Divya Agarwal
New Delhi [India], February 13: At a time when India’s legal discourse is often reactive, Poulomi Pavini Shukla represents a quieter but more consequential shift, one that treats the Constitution not as a symbolic document, but as a working tool for social correction.
An award-winning lawyer, TEDx speaker and author, Poulomi has emerged as one of the country’s most credible young voices in constitutional law, women’s rights, orphan welfare and animal protection. Recognised early for the depth and seriousness of her work, she has been named to Forbes 30 Under 30, and honoured with the Young Achiever Award, Femina Fab 40, and Cosmopolitan Disruptor of the Year.
Poulomi is the founder of Nyaya Naari, India’s first all-women law firm and legal reform platform. The initiative was created to reposition women not merely as beneficiaries of legal protection, but as active shapers of jurisprudence and policy. Through Nyaya Naari, she combines precedent-setting litigation with institutional accountability and structured mentorship, foregrounding women lawyers in leadership roles within the legal profession.
She is nationally known for her decade-long work on orphan welfare in India. Her book, The Weakest on Earth – Orphans of India, published by Bloomsbury, brought national attention to the legal invisibility of orphaned children. The work has contributed to tangible policy outcomes, including reforms across 11 states, a doubling of Union budgetary allocations, extension of Right to Education coverage to orphaned children, and a landmark intervention ensuring that orphans are formally enumerated in the national census.
“In a country as data-driven as ours, not being counted often means not being cared for,” Poulomi said. “My work with orphans has always been about one simple idea—until the law sees you, policy will not serve you.”
In the area of women’s rights, Poulomi is currently leading constitutional litigation challenging discriminatory inheritance regimes that deny married daughters equal rights in agricultural and ancestral property. Her work has already prompted the Uttar Pradesh government to constitute a committee to re-examine such laws, an issue affecting millions of women despite clear constitutional guarantees under Articles 14 and 15.
“Equality cannot stop at the doorstep of marriage,” she said. “If constitutional rights disappear the moment a woman marries, then the problem is not culture—it is the law’s failure to keep its promise.”
Poulomi has also become a prominent legal voice in the national conversation on stray and community dogs, an issue often marked by polarisation and misinformation. Her interventions have focused on lawful, humane and evidence-based approaches, resisting illegal relocation and violence, while reframing animal welfare as a question of constitutional morality, public health and social responsibility. Her arguments have gained wide traction online and within legal circles, particularly among younger lawyers and policy audiences.
A widely read public intellectual, Poulomi has written for The Times of India, The New Indian Express, The Economic Times and Femina, and is a frequent speaker at universities, legal forums and policy platforms across the country. Known for substance over spectacle, she combines rigorous legal reasoning with moral clarity, making complex constitutional questions accessible without diluting their seriousness.
As a speaker and advocate, Poulomi’s work consistently asks a larger question—how law distributes power, how it withholds compassion, and how it can be reoriented to serve those it has historically overlooked.
More information is available at www.weakestonearth.in
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