National Legal Literacy Mission

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has formulated National Plan of Action on spreading Legal Literacy across the country and launched the National Legal Literacy Mission for a period of 5(five) years i.e. 2005 to 09 at the National level in Delhi on the 6th day of March, 2006 in presence of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, the Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India and the Hon’ble Union Minister of Law and Justice. 

There is a lack of awareness amongst the general public about the free legal services being provided to them under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. The objective of the Mission is to organize Legal Literacy Campaign at all level to achieve maximum benefit in the given period of five years. 

The purpose of the Mission is to visualize knowledge through legal education that lends dignity to people. The Mission aims at education on legal rights, constitutional obligation, right to information on the benefits of legal aid and the system of accessing legal aid through the Legal Services Authorities / Committees. By taking law to the masses through informal learning technique, the legal education to be imparted will help in rising consciousness of the citizen and thereby make justice accessible and affordable to the people.

The main features of the Mission are as under :

a)To achieve 100% legal literacy.
b)To target the most disadvantaged, distraught, disintegrated, vulnerable and victimized populace first and progress further in the grass-root level.
c)To prepare State Specific Plan of Actions for implementation of objective of the Mission.
d)To undertake survey, research, documentation drive, social investigation reporting and social audit as a learning exercise of people’s problems, grievances and to understand the nature of redressal required.
e)To sensitize the Judicial Officers to people’s cause particularly to that of women and children, dalit and minorities, tribal and such other most vulnerable groups as well as persons in custody in addition to implementation of the Acts pertaining to mentally and physically challenged, the destitute and beggars, the orphans and neglected citizens, the abandoned elderly citizens, discrimination in case of any caste, communal violence, disaster and disease outbreak. 

In line with the directives of the NALSA, State Specific Plan of Action for implementation of the Mission has been prepared having estimated cost of Rs.71.23 lakh and activities as per guide-lines of NALSA in this regard are in progress to achieve the goal.

NATIONAL LEGAL LITERACY MISSION: AN EVALUATIVE ANALYSIS

“Now it is common knowledge that about 70% of the people living in rural areas are illiterate and even more than that percentage of the people are not aware of the right conferred upon them by law. Even literate people do not know what are their rights and entitlements under the law. It is this absence of legal awareness which is responsible for the deception, exploitation and deprivation of rights and benefits from which the poor suffer in this land”.

INTRODUCTION.

The legislature of the state and the Parliament, while enacting the legislation, consider the objectives of it. Some laws lay down the substantive rights of the masses and some touch upon the procedural aspect of certain laws. But it is due to lack of awareness of beneficiaries that most of the legislations are ineffective at the stage of their execution.

To quell this problem, the step of generating among the masses, awareness of their rights has been recognized as the appropriate initiative. The source of power among the masses has been attributed to such awareness. India is a land of various laws on a variety of subjects. Most of these pertain to the benefits of the people. But due to the lack of their awareness for such provisions hardly yield any benefit to them.

To ensure justice for all, safeguard popular rights, and promote legal empowerment of the society, need is always felt for making the public aware about their rights and entitlements. With the same token, such awareness can be credited for facilitating the aggrieved person to quickly take resort to channels available for the redressal of grievances, through agencies like the Police, the Executive and the Judiciary. Further the awareness of one’s legal rights paves the way for participation of the masses in the decision making process.

It is due to this situation, that Legal literacy has been recognized as a tool of qualitative change at the basic level as it provides them with the adequate knowledge of their rights. Legal literacy connotes the knowledge of the primary level in law. After the citizens (particularly marginalized or underprivileged groups) become aware of the rights provided to them by law, they can use such awareness as a tool to fight injustices. Such awareness can transform their lives. Legal literacy is the first step to that end¹. Further, the better awareness of laws is a contributing factor to help people work more effectively in diverse spheres. To give effect to such initiative, in 2005, National Legal Literacy Mission (NLLM) was adopted by the Central government.

HYPOTHESIS.

Our Constitution-makers, while framing it, recognized that the essence of the Democratic form of government lies in the empowerment of its masses by providing it adequate rights. But despite the express provisions in our Constitution pertaining to that effect, we have not been able to achieve that end.

