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ICAS:MP Special lecture: Law’s allure and (Im)possibility of Justice by Bishnu N. Mohapatra, Professor at Krea University

Date: Friday, 26 September 2025
High Tea: 6:00 pm | Lecture: 6:30 pm
Venue: Lecture Room 1, India International Centre (Annexe), New Delhi


We are pleased to invite you to a special public lecture by Bishnu N. Mohapatra, Professor at Krea University.

Please confirm your participation by 17 September 2025 by writing to Sukriti Manocha at manocha@mwsindia.org.

 

About the lecture
Justice is often considered to be in excess of law. Yes, its scope appears diminished when viewed through the lens of broader moral conceptions of fairness and well-being. In contemporary times, justice seems increasingly confined to the domain of ‘law’. How do we reconcile this tension between ‘excess’ and ‘reduction’? Legal justice surrounds us, and there is a prevailing assumption that it is inherently positive for more and more people and communities to be brought under the jurisdiction of law. But what about those who lie outside its reach? Could incorporating people and communities into the law involve a foundational violence? In this lecture, drawing primarily from literary works, I will explore the complex and often troubled relationship between law, justice, and the moral landscape of fairness.

Bishnu N. Mohapatra is a poet, political theorist, and commentator on society, governance and culture. He serves as a Professor of Politics and the Director of Moturi Satyanarayana Centre for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences at KREA University, India. He was also the inaugural Dean of the School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences (SIAS) at KREA University.  For over thirty years, he taught politics, South Asian studies, and development studies at the prestigious institutions in India, including the University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Azim Premji University. In 2016, he held the Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee Chair Professorship at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Bangalore. Recently, Bishnu Mohapatra served as the anchor for the World Humanities Report (WHR) for India and South Asia, an initiative led by UNESCO and the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH) in Paris, and coordinated by the Consortium of Humanities Centres and Institutes (CHCI) in the USA.

A well-known Indian poet, Bishnu, writes in Odia. He has published five volumes of poetry and has translated two volumes of Pablo Neruda’s poetry into Odia. His latest translation, Rain Incarnations, was published by Speaking Tiger in 2025.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
sukritimanocha (September 3, 2025). ICAS:MP Special lecture: Law’s allure and (Im)possibility of Justice by Bishnu N. Mohapatra, Professor at Krea University. ICAS:MP. Retrieved November 19, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/14ktt


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