The Samvidhaan Fellowship

People who are most in need of legal assistance face several barriers to accessible, reliable legal information, leading to a wide gap between what the Constitution of India promises and what it delivers. Lack of awareness, lack of access to information, complex legal process coupled with financial burden that it brings are some of the barriers to access justice. Additionally, factors like a person’s identity, income, social status, geographical location and level of education  could exacerbate the problem. 

Nyaaya is an open-access digital resource that provides simple, actionable, reliable, and accessible legal (SARAL) information to help Indian citizens navigate their lives and solve legal problems. However, digital resources alone are not enough—our partners, who are community-based organisations, need local legal experts who can provide direct support to beneficiaries in navigating the justice system.

To address this gap, we launched the Samvidhaan Fellowship, with the theme of Making Justice Mechanisms Accessible. The Fellowship enables grassroots lawyers to work closely with partner organisations and communities to create contextualised legal information, raise awareness of rights and entitlements, and provide hands-on assistance in navigating legal processes. Started in Karnataka and expanded to Bihar, we aim to scale this model to other Indian states in the years to come.

The Samvidhaan Fellowship is a one-year paid fellowship that supports district lawyers to close the last-mile gap in accessing justice in the state where they have an established practice. 

The Fellows are practising district-level lawyers with litigation experience and a demonstrated interest in legal awareness work. They work with the Nyaaya Team and Nyaaya’s partner community-based organisations to create and disseminate actionable legal information to beneficiaries creating awareness about rights and entitlements guaranteed under various Indian laws and government schemes.  

The Fellows also answer all legal questions that their audience has and assist them in navigating the legal system while enforcing their rights. Finally, they also identify areas for collective action and work with the Nyaaya Team to spearhead them.

This Fellowship is primarily field-based.. The duration of the Fellowship is 12  months. The Fellowship requires a minimum of 20 hours of work per week.

A Samvidhaan Fellow:

1. Is a highly skilled lawyer working at the grassroots who is fluent in Kannada (for Karnataka) and Hindi (for Bihar)
2. Has a minimum of three years of litigation experience.
3. Has subject area expertise in labour rights, gender rights, or rights of underserved communities .
4. Has an understanding of social protection schemes and entitlements.
5. Has worked on grievance redressal and understands the process.
6. Has demonstrated interest in legal awareness work in the past.
7. Is willing to build community skills on identified issues. 
8. Has been nominated by a grassroots organization.

Primary Tasks

1. Help create contextual,legal awareness content in their regional language based on the needs of the communities they work with. 
2. Answer questions received from beneficiaries of grassroots organisations that Nyaaya collaborates with.
3. Provide legal advice and representation, and contribute strategic guidance to advocacy issues identified by grassroots organisations.
4. Provide capacity building for partner organisations, volunteers, and community reporters on legal issues. 

Secondary Tasks  

1. Conduct legal awareness sessions focusing on helping citizens understand legal information through Nyaaya content on rights and entitlements available to them. 
2. Create written and/or audio-video content based on local needs and legal developments in their region. 
3. Help volunteers and community members represent their issues in public hearings, etc. 
4. Identify issues that could require pro-bono litigation or policy-level intervention

The Fellows and stakeholders from various Government Departments and NGO’s discussing on creating systems to close gaps in accessing justice

Questions answered by fellows during an awareness session

Legal awareness sessions by Samvidhaan Fellows for students 

1. A monthly stipend and the option to continue their practice alongside the Fellowship (as long as deliverable deadlines are met)
2. Fellows receive regular mentorship,  training,media training and any other skill development training that the Nyaaya team identifies as a necessity throughout the course of the Fellowship. 
3. Fellows become an integral part of Nyaaya’s Access to Justice  Network of lawyers, which includes grassroots organisations, CSOs, and media persons, all driven by the mission of making the law and entitlements accessible to those at the grassroots.
4. Fellows are covered widely by local and national media platforms.
   
   

Our Fellows have embarked on a journey aimed at creating legal awareness and empowering individuals to assert their rights. To date, they have produced over 360 legal awareness videos covering a range of topics, including dowry harassment, domestic violence, sexual harassment, child sexual abuse, child marriage, bonded labor, legal aid, right to education, criminal trial processes, and more. They have also conducted 320+ legal awareness sessions with communities, directly reaching over 13,000 women and children across Karnataka and Bihar. Together, the Fellows have supported 230+ grievance redressal and pre-litigation cases, of which nearly 70 have progressed to litigation, providing pro bono representation and crucial legal support.

Their work has earned recognition from prominent entities such as the Karnataka State Legal Service Authority (KSLSA) and the Department of Women & Child Development (WCD), Government of Karnataka, Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), Patna, and Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project (Jeevika), Government of Bihar..

 

The Fellows have also made an impact offline, by conducting in-person legal awareness programs in various districts, including Bangalore (Urban), Bangalore (Rural), Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Mysore, and Kalaburgi. These programs were attended by over 2000 people, including women, children, and marginalized groups such as Dalits, Adivasis, and ragpickers.

 

Glimpses of offline awareness sessions held by the Samvidhaan Fellows

• Read more about our Bihar Fellows here
• Read more about our Karnataka Fellows here