73^rd Independence Day – Director’s Speech

Respected Prof. (Dr.) O. P. Shukla Sb, Principal NDA, Respected Dr. Geoffrey Clements, Chairman, Commonwealth Infrastructure Partner, My Colleague Prof. (Dr.) Ravi Kr. Jain, Director, SIBM-Hyderabad, my colleagues – faculty members and administrative staffs, and dear students, a very warm greetings to everyone present here to celebrate 73^rd Independence Day with full spirits. 

Sare Jahan Se Acha Hindustan Hamara

Hum Bulbulen hain Uski Ye Gulstan hamara

It is my immense pleasure to stand here in front of you all and deliver my address for today.  We as Indians have come a long way as we complete 72 years of our Independence from the British rule.  It is important that we always cherish this great day remembering our freedom fighters’ struggle. Without them, it is impossible for each and every one of us to experience the joy of living in a free country. Therefore, let us not forget the sacrifices of our leaders.  Moreover, it is very crucial to remember that the Indian freedom struggle was based on the principles of non-violence movement, taught by the great spiritual leader and the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

When the Britishers left us, we were hollow and ripped off our wealth. We did not have a foundation to firmly stand by ourselves as a country. We did everything from scratch whether it was creating the constitutional framework, or granting rights or drafting laws. Now we are counted amongst the list of world’s biggest democratic nations.

Constitution’s preamble prescribed for India which will ensure – Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. While we have achieved enormously in last 72 years, there is still a long way to go.

It’s times to introspect. The victims of mass atrocities whether that happened in Kashmir to Kashmir pundits, or to Punjabis during 80s or to Muslims in innumerable riots including Gujarat or incident such as mob lynching where just this week all the perpetrators got acquittal; victims are waiting for justice.

Liberty, Equality and Fraternity – again we need to introspect ourself how much we have achieved and what is lacking. With the year 2020 around its corner,  we as citizens need to ponder vision of  Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s. With many great objectives for development of India, he emphasized on reducing the rural-urban divide, equitable distribution of resources, education with good value system, corruption free country, etc. As students of law, you must go through his vision and see how far we have come as a country. Because, freedom without responsibilities to work towards excellence is futile.

          Remember, when I talked about mass atrocities it is non-state actors who are involve. How we can develop a society where such situation will never arises. The answer is lying in the fulfilment of our “Fundamental duties”.  

Therefore, it becomes extremely crucial to realize our fundamental duties particularly article 51 A – clause j that states “to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement” It’s you, the youth, backbone of our country, who will bring positive changes and take our country to reach new heights of growth and prosperity.

History is testimony that we one of the world’s largest democracy have faced difficult questions time and again. However, the same history is also a proof to us that we have come out of it as we held on to our belief in ‘Unity in Diversity’. So, let us come together to celebrate our victories and resolve to work on ourselves in making our country better.

Thank you everyone for being present here today.

Jai Hind, Jai Hind, Jai Hind

Director Dr. Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan during valedictory function | SLS-H Ind...

Welcome address during Valedictory Session by Prof. (Dr.) Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan, Director SLSH, on 6th July, 2019.

Welcome Address by Prof. (Dr.) Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan

A very warm good morning to everyone! We are honoured to have eminent personalities on the dice today with us. We welcome our Chief Guest, Hon'ble Justice G. R. Swaminathan, Judge, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. We are grateful to you sir for accepting our invitation and decided to devote your time for giving your valuable advice to  our new students. We welcome you, at SLSH.

We welcome our Guest of Honour, Mr. Abhishek Tripathy, IRS, Government of India! We are privileged to not only having him here but also for a workshop for our students post lunch. We extend our warn welcome to you, at SLSH.

We have our Special Guest Ms. Debolina Saha, Senior Associate  Key member of Doresey and Whitney’s, Hong Kong. It is our immense pleasure to have your presence, amongst us today! We welcome you, at SLSH.

We have  Prof.(Dr) Vijender Kumar, VC-NLU, Nagpur, who took time from his busy schedule to grace this function. We are grateful to you sir for agreeing to come here and advise our students for their new journey. We welcome you, to SLSH.

I also welcome our Deputy Director Dr. Anuratha Binnuri, students, teaching and non-teaching faculty members, for the Valedictory function of the 2019-Induction program. 

The 5-day induction program for the batch of 2019-24 began as a huge number of parents, teaching and non-teaching staff gathered here on Monday. A short film on the idea of Symbiosis was screened. The film highlighted how

Prof. Dr. S.B. Mujumdar conceived the idea of establishing an international university after seeing the plight of international students in India. 

