Post on 14-Mar-2020
NALSAR LEGAL AID NEWSLETTER
VOL.2
LEGAL LITERACY
A legal literacy camp was organized at Poodur located 3 kms from NALSAR on
October 9, 2009 It was decided that it be organised at the grounds of the local high
school. The Gram Panchayat, led by the Sarpanch, Mr. Narasimha Reddy, graciously
assumed full responsibility for the logistics. The students conducted a survey on the
possible areas in which basic legal knowledge could be imparted to the villagers. Based
on this survey, the following areas were identified:
i) National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme: The group tried eliciting
information about the implementation of the scheme from both the Gram
Panchayat and the residents.. In our interaction with villagers, we gathered
that they had no information about such a scheme and any related entitlement
of theirs.
ii) Law relating to law registration and mutation:
iii) Indiramma scheme: The villagers had issues with the implementation of
Indiramma scheme. They were unaware about the complaint–grievance
redressal procedure. It was thought necessary to inform them about
their entitlements within the scheme, the post-allotment grievance mechanism,
relocation procedure etc.
iv) Ration card/Pension Schemes: Though most of the families had ration cards,
they were not really aware of the renewal procedure. Also, there was a lack of
awareness as to the procedure for issuance of fresh ration cards. So it was
decided that the whole procedure could be discussed.
v) Labour laws: Another proposal which came was to generate awareness with
respect to labour laws concerning employment on contractual basis, minimum
wages to be paid etc.
Subsequently, the group coordinated with the Andhra Pradesh High Court Legal Services
Committtee headed by District Judge, Mr. D. Subramanyam, who agreed to prepare the
material in accordance with the same.
The speakers for the camp were Mr. D. Subramanyam, District Judge and Secretary,
Andhra Pradesh High Court Legal Services Committee, and Mr. V. Reddy, District
Judge, Rangareddy. The other members of the dais were Mr. Narasimha Reddy,
Sarpanch, Poodur, Dr. K. Ramesh Babu, Faculty, NALSAR and Mr. Vijay, Faculty,
Poodur High School. Mr. Subramanyam addressed the over 100-strong crowd on issues
concerning the NREGA and labour laws. He preferred an interactive method encouraging
the audience to ask questions. He also talked extensively about the organisation, structure
and purpose of the Andhra Pradesh State Legal Services Authority and how the villagers
could approach it. Villagers of Poodur were encouraged to approach not just the AP
Legal Services Authority but also the Legal Aid Cell at NALSAR for any legal
assistance.
Mr. Reddy then took over and addressed the audience about issues relating to
registration of marriages, domestic violence, basic legal principles like „ignorance of law
is no excuse’. Mr. Reddy adopted a more pedagogic style as opposed to Mr.
Subramanyam‟s interactive style. Nevertheless, he drew rapt attention from villagers and
several of them poured in a flood of questions towards the end.
The camp was the flagship event of the legal literacy group and was a grand success. The
attendance and response from the villagers was outstanding and Mr. Subramanyam
commended the efforts of the group.
CAMP ON ‘MENTAL HEALTH’ ORGANISED BY SWEEKAAR-UPKAAR
Sweekar–Upkaar (“Sweekaar”) is a non-profit, non-commercial voluntary organization
which deals with individuals with mental, physical and hearing handicap. They also serve
children with autism, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, learning disorders, high risk
babies, children with developmental delay, individuals with speech disorders, adult
mentally handicapped, drug addicts, home for the aged and artificial limbs for the
physically handicapped.
It was thus decided, in keeping with our „public health‟ mandate, that an
organisation like Sweekaar would be ideal for the purposes of working on health related
issues. The Camp was organised by the Dr. P.R. Institute for Mental Health at Sweekaar.
The theme of the Camp was “Making Mental Health a Global Priority: Scaling up
Services through Citizen Advocacy and Action”. As part of the camp, free mental health
check-ups and counselling was provided at the centre on all days of the week ( October
10-16,2009 ) from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm.
