The spirit and very purpose of providing free and competent legal services to the weaker and deprived sections of the society, as envisaged in Act, 1987, will be defeated in case the weaker section could not be made aware of their various legal and constitutional rights.

Illiteracy makes a person unable to recognize injustices done to him/her. When a person is ignorant of basic human rights, Social Welfare schemes fail to be effective as he/she is unable to avail of the opportunities provided by the Govt. for upliftment of his/her standard of living. As such, Legal Literacy is the effective tool to project human rights. It can help the people recognize their civil, political, social and cultural rights. Only when the people can be made aware of what the laws offer to them, they will be less susceptible to injustices confronting them.

As a measure to spread legal literacy amongst the people and in particular to educate the weaker sections of the society about the rights, benefits and privileges guaranteed by Social Welfare legislations and other enactments as well as administrative programmes and measures, 27 (twenty-seven) leaflets in Bengali and in Kokborok (i.e., local tribal language) on the subjects detailed below have been prepared, printed and are being distributed to the participants in different programmes and seminars organized by the Authorities/Committees.

01) Legal Aid Scheme and Suggestions;
02) Laws relating to Alternative Justice Delivery System;
03) Laws relating to Family Dispute, Counselling and Family Court;
04) Constitutional Rights and Duties of the Citizen;
05) Laws relating to Rights of Women with specific reference to Human Rights Act, 1993;
06) Laws relating to National Women Commission Act, 1990;
07) Laws relating to Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994;
08) Laws relating to Immoral Trafic (Prevention) Act,1956;
09) Laws relating to Adoption & Maintenance Act; 1956;
10) Laws relating to Maternity Benefits Act, 1961;
11) Laws relating to Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961;
12) Laws relating to Maintenance;
13) Laws relating to Position of Women in Islamic Society;
14) Laws relating to Consumers Protection Act, 1986;
15) Laws relating to Physically Disabled People and different Schemes prescribed thereunder;
16) Laws relating to Hindu Marriage and Divorce;
17) Laws relating to Tripura Recording of Marriage Act, 2003;
18) Laws relating to Right to Information Act, 2005;
19) Social Welfare Schemes (Book No.1);
20) Social Welfare Schemes (Book No.2);
21) Laws relating to Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2002;
22) Laws relating to NBFCs;
23) Laws relating to Plea Bargaining;
24) Laws relating to Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007;
25) Laws relating to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005;
26) Laws relating to Labour Laws; and
27) Laws relating to ‘Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008.

2 leaf-lets referred to at Sl. No. 19 & 20 above contain details of Social Welfare Schemes in short like,-

01. Antoday Anna-Yojana;
02. National Old Age Pension Scheme;
03. National Family Benefit Scheme;
04. Annapurna Yojana;
05. Kishore Shakti Yojana;
06. Mid-day Meal Scheme;
07. Targeted Public Distribution Scheme;
08. National Maternity Benefit Scheme;
09. Integrated Child Development Scheme;
10. Tripura State Disease Recovery Assistance Scheme; and
11. Balika Samriddhi Yojana, etc.

The aforesaid two leaflets (i.e., Books No. 1 & 2 at Sl. No. 19 & 20 above) will act as eye-openers to the deprived and disadvantaged people and will help fight against economic discriminations and disadvantages occurring due to non-implementation of the welfare schemes at ground level as well as recognition of lack of governance of such schemes meant for most needy people.

The absence of legal awareness is mainly responsible for exploitation and deprivation of the rights and benefits from which the poor suffer most. In order to achieve 100% legal literacy, legal awareness programmes are being taken up to cover all the 513 Gram Panchayats and 527 ADC villages as well as 12 Nagar Panchayats and 1 Municipal Council (list at Annexure-Q) in the State of Tripura. Total number of Legal Literacy and Awareness programmes organized and the number of participants are as under: