2nd Law and Liberty Conference

Theme: Perspectives on Liberty in a Digitised India

Allen and Overy Hall, NLSIU Bangalore
24 Nov 2017

Law and Liberty Conference (LLC) is our flagship annual academic congregation exploring the interstices of legal thought and practice, and their relation to the idea of liberty. A key component of modern social and political orders, liberty is seen as one of the founding principles of rule of law. The spheres of liberty are manifold, with implications for economic, civic, and personal practices of individuals and communities. LLC provides an opportunity for rigorous academic analyses and dialogue on issues most pertinent to the exercise of liberty, and the role of law in securing and impeding the same. The Law and Liberty Conference is a unique opportunity for academicians, scholars, practitioners, and students to interrogate the constraints and challenges to the principle and practice of liberty, and understand how these may be mitigated.

Law and Liberty Conference 2017 is being organized by Centre for Civil Society in collaboration with Law and Technology Society, National Law School of India University, Bangalore

The 2017 edition of the conference will have 3 thematic sessions:

1. Digitising Governance and Public Service Delivery: Digital modes of governance are under adaption at an unprecedented scale. The e-Kranti initiative of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has outlaid the digitization of over 44 public service delivery verticals at Centre and State level and development of Common Service Centres across the country. Such e-governance initiatives have developed a range of digital interfaces, from websites to mobile applications and bio-metric enabled Smart Cards. Experiments independently and in collaboration with corporate and NGOs, such as ITC’s e-Choupal, Gyandoot in Madhya Pradesh, Aksh Broadband in Rajasthan, IRCTC, and Passport Seva, have successfully developed and tested intranet portals for a range of functions, from produce procurement to facilitating Government to Citizen (G2C) digitised service delivery.
2. Regulatory Frameworks for Aggregator and Sharing Economy: The need for revisiting principles framing regulations is accentuated by the emergence of aggregators and sharing economy in India, and its exponential growth in on-demand transport, crowd-funding, and hospitality sectors. The sharing economy radically transforms the conventional definitional tenets of labour, establishments, services, and the consumer-provider relationship by developing peer-to-peer sharing, dynamic pricing, and service ownership. With the growing relevance of sharing economy in fostering skill development and micro-entrepreneurship, an agile, enabling framework that balances consumer protection with ease of doing business is requisite.
3. Regulating Data Services and Digital Payments: Support functions of expanding digital literacy and inclusion are also mapped through projects such as the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN), and ongoing TRAI consultation on provision of Free Data in rural India without violating the bright-line principles set against zero-rating. Additionally, the impetus for a cashless economy is mandated through a separation of payments and banking, and the regulatory frameworks governing the two. This entails a complete digitization of payments and receipts within government, with an eye to increase the reach and incentivizes the usage of digital payments. From autonomy in regulation to legislative revision of Payments and Settlement Systems Act (2007) mandating open access, interoperability, competition and innovation—the role of private entities in facilitating the development and delivery of digital services in governance and exchange is growing exponentially and demanding systemic redesigning of regulatory frameworks and rethinking of the role of the state

Register NOW

Registration deadline: 20th November 2017

Registration Fee: Students: INR 500/-; Others: INR 1000/-

For details contact:
Jatin Garg (jatin@ccs.in) or Arushi Vats (arushi@ccs.in)
+91-9915608674 | +91-11-2653 7456; ext.-25