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Abhayraj Naik

Areas of Interest & Expertise

  • Access to Justice
  • Climate Action
  • Cities
  • Ecological Philosophy
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Experiential Learning
  • Development
  • Legal System Reform
  • Mentoring and Leadership
  • Mobility
  • Online Learning
  • Regulatory Governance
  • Research Methodology
  • Sustainability and Environmental Law and Policy
  • Technology Policy

Biography

Abhayraj Naik is a visiting faculty with the School of Policy and Governance.

He is an activist-academic, community builder, and design hacker for transformative change. His work focuses on education, environment, ethics, cities, and technology. Abhayraj is a co-founder of the Initiative for Climate Action (www​.action​cli​mate​.org), which is a Bangalore-headquartered non-profit organisation devoted to transformative climate action. 

At Azim Premji University, he teaches interdisciplinary courses on climate, environment, justice, law, policy, and research methods at a number of universities across India. He has published widely on issues in environmental law and policy, regulation theory and implementation, climate change, mobility rights, social justice, etc.

He holds degrees from the National Law School of India University and Yale Law School.

Courses

Publications (Representative List)

Articles, Book Chapters, Essays and Opinions

  • Opinion: No Climate Concerns in India’s draft green rules, India Climate Dialogue, 24th August 2020 [co-author]
  • Violent Beasts and Legal Animals, in ​“Rethinking Law and Violence in India” (edited by Latika Vashisth and Jyoti Dogra and published by Oxford University Press in collaboration with the Indian Law Institute, 2020) [co-author]
  • Law’s Nature: Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism in the Supreme Court of India, Seminar magazine (September 2019)
  • India’s Domestic Climate Policy is Fragmented and Lacks Clarity, Economic & polictical weekly engage, Vol. 54, Issue No. 7, 16 February, 2019 [co-author]
  • Crisis, Sustainability and Environmental Justice in India, Socio-legal review forum, 8 November 2018
  • Opinion: Why are Indians immune to reckless police brutality against protestors, Scroll, 17 April 2018 [co-author]
  • Bharat/​India, Diversity/​Plurality and the Constitution, Socio-legal review forum, 11 February 2018 [co-author]
  • Crafting Justice with Ethical Experiential Education, Law and other things blog, 6 January 2018
  • Privacy at the Stake in the Indian Supreme Court, Socio-legal review forum, 23 August 2017
  • Wizards at Making a Virtue of Necessity: Street Vending in India, 11 Socio-legal review forum. (2015)
  • Contextualising Urban Livelihoods: Street Vending in India, LGDI blog, March 2013
  • Why the Supreme Court is not the Bulwark of the Constitution it is made out to be, Economic times, January 2013 [co-author]
  • Why we need to keep talking loudly about rape laws, MyLaw​.net, January 2013
  • Imperative Values of a Logical Forgiveness, 6 Socio-legal review forum 101 (2010)
  • Sarendib’s Sorrow: Sri Lanka’s Continuing Conflict, 4 Socio-legal review forum (2008)
  • Pharmaceutical Patents and Health Care, 2 Socio-legal review forum (2006)
  • Nursing the big boys, Himal southasian (October 2006)
  • The Communication of Offer and Acceptance: An Overview of the Position under the Indian Contract Act, 1872, Law & Society trust review 32 (2003)

Books

  • Green Tapism: A review of the EIA notification 2006 (2007) [co-author]

Reports

  • Conducting a study with regard to significant impact of the activities that are not covered under the EIA Notification, 2006, Environment Management and Policy Research Institute, Government of Karnataka (March 2014) [co-author]
  • Forfeiting Our Commons – A Case for Protecting and Conserving Challakere’s Amrit Mahal Kavals as Livelihoods-Supporting, Biodiversity-Rich, and Ecologically Sensitive Grassland Ecosystems, Environment Support Group — Bengaluru (2013) [co-author]
  • Wise Use, Conservation, Protection, Rehabilitation and Appropriate Governance of Lakes as Commons in Karnataka, Environment Support Group – Bengaluru (2012) [co-author]
  • Module on ​‘Law of Torts, including Motor Vehicle Accidents, and Consumer Protection Law’, Preparatory Material for the All India Bar Exam – Book 2, Bar Council of India (2010)
  • Justice without Delay: Recommendations for Legal and Institutional Reforms in the Indian Courts, Centre for Public Law & Jurisprudence, Jindal Global Law School (2010) [co-author]