® Checkfor updates

Article
Article

Convergencein
Convergence in the Practice tear onaee28,2019
Asian Journal of Legal Education
6(1–2) 18–28, 2019
of Legal
of Legal Aid
Aid to
to Improve
Improve © Unversityofjurideal Sciences
© 2019 The West Bengal National
University of Juridical Sciences
e Repri
Reprints andd permissions:
issi :
Access
Access to Justice
to Justice in sagepub.com/journals-permissione-india
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI: 10.1177/2322005818812612
DOI: 10.1177/23220058 18812612
journals.sagepub.com/home/ale

@SAGE
Sood!1
Saurabh Sood

Abstract
This essay locates legal aid as an opportunity to realize the need to improve access
access to
to justice in India
by converging state and non-state practices of legal aid. Its relevance is argued through the socialism-
inspired welfare mandate of the Indian state and well-established constitutional prescription to promote
equality of opportunity. In doing so, it asks whether increase in access to justice for the marginalized
sections in the society can be achieved through the convergence of the legal service authorities, law
schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) wherein convergence has been defined as the
joint effort of the above-mentioned actors to conduct an event/programme
event/programme or oranyactivity thatfalls
any activity that falls
under the
under oflegal
the purview of legal aid. To generate evidence on the same,
same,|I employ the text analysis technique
on data obtained from the quarterly publication of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) (NALSA)called
called
Nyayadeep. Results show that such convergence
Nyayadeep. convergenceis is a possibility within the current policy framework.
The geographical spread of converging activities is highly concentrated, with a reported increase in
engagementin
collaborative engagement in 2016 from 2015. Public legal education is found to be the most frequently
occurring theme on which convergence occurs. This exploratory work addresses the critical gap of
literature on the nature of interaction between
between policy
policy actors in the domain of practice of legal aid and
highlights research needs that may inform further work on the topic.

Introduction
Several reasons
Several reasons have
have been
beencited to make
cited to makethe case for
the case for legal
legal aid
aid in
in India.
India. These
These can
can be
be divided
dividedinto twosets
into two sets
of views
of views which
which suggest
suggest prevalence
prevalence ofof unequalaccessto legal procedures.
unequal access to legal procedures. OnOn one
one extreme
extremelies the people
lies the people
with no
with no access
access to
to courts,
courts, people whoare
people who deprived of
are deprived ofaccess to justice
access to and are
justice and are therefore
therefore in
in need
needofaid that
of aid that
addresses the
addresses the access
access issue.
issue. On
On the
the other
other extreme
extremelies citizens who
lies citizens who approach
approach courts
courts but
but lack
lack adequate
adequate
meansto
means see through
to see throughtheir cases due
their cases due to
to the
the issue
issue of
of resource
resource constraints.
constraints. Further,
Further, there
there are
are also
also people
people
wholie
who somewhere in
lie somewhere in between
between this
this continuum.
continuum. This
This differing
differing need
need for
for aid
aid is
is also
also sometimes
sometimesreferred to
referred to
as pre-
as and post-litigation
pre- and needs.
post-litigation needs.

' Development Research and Policy Initiatives, S.

1
S.M. Haryana,India.
M. Sehgal Foundation, Gurugram Haryana, India.

Corresponding author:
DevelopmentResearch
Saurabh Sood, Development and PolicyInitiatives,
Research and 44,Institutional
Policy Initiatives, S. M. Sehgal Foundation, Sector 44, Institutional Area,
122003, Haryana, India.
Gurugram 122003,
E-mail: s.sood@smsfoundation.org
Sood 19
19

In a country as diverse as India, there is lack of data generated on people in need of of these two types
of legal services. Some studies rank India among the lowest in terms of per
of courts.”2
per capita use of civil courts.
At the
At the same
same time,
time, huge
huge pendency
pendencyofcasesatall tiers of
of cases at all tiers of the
the courts
courts is
is also
also something
somethingthat is well
that is well acknow-
acknow-
ledged.?3 More
ledged. Morerecentjudicial
recent judicial initiatives to address this issue include includesetting
setting up of of fast-track courts, which
are unfortunately
unfortunately reported to be be dying a slow death due dueto to lack ofof funds.
funds.‘4
Inaccessibility to just just legal procedureshas potentialto
procedures has the potential to increase the ever-widening socio-economic
disparity in
disparity in two
two ways.
ways. This
This can
can happen
happenfirst through unjust
first through unjust outcomes
outcomes that are likely
that are likely to
to arise
arise from,
from, during
during
or after the legal proceedings
proceedings in cases where well-deserved legal aid is not availed. Second, the absence
of adequate legal information may result in removed opportunity to socio-economic welfare run through
of
government schemes.
government schemes.
However, the
However, the need
need for
for improvement
improvementin social and
in social and economic
economic conditions
conditionsofthe citizens through
of the citizens through improv-
improv-
ing efficiency of welfare activities of of the state is undeniable. Philosophers like John Locke, Immanuel
Kant and John Rawls have provided extensive philosophical arguments favouring such improvement.
While Locke
While Locke and and Kant
Kanttook
took anan instrumental
instrumental viewview ofof the
the state
state and
and concluded
concludedit to play
it to this role
play this role because
because
it is
it is the
the only
only institution
institution capable
capable of ofreliably
reliably judging injustice and
judging injustice and enforcing
enforcing justice, Rawls considered
justice, Rawls considered
justice
justice as an intrinsic function that the state plays plays by virtue of of being
being a part cooperation.5
part of a system of cooperation.
Christiano’s reading
Christiano’s reading of of Rawles
Rawlesis also shared
is also shared byby Arash
Arash Abizadeh
Abizadeh®6 who who describes
describes Rawle’s
Rawle’s subject
subject ofofjus-
jus-
tice to
tice to be
be ofof regulatory nature wherein
regulatory nature wherein justiceplaysthe role of
justice plays the role offitting together political
fitting together andsocial
political and institu-
social institu-
tions in
tions in aa 'system
‘system of of cooperation'.
cooperation’.
Justice as an imperative of the state also exists in the Indian environment in which legal aid was was
conceptualized and advocated. For example, one of of the earliest and influential reports on the same, the
Report of
Report of the
the Expert
Expert Committee
Committee on on Legal
Legal Aid,
Aid, headed
headed byby Justice
Justice Iyer
Iyer in
in 1973,
1973, coined
coined thethe term
term ‘juridicare’
‘juridicare’
which is
which is the
the proposed
proposed strategy
strategy toto end
end the
the estrangement
estrangement between
between lawlaw and
and thethe lowly.
lowly.’7 The
The promise
promise to to
provide social and economic justice, justice, the report argues, cannot be be achieved in the absence of of a scheme
that brings the system of ofjustice downtrodden. It
justice nearer to the downtrodden. proposesthat
It proposes that this can bebe achieved through
comprehensivelegal
a comprehensive legal aid package
package that would make makethethe legal process
process a surer
surer of ofsocialjustice
social justice and fulfil
the democratic
the democratic obligation.
obligation.’8