In majority of cases, it has been found that a chunk of population is unaware of its rights and obligations towards the nation as well as the society. Somewhere lays the loophole in the governance, which has consequently led to such situation, in which people are still unaware of their rights and obligations. Without legal literacy of the masses, it is hard to even think about securing the basic objectives of and !, as imbibed in the spirit of our Constitution.

To tackle the situation of legal unawareness, in 2005, the National Legal Literacy Mission was adopted by the Central Government. But there are some hurdles in the implementation of the Mission. The project seeks to elaborately study the Mission along with the loopholes thereof. The hypothesis involved is that despite such pragmatic step by the Government, the intended purpose of it has not been achieved. So, the elaborate study of Mission, in light of its purpose, I seek to make an evaluative analysis of the Mission.

NEED FOR LEGAL LITERACY.

Being the part of the largest democracy, knowledge of law serves the people with the tool of power and self realization. Unless the people are aware of rights, they cannot live in consonance with the true dictates of democracy and rule of law. Legal literacy is commonly understood as knowing the primary level in law. Need of the legal literacy is accentuated due to following reasons:

1. Fighting Injustice and Women Empowerment. It is through awareness of the laws and the objectives served by them that citizens, particularly marginalized or underprivileged groups, can obtain the benefits that law seeks to offer them. Taking into consideration the present scenario, the issues like empowerment of women and making them aware of their rights which they can use to fight injustices, becomes a distant dream in the absence of legal literacy. Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kabir has aptly remarked that lack of awareness and education are the main causes for injustices beingmeted out to the marginalized populations especially women². Similar observation has been made by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pradeep Kumar, the Judge of the High Court of Jharkahand. He emphasized upon the women’s need to be aware about the laws that safeguarding their interests, so that they can approach the right authorities with their grievances in order to ensure quick justice³.

In the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) was adopted, with the object of achieving equality for women in various walks of life⁴. As a result, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted, which emphasized the need for access to free or low-cost legal services, including legal literacy, especially focusing on women living in poverty⁵. It also noticed that women’s poverty had its connection to the absence of economic opportunities and autonomy, lack of access to economic resources, including credit, land ownership and inheritance, lack of access to education and support services and their minimal participation in the decision-making process⁶. Also Legal literacy programmes have been attributed for helping women to understand the link between their rights and other aspects of their lives and in demonstrating that cost-effective initiatives can be undertaken to help women obtain those rights⁷.

2. Understanding the Scope of Rights and Challenging their Violations. Legal literacy is essential as it is the knowledge of law that can be used as a tool by vulnerable groups to understand and evaluate the law, to get acquainted with the scope of their rights under the law, and get their rights enforced by taking action and bringing the legal machinery into force. Knowing their rights, the people can challenge violations thereof. Article 39A of the Constitution of India directs the State to provide free legal aid with the aid of suitable legislation or schemes. It is the awareness of rights and duties that makes the delivery of justice and balancing of various interests an easy task.
3. Transparency and Accountability in the Governance. Growing legal literacy opens the gate for a transparent and accountable Government truly based on the ‘Rule of Law’. It is the awareness about rights, governance and state obligations that has contributed to the changed attitude of the masses resulting in demand for justice and accountability from the government. In this regard, the contributions made by a renowned NGO, Multiple Action Research Group (MARG), is acclaimed. Undertaking the projects like ( and project of ", it has played its due role in achieving the goal of legal literacy⁸.
4. Empowering the Poor. The legal system of a nation has a big share in empowerment of the poor people, as it confers upon them rights, powers, privileges, and immunities along with a strong judicial system that can give effect to these legal entitlements. The object empowerment cannot see the light unless, the target group (here the poor) are made aware of their entitlements in a legal system. Taking the note of the step to that end in international arena, in 2005, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hosted the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor. The Commission realised that, lack of understanding of legal rights and obligations serves as a barrier to access to justice for the poor⁹

CONCEPT OF LEGAL LITERACY IN INDIA.

