About the Legal Services Committee
The GNLU Legal Services Committee has been set up in the year 2007 by way of Section 4(k) of the Legal Service Authorities Act, 1987 which reads as "Develop, in consultation with the Bar Council of India, programs for clinical legal education and promote guidance and supervise the establishment and working of legal services clinics in universities, law colleges and other institutions". The Legal Aid Cell (or committee, as is the practice now), established under statutory law provides assistance through a variety of methods, including traditional casework, summary advice, self-help, community legal education, community development and policy reform initiatives.
Activities from 2007-2012
- In its very initial years, the committee adopted Chharanagar, a village near Ahmedabad. The members used to frequently visit this village, providing legal assistance to the villagers and also conducting street plays on different issues like police atrocities, domestic violence etc. to raise awareness amongst the people.
- The LSC team successfully organized a National Conference on Contemporary Corporate Legal Issues in September, 2008. This was the LSC's First National Event and it proved to be a milestone as it witnessed the launch of "The GNLU Law Review" by Hon'ble Justice Radhakrishnan, the then Hon'ble Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat. In the same year, the LSC organised and conducted "Vimarsh-2008"- An Inter College Panel Discussion on Contemporary Women Issues in the university. People from different walks of life such as lawyers, journalists, academicians and social activists participated in the discussion.
- In July 2009, based on the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India to all Universities, an Anti-Ragging Committee was set up at the University for preventing and handling ragging related complaints. This body was established on a short notice and the Legal Services Committee members became de-facto members of the Anti-Ragging Committee. The members of the committee ensured that no instances of ragging took place in the hostel and worked to provide a friendly environment to the first years. LSC worked for a month approximately till a permanent Anti-Ragging Committee was established at the University.
- The Legal Services Committee organised a "Fresher's Convenience Camp" within the hostel premises to help the new entrants. The camp involved setting up of stalls which provided products and services to the students, ranging from mattresses and laptops to ATM cards and local SIM cards. This venture was found to be very useful by the first year students and the LSC received words of appreciation from the many parents who had accompanied their respective wards for the orientation. The LSC continued organising this camp till 2010.
Activities in the year 2013
- Right to Education Center: In 2013, Right to Education resource center was setup in collaboration with IIM-Ahmedabad for the analysis of the implementation of Right to Education Act, 2005. Surveys were conducted in various primary schools in Gandhinagar District to assess the level of Education and implementation of the provisions of the Act.
- Women Trafficking Model: In the same year, a model on Women trafficking in Gujarat was presented in the "2nd National Conference on Access to Justice" held at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata (WBNUJS).
- Prohibition of Manual Scavenging Bill, Gujarat: The Committee addressed the inhuman practice of manual scavenging through a workshop, following which the committee drafted a state legislation and submitted the draft to Government of Gujarat on the present scenario of Manual Scavenging in Gujarat.
Activities in the year 2014
- Free Legal Aid Clinic: Legal Service Committee, in 2014 adopted four villages of Gandhinagar District, viz. Raysan, Kudasan, Koba and Shahpur and established free Legal Aid Clinics. Twice a week, student member visited these villages and addressed legal grievances of the people. There was an overwhelming response from the villagers, turned up seeking legal assistance on various matter related to land dispute, domestic violence and other issues. This activity has become a flagship and is currently continued in Koba, Raysan and Valad.
- Blood Donation Camp: The annual Blood Donation camp was held on 15th September in collaboration with the Indian Red Cross Society.
- Kashmir Relief Fund: The LSC in the first of its kind initiatives, organized on September 15, 2014, the Kashmir Relief Fund Campaign for the flood victims of Kashmir which saw a good response from student as well as staff. The fund raised by this initiative was around 36,000.