Socialist Nature
Socialist Nature of
of Justice
Justice
It would
It would be
be useful
useful to
to draw
draw from
from history,
history, in
in which
which the
the meaning
meaning ofof justice was conceived,
justice was conceived, in
in order
order to
to
understand the
understand the practice of legal
practice of legal aid.
aid. In
In this
this section,
section, II highlight
highlight that
that justice and legal
justice and legal aid
aid have
have aa strong
strong

2M.
2
M. G GaLAnTER
alanter & J.K. KKRISHNAN, ‘Breadfor
rishnan, ‘Bread for the Poor’:
Poor’: Access
Access to Justice
Justice and the Rights ofthe
Rights of the Needy
Needy in India
India 55 hHast. Law
ast. law J. 789,
834 (2004).
834 (2004).
> Inference drawn from the data available at https://osf.io/preprints/lawarxiv/xryj7/download; https://www.prsindia.org/policy/
3

vital-stats/pendency-cases-judiciary
4S.
4
S. RRukmint,
uKmini, As Funds Dry Up,
Up, Fast-track Courts Close Down, t Tue
he hHinpu
indu (August 17, 17, 2014), available at https://www.thehindu.
com/news/national/as-funds-dry-up-fasttrack-courts-close-down/article6324428.ece
> T. C
5
CuristiAno, Secession, Democracy
hristiano, Secession, Democracy and Distributive
Distributive Justice
Justice 37 aAriz. L. r
riz. l. REv.
ev. 8, 23 (1995).
° A. Abizadeh, ‘Cooperation,
6
‘Cooperation, Pervasive Impact,
Impact, and Coercion: On the Scope (not (not Site) ofDistributive
Site) of Distributive Justice. 35(4) Phil. Pub. Aff.
318, 358. (2007). available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/4623799
T Report of
7
of the expert committee on legal aid Processualjustice
Processual justice to the people,
people, Department of of Legal Affairs at 9 (1973). available
http://reports.mca.gov.in/Reports/15-Iyer%20committee%20report%200f%20the%20expert%20committee%20in%20
at http://reports.mca.gov.in/Reports/15-Iyer%20committee%20report%20of%20the%20expert%20committee%20in%20
legal%20aid,%201973.pdf
legal%20aid,%201973.pdf
8 Td.
8
Id.
20
20 Asian
Asian Journal of Legal
Journal of Legal Education
Education 6(1–2)
6(!—2)

constitutional justification. This constitutional prescription has historic roots that can be closely linked
to socialist nature ofof the Indian
Indianstate.
state.
The terms
The terms ‘justice’
‘justice’ and
and ‘socialism’,
‘socialism’, to to begin
begin with,
with, are
are mentioned
mentioned in in the
the Preamble
Preamble of of the
the Indian
Indian
Constitution itself. In addition to social, economic and political justice that the Preamble refers to,
equal justice
equal through equality
justice through equality before
before lawlaw is
is guaranteed
guaranteed as as aa fundamental
fundamental rightright under
under Article
Article 14.
14. The
The
Directive Principles
Directive Principles ofof State
State Policy
Policy as
as outlined
outlined inin the
the Constitution
Constitution of of India
India further
further support
support state
state action
action
through running
through running welfare
welfare programme
programmeto create aa social
to create social order
orderthat is just
that is (Article 38A).
just (Article 38A).
Legalaid
Legal aid specifically has been put forward as a welfare initiative that provides justice based on ‘equal
opportunity’ under Article 39A. This gives rises to the question as to what ‘equal opportunity’ is meant
in the
in the context
context of
ofjustice that the
justice that the state
state shall
shall embody.
embody. TheThe answer
answerpartly lies in
partly lies in the
the indication
indication by MrsIndira
by Mrs Indira
Gandhi(the
Gandhi Indian Prime
(the Indian Prime Minster
Minster who
who proposed
proposed the the 42nd
42nd Constitutional
Constitutional Amendment
Amendmentthat included the
that included the
word ‘socialist’ in the Preamble) who described inclusion of socialism as a means to offer ‘equal
opportunities’ through socio-economic reform. reform.°9
Socialism although
Socialism although not
not defined
defined explicitly
explicitly isis recognized
recognized to to be
be enshrined
enshrined in in the
the Directive
Directive Principles.
Principles.
In relation
In relation to
to Article
Article 39,
39, Dr
Dr B.
B. R.
R. Ambedkar,
Ambedkar, Chairman
Chairman of of the
the Drafting
Drafting Committee,
Committee, stated
stated that
that if
if these
these
Directive Principles...are not Socialistic in their direction and in their content, content, Ifail
I fail to understand what
more Socialism can be. be.'°
10
Multiple judgements of
of the Supreme Court also point to an agreementof
agreement of the same
termsofjudicialinterpretation.''
in terms Theintentionto
of judicial interpretation.11 The outthe
intention to bring out the socialist history of ofjustice
justice is to reemphasize
of state in the practice of
on the critical role of of legal aid and to ensure
ensureaccessto
access to justiceforits
justice for its citizens.

