Youth Outreach Coordinator and a Policy and Legal Officer. What is Safecity about and what drew you towards them?

Safecity aims to make cities safer by encouraging equal access to public spaces for everyone especially women, through the use of crowdsourced data, community engagement and institutional accountability.

I had worked with Safecity when I was heading Students for Social Reform Initiative at Sophia College. I loved how they were seamlessly integrating technology and new age ideas to tackle the everyday issue of sexual harassment in public spaces. Apart from that, it seemed like and has been a great place to learn, for self growth and some brilliant mentoring.

Q) Please share some of your experience of working with Safecity?

In the year that I worked as the Youth Outreach Coordinator, I had a large number of volunteers and interns reach out to me post our workshops, activities or even on a personal level to tell me how much Safecity’s work had touched their lives. I have had young individuals share stories of battling their own issues of sexual harassment and finding in Safecity a safe place to talk about the same. These stories have given me hope of building a better and safer future. It was through that work, that my current work profile has emerged, as a Policy & Legal Officer. I have worked on projects that aim at more institutional and policy level corrections in our systems that aid this harassment. My experiences of working with Safecity have shown me how the work of a few people can touch so many lives. Professionally it has helped me learn immensely and apply skills I have gained through my education through practical real life experiences. In all, it’s been fabulous!

Vandita (3rd from the right) during SafeCity's 16 Days of Activism

Q) If you had to remember one moment, which can be categorized as a defining moment of your life, which one experience would you remember?

I think this was back in 2013, while I had been inclined towards development work – this incident somehow always comes to my mind when I think of the ‘why’ of my work today. This was when I was with Students for Social Reform Initiative. We used to conduct football training for the young children of the Agripada slum area in a tie up with OSCAR Foundation on weekends. Post one of our events I remember buying a bottle of water to drink and the children all gathered around me excitedly to have some of this water. They were so excited to be drinking water! In all of my life, I have never felt the privilege I was born into more acutely. This moment taught me why we must all in our lives strive to create systems and institutes that foster more equality. I never want for even one child to be excited  at the prospect of bottled drinking water while I know so many who would use that same water carelessly . This experience defines for me the need for a more just and equitable world and pretty much set the course of my life thereafter.

Q) Where do you see yourself in your future after graduation?  

That is by far the most difficult question. Though I do have an idea of what I want to be doing in 10, or maybe 15 years down the line. I want to work in the development sector and I’m using these years before graduation to feel out various sectors that interest me: rural empowerment, gender justice and youth capacity building have emerged as key areas of interest. I hope to be working in empowering these sectors through varied avenues of work, be it law or policy. At some point I hope to teach law, policy and gender to young students (like myself currently!) while working on personal initiatives to take gender equality training and awareness and the need for inclusive policymaking to classrooms across the country. 

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Climate Change, Resilience & Our Cities

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines resilience as an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. So what do cities – those commercial and teeming urban sprawls – need in the face of climate change, especially in the populous and rapidly urbanizing South Asian context? Some working definitions follow:

Cyclone Vardah uproots trees in India. Photo from 99 acres.

“Urban resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, despite issues such as high unemployment, inefficient public transportation systems, endemic violence, chronic food and water shortages, natural disasters or terrorism.” — 100 Resilient Cities (100RC)

“A Resilient City is one that has developed capacities to help absorb future shocks and stresses to its social, economic, and technical systems and infrastructures so as to still be able to maintain essentially the same functions, structures, systems, and identity." — ResilientCity.org

Chennai and Climate Change – Living Through Extreme Weather

Challenges to resilience experienced in Chennai, the fourth most populous metropolis, which is part of the 100RC experiment, include: aging infrastructure and its failure; economic inequality and poverty; extreme weather events; overpopulation, pollution, environmental degradation and civil unrest. Other Indian cities part of this effort to make urban centres sustainable are Bangalore, Jaipur, Pune and Surat.

