(a) whether the Government is aware of the ‘Samta Nyay Kendra’, recently inaugurated as a centre for providing legal awareness, training and services to the transgender community;
(b) if so, whether the Government is considering to open more such centres for transgenders and general public as well to make legal awareness more common place, if so, the details thereof; and
(c) if not, the alternate measures taken by the Government to increase the legal awareness in the country?
MINISTER OF LAW & JUSTICE
(SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)
(a) to (c) Yes Sir. Under the National Legal Services Authority (Legal Services Clinics) Regulations, 2011, the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), UT Chandigarh in association with Chandigarh State Aids Control Society and Association of Professional Social Workers & Development Practitioners (APSWDP), has opened a Legal Services Clinic, exclusively to provide legal services to transgender community, which is named as ‘Samta Nyay Kendra’.
The objective of this Kendra is to provide counselling and help to transgender persons to redress their legal grievances and Panel Lawyers and Para Legal Volunteers are deputed on need-based assignments by the DLSA. The effort is to provide legal services through the Para Legal Volunteers from within members of the transgender community in an inclusive atmosphere. The said Kendra is also spreading legal awareness regarding various rights and entitlements of the transgender persons.
Five such exclusive Legal Services Clinics have also been set up at locations having predominant transgender community in five districts of Tamil Nadu namely Namakkal, Tiruvallur, Tirunelveli, Madurai and Thanjavur. Further, 12,467 Legal Services Clinics are functioning throughout the country which are manned by Para-Legal Volunteers and Panel Lawyers. In these clinics, disadvantaged people are provided help to get their legal problems solved. Besides legal advice, other services such as drafting of various applications, petitions, etc. are also provided in such clinics.
In addition, Government implemented Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness programme in North Eastern States and UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh from 2012 till 2021. Under this programme, legal literacy/legal awareness and legal aid clinics were held in collaboration with State Legal Services Authorities, State Institute of Rural Development, State Women Commissions, State Resource Centres, etc. 4390 Legal Awareness / Legal Literacy programs have been conducted reaching out to 4.8 lakh beneficiaries including 158 Legal Aid Clinics. This programme has been expanded to Pan India level from 2021.
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