युक्ती हीने विचारे तु धर्महानि प्रजायते

Introduction

Public health is currently at a crossroads, facing acute challenges from a shifting geopolitical order, weakened multilateralism, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as chronic challenges such as climate change, economic inequality, migration, and armed conflicts. The Centre for Health Laws & Policy at the WBNUJS Kolkata, India (hereinafter “the Centre) aims to open up the health laws & policy discourse to diverse voices, perspectives, expertise and ideas, and to engage critically with issues of governance, politics and institutions, thereby seeking to offer a unique meeting place for scholars and practitioners operating within and interested in the legal and policy domains within India, the ASEAN region, the global south and beyond.
It is indeed a fact that, the first couple of decades of this post-globalised new millennium has indeed evolved into an inextricable knowledge and information driven economy and governance paradigm. With such massive strides being made in all avenues of science & technology in this closer, more-interconnected and an intimately interdependent new world, – the ethos of sharing of knowledge, views, ideas and opinions has not only come to assume an increasingly vital role in positively influencing the culture of thought and subsequent policy imperatives, but indeed in constructively reshaping the very intellectual zeitgeist and the governance ecosystem of the day.
Towards this end, the Centre expects to serve not just as a platform for launching new initiatives reaching out to assist and to learn from the vast and multi-faceted horizon of legal, medical, scientific and allied socio-economic endeavours, – but also as an incubator of an exciting, optimistic and forward-thinking home for crucial, locally, nationally and globally relevant interdisciplinary research and scholarship within this domain.

Objectives & Activities

It is in keeping with the above realities of this brave new milieu that we find ourselves in, and informed by the often sobering challenges thrown out by a myriad global conundrums and crises – that the Centre aims to contribute to the global conversation. Accordingly, the Centre has adopted a critical interdisciplinary approach in order to ensure that ideas, views, arguments and opinions are not only culled from the spectrum of legal academia, but carefully curated from across all avenues of scholarship, professional sectors, industries, and governmental institutions as well as non-governmental bodies and civil-society representatives, – so as to be able to put forth a uniquely holistic point of view – underpinned by our core conviction that sharing and collaboration in thought, deed and spirit are indeed the keywords that shall succeed in ‘building back better’ and driving this new resilient era forward.
To that end, the Centre strives to provide a better and more seamless understanding of the shifting power balance in health diplomacy, health policy-making, inter alia health laws, and to act as a neutral platform for policy dialogues and conferences and to contribute to the setting of agendas and to the capacity-building of decision-makers, government representatives, regional/national/international organisations and allied stakeholders.
Through its scholarship, research, and convening activities, the Centre aims to broaden the understanding of local, national & global public health issues, and looks forward to building mutually fruitful partnerships with a wide-range of institutions; The Centre aims to actively promote collaborations that may help bridge global north/south divides within academia and beyond, bringing in governments, civil society, the private sector, and other stakeholders, to discuss and tackle prevailing health challenges.
The Centre shall pay special attention to geopolitics, concerns of transparency and accountability, the impact of neo-colonialism on global health, and populations often excluded from governance. To that end, the Centre’s work is expected to focus on themes that span an entire spectrum of issues such as: technological innovation & healthcare, global digital futures, access to and financing of crucial healthcare tools and initiatives, outbreaks, epidemics & pandemics, intimacy & individual autonomy, and the regulation & control offered by law, etc.

Structure

Patron of the Centre for Law, Literature and Popular Culture:

The Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor,
The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata (India)
Prof. (Dr.) Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti

Director Of The Centre For Health Laws & Policy:

Dr. Paramita DasGupta 

Assistant Professor,  

The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata (India)

The Centre expects to involve student researchers, as well as associates from within and outside the university in furtherance of the various collaborative activities and research to be undertaken. In particular, people with active knowledge of and interest in the myriad facets of healthcare dispensation and related research are encouraged to engage with the Centre.

Expected Collaborations

The Centre proposes to work in collaboration with various governmental, non-governmental and academic institutions in pursuit of its objectives. In particular, liaison would be actively sought with, medical (with an emphasis on public health), business and law departments of various renowned educational institutions within the state of West Bengal, within India, as well as across national borders.

Contact Person:

Dr. Paramita DasGupta

ADDRESS: Room: 209
Dr. Ambedkar Bhavan
The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata (India) 12 – LB Block, Sector III, Salt Lake City Kolkata – 700106 West Bengal, India
E-MAIL: chlp@nujs.edu / pdasgupta@nujs.edu
TEL: +91 (33) 2335 7379/ 0765/ 2806/ 2809/ 2811/ 2812 [Extn: 2090]