The group got in touch with Executive-Director of the Institute at Secunderabad, Major
M. Sriniwasrao. He gave certain literature which included pamphlets and leaflets to be
distributed at various places in and around our college. These pamphlets essentially
contained information and statistics about mental health, the cure of mental illnesses and
general awareness on the issue. It also acted as publicity material for people to attend the
Mental Health Week.
RELIEF AND REHABILITATION GROUP
The group decided to look at the rehabilitation of slum dwellers in Hyderabad and the
manner in which the present government policy is implemented. They got first hand
analysis and documentation of the condition of the rehabilitated members in two areas
namely Afzal Sagar near Nampally. During these visits, the students met with various
authorities in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), attended public
hearings and conciliation efforts with them and performed surveys and group reports for
them.
On 28th
September 2009, the team visited the Municipal Administration office for a
discussion on AP Government‟s rehabilitation policy and the manner in which the
Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) functions. Further
visits to the Municipal Administration office and the GHMC helped in identifying the
target areas namely Afzal Sagar near Nampally.
AFZAL SAGAR HOUSING COMPLEX
The Afsal Sagar colony, is a colony which was built to rehabilitate those people who had
been displaced from Bheem Rao Bada colony. A scrutiny of the area revealed that the
Municipal corporation had done a very shoddy job with the construction. The walls of the
houses were cracked at number of places and there was a lot of water seepage due to the
rains. A few people complained that when they drilled nails the walls used to crack
thereby raising safety concerns. They were also no facilities for health and the
government hospital was quite far away.
While conversing with the students, the residents raised genuine concerns and
grievances. Most of the amenities that the municipal corporation claimed it had provided
on a regular basis over a period of time were actually provided only for a day. For
example the doctors were present in the colony only on the first day also the meals and
other transportation facilities had only been provided on the first day. Absence of a police
station and police patrol in the area added to the theft problem.
It was pointed out that there were no facilities for acquiring rationed goods; as a result,
they were not given the benefit of government subsidized provisions and had to buy them
at market rates.
Another disturbing fact that was brought to the fore was that the inhabitants had not been
given any papers for the houses they were occupying and hence they had no legitimate
claim over their houses. Most of the displaced inhabitants found it very difficult to find
work as they were rehabilitated very far from their original dwellings and many of them
still remain unemployed.
REHABILITATION PROJECT AT KUKATPALLY
The team at Kukatpally took the opportunity to organize a public hearing wherein the
rehabilitated persons got an opportunity to express their concerns and seek to get them
addressed. Thus, on 1st October 2009, in the presence of Shri Sukla Reddy, Deputy
Commissioner, Shri Prabhakar, Project Engineer and Shri Praveen, Asst Project Engineer
of Municipal office, Musapet, a public hearing was organized. More then 30 people
attended the hearing and the following grievances were brought out and acted upon.
a) Transportation Facilities
At the time of eviction, the government had made promises to them as to provide
adequate transportation facilities so as to transport them from Kukatpally to various
central parts of the city. This was not fulfilled and a lot of people had to change to lesser
paid jobs. The initial response of the Government was that since there was a bus stand 3-
4 kms away, it was not necessary to give them any transportation. However, upon some
explanation by the team members regarding the situation, the Government officials
assured to provide the basic amenities.
b) No Property cards
It was submitted that at the time of eviction, these people had appropriate property cards
to show their status on that previous property. After they were evicted and rehabilitated to
the new area at Kukatpally, they were told that they owned these houses. However, they
haven‟t got any document yet to prove such ownership. One this concern, Shri Sukla
Reddy stated that the allotment register bears their names as against their houses and thus
they couldn‟t be evicted on this basis.
c) Rations and provisions
The ration shop opens only once a week from 10 AM to 1 PM, due to which the whole
place gets crowded and many families are left out. To this, the Government officials
replied that this complaint was taken on record and that they would look into the matter.
d) Electricity Switch Boards
Similar to the problem in Afzal Sagar, the people grimaced that the switch boards
provided to the houses were of poor quality and that when it rained, they short circuited
and thereby creating serious safety issues. The project engineer took note of the issue and
said that he would contact the contractor who supplied the switch boards and appropriate
action would be taken in this regard. The Government officials assured that the
complaints cell is functional and in addition would provide for a complaints register to
take note of the concerns.