Scope of
Scope of Legal
Legal Aid
Aid
Legal aid as officially defined by National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)
Legalaid on its website includes
(NALSA)on
both pre- and post-litigation services. According to NALSA:

Free legal services entail the provision of free legal aid in civil and criminal matters for those poor
provision of poor and
cannotafford
marginalized people who cannot ofaa case
afford the services of a lawyer for the conduct of caseor
or a legal proceeding
proceeding in
any court,
any court, tribunal
tribunal or
or before an authority.
before an authority.
Free Legal Services also include provision of of aid and advice to the beneficiaries to access the benefits under
adviceto
Governmentor
the welfare statutes and schemes framed by the Central Government or the State Government and to ensure
accessto
access to justice manner."
justice in any other manner. 12

With this widely worded definition of of legal services which include initiatives meant to ensure access to
includeinitiatives
justice manner, the scope of
justice in any other manner, of NALSA can be understood to include a wide spectrum of of
services. While the state through its multiple institutions is present
present in essentially every aspect of of the
andpolitical
social, economic and of the people,
political lives of people, the extensive coverage of ofjustice
justice and legal aid cannot
onusofthe
arguably be the onus convergenceofefforts
of the state alone and necessitates convergence variouslevels.
of efforts at various levels.

°D.
9
D. B
d. d. Basu,
asu, CConstituTionAL
onstitutional lLAw
aw ofoF iINpIA 1991). available at http://legislative.gov.in/
ndia 2-3 (Prentice-Hall of India, 1991).
constitution-forty-second-amendment-act-1976
'0 A.M. B
10
BHATTACHARJEE,
hattaCharJee, The Constitutional Dilemma—Liberal
Dilemma—Liberal or Socialist Economy?
Economy? t THe Hinpu
he h indu B Business Line
usiness line (January 22,
2005), available at https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2002/01/25/stories/2002012500160900.htm
" Srinivasa v. State of Karnataka, AIR 1987
11
1987 SC 1518
1518 (1987); Dharwad Employees Union v. State 2 SCC 396 (1990); Sanjeeva
Coke Manufacturing Co. v. Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, AIR 1983 1983 SC 239 (1982); Akadasi Padhan
Padhanv. of Orissa, AIR 1963
v. State of 1963 SC
1047 (1963).
1047 (1963).
" Nature of
12
of Free Legal Services, nNATIONAL
ational lLEGAL Services
egal s AuTHoRITY,
erviCes a uthority, available at https://nalsa.gov.in/content/nature-free-
legal-services
Sood 21
21

‘Convergence’ in my work has been defined as joint efforts of NALSA with either non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) or departments of law schools to conduct events/programmes
events/programmesor or any other activi-
ties that
ties that fall
fall under
under the
the purview
purview ofoflegal aid. For
legal aid. For example,
example, Indian
Indian Institute
Institute of
of Legal
Legal Studies
Studies (IILS),
(IILS), aa law
law
School in West Bengal, jointly
jointly conducted a Lok Adalat with
with West Bengal Legal Services Authority for
tea estate workers that led to improved access to legal procedures.

Legal Education—Core
Legal Education—Core of
of Rule
Rule of
of Law
Law and
and Access
Accessto
to Justice
Justice
Access to
Access to justice
justice isis closely
closely linked
linked to to adherence
adherence to to the
the rule
rule ofof law,
law, that
that is,
is, procedural
procedural principles
principles that
that
should be
should be followed
followed and and upheld.
upheld. India
India has
has anan extensive
extensive legallegal system,
system, withwith executive
executive and and judiciary working
judiciary working
closely to uphold the established codes of of conduct. However, effective rule of law should not be confused
rule of
with other
with otherideals
ideals ofofjustice, human rights,
justice, human rights, democracy
democracy or or equality.
equality.’ 13

