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| Legal Aid and Awareness
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National Law University Jodhpur |
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| The center regularly organizes legal aid camps in villages around jodhpur. These camps have been great success. This can be measured from huge public participation in these camps and the enthusiasm of people attending these camps. |
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So far the following legal aid camps have been organized by the center. To see a detailed report on each legal aid camp please click on its name.
Camps Organized by the center : |
| 1. K.N. College of women |
2. Makrana |
3. Patwa |
4. Mathania (Camp 1) |
| 5. Mathania (Camp 2) |
6. Bada kalan
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7 .Chandelav |
11. Airforce Women Welfare Association |
| 8. Rotery Club Jodhpur |
9.Ketu
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10.Mandore |
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K.N. College of women
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| A legal awareness cam was organized at K.N. College of women at Jodhpur on 8th October 2002. Some 200 girl students were present in this camp. |
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Camp at Markana |
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| A legal awareness cam was organized at Makrana, for Mine Workers of marble mines, on 3rd March 2003. The Camp at Makrana was attended by a large number of mine workers and they were made aware about their legal rights. As a result of this Camp, helmets and gum boots were provided to the workers by the Mine Owners, which were hitherto never provided to them. The impact of this camp was so effective that an NGO, working in Makrana has invited us again to hold such Camp. |
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Camp at Patwa |
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| A legal awareness cam was organized at village Patwa For villagers of village, on 24th of September, 2003. The camp was attended by 250 men and women of the village. In this camp, some public representatives complained about the portability of the drinking water in nearby villages.
Our students collected the water samples from three villages, got it tested in a laboratory of the Ground Water Department and filed a Public Interest petition in the Rajasthan High Court, which was decided in favour of the students and reported in one the Law Journals. |
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Camp at Mathania 1 |
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| A legal awareness cam was organized at village Mathania, on 22nd February 2004, in which not only legal rights and obligations of public were explained, but two small street plays were also staged by the students of this University . The camp was highly appreciated by the villagers. |
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Camp at Mathania 2 |
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| A legal awareness cam was organized at village Mathania, again on demand of the villagers On 21st February, 2005 in which 41 students of this University participated. The Camp was attended by almost 400 persons from all walks of life including women, teachers and students. Skits, speeches and interactive sessions regarding the topics of interest were the part of the Camp. It was a grand success and we tried our best to achieve the aim for which the Camp was organized. |
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Camp at Bera Kalan |
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A Legal Awareness Camp was organized on 26th March 2006 by the Legal Aid Centre of this University at Bada kalan, a village situated at a distance of 65 K.M from Jodhpur.  Sixty students of this University participated in the Camp. The Camp was attended by a strong gathering of about 550 persons. Our students presented five skits on contemporary topics like Child Marriage, Dowry prohibition, Domestic Violence, Rural Employment Guarantee, Rights of Aggrieved Person against Police and matters connected therewith. A help desk was also provided there, by which, the legal quarries of the people were answered. Apart from the Director and Faculty Members of the University, the Camp was also addressed by two Judges of Jodhpur Judgeship. |
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| The audience and the residents of village Bada Kalan highly appreciated the efforts and performance of the students and requested that such Camps may also be organized in future. The Camp was a grand success not only for the villagers, but for our students also, as they had an occasion to gather the first hand knowledge of the village life and their socio-legal problems. |
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Camp at Chandelav |
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The Legal Aid camp organized by the Legal Aid Committee, National Law University to promote Legal Awareness among the rural masses was held on 16th February 2007 in the village of Chandelav within the limits of the Jodhpur district in Rajasthan. The day long camp featured a series of short stage plays based on burning legal issues and legal provisions related to them. These plays, totally seven in number, were staged by student volunteers from the first year to the fifth year batches of the University. About 63 students participated in this venture, including the members of the Legal Aid committee. The Dean of the faculty law, National Law University, Mr. S.L. Chhajerh and other faculty members of law including Mr Vedantam Sheshaish Shastri, Dr Pradhan, Ms. Nidhi Gupta and Mrs. Rashmi Mathur were also present. The Sarpanch and other members of the village Panchayat also attended. |
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| The Purpose and Objective - |
| As students of law, and future lawyers, the students of NLU consider it their duty to enlighten the lesser informed about their rights and duties. As a result, this camp, which was not merely meant to be an interaction with the rural folk, but also a learning experience for the audience and volunteers alike. The method adopted to get the message athwart essentially involved the inclusion of relevant legal provisions and acts in the plays and statutes informing the audience about the legal aspect of various issues while the storyline concentrated on the social aspect of the very same problem highlighting its ill social implications and the detriment it has been causing to society. |
