UPSC Mains 2023 · GS II · Q2 · 10 marks · 150 words

Who are entitled to receive free legal aid ? Assess the role of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) in rendering free legal aid in India.

हिन्दी में

निःशुल्क कानूनी सहायता प्राप्त करने के हकदार कौन हैं ? निःशुल्क कानूनी सहायता के प्रतिपादन में राष्ट्रीय विधि सेवा प्राधिकरण (एन.ए.एल.एस.ए.) की भूमिका का आकलन कीजिए ।

How a topper answered the closest question

Toppers wrote this one in a test series: “Discuss the role played by District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) in providing free legal aid and disseminating legal awareness in India.”

Aditya SrivastavaAIR 1 · CSE 2023 · 184 wordsTheir whole copy

Opening · a constitutional or legal provision

The Article 41 of Constitution exhorts to provide free legal aid and Article 39A was the basis for Legal Services Authorities.

Body · points

Role played by District Legal Services Authority

  1. Providing free legal aid
  • have separate cadre of lawyers for the poor.
  • Accessible justice due to near zero cost of justice.
  • provide necessary support to poor in filing & administrative work.
  1. Disseminating legal awareness
  • Organize weekly or monthly camps for awareness.

Eg: Nyaya camps in Lucknow.

  • Provide pamphlets door to door.
  • Have even started radio based awareness drives at some places.

However, there are lacunae

  1. Lack of adequate funding → depend on NGOs support.
  2. Lack of top quality lawyers → justice not equal.
  3. Lack of adequate infrastructure → mostly dont even have offices with printer, scanner, etc.
  4. Tedious nature of our legal system → 5 crore pendency (NJDG data) → unaccessible justice.

Way forward

  1. Compulsory intern for the law college graduates.
  2. Provide top quality lawyers via negotiating with Bar Councils.

Close · a way forward

This would help to uphold Justice as in Preamble.

2 more toppers’ answers to this question, part by part, and how they all approached it: open the question.

Toppers’ answers to other close questions

Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Main) Examination 2023, General Studies Paper II, Q2. The paper on upsc.gov.in. Themes and links to toppers’ answers are by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.