Weather in Chennai which used to be classified laughingly as ‘hot, hottest, & hot and wet’ has now deteriorated with extreme variations within 24 hours. Add to this confused seasons. It’s now hot in ‘winter’, raining in summer and our monsoon alternatively floods or fails the city as well as India. We just got through the Tropical Cyclone Vardah which flooded streets, crushed city landmarks and uprooted over a 100,000 trees.

People wade through flood waters in rain-hit Chennai. (PTI Photo)

Our city’s lungs have been devastated even as air pollution reaches the winter peaks pushed up by burning cyclone’s debris. Drought is staring Tamil Nadu in the face as an unequal monsoon failed many states plunging them into drought and driving farmers to suicide.

Another joke about our city is that the minute the municipal authorities or road works decide to dig or lay a road that’s when there’ll be a cloudburst. Even with an underpar monsoon that urban legend lives on. Even the most moderate rains disrupt the city and its traffic. But when it’s heavy as witnessed during the Chennai Floods of November-December 2015 (which was the most rainfall in over a century) and the December 12th 2016 cyclone we have flooded homes and streets. The Chennai Floods damages were valued at $3 billion. So what we need is pre-emptive programmes similar to Lent, The Netherland’s 2006 “Room for the River” project which may have cost implementing a €2.3billion then but have saved the city from disaster payouts.

Hemmed in by the Bay of Bengal and three rivers – the Adyar, the Kosasthalaiyar and the Cooum – Chennai evolved and survived extreme weather because of its wetlands, canals, marshes and multitudes of lakes, temple tanks and ponds. There were natural water ways in place to channel flood runoff and absorb it into the water table for the dry season. Now the marshes have become landfills and the wetlands and water bodies been built upon schools, colleges, luxurious gated communities, the canals such as the Buckingham Canal which once was completely navigable has been choked by garbage and become synonymous with slums.

The concrete jungle that my city has become is perennially thirsty — exploitation of the water table and water quality is often brackish or worse. With the natural recharge venues choked and the water table sucked dry Chennai suffers from subsidence and has become more vulnerable to earthquakes. Past mistakes are repeated in this automotive industry hub by cycle of exploiting natural resources wherever it spreads to.

A repeated sentiment in various climate adaptation arenas and events is the fact that cities need to be at the fore of battling climate change. As Michael Berkowitz, the 100RC president puts it “After big disasters there are windows of opportunity,” and the time is to build sustainable cities not just smart cities.

Urban waste and water management, carbon decoupled transport and infrastructure, planning and having a vision for a sustainable future are key to urban resilience in Chennai and across South Asia. Training city planners and architects in the sustainable path could be the tipping point in reversing climate change.

What’s Essential for a Resilient City?

“The foundation of building resilience into a city will be the close working of the government and the civic society in developing capacities to deal with threats. I live in the city of Chennai, we the people here have set the benchmark in coming together — Government, youth, celebrities, business community, religious outfits, etc. – and coordinating efforts in dealing with the floods in 2015 and the cyclone of 2016.”

— U. Sudhir Lodha, Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission Member

“The fundamental ingredient in building a resilient city is to resort to renewable energy and to rely on indigenous systems that do not augment the extent of pollution and exacerbate the impact of climate change. Making buildings capable of rainwater harvesting, installing solar panels, sensible disposal of garbage and relying on terrace gardens in an urban city can create resilient systems. Carpooling so that there are fewer cars on the road, reducing the use of air conditioners and relying on strong disaster management responses can go a long way.”

— Kirthi Jayakumar, Founder & CEO, The Red Elephant Foundation, Chennai

“Cities should ideally be supported by a social, economic and political framework that’s flexible in nature to support changing needs. With land as a prime resource in cities, high-dense housing is concentrated without taking adequate measures to check the availability of water, electricity, services, etc. Since haphazard development occurs without adequate planning, most South Asian cities provide bad living environments for people. Further, urban sprawl results in the creation of an unsustainable suburbia, the failed Western concept that is being tested in Indian cities currently. The sprawling populations that commute to the city centre in their private vehicles not only contribute to fuel exhaustion but also create massive traffic jams. Resilience comes from the ability to support massive change. The secret to build resilience into a city lies in the creation of a holistic infrastructure system; this includes providing effective public transport improving connectivity throughout the city, anticipatory planning of consumption of everyday resources and prevention of inhabitable slums in neighbourhoods. This can provide better life within cities.”

