Nothing is more fundamental to life than water. Water is also a potent fuel for conflict. Access to water has created many disputes through the ages. Conflicts over water are about scarcity, control, degradation, incompatible use, and quality. Their history goes back to much earlier than 2500 BC, when the city-states of Lagash and Umma…

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India, notified the “Companies (Mediation and Conciliation) Rules, 2016” on September 9, 2016. With the publication of these Rules, Central Government introduces a structure of setting up of a panel of mediators or conciliators who will have the role to communicate the view of each party in…

We have quite a heavy topic before us, but before we get into the weightiness of it, I’d like to begin with something more light-hearted. There is a TV commercial going around which begins with flashes of hard-hitting questions such as: what is the age of the universe? What is the meaning of life? Etc….

It is quite well recognized that India is not particularly a mediation-friendly country, and the corporate-legal community is yet to internalise commercial mediation as an alternate for dispute resolution. Despite the establishment of civil mediation centres across certain High Courts of the country, organised mediation has largely remained obscure in its application for larger disputes….

Lots of talk about ADR competitions on this blog, so I’ll throw my hat in the ring. Last month I took a team of students to the INADR International Law Student Mediation Tournament in Chicago (http://www.inadr.org/tournaments/law-school-tournament). This was the 13th competition and it was truly international, with 52 teams representing 17 US institutions and 22…

This month of May witnessed the launch of the India International ADR Association (IIADRA). And what a blast it was! Judicial luminaries, leading lights of the legal profession, business leaders and politicians all descending upon the gorgeous port city of Kochi on the southwestern Indian coast in the state of Kerala. At first glance Kochi…