In the inauguration session, the students had the opportunity to hear from three eminent stalwarts Hon'ble  Justice B Sudarshan Reddy, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, Vice Chancellor of National Law School of India University, Bangalore, Prof. Dr. R. Venkata Rao, and Retd. IPS officer, Dr. P.M. Nair. They congratulated students, shared their inspiring life stories and advised for their future pursuit. Their experiences and insights from their works have enlightened all of us with the importance of legal education and learning values in order to attain social justice.

Post lunch, while the students took part in the ice-breaking session, the parents attended a workshop in the convention hall. The new batch mingled with each other during the ice-breaking session and got to know their classmates. Symbiosis Centre for Emotional Wellbeing (SCEW) provided the workshop for the parents on "Raising Respectful, Responsible, and Resilient Children in Today's World". This is an initiative of Symbiosis International University that caters to the emotional well-being of students and staff. A team of qualified and experienced psychologists interacted with the parents on how they can play a very supportive role in developing the emotional resilience of their children. 

In the evening, the mentor-mentee program was conducted. All the teachers have to be available to their students to sort out any problems, be it academic or otherwise. The purpose of this program is to make the students understand that our faculty members are approachable and helpful for them. Each faculty members became mentors for 18 students. Similarly, we also assigned one senior batch students among the toppers as a mentor for every six freshers. The program was a grand success with each faculty members interacting with a group of their mentees in a very amicable way. We want to assure that the new students feel welcomed and knew whom to go to if they have any problems on the campus.

In the next couple of days, presentations on various cells and centers' activities were given. We had a total of 31 presentations from all centers such as Moot Court Association, Training and Placement Cell, International Cell, Center for Legal Aid, and so on. Students and their faculty in-charge briefed the freshers on their aim, objectives, activities, and their forthcoming programs. This session let the students understand the diversity of academic activities carried out on the campus. Now, it is their time to decide which center they want to get associated with.

 We also had a session on Symbicare focussing on health, sports activities, and general well-being of the students in the residential campus. A detailed session on examination rules and academic progression were conducted by Dr. Srinivas Bandameedi. We had members from the IT and Library department demonstrating students on how to use Internet facilities and access online resources.

We were delighted to have our student alumni, Namrata Chakraborthy and Nalamalpu Pavan Krishna Reddy, sharing their experience studying at Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad, for five years and getting placed in their current organizations.

Stepping into the important phase of their lives, students need to understand the gender differences and that SLS-H places great importance on its zero-tolerance policy about sexual harassment. Therefore, we organized 'Gender Sensitization Program' with the best available resource persons, Prof. (Dr).Rekha Pande, Director, Centre for Women Studies, University of Hyderabad and Dr. Swetha Luthra, Legal Consultant at Support Against Sexual Harassment (SASHA), a well known NGO working on the issues relating to sexual harassment at workplace. It was a very lively and interactive session. 

We made sure that every day of the first four days ended with sports and cultural events where students can get to know each other of their talents. The fifth day was full of fun as all students with faculty members went for an outing in an amusement park (Wonderla).

We tried to ensure that the week-long induction program for the batch of 2019-24 had a mixture of serious academic activities to most jovial cultural programs. We hope these days were very informational, eventful and unforgettable.  

Dear students, the next five years requires your focus on balancing studies and healthy life. From Monday next week, all your classes will begin and it would be the time to get serious, work hard, and excel in your academics while maintaining discipline throughout. If you can achieve this, believe me, many of you can, rather shall, become Judges, solicitor general, advocate general, renowned lawyers, erudite academicians, entrepreneur, or excel at any career of your choice. With a note of caution, if you do not do this, success will remain a distant dream.

Dear students, the only ‘mantra’ that can lead you to your goal is your tenacity to do the ‘hard work’. So, work hard, work hard and work hard!

Thank you! All the Best!

Induction Program - Welcome Speech by Director

Induction Program - Welcome Speech by Director

Hon'ble Mr. Justice B. Sudershan Reddy Sir, respected Shri Prof. (Dr.) R. Venkata Rao Sir, respected Shri Prof. (Dr.) P.M. Nair Sir, my colleague at SIBM Prof. (Dr.) Ravi Kr. Jain Sb, respected Col. B S Bali (Retd) Sb, my colleague Dr. Anuradha Binnuri and Dr. Srinivas Bandimeedi, faculty members, guardians and dear students; What a lovely morning we have to begin the induction program for new students!

I am honored to welcome the chief guest Hon'ble Mr. Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, Former Judge Supreme Court of India. We are grateful to you sir, for accepting our invitation and devoting your valuable time from hectic schedule for the students. Your kind words to our students will go a long way in pursuit of their legal studies.