Activities in the year 2015
- 1st National GNLU Interlinking Legal Services Committee Annual Forum: In 2015, LSC organized the 1st National GNLU Interlinking Legal Services Committee Annual Forum. The aim of the forum was essentially to interlink all LSCs and Legal Aid Clinics of various National Law Universities across the country. The forum deliberated upon different socio-legal issues such as RTE, child rights and law, women rights and law, CSR, LGBT rights and drug abuse and collaborated with various organizations working on these issues. Activities undertaken by such collaborations include making of Accessible India Campaign Report with BPA, starting of KALAM library in Koba village for underprivileged children, launching Ahmedabad chapter of Global Women's Rights Movement- One Billion Rising Campaign, organizing Vanchan saptah in Koba and conducting of YUVA Leadership Activity which saw a participation of over hundred primary school children.
- Theatre wing of LSC 'Abhivyakti': The Committee has a theatre wing named Abhivyakti who perform street plays to create awareness among people about different socio-legal issues.
- Street play in NIFT Gandhinagar The theatre wing of LSC 'Abhivyakti' performed a street play on anti-ragging to promote anti-raging environment at National Institute Fashion Technology-Gandhinagar for the orientation of fresher batch of the university.
- Play on Sexual Harassment at workplace Abhivyakti performed a play on the impact of Sexual Harassment at Workplace during the eve of 1st GNLU National Interlinking Annual Forum, October 03 2015.
- Legal Awareness Camp in Bihar: To further its objective and to reach out to the people irrespective of geographical limitation LSC organized a "Free Legal Awareness Drive" in the rural districts of Bihar. The drive received an awesome response and a continuing effort in the same direction is being done.
Activities in the year 2016
- 2nd National GNLU Interlinking Legal Service Committee Annual Forum: The Second LSC National Interlinking Forum was conducted from 8 April 2017 to 9 April 2017. The Second edition saw an enthusiastic participation of students from different law schools. The forum was a part of an initiative to provide free and competent legal services across India, and bridge any gaps that might come in between achieving the aforementioned objectives, be it due geographical and technical hindrances or inadequate finances. At the forum, emphasis was laid on issues within the state of Gujarat. The themes discussed in the forum were related to rural sanitation: cleanliness in godliness based upon the government launched Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan on 2 October 2014, disability and mental health, juvenile justice in order to take positive steps for social integration, increasing police sensitivity towards juveniles, establishing and maintaining juvenile homes, and rights of prisoners.
- Activity with the District Development Office (DDO), Ahmedabad: LSC worked with the District Development Office (DDO), Ahmedabad for formulation of draft schemes undertaken by the District Panchayat from August 20 to September 04 2016 and also design the web portal for the effective implementation of the RTE Act.
- LSC and SEWA's visit to Dehgam, Gandhinagar: Students of LSC, along with SEWA, visited Dehgam and organized a legal aid clinic registering grievances of women and providing them with free legal advice. The major aim of the visit to organize the worker to achieve their goal of full employment and provide guidance and help to setup self - help groups among themselves.
- LSC's Legal Awareness Camp with NCW: LSC with National Commission for Women organized two legal awareness programs dealing with rights of women, with the second program focusing on rights of working women at Pahlaj and Ahmedabad respectively. Through these workshops, women participants were not only made aware about their rights but they were also given legal advice, by the resource persons, free of cost.
- Kalam Library: The Committee started a Kalam Liabrary in the village of Koba for under privileged children. The library was supported by the Kalam Initiative and the Gram Panchayat, Koba Village. The library and donation of books are taken care by the LSC.
- Make a Difference (MAD), Ahmedabad Recruitment Orientation: Make a Difference is a youth driven, non-profit organisation working to ensure equitable outcomes for children in orphanages and street shelters by helping them in their academics and personal development, by taking regular classes. MAD conducted an orientation for the GNLU students to encourage them to participate in their recruitment drive, to be held later in the semester.