| The Audience - |
| A strong audience of about 500 persons was as much a blend of the young and the old as was it of men, women and children from all over the village, who enthusiastically thronged the premises to witness the show. Posters highlighting relevant legal provisions and social messages were put all around the stage. Women formed a major group of the target audience since plays exclusively concentrating on Women’s rights were staged. The other target group was the poor villager who gets easily deceived by the crafty or succumbs to the pressure of society. |
| The Proceedings - |
| The programme opened with an invocation by the students of the school. What followed were short speeches by the dignitaries who sat on the dais including Mr Chhajerh, the Dean of the Law faculty, National Law University. Without much delay, the programme began at about 12.30 p.m. The compeer, a student of the University addressed the gathering in chaste Marwari, the local language which connected easily with the masses. Usage of a language, preferably the local language which is easily understandable by the masses is a vital factor in determining the success of such programmes. After a short introduction, the show commenced. The plays ranged from serious to comic. But all had one thing in common- A social message with a legal remedy. Every play was preceded by a short introduction of its theme. Posters depicting these themes were put up next to the stage. The plays were held one after the other for the next two hours, till the programme wound up at about 2.30 p.m. After the programme wound up, the group proceeded to the residence of the village Sarpanch for lunch organized by them. |
| Themes Presented - |
| The first play, titled ‘Raju ki Kahaani’, staged in Marwari communicated a message addressing a serious problem of the rural folk taking massive loan to complete the necessary religious rituals which is believed to prepare a departed soul for its journey after death. While the rich find no difficulty in completing these rituals which involve feeding people with a ceremonial meal, the poor in the worst of situations end up losing their property trying to repay their debt. |
| This was followed by two plays concerning women’s issues. Staged in Hindi, these plays were performed in simple Hindi and Marwari to get the message across to the masses.One play featured the discrimination between children of a house on the basis of sex, and a girl child’s deprivation of the pleasures of childhood which are bestowed with a lot of affection on the male child of the same family. Another play staged, dealt with the domestic violence inflicted upon women and how women are made the scapegoat of man’s desires. It also focused on the dowry harassment and marital discord which lead to wife beating. This was supposed to serve as an eye opener and make them realize the fallacies of such actions that seem to be a part of the life of many without any remorse or regret. The position of women is still does not seem to have been redeemed in the eyes of man, despite the many examples that have been set by many great women over the ages. The respect and admiration should emanate from within, and this camp all these plays were just a small effort to make people see the obvious and break out of the shells. This was the predominant theme of the programme. |
| The other plays discussed lesser known themes like protection of the Consumer from corrupt shopkeepers and various malpractices like food adulteration. |
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Camp at Ketu |
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On February 09, 2008 the ‘Legal Aid and Awareness Committee’ (hereinafter committee) of national Law University organized a legal aid and awareness camp at village ketu in Jodhpur district. The committee was informed about various practices in the village, like drug abuse, which required attention and public awareness. Based on this information the committee formulated themes for various skits and speeches and invited applications from students for the same. The committee also decided to conduct the entire camp in Marwari. This was done for effective communication of the message that the committee was trying to convey by means of skits and speeches. Many students participating in the camp were not native speakers of Marwari. However, with the help of native speakers and rigorous practice all of them were able to perform well. |
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| The theme for the first skit was Mritu Bhoj. The skit focused on the practice of giving a feast after death of a person, which has been declared illegal. It tried to depict not only the hardships in organizing the feast but also its legal consequences. The skit was well received by the villagers. |
| The theme for the second skit was pardha pratha. It means a practice in villages wherein women can not talk to of be in gathering of men other than their own family members. The story revolved a family dispute at local panchayat that required presence of mother of the two disputants. The inability of the mother to come at panchayat caused various hardships. The story finally concluded with a summary of laws meant for women emancipation. |
| The theme for the third skit was child marriage. It depicted not only the legal provisions against the same but also the medical and psychological effects of child marriage. |
| The fourth skit was centered around casteism. It featured a school that had difficulty to arrange for mid-day meal because of the caste of the cook. It successfully depicted the law against discrimination on the basis of caste and also its social impacts. |
| The last skit was pertaining to the practice of drug abuse. It depicted a family where the daughter was about to be married and the brother was a drug addict. The story portrayed both economic and legal consequences for drug abuse and was followed by a explanation of the same. |
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Camp at Mandore |
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| The Legal Aid and awareness committee organized a Legal Aid ad Awareness camp at Manodre. The students of National Law University at the camp performed five skits. Each of these skits has a specific theme and a message. The skits tried to convey various legal provisions by way of a story involving characters to which villagers could relate. To make the message clearer, at the end of the skit the provisions were explained once again. |
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