Rule of
Rule of law
law plays
plays an an important
important function
function of of supporting
supporting effective
effective institutional
institutional mechanisms,
mechanisms, so so as
as to
to
ensure that
ensure that citizens
citizens are
are able
able to to exercise
exercise their
their rights
rights’ 14
and participate
and sufficiently to
participate sufficiently to effect
effect good
good govern-
govern-
ance.'°
ance. 15
In the
In the Indian
Indian constitutional
constitutional system,
system, every
every person
person is is entitled
entitled to to equality
equality beforebefore law law and
and equal
equal
protection under
protection under thethe law.
law.'®16
However, wide
However, wide disparity
disparity in in sociopolitical
sociopolitical conditions
conditions of of the
the citizens
citizens leaves
leaves
sections of the society marginalized. Access to justice justice provisioned
provisioned by rule of of law and legal education
then becomes
then becomescritical for these
critical for these marginalized
marginalizedcitizens
citizens to to not
not only
only exercise
exercise their
their rights
rights but
but also
also gain
gain access
access
to welfare
to welfare schemes
schemes run run by by the government. In
the government. In many
manycases, such legal
cases, such legal entitlements
entitlements of of welfare
welfare schemes
schemes
become opportunities
become opportunities to to be
be part
part of
of the
the mainstream
mainstream socio-economic
socio-economiclife. life.
It is
It is these
these aspects
aspects of oflaw
law in in the society that
the society that are
are reiterated
reiterated in in the
the theoretical
theoretical commitment
commitment of of the Indian
the Indian
state to
state to provide access to
provide access to justice. Legal education
justice. Legal education becomes
becomes an an important
important aspect
aspect of of this
this commitment
commitmentas it
as it
develops skilled
develops lawyers and
skilled lawyers and judges
judges on on whom
whomthe liability to
the liability to apply
apply just legal procedures
just legal procedures falls falls on.
on.
A report published by Government of India and United Nations Development Programme in 2011 2011
highlighted the
highlighted the expected
expected rolerole ofof legal
legal educators
educatorsin transformingthe
in transforming constitutional ideology
the constitutional ideology of of access
access to
to justice
justice
into reality.
into reality.’17
Such aa transformation
Such transformation calls calls for
for competent
competent and and affordable
affordable legallegal services
services to to the
the vast
vast population
population of of
the country.
the country. There
There isis also
also recognition
recognition on on the
the part
part ofof the
the Bar
Bar Council
Councilitself that the
itself that the legal
legal education
education sector
sectoris is aa
significant contributory
significant contributory towards
towards the the meaningful
meaningful existence
existence of of law
law and
andjustice
justice inin civil
civil society.
society.'*18

Approximately 1,300
Approximately 1,300 law law colleges
colleges exist
exist inin India
India which
which impart
impart formal
formal legallegal education
education to to lawyers.
lawyers.
The Legal
The Legal Services
Services Authorities
Authorities Act, Act, 1987
1987 (1987
(1987 Act),
Act), and
and the
the Regulations
Regulations issued issued under
under it it mandate
mandate these
these
law schools
law schools to to extend
extend legal
legal services
services toto common
commoncitizens
citizens in in an
an effort
effort to to include
include marginalized
marginalized sectionssections into
into
the legal
the legal system
system through
through multiple
multiple modes.
modes. A recent review
A recent review of of law
law colleges
colleges on on their
their legal
legalaid initiatives has
aid initiatives has
found out
found outthat
that 8282 per cent of
per cent of the sampled colleges
the sampled colleges have
have designated
designated faculty
faculty toto conduct
conduct legal
legal aidaid activity.
activity.'°19

'S R. S
13
SupaRsHAN,
udarshan, Law
Law and Democracy
Democracy in India,
India, 49(152) iInt. Soc.
nt. s Sct.
oC. s Ci. J. 271, 278 (1997).
'4 A. D
14
Daya, ofCitizens
ayal, The Role of Citizens in Democratic Governance (Department of of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances,
2011).
2011).
'S United
15
Nations Economic
United Nations Economic andand Social
Social Commission
Commission forfor Asia
Asia and
and the
the Pacific,
Pacific, What
What Is Good Governance?,
Governance?, available at https://
www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/good-governance.pdf
'© Constitution of India, Article 14;
16
14; B.P. S
SincH, The Challenge of
ingh, The of Good Governance in India: Need forfor Innovative Approaches,
YosANA
Y http://iasscore.in/pdf/yojna/1.%20The%20Challenge%200f%20Good%20Governance%20in.
oJana (March, 2013), available at http://iasscore.in/pdf/yojna/1.%20The%20Challenge%20of%20Good%20Governance%20in.
pdf
pdf
'7 United Nations Development Programme India, a
17
A s Stupy or l
tudy of Law
aw sScHoot
Chool BBAseD
ased lLeGAL Services
egal s liniCs (United Nations
Cuinics
erviCes C
ProgrammeIndia,
Development Programme India, 2011).
'8 Supreme Court of
18
of India, f
FivaL Report
inal r OF the
eport of THE t
THREE-MEMBER
hree-memBer C COMMITTEE
ommittee onON r
REFORM OF l
eform of LEGAL
egal eEpucaTion
duCation (Supreme Court of
India, 2009).
India, 2009).
'° UNDP
19
UNDPInpiA,
india, supra 15.
supra note 15.
22
22 Asian
Asian Journal of Legal
Journal of Legal Education
Education 6(1–2)
6(!—2)

However, in the area of collaborations, their performanceis

performance is not satisfactory. Only a few colleges were
found to collaborate with NGOs or
NGOs orthe the local authorities like the panchayats and municipalities.
of
Rule of law along with legal education forms a crucial componentto
component to access justice. Law schools
have the potential to extend legal education through collaborative efforts. Along with law schools, civil
society organizations can also play a significant role in improving access to justice among the deprived
masses.
masses.

