as true in most developingcountries, depicts a collissionbetween aspirations of anambiguous government, anxi-eties of vulnerable groups andenvironmental concernsflagged by social agents. Lawplays a balancing role in thischaotic paradigm. I am grate-

ful to Mr Hemant Sahai forhis support in realising myaspirations and remainencouraged by our sharedinterest in the same law.”

Launch of the programme

Prof Alice Prochaska, princi-pal of Somerville College dur-ing the launch of the pro-gramme said, "CorneliaSorabji was a woman oftremendous spirit and

courage and someone whopaved the way for manyIndian students, including(former Prime Minister)Indira Gandhi at Somerville.India is a key part of our col-lege and this scholarship willpave the way for more gradu-

ates to follow in their foot-steps.”

The college is now cam-paigning for it to eventuallybecome a fully-fundedendowment to support brightIndian students who oftenwin admission to OxfordUniversity but are unable to

bear the high costs associatedwith it. To be successful, theapplicant will be expected todemonstrate not only excep-tional academic merit butalso a commitment ultimatelyto return to India to put theirskills and experience intopractice.

While the scholarship isopen to any high achievingIndian student, female stu-dents will be especiallyencouraged to carry onSorabji's ideals. The finalist is

chosen by the college from alist of Indians offered admis-sion to the university and onthe basis of a 500-word essayon how they plan to make useof the Oxford law degree intheir professional life.

The initiative is backed byDr Kusoom Vadgama, histo-rian and editor of 'An IndianPortia: Selected Writings ofCornelia Sorabji'.

The Cornelia Sorabji LawProgramme is housed at theOxford India Centre and pro-vides a thriving postgraduateand postdoctoral programmefor talented Indian graduatestudents who seek to leadchange on their return toIndia. The holder of thescholarship will belong to theFaculty of Law and theOxford India Centre forSustainable Development atSomerville College.

The Centre was estab-lished three years ago as aresult of a grant of 3 millionpounds from the IndianMinistry of Human ResourceDevelopment, matched bySomerville College and theUniversity of Oxford.

It offers five permanentlyendowed scholarships forIndian graduate students and

six students have alreadybenefitted from thosescholarships since theystarted in 2013.

From its inception in1879, Somerville College,founded as one of the firsttwo institutions at theUniversity of Oxford toadmit women, had beendedicated to inclusion,explicitly welcoming stu-dents from all social back-grounds, any kind of cul-tural and religious beliefs,and all nationalities.Cornelia Sorabji actually

came to Oxford with the helpof a subscription raised byprogressive British men andwomen including MadeleineShaw Lefevre, the firstPrincipal of Somerville.

At graduate level there arecurrently 26 law studentsfrom India. Each year, a sig-nificant number of India stu-dents who meet the highstandards for entry to Oxfordto study law do not take uptheir places because of lack offunds.

The College is activelyseeking funding support forfuture recipients of the schol-arship. For further detailsplease contact DevelopmentDirector Sara Kalim atSara.Kalim@some.ox.ac.uk.

SPECIALAsian Voice |26th November 2016

16AsianVoiceNews AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.comAsianVoiceNews AsianVoiceNewsweekly

17SPECIALAsian Voice |26th November 2016

First female Indian Barrister Cornelia Sorabji's 150th birth anniversary celebrated

The event was very wellattended with partici-pation of senior

judges, legal practitioners,faculty and students fromlaw schools, representativesfrom some of the most emi-nent legal firms in the UK,entrepreneurs, historians,writers, editors and mediapersonnel.

Some of the key atten-

dees and speakers includedBritish Indian entrepreneurand life peer Lord Bilimoria(who is also the nominatedrepresentative of theGovernment of India for theIndira Gandhi Scholarshipsat Somerville College), DrAlice Prochaska (Principal,Somerville College), Prof.Anne Davies and Prof.Timothy Endicott Deans ofOxford Law Faculty, LadyHazel Fox, QC, JudgeRabinder Singh (the firstfull-time high court judgefrom Asia), Judge DeborahTaylor, Malcolm Deboo,(President of theZoroastrian Trust Funds ofEurope), Prof. Sir RichardSorabji (official biographerof Ms. Cornelia Sorabji) andDr Kusoom Vadgama, histo-rian and editor of 'An IndianPortia: Selected Writings ofCornelia Sorabji'.

