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.