Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into India’s Legal Education Landscape: The What, Why and How of a Reform Paradigm
| Published date | 01 January 2025 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23220058241265614 |
| Author | Tony George Puthucherril,Charu Sharma,Amritha V. Shenoy,Saurabh Sood,Stuti Lal |
| Date | 01 January 2025 |
Integrating the Sustainable
Development Goals into India’s
Legal Education Landscape:
The What, Why and How of a
Reform Paradigm
Tony George Puthucherril1, Charu Sharma1, Amritha V. Shenoy2,
Saurabh Sood1 and Stuti Lal1
Abstract
In this era of the Anthropocene, where four of the nine planetary boundaries have been crossed, the need
for environmental stewardship, social equity and sustainability cannot be over-emphasized. So critical is
the sustainability discourse that it has transcended disciplinary boundaries, permeating various aspects
and sectors of human endeavour. A critical area where sustainability, as evidenced by the sustainable
development goals (SDGs) framework, exerts influence is higher education and, more importantly,
legal education. This article examines the intersection between sustainability (SDGs), human rights and
legal education. It makes a case that if legal education, like other disciplines, has to propel the pursuit
of a more liveable and equitable future, it is imperative to embed sustainability (SDGs) within legal
education’s academic landscape. This central theme is examined against India’s legal education scenario.
While there are a few isolated attempts to foster a culture of sustainability within the realm of legal
academia in India, among these, the efforts of Jindal Global University and its law school, namely, Jindal
Global Law School, stand out due to their steadfast commitment to this ideal. Jindal Global University
(JGU) and Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) have strategically positioned sustainability as a foundational
tenet of their institutional ethos, and their endeavours serve as a compelling example for institutions in
India and elsewhere seeking to elevate their commitment to sustainability. Accordingly, based on the
proactive initiatives of JGU and JGLS, this article develops a reform paradigm centred on what, why and
how to revamp India’s legal education sector to infuse it with a sustainable culture.
Introduction
Among the most profound and path-breaking ideas of the twentieth century to have left an indelible
impact on how human society should chart out its present and future is the idea of sustainable development,
Article
Asian Journal of Legal Education
12(1) 40–60, 2025
© 2024 The West Bengal National
University of Juridical Sciences
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DOI: 10.1177/23220058241265614
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1 Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India
2 Kathmandu School of Law, Bhaktapur, Bagmati, Nepal
Corresponding author:
Tony George Puthucherril, Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana 131001, India.
E-mail: tonygeorge00@gmail.com
Puthucherril et al. 41
often defined simplistically as a balance between human development and the natural environment.3
Even though ideas underlying sustainable development are as old as human civilization, in its modern
iteration, sustainable development found a perfect crucible for its germination in the power politics
between the global North and the South regarding the need and significance of environmental law
following the famed Stockholm Conference of 1972.4 Subsequently, the publication of the Brundtland
Commission Report provided much intellectual fodder that helped entrench the concept.5
In 1992, nearly 178 countries provided their imprimatur to sustainable development when they
endorsed an ambitious plan for achieving sustainability and adopted a handful of environmental law
treaties at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (the Rio Earth Summit).6 Despite these
developments and the proliferation of multilateral, regional and bilateral environmental agreements
founded on sustainable development as their primary norm, securing the balance has been practically
impossible, and the rate of ecological destruction has accelerated. Nevertheless, sustainable development
received a fresh impetus when the UN Member States unanimously adopted eight Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000. These were benchmarks for reducing extreme poverty by 2015.7
Buoyed by the success in implementing the MDGs, the international community embarked on an
even more ambitious agenda, which culminated when the UN in 2015 endorsed the universally applicable
17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which span almost the entire gamut of challenges that
confront humanity—from the environment to gender justice; from inclusive growth to innovation.8
There is widespread acknowledgement that the SDGs are a road map for humanity to secure sustainability
and promote planetary well-being.
One of the most striking features of the SDGs is that, unlike the earlier iterations of the development
goals, it widened sustainability’s focus to place higher education at par with primary and secondary
education as essential cogs to further the developmental agenda.9 SDG-4 calls for equal access to tertiary
education, including university, to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.10 The inclusion of
higher education into the SDG universe was spurred primarily by the realization that higher education
institutions, particularly universities, can play a critical role in transforming and placing the world on a
sustainable trajectory.11 More importantly, they can emerge as a crucial driver to help achieve the
spectrum of the SDGs through their role in human formation, knowledge production and innovation.
Higher education, primarily through universities, significantly impacts societal growth more than
primary and secondary education. Universities provide space for alternative thinking to germinate and
flourish. They contribute to the emergence of new ideas that can foster a sustainability culture. The
university moulds professionals such as teachers, doctors, engineers and others integral to attaining SD.
They receive essential academic instruction, which enables them to practise their professions and support
3
Rep 7.
4 Karin Mickelson, The Stockholm Conference and the Creation of the South–North Divide, in
109 (Shawkat Alam et al. eds., 2015).
5 United Nations, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future (1987).
6
7 United Nations Millennium Declaration.
8 Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on
9 SDG-4 reads, ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.
10 Ibid.
11 See, Maia Chankseliani & Tristan McCowan, Higher Education and the Sustainable Development Goals, 81
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