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Nyaaya’s Access to Justice Network

Creating Legal Awareness Leading To A Better India

30 crore

Indians cannot read

89.4%

Don’t Speak English

40%

Who had a legal dispute would not approach the police

30%

Would not approach lawyers

The challenge is that our country’s vast system of laws make it difficult for citizens to be aware of their rights and understand how to enforce them. Language is also a big challenge and since legal information is mostly available in English, and it’s written in a manner that is complex, it becomes even more difficult  to comprehend. All of these factors lead to a wide gap between the law on paper and how it actually operates.

Citizens need simple, actionable, reliable and accessible legal (SARAL) information in languages they are familiar with and contextualised to their geographic location.

Nyaaya’s Access to Justice Network will help citizens to bridge the gap between understanding their rights under the law and using the justice delivery systems to enforce their rights.

The Access to Justice network comprises practicing lawyers, law students, community based organisations and legal aid clinics from educational institutions across the country who volunteer with Nyaaya and play an instrumental role in removing barriers into access to justice. We first launched the Access to Justice network to facilitate a prompt and smooth response to our Ask Nyaaya helpline. Since then, the network has evolved into a one of a kind platform for lawyers and law students and social development professionals to share their work, learnings and expertise.

What is the Access to Justice Network?

Our Journey

Stories of Impact

Voices from the Field

For over 2 years, Rajkumar Chaurasia, a resident of Samastipur, Bihar was unable to get his ailing mother treated at a proper medical facility due to the dearth of funds. He hadn’t received any amount entitled to his mother under the Widow Pension scheme for 2 years. Upon registering his grievance with Mobile Vaani, he not only received actionable information and guidance but also the much needed assurance to approach the manager of the concerned bank. Simple legal information finally got him the pending pension amount of Rs 5000. Rajkumar Chaurasia Mobile Vaani & Nyaaya Beneficiary

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Rohit Samacha was unaware of the the ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ scheme and always believed that their ration cards were limited to their respective states. Mobile Vaan’s ‘Meri Bhi Awaaz Suno’ informed him that his current ration card is valid even outside his own state and was of immense value to him and his community members. Rohit Samacha Mobile Vaani & Nyaaya Beneficiary

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e-Shram card entitles workers from the unorganised sector to access various social security benefits. Sankartao Sadhan from Jharkhand was able to create his e-Shram card with the help of the step by step guidance provided by Mobile Vaani. He was able to fill in the necessary applications on his phone and get the printout of the digital card from a local shop. Since then, he has been encouraging others to follow Mobile Vaani’s guidance and sign up for e-Shram card as well. Sankartao Sadhan Mobile Vaani & Nyaaya Beneficiary

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Four months after the demise of her father, Samastipur’s Neha Kumari was clueless about her entitlements and had not received any installment of the Widow pension. Mobile Vaani directed her to the rightful government authorities and informed her of the documents required and the process to follow to claim the pension. Neha Kumari Mobile Vaani & Nyaaya Beneficiary

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Usha Kumari had not received her dues under the disability pension for over four months. Mobile Vaani helped her identify the bottlenecks and connected her with the local ‘Vikas Mitra’ who then assisted her in completing the necessary paperwork and expediting the disbursal of her pensions. Usha Kumari Mobile Vaani & Nyaaya Beneficiary

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Every organisation we worked with underlined the overwhelming need for legal assistance from a local legal expert available to their beneficiaries. This is where our Access to Justice Network can provide last mile support to those who need it the most, thus closing the loop at the grassroots. 

The Three Pillars of the Access to Justice Network

Practicing Lawyers

For practicing lawyers who are keen on helping the grassroots communities, Nyaaya’s Access to Justice Network has created a platform that brings together practicing lawyers and legal experts to build a legally informed citizenry. The Network enables the lawyers to generate awareness about legal rights and entitlements guaranteed under various Indian laws and government schemes to the members of the communities and support them in realising such rights.

By legally empowering the citizens, the lawyers are not only able to champion the cause of furthering access to justice but also the experience adds greatly to their portfolio and bolster their efforts to engage with legal advocacy throughout their legal careers.

An important part of our Access to Justice Fellowship is Samvidhaan Fellowship is a unique opportunity that facilitates the creation and dissemination of actionable legal information for beneficiaries in their own communities.

Join Our Network

Student Volunteers

In answering the legal questions we receive on our helpline, we are supported by law students and the legal aid clinics from educational institutions from across the country. Currently we are working with students from National Law School of India University, Symbiosis Law School Noida, National Law University-Orissa and West Bengal National University of Judicial Sciences. 

The Access to Justice Network gives the students a chance to work on addressing real time legal enquiries across a wide range of thematic areas and fosters high quality legal research on a wide array of topics under the guidance of the top legal minds in the country. By directly responding to the legal questions of our audience, law students enable our audience to break through barriers of literacy, language, and complexity to reach those who most need it and accords a chance to take classroom learnings to assist the communities in navigating the justice delivery system. Further, this can be a valuable experience for the students as budding lawyers who would soon be at front of championing access to justice. 

Click below if you or your institution is interested in joining our Access to Network.

Join Our Network

Community Based Organisations

Our partner organisations play a key role within our Access to Justice Network in perpetuating our impact. As organisations with field experience and expertise, they identify the areas their communities need legal information on and assist us in contextualising legal content so that it is most relevant for their beneficiaries. Our partner organisations also help in disseminating our content among the desired audience and engage in collaborative campaigns and initiatives with Nyaaya’s team to spread awareness and build an informed and empowered citizenry.

Get in touch with us you are a community based organisation and wish to partner with us!

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