The Acting HighCommissioner, Mr. DineshK. Patnaik and other speak-ers spoke in detail about theexemplary life of Ms. Sorabjiwho overcame all odds tobecome the first woman tostudy at Bombay University,where she won first-classhonours. She came toOxford with the help of asubscription raised by mem-bers of the British liberalestablishment and laterbecame the first woman ofany nationality to study Lawat Oxford. Cornelia Sorabjiwent on to serve as legaladvisor to the Bengal Court

of Wards, servingsequestered women, andtheir families, fighting fortheir education and legalrights.

The event also highlight-ed the postgraduate lawscholarships for Indian stu-dents launched this year atOxford India Centre forSustainable DevelopmentSomerville College, in mem-

ory of Cornelia Sorabji.The nephew of Cornelia,

Professor Sir RichardSorabji told Asian Voice,“Well, I think it’s so impor-tant that Indian lawers arenow being given scolarshipsto come to Somerville whichhas such a tradition in lawand in women lawers. Ithink Indian law is extreme-ly interesting, I think it’sconstitution is very impres-sive. I think it’s amazing howmuch British law they werewilling to accept but reinter-preted. So this came out verydifferently, in effect.”

Lord Karan Bilimoriawas smiling as ever, andspoke to this paper after thespeeches were over.Standing close to the brightlights with Gandhi also smil-ing down on him, he said,“Today for us to celebrateCornelia Sorabji’s 150thBirth Anniversary on inter-national students’ day, 17thof Novermber, when I amspeaking at the House ofLords in a debate on inter-national students, when Ihave hosted an event as thechair of the all PartyParliament Group of inter-national students. It’s ambi-guity beyond belief. There issomebody who broke all theglass ceilings with what shedid, when she did it in India.In Britain being the firstwoman to study law atOxford ever. And she was anIndian woman.”

Once speeches were over

and the audience had movedover to the Nehru Hall for asumptuous dinner, ActingHigh Commissioner, HisExcellency Mr DineshK.Patnaik stood outside thehalls in the central area onthe first floor and spoke tous. He said, “We were talk-ing about a personality whoopened doors in the world.She was a first woman lawerto study in Oxford. In India,she fought against thingswhen everybody tried to stopher. She got a scholarship tocome here when the UKwanted to deny her a schol-arship, she got to study inOxford and Oxford refusedher. So she is somebody whoalways has broken values.But today was not a celebra-tion of the woman Cornelia

Sorabji; it is the celebrationof womanhood, it is a cele-bration of never ending, ofkeeping striving, fighting;and also the fact that intoday’s world we need rolemodels. We need role mod-els that we can look up to forthe younger generation, foreverybody else.”

Dr Alice Prochaska,Principal of Somervilleseemed rather happy. Shesaid: “We are very proud to

be continuing the great tra-dition of pioneering Indianwomen by establishing thescholarship for Indian lawstudents at SomervilleCollege. I very much hopethat we will be able to bringmany more Indians to

Somerville in future as we doalready to our Oxford IndiaCentre for SustainableDevelopment. And of thethings really great about ourscheme is that we expect ourscholars to return to India.So we’ve had the support ofthe government of India andwe are looking for more sup-port for people in India withthe expectation that whatthe students do and learn inOxford will go back toIndia and help todevelop law, todevelop societythere as well.”

Dr KusoomV a d g a m a ,speaking toAsian Voicesaid, “Livedwith thiswoman for30 years.She decid-ed to go tothe mostdeprivedp e o p l eand helpthem in away only shecould. She hasshown herc o u r a g eagainst all odds. She alwaysused to say,’my heart beatswith two pulses; once forIndia, once for Britain.”

The Cornelia SorabjiLaw Programme

Cornelia Sorabji, the firstfemale law student at Oxfordin 1889 continues to providea pioneering link betweenIndia and the University ofOxford. Cornelia Sorabji wasnot only Somerville College’sfirst Indian student, but wasalso the first Indian womanto study at any BritishUniversity.

On her return to herhome country, CorneliaSorabji became the first

woman to practice law inIndia and worked on behalfof women living in purdah.Her lifetime’s work as asocial reformer centred onsupport for the poor and forwomen at every level of soci-ety.

Oxford Universityannounced the launch of anew scholarship inSeptember to supportIndian students studyinglaw at the world-famousinstitution, celebratingSorabji's 150th birthanniversary. On her returnto her home country,Cornelia Sorabji became thefirst woman to practice lawin India and worked onbehalf of women living inpurdah. Her lifetime’s workas a social reformer centredon support for the poor andfor women at every level ofsociety.