Convergence Between
Convergence Between State
State and
and Non-state
Non-state Actors
Actors

The discussion so far points to the following important propositions backgroundofthis

propositions that form the background of this
study. First, legal aid as a tool
tooltoto achieve access to justice for marginalized sections is significant not only
accessto
in achieving welfare but also in its own right. Second, access accesstoto justice,
justice, as originally conceived by the
Constitution makers
Constitution makers andand as
as its
its later
later trajectory
trajectory within
within the
the judiciary system shows,
judiciary system shows, isis aa comprehensive
comprehensive
andits
idea and its realization in the truest sense requires engagement from all possible possible relevant stakeholders.
Thestate
The with its
state with its socialist
socialist responsibility
responsibility ought
ought to
to be at the
be at the centre
centre of
of this
this engagement
engagement andand make
makeserious
serious
efforts towards garnering support in every possible way.

Research Questions
Research Questions and
and Methodology
Methodology

The larger
The larger research
research question
question addressed
addressed through
through mymy work
work isis whether
whether convergence
convergence betweenstate and non-
between state and non-
access to
state actors increases access to justice
justice for marginalized sections in the society. This involves treatment of of
two sub-questions: first, the question of whether the mandated assignments of
sub-questions: first, of relevant actors of
of legal aid
allow for convergence and second, second,the
the query as to what evidence exists to support that increased access
to justice
to through convergence.
justice through convergence.
Two such major non-state actors—law schools and civil society organizations—have been included
in this
in this research.
research. Other
Other bodies
bodies who
who engage
engage with
with legal
legal aid
aid activities
activities include
include lawyers’
lawyers’ associations
associations or
or
networksthat
networks that practise
practise pro
pro bono lawyering or provide resources dedicated to public public legal education.
The method adopted to answer answerthethe first sub-question is the review of existing literature while that of of
answering the second sub-question is text mining and analysis of a rich corpus of of documents. The aim of
of
this exercise was to record reported instances of convergent activities among any of ofthe
the three relevant
actors namely legal service authorities (at any anytier),
tier), law schools, or any department of of law school and any
civil society organization.
The corpus of of documents utilized includes the official journal published quarterly by NALSAcalled NALSA called
Nyayadeep,
Nyayadeep, available on their website. website.”°
20
Eight issues of of this journal,
journal, published between April 2015 and
April 2016, were used to develop the corpus. The section titled ‘News from States’, which reports
achievements of ofthe
the state legal service authorities in a particular
particular quarter, was specifically focused. Within
this section, the following specific keywords were mined: N.G.O., NGO, NGOs, NGO’s, Civil Society
Organization, Law Schools, Post Graduate Law Students, Legal Aid Clinic and Law University.
The portions
The portions ofof the
the text
text in
in which
which these
these keywords
keywords appeared
appeared were
were then
then analysed
analysedto interpret the
to interpret the context
context
of its usage. This analysis was used usedtoto create an interactional matrix with following data points:

?° https://nalsa.gov.in/publication
20
Sood 23

•¢ Identifiers (Issue Number, Year)

•¢ Organizing stakeholder
•¢ State/district
•¢ Activity type/topic/intended for
•¢ Key stakeholder involved/nature of involvement/other stakeholders involved

Data Limitations
keywordsappeared,limitations
In the analysis of the portions in which the keywords of interpretation and inclusion
appeared, limitations of
formerrefers
were faced. The former refers to the limitation of the researcher in accurately interpreting the context of of
involvementof
involvement of two actors which could be either overstated or understated. The Thelatter
latter refers to the entries
that were omitted to avoid double counting of ofactivities 1).
activities (refer Table 1).

Results: Does
Results: Does Policy
Policy Permit
Permit Convergence?
Convergence?
commenton
In order to comment of convergence between
on the utility of between practitioners of legal aid in India, it would be
useful to look
lookatat their institutional mandates and find out if
mandatesandfind if convergence is encouraged or even supported.
In this section, I describe the same for each actor by turn.
The primary state authority in charge of practising legal aid is NALSA. NALSA heads its counterparts
headsits
at the state, district and taluka (sub-division) levels. This network of ofinstitutions drawsits
institutions draws its legal status
from Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. 1987. It performs multiple functions that include coordinating fund
allocations, overseeing State Legal Service Authorities (SLSAs) and issuing schemes on multiple themes
that fall
that fall in
in its
its jurisdiction.
jurisdiction.
The proposed
The proposed beneficiaries
beneficiaries ofof these
these schemes
schemes range
range from
from disaster
disaster victims,
victims, victims
victims of
oftrafficking and
trafficking and
sexual exploitation to workers in the unorganized sector and senior citizens. Each scheme acts as a
guideline for state authorities to implement programmesto
programmes to meetmeetthe
the differing needs of the beneficiaries.
These schemes have been given the name nameofpreventive schemes.”!
of preventive strategic legal services schemes. 21

|. Data Limitations
Table 1.

Interpretation Limitation Omission Limitation

Programmes/campshave
Programmes/camps been interpreted
have been interpreted to be of ofthe
the information like
Vague information like ‘different district authorities
same nature and called awareness generationactivities
generation activities were involved’ was not notincluded
included
Programmesheld
Programmes held ‘at’ law schools have been interpreted Anyvisits/meeting/launch
Any events/inauguration events
visits/meeting/launch events/inauguration events
as co-hosted have been omitted
Multiple topics/actions included
includedin in an activity has been follow-up in
Project activities reported as a follow-up in later
interpreted as ‘multiple’ and not notdifferentiated
differentiated issues have been entered once
Activities with NGOs/law schools when occurring occurringinin The keyword ‘NGO’ when occurred occurredin in the
thetitle
title was
different paragraphs have beenbeen interpreted
interpreted as separate considered to be a casual reference and not notincluded
included
activities and entered twice until it occurred in the body of the paragraph with
some details
some details
Source: The
Source: Theauthor.
author.

