he fifth annual History for Peace conference saw a wide range of speakers gathering to address the founding text of this nation from multiple perspectives informed by their respective locations. From discussions on foundational tenets/aspects of the Indian Constitution such as secularism and the role of the Judiciary in interpreting the Constitution, to more specific elements of the text and its applications in varied contexts—the 5th and 6th Schedules, news media, Public Interest Litigations, Article 370, AF(SP)A in Manipur—wide ground was covered, navigated further by engagements with a diverse audience comprising educators, lawyers, academics among others. Workshops on practical ways to take the Indian Constitution out of its ornate frames and into the space of the classroom were conducted, directly addressing History for Peace’s primary audience: social science teachers.

Resources used by some of the speakers are being shared here, as requested by participants.

R. Siva Kumar’s visual presentation as part of his talk on ‘From Swadeshi to the Constitution: Nandalal Bose and the Nationalist Project’ can be accessed here.

Urvashi Butalia’s session, ‘Constitutional Guarantees and Life on the Ground’ was structured around an actual case study of the abduction of a young woman, Mukhtiar Kaur, during the Partition of the country. The notes distributed during the workshop can be found here.

Sathish Jayarajan’s workshop ‘Making Sense of a Contested Canon: Developing a Constitutional Sensibility in Grades 11 and 12 in Complicated Times’ was based off a paper by him which can be read here.

Pawan Dhall whose workshop could not be conducted owing to an emergency, has very kindly shared with us the two documents he had intended to use as the mainstay of his workshop. One is an article he wrote in 2018 as an overview of the campaigns against Section 377 over the years; the other is the summary of the Section 377 verdict.