Of law and life: Upendra Baxi in conversation with Arvind Narain, Lawrence Liang, Sitharamam Kakarala, Sruti Chaganti.

Upendra Baxi is one of India’s leading legal scholars. His areas of expertise and his writings span the diverse areas of comparative constitutionalism, human rights and its futures, crises of the Indian legal system, and the sociology of Indian law and anthropogenic harm and justice.

In 2008, Professor Baxi spent time in Bangalore with the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) and the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) and spoke at length to a group of his former students, who are also among his closest interlocutors, on key issues affecting India and the world. This meeting was tape-recorded, transcribed and went on to become this monograph.

Of Law and Life produces a sweeping personal account of his engagements with over six decades of our modern history. The story moves from Baxi’s childhood and student years in Bombay, to his education and political activism in the anti-War movements in Berkeley to his years at Sydney, in Delhi at the Indian Law Institute, and later at the University of South Gujarat and Delhi as Vice-Chancellor.

He talks at length about several landmark interventions, including the open letter to judges on the Mathura rape case, which set a new precedent in both legal and social activism, the Bhopal gas tragedy, and his pioneering work on social action litigation in India. And much else.

Conversational in tone, deeply insightful, and occasionally light-hearted, this is the first book of its kind, covering Upendra Baxi’s remarkable career, highlighting facets of him as teacher, scholar, and activist.