The Hindu : Other States / Rajasthan News : Call for legal empowerment of marginalised sections

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Friday, Apr 01, 2005

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Call for legal empowerment of marginalised sections

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, MARCH 31. A new door-to-door campaign under the National Legal Literacy Mission was launched by the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority here on Wednesday with a call for legal empowerment of the marginalised and vulnerable sections of society. The campaign's target groups include Dalits, women, bonded labourers, landless farmers, minority communities and victims of disasters and diseases.

The Vice-President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, inaugurating the campaign at a function organised at Ravindra Manch here, said the knowledge of legal and fundamental rights would enable the poor and disadvantaged people to fight against injustice and make socio-economic progress.

"This programme has the potential for bringing about revolutionary changes in our social and administrative system," he said.

Mr. Shekhawat said the four pillars of democracy were meaningless unless the 26-crore people living below poverty line in the country were able to secure their basic human rights as well as the right to live a life of dignity and self-respect. Underlining the need for judicial reforms, he said speedy justice and delivery of good quality of judgments would help promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity for all.

The Vice-President released a book on the campaign and a compact disk, "Sooraj Ki Kachehri", containing audio-visual presentation on the occasion. Among others, the acting Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, Y.R. Meena, and Executive Chairperson of the State Legal Services Authority, Justice Shiv Kumar Sharma, attended the function.

The National Legal Literacy Mission is a five-year-long programme that proposes to reach out to the remotest villages though the door-to-door campaign to educate the people about their rights and duties and enlighten them into awareness. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, had launched the mission in New Delhi on March 6 in the presence of a galaxy of legal luminaries.

The campaign in Rajasthan has been named "Chalo Gaon Gaon, Dhani Dhani" (reach out to each village and hamlet) and proposes to associate with it the legal service volunteers, who will go to all the panchayat headquarters and provide information regarding the primary duties, legal obligations, fundamental rights, availability of free legal assistance, out-of-court settlement of disputes, Lok Adalats, and the process of delivery of legal aid to the deserving people.

As part of the campaign, a mobile rural communication unit was flagged off on the occasion for distribution of awareness material, making audio-visual presentations and organising street and folk plays.

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