Defining Legal Literacy. To understand the meaning of Legal Literacy, it is essential to go through the definition of the term literacy. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Literacy can be defined as

both ability to read and write in any language¹⁰. In the terms of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) "Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society ¹¹. Legal literacy has been defined by Laird Hunter, in Reading the Legal World, in following words:

"People using the legal system must be able to guide themselves through a process that they understand [...] and, at appropriate places along the way,

- recognize they have a legal right or responsibility, in order to exercise or assume it;
- recognize when a problem or conflict is a legal conflict and when a legal solution is available;
- know how to take the necessary action to avoid problems and where this is not possible, how to help themselves appropriately;
- know how and where to find information on the law, and be able to find information that is accessible to them,
- know when and how to obtain suitable legal assistance;
- have confidence that the legal system will provide a remedy, and
- Understand the process clearly enough to perceive that justice has been done... Translating the information and meanings of the legal system to learners and people with limited literacy skills requires that lawyers and others clearly understand the dual nature of legal literacy: the ability to read andfamiliarity with the legal context"¹².

The quest for legal literacy forms the part and parcel of the Legal Aid to the masses. Even before the launch of the NLLM, the quest for the legal literacy was recognized in India. The journey of legal literacy, from its inception has taken the shape of legal rights. It was evident that the meaning of law will stand neglected, if only the privileged sections of the society have access to it. It was further observed that the law is meaningless unless people have equal access to it for their protection.

Legal Aid Movement in Other Parts of the World. The earliest Legal Aid movement is considered to have been in France in the year 1851 when some enactment was introduced for providing legal assistance to the indigent¹³. The same pursuit for legal aid in England that gave birth to laws like the Poor Prisoner's Defence Act of 1903 emphasizing an effective form of legal aid to poor prisoners¹⁴. But it was after Rushcliffe Committee, making a number of recommendations in its Rushcliffe Report 1945¹⁵, which led to the introduction of the first legal aid scheme in the Legal Aid and Legal Advice Act 1949¹⁶.

Legal Aid Movements in India. The legal aid movement in India took its shape in around the year 1952, when the Government of India brought its attention towards legal aid for the poor in various conferences of Law Ministers and Law Commissions. Later in the year 1960, Government laid down some guidelines for legal aid schemes. The legal aid schemes were floated through Legal Aid Boards, Societies and Law Departments in different states¹⁷.

Constitution of Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes. In 1980, Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes was constituted at the national level to oversee and supervise legal aid programmes throughout the country under the Chairmanship of the former judge of the Supreme Court, Hon. Mr. Justice P.N. Bhagwati¹⁸. Later a new chapter of Lok Adalats was added to the justice dispensation system, which succeeded in providing a supplementary forum to the litigants for conciliatory settlement of their disputes.

Enactment of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987. The year 1987 marks a golden chapter in the history of legal aid in India, as it was in this year that $ $ was enacted, with the end of giving a statutory base to legal aid programmes throughout the country on a uniform pattern¹⁹. After introduction of certain amendments by the Amendment Act of 1994, the $ $was enforced on 9th November, 1995.

Establishment of Legal Service Authorities. On 5th December, 1995, the apex body for legal aid services, the National Legal Services Authority was constituted, with the former Supreme Court judge Hon. Dr. Justice A.S. Anand as the Executive Chairman of it²⁰. It lays down policies and principles for making legal services available under the provisions of the Legal Services Authorities Act and to frame most effective and economical schemes for legal services²¹. It also disburses funds and grants to State Legal Services Authorities and NGOs for implementing legal aid schemes and programmes.

NATIONAL LEGAL LITERACY MISSION.

The National Legal Literacy Mission, with its motto +&: ”, was launched by the honorable Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh launched. This five-year Mission had its foundation in the goal of legal empowerment of all sections of the society. Its object was to simplify the language of the law to make people able to understand laws and judgments. Special focus was laid on the downtrodden, minorities and women.

As evident from the speech of the Prime Minister, a democracy is meaningless, unless the people know their basic human rights like education, employment and the right to live a life of dignity and self respect²². Such awareness is possible only through the mechanism of legal literacy. To remove the obstacles, such as complex legal language of the statutes, in understanding their rights, the Mission has been prepared as a weapon.

In the words of the former Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti, women, children, tribal and minority communities, victims of militancy, crime, disaster, drought-hit farmers, and sex workers needed urgent attention²³. Legal literacy, being the first step towards knowledge of the law, the Mission aims at legal education of all sections of society.

