About the Organizers

Savitri Phule Ambedkar Caravan (SPAC) is a student collective at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. SPAC functions as student-led youth group that caters to Dalit and Bahujan Rights on and off campus. Over the course of past few years, SPAC has conducted multiple seminars, workshops, talks and movie screenings in order to facilitate discourse among the students, activists, academics and professionals about prevalent Dalit/Bahujan issues.

Civis is an award-winning online platform working on Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy. Civic Innovation Foundation enables effective dialogue between Governments and citizens, on laws and policies. Through the online platform Civis, citizens share their inputs on upcoming laws, with the Government. Since 2018, Civis has worked on 54 Consultations, impacting over 3,000 people. Civis has been a recipient of the Agami Prize for Legal Innovation, D-Prize, and two state government awards at the Maharashtra StartUp Summit and Vibrant Gujarat StartUp Summit.


About the Competition
In pursuance of our goal to facilitate discourse about caste issues, SPAC in collaboration with Civis.vote is inviting students to take part in an Inter-College Article Writing Competition on the subject of ‘Caste: A never-ending Pandemic’.


Who can Submit?
The competition is being organized for all law students pursuing their undergraduate (3 or5 year’s course) or post graduate degree from any college recognized by the Bar Council of India. We also welcome submissions for the Journal from researchers, practitioners and faculty, but these submissions would not be considered for the competition. Students belonging to Dalit/Bahujan communities are encouraged to participate.


Theme
The theme for the competition is ‘Caste: A never-ending Pandemic’ Sub-themes are as follows:

  • Caste beyond Hinduism
  • Intersection of Caste, Art and Media
  • Impact of BLM movement in India’s casteist society.
  • Sanskritization: a true escape from casteism?
  • Coronavirus and exposed social inequality
  • Sexuality and Caste
  • Caste as a Global Problem
  • NEP (National Education Policy) and Caste-insensitivity
  • NLAT (National Law Aptitude Test) and Social Inequalities

Note: The above-mentioned topics/sub-themes are merely prescriptive in nature. Writers can choose to write on any other topic, as long as it aligns with the subject of Caste.


Submission Guidelines

  1. The submission can be made only in English.
  2. Only one article per author shall be submitted. Multiple or incomplete or plagiarized submissions shall be summarily rejected.
  3. Co-authorship is not allowed.
  4. Registration/Participation Fee is as follows: Rs.150 per participant.
  5. The word count should range from 1200 to 1500. (excluding footnotes/citations)
  6. The author(s) should adhere to the following format:
    • Font: Times Now Roman
    • Font size: 12 pt.
    • line spacing: 1.5
    • citation: any uniform style of citation
  7. All submissions should be made in word document to spac@nls.ac.in. Participants are also required to address the mail subject as ‘Submission: Title of the article’. For example, ‘Submission: Casteism in Academic Institutions’.
  8. The author(s) are requested to mention a short bio within the body of the email.
  9. The author(s) should not mention their institutional affiliation/name in the document itself.

Payment Details

  1. Participants are required to pay the registration fee through Google-Pay on +917484847292.
  2. Participants are also required to attach the screenshot of the payment receipt in the email with their final submission.
  3. Note: Participants must pay the fee and attach the screenshot in the mail, failure to do so shall render their submission invalid.

Perks
The Top Three Entries will get:

  • Certificates of Accomplishment
  • Cash Prize of Rs. 1500/- each
  • Online Fellowship/Internship Opportunity with Civis.vote for a period of 3 months. The Fellowship/Internship can be extended on the basis of work done by the participants.

The top three entries shall also be awarded with certificates and fellowship opportunities with Civis.vote for a period of 3 months.


Important Dates
1. The deadline for submitting the article is 11:59 PM on 8th October 2020.
2. Results will be declared by the end of October 2020.


Contact details:
For any queries or clarifications please reach out to us at spac@nls.ac.in or participants can also mail Anmol Ratan (Convenor, SPAC) at anmolratan@nls.ac.in or Yashaswi Kadbe (Joint Convenor, SPAC) at yashaswikadbe@nls.ac.in.