— Sivagami Periannan, Student, Masters of Architecture (Urban Design), Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad, India

Dhaka City. Photo from Daily-Sun

“Dhaka is a bustling city of nearly 17 million, the third most-densely populated in the world. Part of the world’s largest river delta, Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Confused seasons and monsoons have exacerbated desertification in more arid regions while the nation’s capital faces unprecedented erosion leaving what should be vibrant tropical flora and fauna chronically dust-covered and riders of CNGs and rickshaws getting a mouthful of dust in every ride, particularly in the winter.

To make Dhaka resilient, reduction of cars by provision of a public transportation system like an MRT and capacity-building of the related infrastructure could be one route to counteract climate change. Additionally, once in use, safety, particularly of women and girls needs to be ensured. In the developing world, building community trust for institutions is also critical to any efforts toward a sustainable economy and environment. The people of Bangladesh are a resilient lot, without a doubt, so hopefully once given the necessary resources, the present degradation in biodiversity and environment can be halted and reversed."

— Mehvish Ally, Law Student and Red Elephant Foundation volunteer, American expatriate currently residing in Dhaka, Bangladesh

“Barcelona, Spain and Copenhagen, Denmark come to mind when I hear the term ‘resilience’.

Barcelona is known for its good urban plan.

A truly resilient city needs a responsive administration that plans for tough conditions in order to address the worse rather than getting directly affected. … small-scale sustainable planning strategies can be adopted to lower the risks and improve resilience. Setting up small-scale addressable goals and large-scale achievable goals at the start of every term of administration. There should be continuity in resilience planning when there is change in administration – a proper handover. It has to be associated with local government bodies and international partners.”

— Viswanathan S., Student Architect, Chennai, India

“It is important for civic authorities to engage in climate risk analysis and understand the likelihood of various hazards due to changes in the climate and engage with the different communities to adopt a more inclusive and integrated planning approach. This allows the government as well as the communities to understand the potential losses and plan adequate measures and interventions to potential risks. Thus, empowering communities with information and engaging with them to develop interventions from their experiences is key. Engage, educate and empower is central in making cities and communities resilient.”

— Sharda Vishwanathan, Volunteer, The Red Elephant Foundation, Atlanta, USA

“It’s really planning that’s strikes me as most essential, whether it’s to build a new ‘resilient’ city or to make an existing city more resilient. The only problem that lies in placing planning as a priority is that it is up to the planners to decide on what is a risk. But so long as a risk is not rejected out of hand, proper planning is the key to resilience. From determining the potential risks, to carrying through to making the necessary preparations, or just deciding on a course of action to take in the likelihood of the event occurring, all add a level of resilience. Only the planning aspect will show the scope of the problem, and it’s the first and essential step to be taken before considering any large project or social intervention as a measure of resilience.”

— Rukshan De Mel, PhD student, Disaster Management [critical infrastructure’s resilience to extreme weather events], Colombo, Sri Lanka

“The biggest issue in South Asia is the rate of urbanization. Considering the speed with which population in South Asia urbanizing providing incentives to bridge the urban-rural gap would provide resilience to stop infrastructure from failing.”

— Anam Zeb, Research Manager, Climate Tracker, Islamabad, Pakistan

About the Author:

Raakhee Suryaprakash has a Master’s degree in International Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry but is passionate about writing and researching ideas that change the world for the better. She was one of 15 South Asia Fellows in 2016 with Climate Tracker. An associate member with the Chennai Centre for China Studies, she also volunteers with the storytelling wing of the Red Elephant Foundation. Raakhee is in the process of launching a social enterprise SUNSHINE MILLENNIUM that aims to help India’s off-grid rural areas achieve the Millennium Development Goals by setting up of solar-powered millennium development centres. Her work has been widely published both in print and online media.