7! available at https://nalsa.gov.in/content/preventive-strategic-legal-services-schemes
21
24 Asian
Asian Journal of Legal
Journal of Legal Education
Education 6(1–2)
6(1—2)

Section 4(k) of the 1987 1987 Act encourages convergence with the legal aid clinics set up in each law
schoolin
school India.It
in India. It directs for the development of of programmes
programmesfor for clinical legal education in consultation
with the
with the Bar
Bar Council
Council of of India.
India. Section
Section 4(l)4(1) and
and Section
Section 4(m)
4(m) of of the
the Act
Act mandate
mandate the the Authority
Authority to to take
take
appropriate measures for spreading legal awareness among people people byby converging its activities with
NGOs
NGOsand and enlisting the support of of voluntary social welfare institutions working at grass-roots level
particularly
particularly among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women.
In the
In the legal
legal education
education sector,
sector, the
the Bar
Bar Council
Council of
of India
India is
is the
the supreme
supreme regulating
regulating body that oversees
body that oversees
the functioning
the functioning of of law
law schools.
schools.””22
Each law
Each law school,
school, in
in order
order to
to gain
gain recognition from the
recognition from the Council,
Council, needs
needs
to adhere
to adhere toto its
its rules
rules and
and isis subject
subject to to evaluation.
evaluation. Schedule
Schedule III
II ofof the
the Bar
Bar Council
Council ofof India
India Rules
Rules directs
directs
institutions of
institutions of legal
legal education
education in in India
India toto establish
establish and
and run
run legal
legal aid
aid clinic
clinic under
under the
the supervision
supervision ofof aa
senior faculty
senior faculty member
member which which is is to
to be conducted by
be conducted by the
the final
final year
year students
students inin cooperation
cooperation with with Legal
Legal
Services Authorities (‘LSAs’)-enlisted NGOs.
In addition
In addition toto this,
this, the
the Rules
Rules also
also apply
apply to
to lawyers
lawyers who,
who, asas per Rule 5,
per Rule 5, are
are obligated
obligated to to render
render legal
legal
assistance to
assistance to indigent
indigent andand oppressed
oppressed clients
clients even
even when
whenthey cannotpayforit.
they cannot This rule
pay for it. This turns the
rule turns the practice
practice
of pro
of pro bono lawyering into
bono lawyering into aa duty
duty ofof each
each lawyer.
lawyer.
Thethird
The significant actors
third significant actors of
of legal
legal aid
aid practice
practice are
are civil
civil society
society organizations.
organizations. These
These organizations
organizations
do not
do not have
have aa regulating
regulating authority
authority as as such;
such; however,
however, they
they operate
operate viavia global
global or
or regional
regional networks.
networks.
For instance, Namati (https://namati.org/) is a global network of such grass-roots organizations that
engage in
engage in legal
legal empowerment
empowermentactivities
activities by by supporting
supporting para-legal work in
para-legal work in multiple
multiple countries.
countries.
A brief
A discussion on
brief discussion on the
the policy mandates of
policy mandates of the
the actors
actors of
of legal
legal aid
aid in
in India
India reveals
reveals that
that adequate
adequate
policy
policy prescriptions exist to support convergence among them.

Evidence of
Evidence of Convergence
Convergence
In this section, I present the results of of the text analysis conducted in order to generate evidence of of
betweenthe
convergence between the practitioners.
practitioners.
Figure 11 depicts the frequency of convergent activities as reported in the corpus of of documents.
It indicates that two unionterritories
union territories (Delhi: 26% and Chandigarh: 10%) 10%) report more than three-quarters
of the activities. On the other hand, a majority of of the states reported between and6
between 3 and percentofthetotal
6 per cent of the total
convergentactivities
convergent activities across the country.
showcasesthe
Figure 2 is a word cloud that showcases mostfrequently
the most frequently occurring districts/cities in the compilation
of convergent activities by by district/city. Jaipur, falling under
under the Rajasthan State LSA, and Kohima,
falling under the Nagaland State LSA, come out as distinctive cities where the most number
comeoutas numberof of convergent
activities was
was reported.
Figure 3 shows the type of engagement between the actors in the reported convergent convergentactivities.
activities.
For example, in 2015, LSAs and NGOs NGOswerewere involved
involvedin in 23 activities together (wherein they co-hosted
11 activities and attended 12
11 12 activities/events conducted by the other). In 2016, the two actors reported
convergentactivities
a sharp increase in convergent activities when on 27 occasions events were co-hosted and on 21 21 occasions,
co-attendance waswasreported.
reported. It is important to note that in these instances, the text was interpreted to

» The Bar Council of

22
ofIndia aspart
India visits and inspects Universities/Law colleges in the country as ofits
part of its statutory function of promoting
legal education
legal education and
and laying
laying down
downstandards in consultation
standards in consultation with
with the
the Universities
Universities in
in India
India and
and the
the State
State Bar
Bar Councils.
Councils. available
available at
at
http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/about/legal-education/
Sood 25
25

Darjeeling
Others (MZ, TS, BH, Chennai
DelluCentralLSA Agartala Kadapa
Peeaech
Karnataka AS &MH) Diimapur PdhamsineiNeget Secunderabad
1%, BB ar Itanagar Shahdara
tamil Nadu Aizawl Thri ssu. Madurai
e ean Gurugram
Bea)
Ullarakhand Sat alp T Mangaluru
l] Nuh
a]
East Guwahati wentneas
PU eae cu)
Viyaypura Siliguri
Ey
AmbalaPaen aNantpur
Pithovagarh D elhiNorthEastL
SA
Aare
cP
Peru ila)
5D) Kohima Pelhi
Rajasthan
Bengaluru
5%

Ces Figure 2.
Figure 2. Districts/Cities Reporting Most
C4
Convergence
Manipur
8%
Source: The author.