SANITATION CAMP AT SRINAVASA MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL
The aim of the camp was to provide a talk on sanitation, health and basic hygiene
to a set of school students. The reason for the camp stemmed from a realisation that
school students, by virtue of their age and proximity to other persons, were exposed to a
variety of communicable diseases which could easily be avoided through basic
preventive measures.
In addition to basic lessons on hygiene – including explaining to students how to
wash their hands, keep their surroundings clean, prevent the spread of communicable
diseases such as colds, viral fever and conjunctivitis, it was also thought necessary to
refer to and deal with swine flu, its symptoms, and ways to prevent it. In this regard, a
pictorial representation of the symptoms was provided, with these superimposed on a the
human body. While the text of the materials was in English, all the material was
translated into Telugu while the explanation was taking place.
TEACH INDIA
The team of volunteers decided to adopt and implement a flexible method of teaching at
the Srinivasa and Pragathi Elementary School in Shamirpet. These two are „Low-income‟
schools in rural constituencies. The main problems identified by the volunteers in these
schools were a deficient Teacher-Student ratio, the absence of several infrastructural and
co-curricular amenities, problems of absenteeism, dependence on rote learning and
gender inequities.
The subjects instructed during the course of this program were chosen after consultation
with Head Masters/Mistresses, faculty members and students. Apart from the materials
provided in textbooks, the volunteers supplemented their teaching with innovative
activities that kept the students engaged.
In Srinivasa School, the volunteers after having an informal discussion with the students
of the class regarding the subjects that they found most challenging came to the
conclusion that Mathematics and Science were two subjects that posed the greatest
amount of difficulty from them.
The Headmaster had specified that he would prefer it if the volunteers went in accordance
with the order of the chapters in the textbook, as this would be the most helpful for the
students in their upcoming examinations. Therefore, in mathematics they began by
teaching them the basics including real numbers, rational numbers, square roots, etc. In
order to avoid using a method that would force them to memorise the various square
roots, they decided to focus on using new methods that would help them to understand
the logic and rationale behind the various methods that were being used to arrive at the
answers. Thereafter they concentrated on explaining various methods such as the
factorization method of calculation to them in a way that would be both simple and
interesting. For example, while calculating a multiple of a number, they would
demonstrate the answer by separating a number of children corresponding to that, and
then adding students to the group one by one to arrive at the answer. This helped them
visualize what they were originally just memorizing, and helped them understand the
logic behind the calculations being made.
In Science, the volunteers taught the children chapters on Air Pollution, Water Pollution,
etc. They chose to focus on these chapters as they would be relevant in a social context
for them as well. While teaching them the harmful effects of gas, they would point out
the various vehicles to them through the windows of the classroom, and ask the students
to observe the dark smoke ensuing there from. The volunteers also compared this to the
coal stoves that are used for cooking. Such examples made them appreciate the effects of
pollution far greater than merely reading from the book. Once they had done this, the
volunteers proceeded to explain the various chemicals that constituted these gases and it
was noticed that the level of interest has increased greatly as the students were curious
about what materials created the thick black smoke that they could see.
In English and Games, the volunteers had exercises to improve their written and spoken
English and also their confidence-levels. These mainly involved the following:
Word games:
Children were made to play word games like word-building, making
words from the alphabets of a bigger word and find the missing word. In
the process the children picked up vocabulary and were also able to share
with us what they already knew.
