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Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness programme
The spirit and very purpose of providing free and
competent legal services to the weaker and deprived
sections of the society, as envisaged in Act, 1987, will
be defeated in case the weaker section could not be made
aware of their various legal and constitutional rights.
Illiteracy makes a person unable to recognize injustices
done to him/her. When a person is ignorant of basic
human rights, Social Welfare schemes fail to be
effective as he/she is unable to avail of the
opportunities provided by the Govt. for upliftment of
his/her standard of living. As such, Legal Literacy is
the effective tool to project human rights. It can help
the people recognize their civil, political, social and
cultural rights. Only when the people can be made aware
of what the laws offer to them, they will be less
susceptible to injustices confronting them.
As a measure to spread legal literacy amongst the people
and in particular to educate the weaker sections of the
society about the rights, benefits and privileges
guaranteed by Social Welfare legislations and other
enactments as well as administrative programmes and
measures, 27 (twenty-seven) leaflets in Bengali and in
Kokborok (i.e., local tribal language) on the subjects
detailed below have been prepared, printed and are being
distributed to the participants in different programmes
and seminars organized by the Authorities/Committees.
01) Legal Aid Scheme and Suggestions;
02) Laws relating to Alternative Justice Delivery
System;
03) Laws relating to Family Dispute, Counselling and
Family
Court;
04) Constitutional Rights and Duties of the Citizen;
05) Laws relating to Rights of Women with specific
reference to
Human Rights Act, 1993;
06) Laws relating to National Women Commission Act,
1990;
07) Laws relating to Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques
(Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994;
08) Laws relating to Immoral Trafic (Prevention)
Act,1956;
09) Laws relating to Adoption & Maintenance Act; 1956;
10) Laws relating to Maternity Benefits Act, 1961;
11) Laws relating to Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961;
12) Laws relating to Maintenance;
13) Laws relating to Position of Women in Islamic
Society;
14) Laws relating to Consumers Protection Act, 1986;
15) Laws relating to Physically Disabled People and
different Schemes prescribed thereunder;
16) Laws relating to Hindu Marriage and Divorce;
17) Laws relating to Tripura Recording of Marriage Act,
2003;
18) Laws relating to Right to Information Act, 2005;
19) Social Welfare Schemes (Book No.1);
20) Social Welfare Schemes (Book No.2);
21) Laws relating to Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection of Children) Act, 2002;
22) Laws relating to NBFCs;
23) Laws relating to Plea Bargaining;
24) Laws relating to Maintenance and Welfare of Parents
and Senior Citizens Act, 2007;
25) Laws relating to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005;
26) Laws relating to Labour Laws; and
27) Laws relating to ‘Unorganised Workers’ Social
Security Act, 2008.
2 leaf-lets referred to at Sl. No. 19 & 20 above contain
details of Social Welfare Schemes in short like,-
01. Antoday Anna-Yojana;
02. National Old Age Pension Scheme;
03. National Family Benefit Scheme;
04. Annapurna Yojana;
05. Kishore Shakti Yojana;
06. Mid-day Meal Scheme;
07. Targeted Public Distribution Scheme;
08. National Maternity Benefit Scheme;
09. Integrated Child Development Scheme;
10. Tripura State Disease Recovery Assistance Scheme;
and
11. Balika Samriddhi Yojana, etc.
The aforesaid two leaflets (i.e., Books No. 1 & 2 at Sl.
No. 19 & 20 above) will act as eye-openers to the
deprived and disadvantaged people and will help fight
against economic discriminations and disadvantages
occurring due to non-implementation of the welfare
schemes at ground level as well as recognition of lack
of governance of such schemes meant for most needy
people.
The absence of legal awareness is mainly responsible for
exploitation and deprivation of the rights and benefits
from which the poor suffer most. In order to achieve
100% legal literacy, legal awareness programmes are
being taken up to cover all the 513 Gram Panchayats and
527 ADC villages as well as 12 Nagar Panchayats and 1
Municipal Council (list at
Annexure-Q) in the State of Tripura. Total number of Legal Literacy and Awareness
programmes organized and the number of participants are
as under:
|
Sl.No. |
Year |
No. of Legal Literacy
and Legal Awareness camps |
No. of participants |
| 01 |
2003 |
111 |
20,840 |
| 02 |
2004 |
156 |
24,591 |
| 03 |
2005 |
154 |
23,266 |
| 04 |
2006 |
388 |
48,271 |
| 05 |
2007 |
240 |
31,712 |
| 06 |
2008 |
458 |
62,500 |
| 07 |
2009 |
593 |
78,644 |
| 08 |
2010(up to July) |
270 |
33,221 |
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