To grace this occasion, who will be better than Prof. (Dr.) R. Venkata Rao, Vice-Chancellor, National Law School of India University, my teacher and Guru, to give advice to my students on the very first day of their new journey. We welcome you, Sir!

We are also privileged to have amongst us, Prof. (Dr.) P. M. Nair, I.P.S., a well-known crusader having mission to end modern-day slavery. Sir, I am personally grateful for your inspiration and support during my research work on the issue relating to human trafficking. Your words of wisdom and courage will encourage our students to work for social justice and help in the attainment of the goal of ‘justice education’. We welcome you, Sir!

I welcome all the parents who have chosen Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad, amongst many law schools in the country. Believe me; you have made the right decision for your children’s bright future. We welcome you all.  I also welcome the faculty members, administrative staff, and all students.

Dear students of batch 2019-24, it is my immense pleasure to welcome you all to the Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad. I congratulate each and every one of you for having secured a place at this university on merit basis and become part of the Symbiosis family.

Today, being here means that you have opened up a new chapter in your life. Today, being here means you are brave to take up challenges. Today, being here means you are ready to stand up not only for yourself but for others.

Today, my dear students, you have the autonomy to write your own story starting from here. But, how will you do that? This is where Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad is here to help you.

A person learns from the teacher, his/her intelligence, classmates, surroundings, and experience. We at Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad dedicate to provide you such a learning environment where you learn and grow as a person in all possible ways.

Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad has excellent faculty team with diverse expertise. You have the opportunity to interact with and learn from best legal minds, law teachers, judges, and legal practitioners. We are with you as you would like to become lawyer, or academician, or entrepreneur or any other career you choose for yourself.

Symbiosis Law School is rich in diversity, even more diverse than most of other, top law schools in the country including the NLUs. You now belong to a big group of the student body who are coming from as many as 28 states in the country. In fact, a mini India is what you will be experiencing in this residential school. All the students will get to interact with each other whether it is for the studies, extra-curricular activities or leisure activities. You will also find new friends most of whom would become your friends for the rest of your life. They would be the people with whom you share the memories of your next five years. You have a vast campus with all facilities for a comfortable living and studying environment. We hope that you will have a 'home away from home' experience as the campus has been planned.

The resources provided by the library are huge. Our faculty members and non-teaching staff members work hard with dedication to bring all the best of opportunities in front of you.  Remember, everyone here is chosen. It is your intelligence, talent, your audacity that has brought you here. We value each and every student for who they are and who they are becoming.

Despite the excellent teaching faculty members, administrative staff members, friendly campus environment, it is you, who can help your own learning by making use of this opportunity. And, dear students, that is why I would like to give you some valuable piece of advice before you start this amazing journey.

1. Take responsibility for your learning: As you will experience greater freedom from this point of your life, you should always remember that more responsibilities also come along with it. At Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad, we expect you to be self-reliant. This means, you are responsible for what you do. You should ensure that you do what is required of you. Just to name some of your responsibilities - make sure you attend your lectures on time, pay attention in class, maintain discipline, work on your assignments, and so on.

2. Make use of the resources: Be it your teachers, books at the library, or online platforms, make sure you make the most out of your time here. There will be a number of opportunities available for you throughout these 5 years. You must grab them all, give your best and learn from it. Use the resources wisely and responsibly.

3. Embrace the difference: Each one of you is unique. You are different from each other because you came with a different background. In a big institution like this, it is easy for you to stick with what is familiar. But, you will lose the opportunity to know a different person, a different perspective, different ideas, or different interest if you do so. Therefore, I advise you all to mingle with everyone and embrace the differences between you all.

4. Difficulties are good so, face it with a smile: Let me give you an example. When we ride a bi-cycle upward on a slope, it is always difficult. We get tired. We sweat. Our legs hurt. But, imagine riding a bi-cycle down the slope. It is very easy. We move faster. We do not need to put any effort.

When you find it hard to work on that particular assignment, when you find it hard to get that marks you targetted, you must always remember that you are cycling upward. When you face your challenge and continue to work on it without giving up, you are moving forward in your studies. That is the only way you can reach heights. If you feel relaxed, if you are not putting any efforts, it means you are going down and down the slope. So, difficulties are good for you. Face them with a smile.  

Students, the new page in your chapter is blank. I hope you take this advice to your heart and write your own stories by making use of the wonderful opportunity to learn new things, acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, and enhance your personal attributes in a profound way at Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad.

Again, I welcome you all to be part of the Symbiosis family.

Thank you one and all for your presence here today. Thank You.