Ideation:
To facilitate ideation and out of the box thinking, an exercise of mock
advertising was conducted wherein a group of children were made to try
and sell a product to the other group and focus on the attractive qualities of
that product.
Confidence Building:
The volunteers tried to build the student‟s confidence in terms of
encouraging them to speak in class by asking everyone else to listen and
recount what the other person had said. This was mainly required in light
of the fact that initially the children were really hesitant to answer
questions even though they knew it.
LAND RIGHTS
A group of students from 5th
year, 9th
semester chose volunteered for the land rights and
land laws programme conducted as a part of the legal aid work for this semester. They
contacted Mr. Sunil Kumar, an alumnus of NALSAR University and AP State Director,
RDI who assigned them the task of preparing a reading module on “Introduction to Land
Laws” to be used as the basic course material for students of University of Law, Kakatiya
University and Adarsha College both of which are in Warrangal, AP.
Contents of the Module- The module mainly dealt with the following chapters:
Land, Law and Poverty;
History of Land Reforms;
Need for Legal Aid on Land Issues
Introduction to Land Records;
Revenue Administration;
Pattadar Act;
Assignment of Land;
Ceiling Laws;
Land Grabbing;
Land Acquisitions;
Forest Laws
Forest Rights and AP Scheduled Area Land Transfer Regulation
Preparation of a Land Case
Methodology - The module was prepared keeping in mind the fact that the students of
law in those colleges were not well versed in English. Another aspect the team focused
on was that the entire module was to be structured with an aim to engender interest in
local land laws and encourage these students to take it up as an area of practice.
Flowcharts and tables were used in order to make for better understanding and learning of
the subject. Cases and sections were enumerated in simplistic language so that language
does not come in the way of learning the subject. The research that went into preparation
of this module was mainly centered in the National Rural Development Institute Library
and the A.P. State Rural Development Institute. Books from NALSAR library and net
sources were also used.
IMPLEMENTATION OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMES
The legal aid work on Implementation of Government Programmes involves
identifying certain government schemes and assisting people in taking benefits under
those schemes in identified areas. To begin with, the group had a discussion with and a
presentation by members of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP),
Government of A.P., around the functioning of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and the
implementation of the Indira Kranthi Patham scheme for elimination of poverty through
empowerment of SHGs, microfinance, capacity development in areas like agriculture,
health, etc. Through subsequent meetings with Secretary and Sarpanch of Shameerpet
village, Mandal level officers, etc., the group took stock of the existing government
schemes in and around Shamirpet and the implementation hassles surrounding them.
The students attended SHG group meetings, SHG meeting at village level and
SHG meeting at Mandal level and interacted with the members of these groups. They
discussed, inter alia, microfinance project, the ways in which the loan money is being
utilized presently, and the potential to invest the finance in varied ways. The possibility
of developing alternate business models for SHGs as a whole was also discussed and the
group is pursuing the same with SHGs for women and for persons with disability.
The Praja Darbar meeting or the Grievance Cell gave an opportunity to interact
with the Mandal Revenue Officer, Mandal Education Officer and Mandal Development
Officer on one hand, and the aggrieved citizens on the other, and to help bridge the gap
between the two. Applications by numerous persons seeking pension under the Pension
scheme for persons with disability were drafted and forwarded by the group. With the
help of reporters from Enadu and Sakshi newspapers, the complaints people had under
the Indiramma Housing scheme, were taken note of and the group assisted in forwarding
the same to the concerned officer, the Assistant Engineer for Housing and later followed
them up with him.
These frequent field visits brought to notice the obstacles being faced by the
inhabitants of Mother Teresa Leprosy Colony in obtaining white ration cards, which is a
licence to take benefits under most other schemes.
