An academic

“Growing up, I didn’t have an inclination toward academics. But since I belonged to a family of academicians, I went with the flow, gave entrance examinations, and ended up pursuing Law. I got an Assistant Professorship job after my post-graduation, however, commuting every day to and fro from college for four hours was physically exhausting. It was probably around this time that I thought of appearing for UPSC. Instead of resigning from my job, I decided to take a sabbatical to prepare not just for UPSC, but also PhD, which was a backup plan.

As fate would have it, I got a good rank and full scholarship for my PhD and therefore started my academic journey, something that I hadn’t envisioned myself doing. I worked around the topic of Administrative and Constitutional Law and researched some of the landmark cases pertaining to fundamental rights like LGBT rights, abolition of triple talaq, adultery and the likes. I analyzed the constitutionality of these laws in today’s dynamically changing society and culled out the parameters for judicial review of such cases.

Having had the chance to do work at the grassroot level which potentially had societal implications, I realized it is an opportunity for academicians like us to exercise great powers in influencing government policy-making. Academicians can ask questions, speak their minds freely and discuss real issues with a vast audience over multiple…