THE DAY DEDICATED TO LEGAL AWARENESS IN INDIA

National Legal Services Day is observed every year on the 9^th November to commemorate the commencement of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 which came into force on 9 November, 1995. On National Legal Services Day, legal awareness camps are held by State Legal Services Authorities across the country to apprise people about the availability of free legal aid. This day was founded specifically to instill a feeling of fairness in the country’s people and to make them aware of the legal processes that must be followed in order to assist them live a comfortable and happy life. The Indian Constitution has two Articles dedicated towards providing and promoting free legal aid in the country. These Articles are: a)Article 39A of the Constitution of India, which provides that the State shall secure the operations of the legal system alongwith promoting justice on an equality basis and ensuring that justice is not denied to any citizen by reasons of economic or other disability; and b)Articles 14 and Article 22(1) which make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before law and establishment of a legal system which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all.

The NALSA or National Legal Services Authority has been established as the apex authority to provide free legal aid and amicably resolve the disputes. It has taken various steps to fulfill it’s objective and agendas like it currently has in place a ‘Legal Aid Counsel’ Scheme and organizes a number of legal awareness campaigns, free legal training sessions and services while also encouraging state authorities to establish their comprehensive action plans for the year. In 2021, a six-week long Pan India Legal Awareness and Outreach Campaign was launched from 2^nd October to 14^th November, 2021 which included door-to-door campaigns, Legal Awareness Programs, awareness through Mobile Vans and awareness through Legal Aid Clinics. Further, ‘Legal Services Week’ was observed from 8 ^_ 14 November wherein more than 38 crore persons were surveyed, interacted or made aware of their rights. A national level event was also organized by NALSA on the 9 November, wherein the iOS version of the Legal Services Mobile Application was launched and online portal for filing legal aid applications was made accessible in 10 languages.

Similar to last year, the government will be organizing a number of legal awareness campaigns and holding free legal aid camps across the states in the country. For example, Tripura, one of the north-eastern state released its action plan for the year 2022-2023 in May 2022 as per which the Tripura State Legal Services Authority will be carrying on various activities like holding legal awareness camps in every panchayat and village council, organizing legal aid services in the jails, forming Legal Literacy Clubs in all schools and universities, distributing leaflets on ‘Salient Features of the Constitution of India’, holding periodical training programmes for paralegal volunteers, organizing visits to children homes and conducting various seminar and workshops to enlighten people about women and child rights. Tripura State Legal Services Authority also envisions to put in place a ‘Tripura Victim Compensation Scheme’ to provide women victims and survivors of sexual harassments an adequate compensation. Similar efforts and programs are being conducted by almost all state authorities like the National Commission for Women (NCW) has collaborated with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority and established a Legal Aid Clinic as a single-window to resolve the grievances of women and offer them free legal assistance.

The government has been sending out the legal message that everyone who falls under the category of poor citizens (and is unable to pay for legal services) is entitled to free legal services as a matter of law. This is considered to be theme for this year for the National Legal Services Day 2022. In a nutshell, the purpose of National Legal Services Day is to provide free and professional legal aid to individuals. It focuses on those who reside in the poorest sections of the country. The Lok Adalats must also be constituted on this day in order for the peace treaty to be signed, according to the statute. Every attempt has been made to promote public awareness since National Services Day was established. After a successful campaign of ‘Legal Service Week’ last year, the event has garnered a lot of attraction as to what efforts and schemes would be adopted and conducted by NALSA.