PRISON REFORMS
The reformative aspect of legal justice has always been the most popular and most widely
advocated forms of justice, with legends like J. Krishna Iyer lending their full-fledged
support to the cause. Gandhiji also considered prisoners as patients and prisons as sites of
recovery for them to recuperate from their ailments. However, in spite of such laudable
motives of prisons, the plight of many prisons remains abysmal. The prison reforms
group embarked to make its little contribution in the area of prison reforms. we first
obtained permission from the concerned District Court Judge and made a visit to the
Cherlapally Central Prison, in order to gain a first hand glimpse of the exact nature of
work that we would need to undertake as part of our endeavour. This jail is especially
important since its one of the only few jails in India which is made on the UN model. The
students interacted freely with the inmates (although it was slightly difficult for some
members owing to the language barrier) and gained a fair idea of the working of the
prison as well as the daily life of the prisoners. This exercise was aimed at identifying the
areas for which the group could plan to act further and could hope to make a substantial
contribution. The group were then privy to an investigation parade which was carried on
at the Jail by the Magistrate concerned.
The group also arranged to observe the proceedings of informal plea bargaining
which take place in the prison, i.e. the Jail Adalat, which is organized every four weeks
for the benefit of the inmates.In the course of this visit, the group realized that the prison
was rightly considered to be a model prison.
The group decided to also cover the branch of juvenile justice in their quest for
providing actual legal aid. Four different homes were identified in the city of Hyderabad
and the permission to visit the same for the purpose of conducting empirical studies and
organising vocational and educational workshops, among other things, was obtained. The
group prepared comprehensive, all encompassing questionnaires, one for the authorities
running the Special Homes and another for the children residing therein. This was based
on an exhaustive analysis of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Rules for the state of Andhra
Pradesh, and was done with the objective of determining the extent of compliance with
the concerned requirements under the law, and any other problems that could be
identified in the process. The group was accordingly split into two, and visits were made
to two special homes for boys, one observation home and one Children‟s home for boys
and one combined special home and Children‟s home for Girls. During the course of
interaction with the concerned superintendents at the homes, and the juveniles, a further
plan was chalked out with respect to the activities that are needed to be undertaken at
these Homes. These include a wide range of workshops and sessions focusing on
different requirements that were felt at the time of the initial visits so made.
LEGAL AID AND LEGAL LITERACY GROUP
Legal Literacy Camp:
As students of law in one of the most premier law universities in India our brush with the
working of the law has been mostly through internships in law firms or in Advocate‟s
chambers. However, we never had the opportunity to go to the grass root levels and
gauge what the actual problem plaguing the legal system in our country when we hear
terms such as docket explosion everyday in our law school curriculum.
The legal aid and legal literacy initiative this semester gave us such an opportunity. As
per our meeting with Mr. Venkateshwar Reddy, Secretary, A.P. State Legal Aid
Authority, several other Judicial Officers and other Officials on 23rd
February, 2010 we
decided to attend and assist in coordinating a legal literacy camp in Lalgiri, Malakpet,
about 10 kilometers from our campus, on 2nd
March, 2010 organised by the State Legal
Aid Services Authority.
The Sarpanch of the village Mr. Srinivas Reddy was informed beforehand so that he
could make necessary arrangements for the camp to be organized. Mr. Venkateshwar
Reddy and Mr. Narendra Reddy, Circle Inspector, Shamirpet were present in person in
the legal literacy camp. Mr. Venkateshwar Reddy was a true mentor for the group of
students from the legal aid cell present there as he guided us through the proceedings and
briefed about the general problems faced by the villagers and what kind of laws concern
them the most in both civil and criminal jurisdictions. The camp began around 11 in the
morning. Mr. Srinivas Reddy introduced the distinguished guests and our group to the
huge turnout of villagers over there.
Mr. Venkateshwar Reddy and Mr. Narendra Reddy both addressed the gathering in the
vernacular language Telugu. However, since the village had a substantial Hindi speaking
Muslim population they translated the important portions of their speech in Hindi also.