Objective of the Mission. NLLM was initiated with the aim of providing legal education to the underprivileged persons, including disabled people. The subject matter of the mission was to educate the people about law, legal terminology and legal rights. Looking deep into the structure of the NLLM, it had following goals:

1. To achieve 100% legal literacy.
   2. To target the most disadvantaged, distraught, disintegrated, vulnerable and victimized populace first and progress further in the grass-root level.
   3. To prepare State Specific Plan of Actions for implementation of objective of the Mission.
   4. To undertake survey, research, documentation drive, social investigation reporting and social audit as a learning exercise of people’s problems, grievances and to understand the nature of redressal required.
   5. To sensitize the Judicial Officers to people’s cause particularly to that of women and children, and minorities, tribal and such other most vulnerable groups as well as persons in custody in addition to implementation of the Acts pertaining to mentally and physically challenged, the destitute and beggars, the orphans and neglected citizens, the abandoned elderly citizens, discrimination in case of any caste, communal violence, disaster and disease outbreak.

Target Groups. Taking into account the provision of the section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, which prescribes the criteria for giving legal services to the eligible persons, following persons are covered under the target group of the Legal Aid services:

1. a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe;
2. a victim of trafficking in human beings or begar as referred to in Article 23 of the Constitution;
3. a woman or a child;
4. a mentally ill or otherwise disabled person;
5. a person under circumstances of undeserved want such as being a victim of a mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake or industrial disaster; or
6. an industrial workman; or
7. a person in custody, including custody-
   a. in a protective home within the meaning of clause (g) of section 2 of the Immoral Traffic

(Prevention) Act, 1956; or

1. in a juvenile home within the meaning of clause (j) of section 2 of the Juvenile Justice

Act, 1986 or

1. in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home within the meaning of clause (g) of section 2 of the Mental Health Act, 1987; or
2. a person who receives an annual income of less than rupees nine thousand or such other higher amount as may be prescribed by the State Govt.,if the case is before a court other than the Supreme Court, and less than rupees twelve thousand or such other higher amount as may be prescribed by the Central Govt.,if the case is before the Supreme Court.

 (1) LEGAL LITERACY MISSION

About 70% of the people are living in rural areas and most of them are illiterate and even more than that percentage of the people are not aware of the rights conferred upon them by law. Even substantial number of the literate people living in the cities and villages do not know what are their rights and entitlements under the law. It is this absence of legal awareness which is responsible for the deception, exploitation and deprivation of rights and benefits, from which the people suffer in the state. The miserable condition in which the people find themselves can be alleviated to some extent by creating legal awareness amongst the people.

Following steps have been taken by Indian State’s Legal Services Authority for Legal Awareness Campaign in the State of Indian :-

 

(A)Legal Literacy/Legal Awareness Camps/Seminars

On the direction of this Authority, all the District Legal Services Authorities are organizing Legal Literacy/Legal Awareness Camps in the remote rural areas in the State of Indian at least once in a week i.e. on Sunday/ holidays, on the topics concerning SC/ST, Women and children and general public, so that the common man may be made aware about his legal rights.

 

(b)Implementation of Legal Literacy Missions

In order to achieve the objective of spreading Legal Literacy, Indian State’s Legal Services Authority has implemented special Legal Literacy Missions.

 

► Prisoners Legal Literacy Mission (PLLM)

Indian State’s Legal Services Authority is implementing Prisoners Legal Literacy Mission. The main objective of the Prisoners Legal Literacy Mission (PLLM) is to provide access to justice and to eradicate the evils of exploitation, inequality and suffering with the lamp of literacy. The project envisions that legal literacy will reform the mindset of the prisoners and help them become responsible members of the society. The objectives of the mission are to target the prisons and jails in a systematic manner and to hold Legal Awareness Camps in prisons, prepare and publish Legal Literacy Literature in local language and to circulate the same amongst the prisoners; to organize skits and audio/visual presentations for the prisoners to educate them about their rights; to co-ordinate with the prisons authorities to ensure that freedoms that belong to the prisoners are made available to them and to help improve prison conditions by setting up low cost programmes such as crafts, weaving, workshops etc. which are vacation oriented and self-financed. The project is being implemented and monitored at the district level by the District & Sessions Judge-cum-Chairman of the District Legal Services Authority through Co-ordination Committee and Indian State’s Legal Services Authority is periodically reviewing the progress of the mission.

