The National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam inaugurated its Centre for Disability Studies and Health Laws on 15th May, 2017. The Centre was inaugurated by Honourable Justice Ajit Singh, Chief Justice, Gauhati High Court.
The event was also attended by Guest of Honour, Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan of Gauhati High Court. In his address Justice Bhuyan highlighted India’s international commitments in the field of Disability studies. He also pointed that our constitution, when it was drafted was way ahead of its time and that we need to see our every action from the lens of our Constitutional rights and duties.
Prof (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer, Managing Trustee, Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education (IDIA), Dr. Ramani Barman, Managing Director of Indian Institute of Research and Development for Differently Abled (IIRDDA) and Mr. Vinod Seshan (IAS), Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup (Rural) were other guests present at the event. All the guests were welcomed by Prof. (Dr.) J. S. Patil, Vice Chancellor, NLUJAA who promised that the Centre will be the torch-bearer for Disability Studies in the North-East region. In his inaugural address, Mr. Sachin Sharma, Centre coordinator, promised for a research oriented approach of the Centre.
The Centre also launched its website on the occasion. (http://nluassam.ac.in/cds/index.html).
The gathering was then addressed by Prof Shamnad Basheer. Prof. Basheer emphasized on the need of society to treat people with disability in a humane manner by stressing on the point that all of us are disabled in one way or the other. He gave a unique suggestion that instead of learning French or other ‘fancy language’ as a second language, we should rather study “Sign-Language”.
The day also witnessed a historical event as National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam became the first National Law University (NLU) to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with IDIA.
The event also showcased the artistic brilliance of differently-abled people as students from IIRDDA, a charitable trust based in Guwahati working for people with disabilities in India and abroad, performed a skit. There was also an exhibition of paintings by the students from IIRDDA.
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