That was of much help for us as we had some difficulty following the proceeding in
Telugu. Mr. Venkateshwar Reddy informed the gathering about laws relating to land,
inheritance and women‟s share in the property, Right to information, National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme and right to education for children in a coherent and
comprehendible manner. He told that the State Legal Authority had resolved over 6000
land disputes in the last year from different villages.
Later he decided to interact with the villagers regarding particular problems being faced
by them many of which dealt with the areas of law and the remedy available about which
he had spoken about. We were present through out these interactions in the Sarpanch
Office. The exercise gave us a much needed in sight in to the procedural hiccups that a
legal matter might run into and delay the proceedings for years.
Mr. Venkateshwar Reddy asked for our feedback and suggested that we adopt Lalgiri,
Malakpet as the core village for doing our field studies. He offered that we can guide
some of the villagers, whose problems he had heard, through the procedure to approach
the State Legal Aid Services Authority and be an interlocutor. We were glad to accept his
offer in this regard.
Field Visit
On 17th
April, 2010, a group of members from the Legal Aid cell and Legal literacy
group visited Lalgiri Malakpet again to make case studies and forward them to the State
Legal Aid Services Authority.
We first spoke to the Sarpanch of the village Mr. Srinivas Reddy regarding his views on
the legal problems faced by the villagers. He informed that most of these disputes related
to Land Acquisitions by the Government, Land Disputes between Family Members, and
Marital disputes.
We spoke to individual villagers like Mr. Pratap expressed his concern over the land on
which his family has been carrying out agricultural activities for a number of years after
the land was purchased by his father. The sale deed, however, was not registered neither
was mutation done and thus the claim on the land was being disputed by the original
owners.
Mr. Mahesh was facing a problem since the joint family property was sold off by his
father‟s elder brother after his grandfather‟s death while refusing to share the proceeds
with others. Mr.Mahesh, on behalf of his father wanted the land back as they have been
cultivating on the same land for years and had no alternative sources of income. Mr.
Pulender also was facing a similar problem with his joint family property. Our team
observed that a common thread running through all these problems was the unavailability
of valid documentary proof to substantiate their claims. Either they were unaware of the
proceedings like registering the sale deed or mutation or they were duped away by
conniving family members.
In most of these cases there were proceedings already going on in the lower court for
some four to five years. However an outcome was not apparent.
One Mr. Mr Sriniwas Reddy had a unique problem. His father was assigned land by the
Government under the scheme for Freedom Fighters. However this land was later
acquired by the Government under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for industrial
developmental purposes. He challenged this acquisition in the Court. The government
contended that the piece of allotted land could be taken away in case it was not used for
some specified purposes like agriculture within a stipulated time. Mr. Reddy had proof of
such activities on the land. The Court in such a scenario quashed the order and ordered
for opportunity of hearing to be given to Mr.Reddy‟s father. However, that order is yet to
be implemented and he is unable to cultivate the land or use it productively.
After talking with all the villagers for long we spoke to them about the procedure to be
followed to approach the State Legal Aid Services Authority which would help them with
the speedy disposal of these matters. We tried to guide each matter personally by telling
which provisions of law may be applicable and where did they actually stand in the light
of the proceedings in Court. We also decided to follow up on these matters in the coming
days along with the State Legal Aid Services Authorities.
LEGAL AID WEBSITE : THE E-ADVANTANGE
NALSAR's Legal Aid Cell, has been actively providing legal assistance and helped
promote legal awareness by publishing material in conjunction with Government
departments. The Legal Aid Cell also has its own online portal (accessible at
http://nalsar.ac.in/Leagal%20Aid%20Cell/index.htm) which provides information about
its functions, members and programmes. The updated site is a platform that showcases
the work that is being done across the various programmes in place. When new
programmes are undertaken. information and resources required are made available on
the site. Additionally, links to resources, references, and Government sites are in place.