 

► Legal Literacy Mission for empowerment of underprivileged (LLUP)

Indian State’s Legal Services Authority has also launched Legal Literacy Mission for empowerment of underprivileged (LLUP). LLUP envisages creating awareness among neglected children, who are forced to take shelter in orphanage centres, helpless girls and women who are forced to take shelter in Nari Niketan or other such institutions, neglected old age people, disabled, mentally ill persons living under helpless situation under the care or control of government-run or non-government-run organizations. Such people have also guaranteed constitutional right to food, clothing and shelter and right to equality and equal access to justice and legal aid for enforcement of the said rights. The Indian State’s Legal Services Authority through Legal Aid Panel Advocates or otherwise is coordinating with all such organizations running such homes with a view to ensure the fulfillment of constitutional rights of such persons.

 

► STUDENTS LEGAL LITERACY MISSION

 

(c) Publicity through print and electronic Media

Indian State’s Legal Service Authority through the District Legal Services Authorities and Sub-Divisional Legal Services Committees distributes books, pamphlets, folders amongst the masses and displayed flex banners/calendars/canopies on the different occasions so that they may be made aware about their legal rights and availability of free legal services under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Wide publicity is also given in the leading newspapers in the State of Indian and on cable TV and Doordarshan.

Publicity regarding Lok Adalats, Legal Aid and Legal Literacy Programmes in the State of Indian is also made by the Public Relations and Cultural Affairs Department, Indian through electronic and print media by organizing skits and nukkar-nataks, displaying the documentary films “Savera”, “Beti” and “Nasha Khori Se Nasha Mukti Ki Aur” through the local cable network and mobile vans of the Department.

Recently, on 9^th November, 2011 i.e. Legal Services Day, Hon’ble Executive Chairman of this Authority attended a talk show on TV, highlighting activities of HALSA and explained the various schemes being run by HALSA for downtrodden people which was telecasted in all over Indian through Doordarshan Kender, Hissar. Similar talk show was broadcasted on All India Radio, Chandiagarh.

 

(d)PUBLICATION BY INDIAN STATE’S LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY

 

(e) Exhibiting documentary films through EDUSAT:

The recent advances in telecommunication are also being utilized for achieving the object of spreading legal awareness. Documentary films on socially relevant issues, such as “Beti” (dealing with evils of female foeticide), “Nashakhori Sey Nashamukti Ki Aur” (dealing with evil of drug abuse) and “Savera” (dealing with legal services and Lok Adalats) have been shown to the students through EDUSAT.

 

(2) STEPS TAKEN FOR LEGAL LITERACY CLASSES FOR WOMEN

Indian State’s Legal Services Authority has requested all the Secretaries, District Legal Services Authorities, Director, Social Justice and Empowerment, Director, Women and Child Development Departments, Indian to organize legal literacy classes for women in small groups like neighborhood groups(NHG) and self-help groups(SHG) with the assistance of District Child Welfare Officers/ District Welfare Officers/Protection Officers and distribute the books published by this Authority on the topics of social and legal issues concerning women. A set of books has been sent to them with the request to get published sufficient number of theses books for distribution to the women who attend these classes. In this regard legal literacy classes for women are organizing by the District Legal Services Authorities.

 

(3) STEPS TAKEN FOR STRENGTHENING AND TRAINING OF LEGAL AID LAWYERS.

 

(a) Workshop for Training of the Empanelled Advocates of District Legal Services Authorities

The advocates were sensitized regarding the need for spreading legal literacy especially amongst the under privileged and regarding need to inform the weaker sections of the society about their rights and also about the mode for enforcing those rights. It was emphasized that HSLSA should become a household word. Everyone should know about it, and should rely upon it. The advocates were also asked to address the Legal Literacy Clubs set up in the schools and colleges, on the topics given in the list prepared for Legal Literacy Camps. 

The Field Officer, Social Welfare Office, Protection Officers, Project Officers, MGNREGA also attended the Workshop. The Protection Officer addressed this Workshop on the provisions of ‘Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005’and shared her experiences while working as a Protection Officer. The Social Welfare Officer disclosed about the various welfare schemes of the Indian Government, regarding compensation in cases of deaths and injuries from hit and run motor vehicle accidents as well as deaths due to snake bites etc. and also explained the Rajiv Gandhi Parivar Bima Yojna and Rashtriya Parivar Yojna.

