NLSIU Nalsar students awarded prestigious Rhodes scholarship

For the second year running, students from National Law School of India University and National Academy of Legal Studies and Research have been awarded the prestigious Rhodes scholarship for 2011. Shreya Atrey from Nalsar and Gautam Bhatia from NLSIU, final year students are among the 6 scholarship winners for the year 2011..For the second year running, students from National Law School of India University (NLSIU) and National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (Nalsar) have been awarded the prestigious Rhodes scholarship for 2011. Shreya Atrey from Nalsar and Gautam Bhatia from NLSIU, final year students are among the 6 scholarship winners for the year 2011..The Rhodes scholarship is an extremely prestigious scholarship that is awarded to students who wish to pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford, England. Named after Cecil John Rhodes, the scholarship is known for its tough and rigorous selection process and sees hundreds of applications each year..Speaking to Bar & Bench, Veer Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Nalsar, said, “We have had a series of Rhodes scholars. Last year as well as this year. Since we have had a number of winners for this prestigious honour, Nalsar can take rightful pride in this regard.”.This year too, the Rhodes panel was chaired by Ratan Tata and once again included Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Former Rhodes Scholar and alumnus of NLSIU, Lavanya Rajamani was the only lawyer on the panel. Gautam wishes to pursue a BCL in Public International Law and go on to pursue his D.Phil and enter academia. Speaking to Bar & Bench, Gautam said, “This year there was an additional round of interview for the law candidates as the competition in the field has been so intense that the scholarship committee felt that two rounds of interview weren’t sufficient.” Asked about the questions he faced while crossing the final hurdle, Gautam said, “I was asked extremely technical questions, from international law to the Ayodhya verdict and India Forest Act.”.Last year, Aditya Swarup from Nalsar and V. Niranjan from NLSIU were the recipients of the scholarship. NLSIU has had a long-standing relationship with the Rhodes, with about thirteen Rhodes Scholars being alumni of the school. NLSIU students have been awarded the Rhodes consecutively over the last five years, with Ramya Raghuram winning in 2007, Arghya Sengupta in 2008, Sushila Rao in 2009, V. Niranjan in 2010 and Gautam being this year’s Rhodes elect. Shreya is Nalsar’s fourth Rhodes Scholar, being preceded by Raghav Shankar in 2007, Aarthi Anand in 2003 and Aditya Swarup in 2010.