This provides a single location from where any resource that is required can be accessed
for the ease of use of those seeking assistance. Media reports on the web, of ongoing
work and development have been added. The list of panel members also provides contact
details for instant communication with the members. While the previous portal was
mostly static, the current, updated portal has a new feature that allows for a person to
download a form, fill it with the details of the nature of the assistance they require, and
send it electronically. Taking into consideration, the limited reach of technology and the
class of persons requiring legal assistance, the downloadable form also has provisions for
use on printed media. The application form can then be posted to the Legal Aid Cells
mailing address. The address and contact details have also been made available on the
site. During stipulated working hours, those seeking assistance can seek real-time help
through the email and chat functions of the Legal Aid Cell's email service provider. On
the whole, the new site provides enhanced usability while not compromising on ease of
use. In design terms, the black and white colour scheme might seem uninteresting but it
represents the adherence to the black letter of the law while the rounded contours give a
smoother and more polished look which adds a sense of flexibility and makes seeking
legal assistance less intimidating.
LAND RIGHTS GROUP
This semester a group of students from 4th
year 8th
semester took charge of the ongoing
proceedings from their seniors. The primary focus of their work was to coordinate with
RDI regarding land related issues and assisting them in their work in Andhra Pradesh.
One of our ex student, Mr. Sunil Kumar, AP State Director, RDI guided the group
through out its endeavours. On 5th
February, 2010 the RDI team consisting of Mr. Gregor
Rake, Country Director, RDI, Mr. Robert G. Mitchell, Senior Attorney and Program
Director, RDI, Mr. Tim Hanstand- CEO and President, RDI and Mr. Sunil Kumar, AP
State Director, RDI visited the NALSAR University of Law campus to discuss the land
situation in India today and the need to create a cadre of paralegals. Mr. Gregory Rake
spoke about the the spread of RDI in India, opening up of it‟s branch offices in
Karnataka, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal and about few pilot projects that
have been initiated in India focusing primarily on collecting grass root information for
implementing various Government Programs.
Mr. Robert G. Mitchell emphasized on the various ways which to approach Legal Aid –
Structural Legal Aid which serves to change law, establishing new precedents by
judiciary and litigation through test cases and Traditional Legal Aid which provides legal
aid service to poor clients to solve their individual problems like land rights, civil cases,
criminal cases. RDI follows this traditional approach. Mr. Tim Hanstad focused on the
problems existing in India regarding land issues like circumference poverty, gender
issues, landlessness, land rights to women (a woman becomes economically and
sociologically insecure when her husband, father, son dies or abandons her or divorces
her).
The land rights team also made frequent visits to Kesavaram village. They documented
around twenty (20) problems that the villagers are facing with respect to non availability
of title deed and patta. Majority of these problems pertain to the fact that although they
have the requisite amount of land, they do not have the required title deed. The team not
only documented the problems but also went to the Village Revenue Officer (VRO) to
get the original documents under RTI. They also coordinated with the RDI to prepare a
questionnaire regarding this.
Apart from this they also have facilitated the ongoing Abhyahastham scheme. They also
distributed pamphlets in Aliabad village and also organized awareness camps at
Jugganguda, Aliabad and Kesavaram.
TEACH INDIA
The “Teach for India” group this semester comprised of students Sadapurna, Mythili,
Thejesh, Tejaswi, Malak, Danish, Rohan, Aditya and Shazia from the 4th
year, 8th
semester who ably carried forward the good work done in Srinivasa Public School,
Shamirpet by the previous batch.