The scholarship coversup to 50% of the entire costof the degree, which is usual-ly around £36,000 includ-

ing tuition fees and lodging.The first awardee of the

Cornelia Sorabji Scholarshipin Law, Divya Sharma fromChandigarh, who has takenup her Bachelor of Civil Law(BCL) degree- thanks to thegenerosity of alumni andfriends of Somerville.

Divya SharmaDivya graduated from theNational Law InstituteUniversity, Bhopal, in 2012palcing first in a cohort of 85students. Before Somerville,Divya was practicing corpo-rate law in India for fouryears and after completingBCL, Divya intends to returnto India to resume practisingas a transactional lawyer.

“Cornelia Sorabji is a cel-ebrated figure in India. Sheis a source of inspirationfor many young lawyer,including me. Many of myIndian friends and seniors

from college have stud-ied in Oxford and amajority of them arefrom Somerville. I hadheard wonderful sto-ries about the Collegefrom them and wasvery excited when Igot an offer to studyhere. I want to go intoacademia and am hopingthat this course will gearme with the requisiteknowledge and skills thatI need to become a goodacademic.

“I have wanted to pur-sue a career in Law from avery young age. I hail from afamily full of lawyers andjudges and was especiallyinspired by my grandfa-thers- one was a lawyer andthe other was a High judgein India. As I grew up, Ibecame more determined tofollow their legacy.”

Navya JannuThrough the generosity ofMr Hemant Sahai of NewDelhi, the College has alsolaunched the HSAAdvocates Award to anotherIndian BCL student, NavyaJannu, under CorneliaSorabji law programme.

Navya graduated fromJindal Global Law School inAugust 2016. She wanted tobecome a lawyer from a veryyoung age and has had adiverse array of internshipexperiences in the Indianlaw sector. After the BCL,Navya aspires to become apractioner and legal aca-demic in India in the area ofpublic, energy and environ-mental law.

“In the first semester ofmy undergraduate year, thefirst book I picked up wasCornelia Sorabji's autobiog-raphy. To now be studying ather alma mater and on a lawprogramme in her name isvery special to me. India'sfirst female lawyer and firstfemale prime minister camefrom Somerville and to be apart of that legacy of strongIndian women is somethingthat is really encouragingand inspires me.

“I feel that India is at astage where it needs intellec-tual leadership to inform thedevelopment of laws, in par-ticularly in the realm ofrenewable energy. Here theenergy-environment binary,

17th November was InternationalStudents’ Day and how serendipitous itwas that, on that very day, the IndianHigh Commission hosted an event to cel-ebrate the 150th anniversary of CorneliaSorabji’s birth.

Cornelia Sorabji was an Indian Parsistudent who became the first woman everto read law at the University of Oxford,studying at Somerville College. She grad-uated in 1892, the same year thatDadabhai Naoroji, another Parsi, becamethe first Indian to be elected as a Memberof Parliament in Westminster. I was soproud to follow in his footsteps as thefirst Zoroastrian Parsi to enter the Houseof Lords, a little over ten years ago.

Cornelia Sorabji’s story is truly inspi-rational. She shattered glass ceilings andopened doors, against all the oddsand prejudice at the time. Her storyis one of determination, it was tenyears after obtaining her law degreethat the British Government finallyallow her to become a Barrister, andshe never gave up, representing andtaking up women’s causes in India.

This event wonderfully high-lighted the links between OxfordUniversity and India. Somerville

College is of course famous for beingIndira Gandhi’s College, as well asMargaret Thatcher’s, and perfectly high-lights the links between the UK andIndia. The links showcase the hugeimportance of international students tothe UK. Not only do they bring £14bn toUK economy, they enrich the experienceof domestic students and help developgenerational links – I am the third gener-ation, on both sides, of my family to beeducated in the UK and now my son isstudying at a British university – thefourth generation. The bridge thatCornelia Sorabji built over a century agohas inspired so many Indian students,and Indian women, to study in Britain, tothe benefit of both of our countries.

Co-founder and Chairman, Cobra Beer

Cornelia Sorabji

Lord Karan Bilimoria

Rani Singh & Rupanjana Dutta

The High Commission of India in the UK organised anevent to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary ofCornelia Sorabji, the very first woman of any national-ity to study law at Oxford, and also the first femaleIndian Barrister. The event was organised in collabo-ration with Somerville College, Oxford, where Ms.Sorabji did her law studies.

Acting Indian High Commissioner HE Dinesh Patnaik addressing the gathered audience

Divya Sharma, Dr Alice Prochaska, Lord Karan Bilimoria and Navya JannuHE Dinesh Patnaik, Timothy Endicot with a guest

Navya Jannu talking to Dr Kusoom Vadgama

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