Senior Partner at AZB & Partners Aditya Vikram Bhat has pledged to support legal information portal Nyaaya, incubated at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, for its work in Karnataka as a mentor and donor for the next four years.
Nyaaya launched its Samvidhaan Fellowship in Karnataka this month, with the objective to empower seven district lawyers to work with its partner organizations to create contextual legal information in Kannada, conduct legal awareness programmes, and help women and children navigate the legal system.
Speaking to Bar & Bench on the Fellowship and Bhat's support, Team Lead at Nyaaya Anisha Gopi shared,
"I am very happy that the legal community is coming together to improve legal awareness and make justice mechanisms more accessible. Support from lawyers like Aditya who see the value in our work and stand by our vision is truly heartening. This kind of support will go a long way in helping reach many more people from underserved communities and help them navigate the system with greater ease.
Through the fellowship, our fellows will answer questions that these communities may have regarding the law that is relevant to their lives. They will also provide navigational support to help people access their rights…These fellows will be supported by our Access to Justice network, which is a network of about 640 lawyers and law students from across the country… Aditya is funding a part of these costs for the next four years.
We are grateful to Aditya for his multi-year donation and hope that more lawyers come forward to help Nyaaya achieve its vision."
On supporting the cause, Bhat said,
"Dāna or giving is an essential part of our scriptures. Knowledge and material wealth are firstly required to be gained by honest means. They are also required to be shared before consuming. This is also a continuation of my tribute to my father's legacy, the Col Prakash Manik Bhat Memorial Scholarship at NLSIU, which helps aspiring lawyers.
This collaboration with Nyaaya is a natural progression and will help ensure that the knowledge of the law (and the ensuing empowerment) reaches under-served parts of our communities. Nyaaya's platform and the fellowship stipend will also widen the pool of lawyers willing to deploy part of their knowledge and time in service to the community. This effort with Nyaaya is therefore a force multiplier."
Nyaaya is an open-access, digital resource that provides simple, actionable, reliable and accessible legal information to the masses in multiple formats and languages, helping people with their day-to-day legal problems.