 

► Front Office

This Authority vide letter No.6524-6544 dated 18.5.2010 forwarded the Scheme for Free and Competent Legal Services – 2010 to all the District & Sessions Judges/Additional District & Sessions Judge(I)-cum-Chairmen, District Legal Services Authorities in the State of Indian for taking appropriate action at the earliest. Again this Authority vide letter No.6028-6048 dated 26.5.2011 requested all the District & Sessions Judges/Additional District & Sessions Judge(I)-cum-Chairmen, District Legal Services Authorities in the State of Indian to intimate this Authority whether the “Front Office” has been established by their District. They were also requested to send date wise schedule of Advocate/Retainers manning “Front Office”.
In response thereto Front Office has been set up by 9 District Legal Services Authorities i.e. Faridabad, Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Kaithal, Karnal, Palwal, Panipat, Narnaul, Rewari and Rohtak. There are 21 Districts in Indian and DLSAs of other districts have been requested to set up Front Office at the earliest under intimation to this Authority.

 

► Panel of Lawyers

All the District Legal Services Authorities and Sub-Division Legal Committees have prepared panel of Lawyers as per Regulation 8 of the National Legal Services Authority (Free Competent Legal Services) Regulations, 2010.

 

► Legal Practitioners to be designated as Retainers

As per Regulation 8 of the National Legal Services Authority (Free Competent Legal Services) Regulations, 2010, Indian State’s Legal Services Authority has designated ten empanelled advocates of DLSA/five empanelled advocates of SDLSC as Retainer on rotation basis in each District and in each Sub- Division of Indian . The Retainers are available on rotation basis in the Front Office established in the Court Complexes during office hours for giving free legal aid and advice to any person who approach them with any legal problem.

 

► Scrutinizing Committee

As per Regulation 7(2) of the National Legal Services Authority (Free Competent Legal Services) Regulations, 2010, Indian State’s Legal Services Authority has constituted a Scrutinizing Committee in each District and in each Sub-Division of Indian to scrutinize and evaluate the applications for Legal Services under the said scheme.

 

► Monitoring Committee

As per Regulation 10(3) of the National Legal Services Authority (Free Competent Legal Services) Regulations, 2010, Indian State’s Legal Services Authority has constituted a Monitoring Committee in each District and in each Sub-Division of Indian for close monitoring of the court based legal services rendered and the progress of the cases in legal aid matters.

1. 
   B) Indian State’s Legal Services Authority has launched Legal Literacy Mission for empowerment of underprivileged (LLUP). LLUP envisages creating awareness about their rights among neglected children, who are forced to take shelter in orphanage centers, helpless girls and women who are forced to take shelter in Nari Niketan or other such institutions, neglected old age people, disabled, mentally ill persons living under helpless situation under the care or control of government-run or non-government-run organizations. 

Legal Literacy in India.

The Need to Transform India at the Ground Level via Legal Awareness and Education

Legal awareness and knowledge are an indispensable part of a citizen’s education program which will enlighten and empower him to scale new heights of progression and free himself from the excesses of the executive or any existing authority. It is the central key to unlocking the door of positive change that we have cried out for so long in the years gone by and desire so much. This article stresses on the importance of Legal Literacy and how it can affect the pattern of overall development this New Year.

January 2015, marks the beginning of a New Year, opening up a whole new horizon of possibilities and positivity and a resounding and rejuvenated promise of ‘good old days’, which was the earmarked sound heard across the length and breadth of India. However, in the wake of such grandiose assurances and brimming positivity in the Indian political arena that dominated the media all through 2014, a little introspection regarding what went by and where we are today will not only help us in understanding our present standing better but also aid in keeping a tab of ‘rights and the wrongs’ which need to be used as stepping stones for 2015 as the political force will continue to alter, but the masses remain constant and the future of a democracy truly lies with them.

India has the distinction of being the world’s largest functioning democracy. Ever since her independence, India has been growing and developing through a democratic system of governance which involves self-rule by the people, clearly implying that the citizens are the constituents of not only the country but the foundation of democracy on which the entire structure of our legal framework lies.

“Legal Literacy is the core basis of the survival of our Constitutional Democracy. Our entire judicial set-up functions on the presumption that all people are aware of their rights and are able to approach the concerned institution.”

