Legal Literacy and Para Legal Services
This can prevent people from breaking the law, having bad experiences, and not being able to get help when they need it. According to the American Bar Association, Commission on Public Understanding, legal awareness is “the ability to make critical judgments about the substance of the law, the legal process and available legal resources, and to effectively use the legal system and articulate strategies to improve it is legal competence.” [1] Legal literacy can enable people to demand justice, accountability and effective redress. Legal issues always have the potential to become a crisis when ignorance prevents someone from anticipating legal problems and receiving timely information or advice. Crises unnecessarily amplify the impact on a person`s life. The Literacy and Legal Awareness Programme aims to empower the poor and disadvantaged segments of society to seek and demand judicial services. The programme also aims to improve the institutional capacity of key justice service providers so that they can effectively serve the poor and disadvantaged. The pursuit of legal education is an essential part of legal aid to the masses. Even before the NLLM was launched, the pursuit of legal competence was recognized in India. From the beginning, the path of legal jurisdiction took the form of legal rights.
It was obvious that the importance of the law is neglected when only privileged strata of society have access to it. It was further stated that the law was meaningless if people did not have equal access to its protection. Author Roger Smith, expert on national and international aspects of legal aid, human rights and access to justice; [51] writes in his article “IT changes bring hope – and hype” that technology offers the opportunity to significantly reduce costs and take advantage of existing offerings. [52] Author Roger Smith continues to believe that there is enough to suggest a possible use of the Internet and its interactive capabilities of the Internet in the exchange of information. [52] According to Roger Smith (Internet and the Internet), technology also opens up the opportunity to provide “just-in-time” public legal education, which could be the answer to the yawning gap in family law advice. [52] Roger Smith goes on to say, “Technology can be used to build a network of (online) legal provisions that provide the level of legal advice and support to which people are entitled – even in times of austerity.” [52] Law societies, bar associations, and various NGOs are taking the lead in promoting legal awareness and competence. In India, under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987, the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA) has been mandated to take appropriate measures to disseminate legal competence and raise awareness. [57] One of the most recent approaches views jurisdiction as a metaphor. According to this view, the term is intended to “indicate certain parallels between the institution of law and a language system that must be mastered, knowledge acquired and understanding.” [14] These authors suggest that the term legal literacy can also serve as a model for educators who want to promote legal literacy. Proponents of legal competence can therefore focus on language teaching. [1] Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
The year 1987 marks a golden chapter in the history of legal aid in India, since that year $$ was abolished, with the end of the legal basis for legal aid programs throughout the country following a uniform model19. Following the introduction of certain amendments by the Amending Act of 1994, the $$ was promulgated on November 9, 1995.