- YUVA Leadership Activity: The LSC in collaboration with YUVA Unstoppable - Ahmedabad Chapter, undertook the Leadership Activity. The initiative involves teaching of general studies and subjects (pertaining to curriculum as set by YUVA Unstoppable which is in consonance with the curriculum approved by the Government of Gujarat). The first day of the initiative saw the participation of LSC members along with Mr. Malav Vyas from Team YUVA and over a hundred primary school children. The event was attended by the Sarpanch of Koba Village, Mr. Yogesh and the Deputy Principal of the school Ms. Kanchan. The event also saw massive support from the teachers and school administration. This is now a regular initiative of the LSC with LSC volunteers holding these every Saturday, 9:45am - 11am at Koba Primary School.
Activities in the year 2017
- Legal Awareness Programme for women: The GNLU-NCW Legal Awareness Programme for women was held in March under GNLU Centre for Law and Society. The objective was to make the participants know more about their Legal and Constitutional Right. The two day event saw a participation of more than 50 women each day from areas in and around Ahmedabad.
- RTI Workshop: LSC is also working on RTI workshops for college students across Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. It organized a special lecture on the "Right to Information Act, 2005" for the journalism students of St Xavier's College, Ahmedabad on 20th September 2017.
- Visit to Akshay Patra Foundation: In addition to this, LSC members from first year visited Akshay Patra Foundation based in Ahmedabad and gained knowledge about how the mid-day meal kitchen works with its giant machinery and hardworking staffs on 2th October, 2017.
- Blood Donation and Health Check-up Camp: The Legal Services Committee has a noble tradition of organizing blood donation camps in collaboration with the Indian Red Cross Society-Ahmedabad Chapter, every year in the GNLU campus. Following the tradition, this year also LSC organized the Blood Donation Camp along with Health Check-up on 4th October, 2017.
- Know your Rights Program: This program was organized to aware the student about their fundamental and legal right in Government School, Valad.
Activities in the year 2022
- LSC ADULT LITERACY PROGRAM: The 2011 census of India reflects astonishing data on illiteracy, it states that an estimated 283 million non-literate people in the country, 65.46% of whom are women (Census of India, 2011). The Adult Literacy Programme aims to develop and encourage adult education by promoting educational opportunities for individuals previously denied access to formal education. Under the aegis of LSC, students of GNLU have been successful in curating study material and conducting regular sessions for the Hostel house-keeping staff at GNLU campus.
The ultimate goal is to contribute to the Indian government's efforts to increase adult literacy rates across the country using a combination of carefully developed pedagogy and technological resources. The Adult Literacy Drive was created to capture the spirit of "literacy," which goes beyond learning simply a language or academic subjects, but provides guidance into the modern day society and practical day-to-day knowledge. Volunteers also teach fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic abilities. While the staff help us make our lives easier away from home, the increased literacy skills provided through this initiate acts as a support system to strengthen their families, community and most importantly their own self-confidence.
- LSC FOOD DRIVE: With a growing population, food is a scarce commodity. Many starve for gathering even a single meal for a day. Students of GNLU observed that a lot of food was being wasted in college hostel's mess, to correct this the idea of ‘LSC Robinhood Food Drives’ was conceived. The students take two responsibilities in this program, to save food from getting wasted by spreading awareness amongst peers and secondly deploy resources in transporting unconsumed food for redistribution to the needy. Drives are conducted on a daily basis with a thankful assistance of mess staff and college administration. After the completion of each drive when the pictures taken by volunteers in the food distribution arrive in our chat boxes, we are left with nothing but blissful peace and emotions which word’s simply can’t express. Hopefully in the many years to come, this initiative grows and more and more people become a part of it.
- LSC RHA EDUCATION DRIVE: One of the hallmark initiatives of the Legal Services Committee, LSC RHA Education Drive is a flagship drive conducted in collaboration with the Robin Hood Army, Gandhinagar. Under this initiative, 4 to 6 student volunteers from our university undertake 2 hours afternoon educational sessions from Monday to Friday in Sector-2 Government School, Gandhinagar. The volunteers supplement the teachings for the students from Class 1 to Class 5, to strengthen their basics of education and bridge the learning-gap, by assisting them as their mentors and guiding them as their friends. The volunteers try to supplement the class lessons by teaching them through different methods utilising games, charts, and sheets. The volunteers also try to work on the social and moral development of the students. Explaining them the importance of common social behaviour and practices, we try to mold them into better individuals.