[This article has been republished with the prior requisite permissions from here]

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3rd National Law School Negotiation, Mediation and Client Counselling (NLS NMC) in collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

 3rd edition of The National Law School Negotiation, Mediation and Client Counselling    (NLS NMC) in a collaboration with  International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is scheduled to be held from 4th to 7th, May 2017 at NLSIU, Bangalore.

• Twenty four teams will be selected from across the country in each event of the competition. Selection of teams is a two way process that has been mentioned in the brochure. Application process for the same is open from the 15th of January, 2017. The online application form can be accessed here. 

• Based on the application form, we will be shortlisting 24 teams in each event of the competition who will then be contacted to complete the registration process.

• The list of the shortlisted Universities will also be available on our website, Facebook page on 1^st of March, 2017. Please note that only one team is allowed from each University per event, i.e. one each for Negotiation, Mediation and Client Counselling.

•  The winners of the NLS-NMC Mediation Competition will directly qualify for the 13th edition of the International Commercial Mediation Competition (ICMC) to be held in Paris in 2018.

• The Negotiation rounds at the competition shall act as the National Qualifier Rounds for the International Negotiation Competition 2017 (INC). Consequently, the winners would represent India at the international rounds at the University of Oslo, Norway. 

Important Dates

University Applications Open from   15 January 2017 

Last Date for submission                    15 February 2017 

List of shortlisted Universities            01 March 2017    

For our Facebook page  Click here

For our website               Click here

For our brochure            Click here

Contact:

Please feel free to write to us at adrboard@nls.ac.in for any queries/clarifications.

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Second 'Enervions' International Essay Writing Competition by College of Legal Studies, UPES, Dehradun in collaboration with Surana and Surana International Attorneys, Chennai, India.

Theme:

"Climate Change and Sustainable Development".

Eligibility criteria

• The competition is open to students who are pursuing their B.A., LL.B. / LL.M. / Ph.D. / M. Phil or any other undergraduate or master course (other than Law) in any university across the world.
• If any student of UPES is positioned amongst the top three, he/she will not be eligible for the top 3 prizes but will be felicitated in recognition of his/her performance with the special prize by the Surana & Surana International Attorneys, Chennai.

Submission guidelines

• The participant should send three attachments in mail Essay in MS Word format with subject “Essay Competition: Enervions 2017”- Name of Author(s)
• Scanned copy of Registration form
• Cover page containing name of participant, Nationality, address, e-mail-id, contact number, Course and class presently attending and name of college/University with address.
• The essay must be written in English.
• Only one submission is allowed per author. (Submissions both as co-author and single will be treated as multiple submissions. In case of such submissions the single submission will be rejected and disqualified as an entry to the competition).
• Co-authorship to a maximum of two authors is permitted.
• Only original essays will be considered for the competition. No part of it should have been published earlier nor should it be under consideration for publication or a contest elsewhere. Any form of    plagiarism will result in disqualification of essay and notification of the same on website.
• Identification mark must not be found in any part of essay.
• Scanned copy of completed Registration form is to be sent along with essay. The registration form must be signed along with seal by the head of institution / University (For registration form, see the last page).

Submission Procedure

• Deadline for submission is 28 February, 2017
• Submission must be mailed at enervions@ddn.upes.ac.in

Results

The name of the winner will be displayed on UPES website. Separate intimation will also be sent to each of the winner. The winner will be given the prizes on the prize distribution function, exact date and location to be announced later. Certificate of participation will be awarded to all participants. 

Prizes

• First prize: 25,000 rupees.
• Second prize: 20,000 rupees.
• Third prize: 10,000 rupees.
• Consolation prizes: Rs.1000 each for 12 selected essays.

Publication 

Top 15 selected papers will be published in the form of an edited book with an ISBN number. The list of the selected papers will be displayed on UPES website. Author (s) of the selected essay will be given a consolation prize of Rs. 1000 each (except the winners of the competition).

Contact

Student coordinators

Siddhant Sharma

+91-9557629905

siddhant.sharma12@stu.upes.ac.in

Apoorva Sinha

+91-9559992190

apoorvasinha97@gmail.com 

For more information Click Here

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