The Centre for Environmental Law, Policy & Research (CELPR) at NLUD partnered with Enviro Legal Defence Firm (ELDF) to conduct the CELPR-ELDF National Essay Writing Competition (1st Edition) on the theme ‘Environmental Vision – India @2047’.
The competition drew over 800 registrations, and all submissions were evaluated through a double-blind peer review process.
Alongside the prize distribution ceremony, a panel discussion was held at the NLU Delhi Campus. Professor Bharti Kumar, Director CELPR, and Dr. Kheinkor Lamar, Associate Director, addressed the guests and highlighted the competition’s achievements.
We are grateful to Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay, Senior Advocate and Founder of ELDF, whose inspiring speech explored the theme’s many facets, and to Prof. (Dr.) G.S. Bajpai, Vice Chancellor, NLU Delhi, for sharing his valuable insights. We also thank ELDF and Ms. Eisha for their support, our evaluators, and the CELPR student team for organising the event.
Congratulations to the Winners and Merit Certificate Holders, whose essays were selected from hundreds of submissions.
Winner — Shreya Gautam, NLU Delhi
“Litigating for 2047: Intergenerational Equity as a Justiciable Right”
First Runner-Up — Rohan Biradar, KLE Law College, Bengaluru
“Penalty Without Prosecution: Environmental Decriminalisation Under the Jan Vishwas Act”
Second Runner-Up — Shikha Jain, MNLU Mumbai
“A Fresh Slate on Poisoned Ground”
The top 3 essays will be featured on the CELPR website.
Certificate of Merit:
1. Veera Parmar — Powering Progress, Governing Shadows
2. Ishani Burande — Invisible Women, Visible Change
3. Utkarsh Rai — Slow Green
4. Manjari Theodora Bhengra — Beyond Carbon Emissions Trading and Offsets
5. Dhruva Seshadri Anand — Environmental Governance as a Stress Test for Indian Federalism
6. Malyala Kameswari Satwika — From Impunity to Indictment
7. Anjika Makhija — Beyond Disaster Relief
8. Sweta Shivangi — Carbon Sovereignty and the Climate Justice Deficit
9. Yashaswi Kuridi — From Precaution to Regularization
10. Sanjeevan Bhuyan — Rights Without Referees for India’s Environmental Rule of Law
Congratulations to all participants. Do look out for more events from CELPR, NLU Delhi!