The drives have proven to be an additional source of learning for these children who are trying to create a place for themselves in this world. The students can understand the concepts better from the volunteers who try to make the learning process a fun-process for them, trying to engage the students in the study.
- LSC KNOW YOUR RIGHTS DRIVE: The Aim of the Drive is to facilitate the spread of legal awareness among school going children. The sessions are conducted on Fundamental rights, guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. Rights like the Right to Life, Education and Right against Exploitation were explained to the children in simple Gujarati and Hindi.
The students usually belong to classes 6th-8th or 9th -12th. A team of 5 to 6 members engages with these students and conducts group sessions and one on one interactions as well. The students are highly enthusiastic and interactive during the sessions. We have also received extremely positive reviews from the professors and trustees of the schools who have requested more frequent sessions for their students. This initiative is special not just because it creates legal awareness amongst the children but also gives a sense of satisfaction to our students in giving back to the community what we as students of law have been receiving as an absolute privilege at GNLU.
- LSC COUMMNITY COUNSELING DRIVES: The GNLU LSC kickstarted it's Community Counselling Drives with the Women's Community Counselling session on 29th September, 2022 in Koba Village. The Session was organised in collaboration with the Ahmedabad Women’s Action Group (AWAG).
The aim of the initiative is to facilitate access to Justice and create awareness about Alternate Dispute Redressal Mechanisms and Community forums. There lies a gap between rights, awareness and adequate access for enforce the rights. LSC strives to facilitate bridging this gap through alternate dispute resolution awareness.
In the Women's Community Counselling Session, the LSC and AWAG have jointly held interactive sessions for the women of Koba Village. With the help of professionals, we led a session addressing the issue of identify abuse and types of violence’s resulting into abuse. LSC volunteers are tasked to explain various government schemes, females can benefit from. Women specific ADR forums and the need for women to work together towards collective Welfare.
These session paved way for improved cohesion among women and proved to be a platform for the women to voice their individual and collective concerns, helped them sympathize with each other and come up with solutions for their collective welfare.
The GNLU LSC team hopes to continue holding such sessions to facilitate smoother communication and nurture collective rights activism within the community.
- LSC MENSURATION DRIVE: The GNLU legal services committee, has entered into collaboration with little4change, conducting menstrual hygiene awareness amongst nearby villages. Our first menstrual hygiene drive was conducted on September 28th with the themes of "Zero Waste Period '' and " End Period Stigma". It was met with an overwhelming response.
The drive began with an overview of the objective and purpose, followed by the awareness program. In pursuit of the same, a skit was also performed by the LSC members. This was concluded with the distribution of menstrual pads to beneficiaries and collection of data from the women of the village.
LSC Members and speakers from little4change provided resourceful insights into eliminating shame surrounding menstruation and encouraged the group to discuss such issue more freely and frankly. The speakers urged all the women to end the stigma associated with menstruation shame and be proud of their womanhood.
Two major objectives of the drive were to raise awareness surrounding menstrual hygiene and the distribution of period products to underprivileged women.
- LSC Discourse Series: LokManch: The GNLU Legal Services Committee launched its discourse series (open house) in the previous semester that was aimed at bringing in fresh perspectives and sharing various different ideas on topics of legal and societal relevance. The first discourse was on ‘Abortion rights in India: A progression from the west?’ and Advocate Srishti Agnihotri (Supreme Court AOR) was invited as the guest speaker. The second discourse was an open house on ‘Rights and lives of the LGBTQ+ community: A rural perspective’. Ms. Maya Sharma, an author and a feminist activist from Vadodara, Gujarat, was invited to speak on the topic. Through the discussion, a fresh perspective was developed on the issue, and the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community in rural India were highlighted. The LSC in the coming year aims to host several more discourse series.