Figure 1. |. State-wise Reported Convergence

Initiatives
Source: The
Source: The author.

@ Co-hosted Events

g@ Attended Events

| I...
@ Resource Persons
exchanged

| ji | LSA
a

Law School NGO LSA Law School NGO

NGO Law LSA Law LSA Law Faculty
Students Students
2015 2016

Figure 3. Nature of Involvement Between Legal Aid Actors

Source: The
Source: Theauthor.
author.
26
26 Asian
Asian Journal of Legal
Journal of Legal Education
Education 6(1–2)
6(!—2)

Public Legal Education Ls 8)

Children legal Rights = 20
Para Legals Training MM 12

Public Legal Education_other Ml 10

Improving Access to legal procedures Ml 7
WomenLegal Rights Ml 5
Senior Ci-izen Rights #

Wy
Clinical Legal Education |

FP
SportsPromotion 1

PP
HumanTrafficking |

Figure 4. Themes Addressed Through Convergence

Source: The author.

deduce that these activities were initiated by LSA and attended by NGOs.
deducethat NGOs.” 23
Onthe
On hand,there
the other hand, there were
limited occasions when LSAs co-hosted or attended events that were initiated by either NGOs
LSAsco-hosted NGOsor or law
schools (five cases in 2015 and six cases in 2016).
Al in the annexure
Table A1 annexureis of convergent activities for each actor that has been tabulated across
is a list of
a) the of reported activity and b) the
the type of the actor that was engaged with for conducting the activity.
Figure 4
Figure 4 depicts
depicts the
the themes
themes that
that were
were addressed
addressed through
through convergence
convergence among
amongthe actors. Public
the actors. Public legal
legal
education comes up as a prominent theme and includes the following sub-themes: fundamental duties,
farmer suicides, justice anti-humantrafficking,
justice delivery and legal aid, victim compensation scheme, anti-human trafficking,
domestic violence, drug abuse, labour laws and rights, environmental law and transgender transgenderissues.
issues.
Activities on
Activities on themes,
themes, such
suchas, livelihoodtrainings,
as, livelihood anti-tobaccodrive,
trainings, anti-tobacco self-defence training,
drive, self-defence training, counselling
counselling
for alcoholics and drug addicts, holding medical camps and awareness on polythene use, when whenreported,
reported,
were categorized under public education (other). Legal awareness on child rights and conduct of of para-
convergentactivities.
legal training are the next most frequently reported convergent activities.

Discussion
Throughout the essay, I have tried to locate legal aid as an opportunity to improve access to justice justice for
marginalized sections
marginalized sections of
ofthe society. In
the society. In doing
doing so,
so, II have
have advocated
advocated the
the need
need for
for convergence
convergence because
because ofof two
two
primary reasons. First,
primary reasons. First, the
the just society that
just society that the
the Constitution
Constitution and and the
the architects
architects of
of the
the Indian
Indian legal
legal system
system
involvesthe
envisaged involves the state playing
playing a central role in providing However,it
providing legal aid. However, it is argued that in this
endeavour,the
Herculean endeavour, the state could potentially
potentially utilize the services of other actors including civil society
organizations and
organizations and law
law schools
schoolsto effectively realize
to effectively realize this
this vision.
vision. Second,
Second,the
the policy environment, as
policy environment, as described
described
in the
in the course
course of
of the
the paper, encourages collaboration
paper, encourages collaboration with non-state actors.
with non-state actors. The
The research
researchsets outto
sets out treat this
to treat this
of convergence among
need of amongthe achievementof
the legal aid practitioners in India as crucial to the achievement of constitu-
tional and legal mandates. This exploratory work, work,II believe,
believe, is unique since it addresses this lesser discussed
opportunity ofof interaction between different entities operating in the domain of oflegalaid.
legal aid.

3 This interpretation is based on the order in which the names have occurred. For example, when
23
whenthe
the text said LSA in association
with NGO organized…
organized... , it is read as initiated by the LSA.
Sood 27

