Manthan is a forum to promote public discourse. It aims to promote vibrant, meaningful, intelligent conversations in many ways. It is one-of-its-kind initiative in the country which aims to engage citizens from all walks of life.
In 14 years, since 2005, it has hosted 275+ talks by Thought Leaders from across the world, on the widest variety of subjects. Countless debates happen daily on all kinds of issues. Manthan is apolitical, non-partisan, and a voluntary initiative. It has over 20,000 opt-in members.
On October 2, every year since 2013, it also holds a day long discourse, MANTHAN SAMVAAD where the finest minds come to deliver talks on things that matter. This is a festival of thoughts and ideas!
Menaka Guruswamy spoke about The Indian Constitution
Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India.
Through her litigation practice, she has successfully brought reform of the bureaucracy in the country, defended federal legislation that mandates that all private schools admit disadvantaged children, successfully challenged the constitutionality of state supported private vigilante groups, and most recently overturned section 377 the colonial-era law that criminalises consensual same-sex relations.
Dr Guruswamy is amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme Court in a case concerning 1528 alleged extra-judicial killings by the military and security personnel.
She was on Foreign Policy magazine’s list 100 most influential Global Thinkers for 2019 and along with Arundhati Katju on Times Magazine’s 2019 list of 100 most influential people. In 2017, her protrait was unveiled at Rhodes House in Oxford University.
Dr. Guruswamy has also advised the United Nations Development Fund, New York and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), New York and UNICEF South Sudan on International Human Rights Law and has also supported the constitution-making process in Nepal.
Dr. Guruswamy’s most recent publications include, a co-edited volume of essays on Founding Moments in Constitutionalism (Hart/Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2019), an essay on Constitution-Making in South Asia, in the Handbook on Constitution-Making (Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2019). She has written widely for publications including the New York Times, the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Mint and Scroll.in.
Dr. Guruswamy was educated at Oxford University, Harvard Law School and the National Law School of India. She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and a Gammon Fellow at Harvard. She has been visiting faculty at Yale Law School, New York University School of Law and University of Toronto Faculty of Law. She was the B.R Ambedkar Research Scholar and Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School from 2017-2019.