Future Activities
- Collaboration with Himmat NGO: LSC also aims to collaborate with Himmat, a charitable organization running Legal Aid Clinic in Vatva which deals with Labour laws, rights of women and domestic violence cases, to run a legal Aid Clinic in Vatva.
- 3rd National GNLU Interlinking Legal Services Committee Annual Forum: The LSC plans to go pan Asia with its 3rd National GNLU Interlinking Legal Services Committee Annual Forum by bringing LSCs across SAARC nations on a common platform on 12th & 13th April, 2018.
Training & Extension
3rd Edition of Online Certificate Course on Legal Aid and Allied Laws organized by GNLU-Navinchandra Desai Law Foundation Chair, Pro Bono Club, Gandhinagar & ProBono India in collaboration with Pro Bono Club, RGNUL Punjab, Pro Bono Club, SLFJPS, NFSU Gandhinagar.
RHA Status Report:
The GNLU RHA Project is a student-run initiative with the RHA Academy that intends to connect children of marginalised communities who have been cut off from education due to the pandemic with student volunteers who are able and willing to teach through voice or video calls. The following are the latest details of the initiative.
- Number of members: Currently, 43 volunteers
- Number of students form each batch:
Approximate Numbers:
— Batch 2024: 16
— Batch 2023: 10
— Batch 2022: 11
— External volunteer from RHA academy- 1
- Number of beneficiaries: overall—8 Students
- Last activity conducted in: November 2021
- Management details: Alolika Chakraborty, Kirpa Ram Lilawat, Devu Sai Ruchitta, Sampada Pande
- Details of prospective activities: We are trying to continue classes by connecting with the respective students. However, most students are unable/ unwilling to attend classes at the moment.
- Details of previous activities: Classes were conducted for all students from April 2020 till date.
Migrants Assistance Project – Status Report:
On March 24th, 2020 India announced a lockdown in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown triggered a massive crisis for migrant workers strewn across the countries with little resources, as they begun the long walk to move back to the safety of their home states. In 2020 GNLU Centre for Law and Society, in collaboration with Zenith Legal Aid Clinic, Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh), started working on a project to help stranded migrant workers with their sustenance and safe homecoming. Over the next three weeks, the Centre invited and joined hands with other law schools, NGO’s and a massive community-spirited group of volunteers. What began as an effort by 40 members had grown to a 228-member strong team, which reached out to more than 20,000 migrant workers stranded in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi. At its core, the project ensured the safe homecoming of 4,000 migrants by coordinating with Government authorities to run buses and trains. In this process, the team helped identify more than 2,500 people with acute distress situations – mostly food scarcity issues, and quickly pivoted to focusing on resolving these issues either directly or by seeking the help of NGOs and Government authorities. As the project began a dedicated attempt in resolving distress situations running parallel with its project to coordinate trains and buses, GCLS started a crowdfunding drive to provide direct monetary assistance with food, medicines, and internal travel (i.e. from their location to the bus stop or railway station).
A number of activities were coordinated by the team including coordination of train times, replying to distress queries with respect to non-availability of food, possible eviction due to non-payment of rent, lack of medical care and other similar problems which require immediate assistance, arrangement of buses for travel and more. From calling and informing migrants about trains, preparing status reports and collecting necessary information to addressing distress queries, answering panicky late night or early morning calls and assisting migrants to board buses and trains, volunteers have been engaged every step of the way.
This process has not only been about hard work and dedication but also about sharing the anguish of the migrants for a few brief moments, calming them down and offering them hope. Although the work is emotionally unnerving and distressing; with its own set of losses, the team has braved through it all, by acknowledging every outcome with a sense of indispensable accountability and strength, that they obtain from undertaking this immensely gratifying assignment. In the long run, the Centre plans to undertake field and research activities for the upliftment of urban poor especially migrant workers. The Centre also aims to create a National Consortium led by GNLU to make this initiative a permanent feature, for the upliftment and assistance of vulnerable sections.
