SHARING A LIGHT MOMENT: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam with Supreme Court Judge R.V. Raveendran in Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Friday said legal education should be made compulsory at the pre-university level to ensure that the young minds were exposed to the laws of the country.

Inaugurating the students' legal literacy clubs in the State, Mr. Kalam said legal education could help minimise crimes in society and lead to better integration of the youth.

It could also be a tool to eradicate corruption and transform India by 2020 into a developed nation. Pointing out that these clubs could help people in rural areas to get justice in a humane manner, he said the days were gone when justice was dispensed with a "human touch" at the panchayat level. If every citizen had to be aware of his rights and duties, it could only be through legal literacy. Legal literacy clubs could play a vital role in educating the people, particularly women, in making them aware of laws, he said. The Executive Chairman of the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority said the main aim of the legal clubs was to spread legal education and provide legal assistance to the people. R.V. Raveendran, Supreme Court Judge, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Cyriac Joseph, and Governor T.N. Chaturvedi spoke.

Advocate-General (designate) Uday Holla proposed a vote of thanks.

K.L. Manjunath, Chairman of the High Court Legal Services Authority; R.N. Narasimha Murthy, former Advocate-General; Basavaraj Horatti, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister; Santosh Hegde, former Supreme Court judge, and Chandrashekaraiah and A.J. Sadashiva, former High Court judges, were present.

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