orderto
In order to inform the nature of of interaction between
betweenactorsat
actors at the local level, who help in the promotion
and dissemination of of legal awareness, a primary search of ofliterature
literature was conducted. This primary search
was focused on official publications and research papers by scholars and lawyers who comment on the
interaction between
between LSAs, lawyers, law schools and civil society organizations. An online search of of
government law websites, academic work worklisted
listed on Google Scholar and sources such as JSTOR, Taylor
and Francis was wasalso conducted.A
also conducted. A list of key phrases that describe the the interaction ofof the said actors was
usedto
used find the
to find the desired
desired information.
information.
It would
It would not not be an understatement
be an understatement to to state
state that
that there
there waswaslittle-to-no evidence with
little-to-no evidence with regard
regard toto the
the
interaction between
interaction between thethe key
key actors
actors mentioned
mentioned above
aboveasperthe search results.
as per the search results. Most
Most ofof the
the search
search results
results
explained themes
explained themes relating
relating to to interaction
interaction but hardly discussed
but hardly discussed aboutabout thethe interaction
interaction itself.
itself. There
There is is
evidently aa dearth
evidently dearth ofof academic
academic or or empirical
empirical research
research inin this
this domain.
domain. ThisThis study
study was
was conceptualized
conceptualized to to
provide an
provide an alternative
alternative understanding
understandingof this interaction.
of this interaction.
Theresults
The from the
results from the study
study are
are encouraging
encouraging enough
enoughto state that
to state that convergence
convergence among
amongthe the practitioners,
practitioners,
howeverlimited,
however does exist.
limited, does exist. This
This exploratory
exploratory work opens doors
work opens doors for
for interesting
interesting research
research questions
questions that
that
could possibly
could possibly achieve
achieve twotwo objectives.
objectives. First,
First, to
to detail
detail the
the nature
nature ofof interaction
interaction of
of convergent
convergent activities
activities
beyond counting their numbers that could relate to how convergence came into being, what were were the
barriers that had to be overcome? Needless Needlessto to say, the issue of of success of such efforts itself
itself needs a lot ofof
discussions. On a parallel
parallel note, we need to develop a conceptual framework through which whichtheseinter-
these inter-
actions could be studied and then related with the concept of access to justice. justice. A second set of questions
relate more
moreto to policy prescriptions to scale up the NALSA Legal Services Clinics in Universities, Law
LegalServices
Colleges and Other Institutions Scheme, 2013. This particular particular scheme aims at promoting promoting convergent
activities as discussed in the essay. The essay demonstrates that on limited occasions the convergent
activities were initiated by non-state actors. It also reveals that the reported convergent convergentactivities
activities have
involvementof
more passive involvement of non-state actors than that of state actors. The frequently occurring themes
of child
of child rights
rights and
and para-legal
para-legal trainings
trainings in
in the
the convergent
convergentactivities list highlight
activities list highlight an
an area
area of
of strength
strength that
that
can be further studied.

Conclusion
whetherincrease
This research asked whether increase in access to justice
justice for marginalized sections in the society can be
achieved through convergence of activities between legal service authorities, law schools and NGOs.
convergenceofactivities
To generate evidence on the same, text analysis technique on data obtained from the quarterly publication
of NALSA called Nyayadeep
of NALSAcalled Nyayadeep was conducted. Results show that the mandates of the relevant legal aid
practitioners allow for convergence when backed
backed by a favourable policy environment. The geographical
of converging activities is highly concentrated, with a reported increase in collaborative engage-
spread of
ment in 2016 compared to 2015. Public legal education is the most frequently occurring theme on which
convergence ofofefforts
efforts in the domain ofoflegal
legal aid occurs.

Declaration of
Declaration of Conflicting
Conflicting Interests
Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of
of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of
of
this article.

Funding
Funding
As part
As part of the author’s formal employment at S M Sehgal Foundation, this research was undertaken with support
from the
from the employer.
employer.
28 Asian
Asian Journal of Legal
Journal of Legal Education
Education 6(1–2)
6(!—2)

Annexure
Al. List of Convergent Activities with Frequencies
Table A1.
Law students 2

O-—- —- —- —-—-—-—-—an nwo —-—--—- - - — - He He eK ee ee ee ee ee ee ae ae ee ee eK en

Law school 3
Lecture 1I Round table
Round table 1
LSA 1I NGO
NGO 1
Workshop 1I Stakeholder meeting 1
LSA 1I NGO
NGO 1
Lok Adalat 1I Setting up special units 1
LSA 1I Law students 1
LSA 129 Art exhibition 1
Awareness generation 42 NGO
NGO 1
Law students 13
13 Consultation 1
NGO 29 NGO
NGO 1
National Day Celebration 16
16 Essay competition 1
Law students 7 Law students 1
NNNWWWWwWw— BPW — BW — O— BHT —OWWWw —N OM — BO N

NGO 9 Legal awareness and health camp 1

Training 14 NGO
NGO 1
Law faculty 1 Film screening 1
Law students 5 NGO
NGO 1
NGO 8 Sports meet 1
Interaction session 7 NGO
NGO 1
Law faculty 1 Orientation programme
Orientation programme 1
Law students 3 NGO
NGO 1
NGO 3 Street play competition 1
Exposurevisit
Exposure visit 6 NGO
NGO 1
Law students 5 Symposium 1
NGO 1 NGO
NGO 1
Seminar 5 Photo exhibition 1
Law students 4 NGO 1
NGO 1 Paralegal
Para legal training 1
Workshop 5 NGO 1
Law faculty 1 Lok Adalat 1
Law students 1 NGO 1
NGO 3 Massrally
Mass rally 1
Lecture 4 NGO 1
Law faculty 1 NGO 8
Law students 3 Awarenessgeneration
Awareness generation 4
Colloquium 4 LSA 4
Law students 1 Training 1
NGO 3 LSA 1
Awareness generation and surveys 3 Consultation 1
Law students 3 LSA 1
Nukkad Natak 3 CD released
Audio CD released 1
Law students 3 LSA 1
Joint project 2 Conclave 1
NGO 2 LSA 1
Internship 2 Grandtotal
Grand total 140