Constitutional Transformation

Professor Rochana Bajpai is Principal Investigator for Pluralist Agreement and Constitutional Transformation (PACT) in India, a collaborative research project with partners at the University of Oxford, University of York and the National Law School, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for 3-years (2022-25).

Focusing on the making of the Indian Constitution, PACT aims to build an advanced digital platform that contextualizes the Indian Constituent Assembly debates (1946-49) within wider public debates on constitution-making. It conducts research on forgotten histories of constitutional rights, including proposals from minority and marginalized groups, and explores the resources that constitutional debates offer for pluralism and democratic renewal in an era of authoritarian nationalism.

In doing so, the project will also be a resource for rethinking the making of constitutions in divided societies beyond elite pacts.