-Ex-Chief Justice of India, P. Sathasivam.

The supreme law of our nation is the Constitutional Law which is paramount and held as the highest and the ultimate authority that governs all the inhabitants living in the Indian democratic state. The main purpose of the laws so framed and presented in the Constitution is to safeguard, protect and preserve the life of all citizens and to prevent the rights that such individuals possess, from being infringed upon, or harmed and hampered with in the course of their lifetime. The basic ground or the foundation on which laws, rules and regulations were laid down was the agenda of protecting the rights of all and to ensure the wellbeing, happiness growth, expansion and development of the society and the people at large and simultaneously ensure that each person is able to successfully and peacefully live under the ambit of the law. To precisely put it, laws exist to serve the people and to achieve the ultimate end (which is welfare of one and all and to attain the highest level of progress attainable for the nation)

But the current state of affairs is grimly different from the aspirations and vision that the Indian judiciary and our forefathers had; because the advancement of India’s legal framework; has midway stalled due to the presence of impediments such as ignorance and lack of awareness about the existing laws and the available remedies in the legal system ; which in turn bottlenecks the progress of our country. Lack of knowledge about the basic legal and civil liberties , human rights , constitutional directives and other guidelines and principles that protect the dignity, liberty and freedom of people manifests itself in the society in the form of problems such as child labour, human trafficking etc. that threatens the safety of all.

Legal literacy is empowerment of individuals concerning issues that involve the law which helps in the promotion of legal consciousness, participation in the formation of laws& policies and rule of law[1].

Simply put, legal literacy means:

LEGAL AID INDIA

Article 39A of the Constitution of India, provides for equal justice and free legal aid – The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities This Article also emphasises that free legal service is an inalienable element of 'reasonable, fair and just' procedure for without it a person suffering from economic or other disabilities would be deprived of the opportunity for securing justice. The right to free legal services is, therefore, clearly an essential ingredient of 'reasonable, fair and just, procedure for a person accused of an offence and it must be held implicit in the guarantee of Article 21 of the Constitution. This is a constitutional right of every accused person who is unable to engage a lawyer and secure legal services on account of reasons such as poverty, indigence or incommunicado situation and the State is under a mandate to provide a lawyer to an accused person if the circumstances of the case and the needs of justice so required, provided of course the accused person does not object to the provision of such lawyer. On the other hand, in the civil side, Order XXXIII. R.18 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 provided that the state and central governments may make supplementary provisions at it thinks fit for providing free legal services to those who have been permitted to sue as an indigent person. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 made drastic changes in the field of legal services. It is an Act to constitute legal services authorities to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity.

Goals and Objectives

Goals of the legal literacy programmes can be broadly devided in three types.Namely educational,copetancy and critical.
In 'Reading the Legal World' author Laird Hunter expects Legal literacy to achieve "People using the legal system must be able to guide themselves through a process that they understand and, at appropriate places along the way,
recognize they have a legal right or responsibility, in order to exercise or assume it;
recognize when a problem or conflict is a legal conflict and when a legal solution is available;
know how to take the necessary action to avoid problems and where this is not possible, how to help themselves appropriately;
know how and where to find information on the law, and be able to find information that is accessible to them,
know when and how to obtain suitable legal assistance;
have confidence that the legal system will provide a remedy, and
Understand the process clearly enough to perceive that justice has been done...
Depending on the goals there can be number objectives for legal literacy programmes.

List of possible objectives

Raising awareness and building capacity
Training of trainers
Community education and empowerment
Exposing law students to social justice work
Strengthening community solidarity and supporting grassroots advocacy

Why legal awareness is important?

Legal awareness empowers people to demand justice, accountability and effective remedies at all levels.Legal needs always stand to become crisis oriented because their ignorance prevents them from anticipating legal troubles and approaching a lawyer for consultation and advise in time.This magnifies the impact of the legal troubles and difficulties when they come.

Without literacy people can get intimidated and alienated from law. This may evolve a situation which results in people coming into conflict with law, or being unable to obtain help from law.Courts have acknowledged the barrier raised by lack of literacy to asserting guaranteed rights effectively .Low literacy may block people’s access to justice . At times, literacy requirements have been used to block access to rights and benefits