The students picked the subjects based on their relative personal strengths in these
subjects and also picked classes of different years based on their comfort levels and the
children‟s comfort. The subjects and days of school were divided among them as
following:
Monday- Mathematics- Sadapurna, Mythili, Thejesh
Tuesday- Science- Tejaswi, Malak
Wednesday- English- Danish, Rohan
Thursday- Social Sciences- Aditya, Shazia
Friday- Extra curricular- All the students
The students decided to revise as many chapters with them, so as to understand how
they‟ve been taught. With limited number of classes in the afternoon they decided to go
with the most important chapters first (based on the pattern of questions in the exam
papers set for them) and then to try and cover as many classes as possible. This was
followed in Mathematics and Science, as they were the more specific, chapter wise
subjects. In English a more generic approach was adopted trying to understand how much
English they spoke, and how much they understood as opposed to what they were made
to memorize by heart in class.
By the second week, the students picked up their classes and taught them the subjects as
per the curriculum prescribed. They made a conscious effort to increase interest in the
subject and to help them use logic to reason out whatever was being taught, as opposed to
learning up things by rote, which was found to be one of the basic problems with the
bright young students there.
The instructors made an effort to make the subjects as interactive and concept friendly as
possible, while not reading out/only sticking to what was given in their prescribed text
books. English was used as often as they possibly could, in order to improve the school
student‟s understanding of the language, and to get accustomed to the sound of it.
One of the other areas of emphasis was sports. In an effort to make an attempt at
imparting education as wholesome as possible, on any one day apart from Friday which
was already ear marked for extra curricular activities, Thejesh would take the children
into their playground and teach them football, dodge ball and whatever else they were
interested in learning. At the end of most classes, in an effort to improve their knowledge
of general affairs, the volunteers would bring along an English newspaper, and read it out
to them or make them read it out.
LOK ADALAT GROUP
Date: March 5th
, 2010
Place Visited: Nyaya Seva Sadan, District Court Complex, LB Nagar
Purpose of Visit: To assist in the Lok Adalat proceedings
Work Done:
I. Assisted in the Counseling of a Married Couple
The facts of the case are thus: - The couple got married in 2003. They then started living
in Chattisgarh, where the husband has a truck delivery business and is also the place
where his parents live. The marriage was fine initially but problems started arising
(according to the wife) because the parents of the husband started harassing the wife and
the husband, instead of defending her, started taking his parents side. Thereafter, things
got to such an extreme that the wife filed an FIR, on the basis of which the police made a
charge sheet, charging the husband and his father under S.498A of the Indian Penal Code.
Subsequently, the wife left Chattisgarh for Hyderabad, which is her hometown and also
in the meantime gave birth to a child, who is at present 2 years old, as of March 17, 2010.
The wife currently earns Rs 7,000 per month from a job in Hyderabad, while the husband
earns around Rs 5000 from his business, the nature of which was not made clear to us.
The case regarding S.498A is pending, during which the couple decided to come to the
Lok Adalat for conciliation. Mr. Venkateswara Reddy instructed us to hold the first
preliminary hearing for the couple, and we were told to attempt to reach a solution to the
problem.
The husband said that he would only live with his wife if she withdrew the case under
S.498A. He said that he had no problem living with her, provided the case was withdrawn
and she came back to live with him in Chattisgarh. The wife said that she was ready to
live with him, but she did not want to stay with her in-laws, and also she claimed that
since she was earning more, here, in Hyderabad, she was better equipped to give the child
a good upbringing and education. She said that she did not want to file for divorce, but if
she was forced, she might.
Our suggestion, on the basis of the first preliminary hearing, was that the wife should
withdraw the case, if the conciliation was to go on, but she certainly should not go back
to Chattisgarh, taking her own safety and the child‟s wellbeing into account. We
suggested to Mr. Venkateswara Reddy that the husband be made to sign a bond saying
that he would visit his wife and child in Hyderabad at regular intervals for one year,
which would be the observation period, after which it would be decided whether they
should go for divorce or not.
Mr. Venkateswara Reddy listened to the couple and then asked them to either settle their
differences and to sign the bond or to pick a return date, on which counseling would
further proceed. To the best of our knowledge, this case is pending, since the husband did
not pick a date on which he would return for counseling to Hyderabad.