Kaunstitution - a New Public Education Initiative for India

20 December 2019

Aimed at generating informed and critical public opinion, while seeking to build social cohesion and the basis for a more inclusive society.

The date - 19th of December 2019 - saw the commencement of a new public education initiative called Kaunstitution in the midst of all the chaos currently transpiring in India.

"Conducting dialogue on the current social and political issues...through the lens of the Indian Constitution"

Founded by Mr. Sundeep Narwani, Ms. Sohini Jana, and Ms. Sayantani Jana, this initiative aims to create a community space where individuals can come together in conducting dialogue on the current social and political issues in the country through the lens of the Indian Constitution.

Aimed at generating informed and critical public opinion, while seeking to build social cohesion and the basis for a more inclusive society, Kaunstitution hosted their first online session on Citizenship, Rights and Dissent on the evening of 19th December with the support of the United Religions Initiative. The session brought together 53 attendees from all over the world on the Zoom conference platform, including three esteemed guest panelists.

The invited panelists who delivered lectures on the session’s aforementioned topic were senior human rights lawyer Mr. Mihir Desai, the National Vice President of People’s Union of Civil Liberties and a faculty member at Jamia Millia University; Dr. Mujibur Rehman; and grassroots activist and Ashoka Fellow Mr. Basit Jamal. The session was facilitated by Sohini Jana, who, apart from being a co-founder of Kaunstitution, is also a KAICIID International Fellow for the South and Southeast Asia region 2019. Miss Subhi Dhupar, United Religions Initiative (URI) Coordinator for the Northern India & Afghanistan Region, took over responsibility as the moderator of the event. Sundeep Narwani, also a co-founder of Kaunstitution and a human rights activist, introduced the panelists and helped manage the organization of the conference call. The question-and-answer session was handled by Kaunstitution’s third co-founder, Sayantani Jana, who is a genocide scholar and currently a doctoral student at the University of Southern California.

Kaunstitution extends heartfelt gratitude to the entire team of URI, especially Executive Director Mr. Victor Kazanjian, National India Coordinator Mr. Biswadeb Chakraborty, and Northern India Regional Coordinator Miss Subhi Dhupar for their overwhelming love and support for our debut initiative.