Legal Aid – plays an important role in the legal profession and mandate of having national law schools was to have a testing ground for bold experiments in legal education. Hence, Hidayatullah National Law University, through its Legal and Social Services Committee strives to ensure justice by furthering the right to be heard and enlightening the students about the practicality of the functions of the complex government machinery.
The passion and intellect of the Legal and Social Services Committee (LSSC) is to instil in individuals behaviour of attributing importance to the way we are governed. The aim of the committee has always been to ensure representation to the mass life and build a strong bond between those who are governed and those who govern them thus we focus on capacity building, empowerment of masses and creating awareness.
The committee is further supported by fifteen elected class representatives from each section of five undergraduate batches and one class representative from the postgraduate batch. Two among them are elected as the student convenor and student vice-convenor of the committee and are responsible for implementing the decisions taken by the committee. Membership to LSSC is open to all the students and they can join the committee as co-opts and volunteers to assist the committee in performance of its duties.
Every year, the HNLU family reminisces one of its most effervescent members, Aanchal Singh of Batch VIII, who though lost her battle with death, lives in every HNLUite in spirit. And to commemorate this spirit of hers, the Aanchal Memorial Blood Donation Camp is held annually by the committee in collaboration with various organizations. On 13th March, 2019, the Legal and Social Services Committee organised a Blood Donation Camp at the University Campus in collaboration with Red Cross Society. In the same year on 5th of November the committee organised a Blood Donation Camp at the University Campus in collaboration with Ram Krishna CARE Medical Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Department of Transfusion Medicine. Both the events saw participation from faculty members, students and staff members of the University. A total of 250 Units of Blood were donated in the year 2019.
A team of Legal and Social Services Committee organised an awareness camp and conference in the neighbouring village of Sunderkhera at the Government Higher Secondary School, on the theme “Empower her for Change”.
The members dealt with legal aspects of Right to Education, Dowry Prohibition, Domestic Violence, Female foeticide, Child Labour and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences. An elaborate discussion took place on Chhattisgarh Tonhi Pratadna Nivaran Adhiniyam, 2005, institutions dealing with the welfare of women and informed the students about various social and educational schemes being run by the State Government of Chhattisgarh for providing benefits to the girl students and law as a career.
The Legal and Social Services Committee represented the University at the 4th Regional Consultation on Strengthening and Promoting Law School Clinics in India which was organised by the JLU, School of Law in collaboration with Jindal Global Law School in Bhopal. The aim of the consultation was to outline the importance of legal aid clinics in Law Schools and the issues that the law school clinics face such as funding, faculty workload and academics credits.
An awareness camp was organized by Legal and Social Services Committee on Fundamental Rights and Duties enshrined in the Indian Constitution at the Government Higher Secondary School, Sundarkera. The University organised essay writing competition on the topic “Rights and duties of an Indian citizen in the context of the Constitution”, speech contest on the topic “The purpose, concept and importance of the Indian Constitution” and role plays on Dowry and Eve teasing.
An awareness campaign was organized by the Legal and Social Services Committee of the Hidayatullah National Law University in collaboration with the District Legal Services Authority, Raipur on “Role and Functioning of the DLSA” for the students of the university.
The Hon’ble Secretary DLSA, Raipur Shri. Umesh Kumar Upadhyay graced the occasion as the key note speaker. During his address he focused on the role that the legal aid services authority plays in the society and its importance. Further he gave an insight into the functioning of the DLSA and shared his experiences as the secretary DLSA, Raipur.
The Legal and Social Services Committee under the patronage of Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. V.C. Vivekanandan and guidance of Dr. Balwinder Kaur and her team has been continuously evaluating all the available avenues to reach out to the society in such pressing times. In one such opportunity the students of the Committee carried out an awareness drive to make communities aware of safe behaviours. The aim of this community outreach program was to induce adoption of safe practices to prevent the spread of Covid.
Marked annually on 5th of June World Environment Day is observed to generate awareness about the significance of nature. The Legal and Social Services Committee under the constant guidance of Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. V.C. Vivekanandan and support of Dr. Balwinder Kaur, Faculty Co-ordinator, LSSC, HNLU decided to commemorate the World Environment Day by a mix of on-field and off-field events in order to take a step further towards building a greener planet. The United Nations declared 2021-2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration with the slogan of “Reimagine, Recreate, Restore”.
We all are aware that immediate actions need be taken to save the environment and create an eco-friendly sustainable Earth. As said “Charity begins at home”, this year the members of the committee resolved to promote the cause of the environment by becoming agents of change from their homes. They planted saplings of different varieties of herbs and shrubs in order to create a greener home. The committee believes that these small endeavours shall make big difference in the years to come and therefore we are hopeful of achieving a greener tomorrow soon. Below are the glimpses from the plantation drive.
The Legal and Social Services Committee of the Hidayatullah National Law University celebrated the 7th International Yoga Day with the enthusiastic participation of students, faculty and staff on 21st June, 2021 under the guidance and constant motivation of the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. V.C. Vivekanandan and support of Dr. Balwinder Kaur, Faculty Co-ordinator, LSSC, HNLU.
In order to internalise the theme ‘Yoga for well-being – how the practice of Yoga can promote the holistic health of every individual’ the members engaged themselves in the Yogasanas, Pranayama, and Meditation. The aim of the celebration was not only to practice yoga but spread awareness about the numerous benefits of Yoga in or life. In pursuance of this motto they created a video highlighting the scientific relevance and importance of Yoga in our life and explaining how Yoga practiced continuously benefits to reduce complications during Covid for a healthier body and mind. The video also imparts the message that practicing Yoga in everyday life builds strength in body as well as mind, acts as a useful aid in reducing stress, helps in achieving good immunity, peace and happiness and also prevents depression, diabetes, heart diseases and other ailments. The most important feature of Yoga is that it has potential to be customized as per the individual practicing and it can be performed anywhere. Therefore everyone can practice Yoga without any constraints.
The event was successfully organized remotely and it received an overwhelming response from all quarters of the University.