Legal awareness is crucial for individuals to defend their rights and contribute to the pursuit of justice. In India, the lack of awareness is a major cause of the country's lag behind developed nations. Non-profit government organizations, such as Hamari Pahchan, play a significant role in raising legal awareness. Hamari Pahchan has organized campaigns like 'Dristhi' to instill life skills and promote personality development. It also aims to bridge the gap between privileged and underprivileged children by providing them with access to digital devices and technology.

Legal awareness increases awareness of legal rights and remedies, improving access to justice, especially for marginalized communities. Collaboration between government, civil society organizations, and other parties is essential for developing inclusive legal awareness programs. Hamari Pahchan aims to fulfill the challenges faced by the Indian legal system, including high litigation costs, disparities in legal access, inadequate legal knowledge, and limited legal aid services.

Introduction
Ignorance of the law is no excuse [ignorantia Juris non-excusat]. Even a layman is expected to have a basic understanding of the law and his rights and responsibilities. This empowers individuals to defend their rights and contribute to the pursuit of justice. The lack of awareness in Indian society is the cause of our country's lag behind developed nations. Is anyone arguing that people in wealthy nations lack awareness? Without a doubt, no, because awareness both precedes and follows development.

What is Legal awareness?

Legal awareness, also referred to as 'legal consciousness,' refers to an individual's understanding and knowledge of the law. It involves educating people about the law, its creation, application and the concept of the rule of law. A person can demand justice only when he is aware of what is just and unjust according to the law. Knowledge of the different organs and machinery of the legal system encourages individuals to take action against injustice.

Non-profit government organizations are among the many groups that participate in raising legal awareness (NGO). One such NGO is Hamari Pahchan, which is based in New Delhi, India's legislative hub. Hamari Pahchan is a believer in honesty, openness, fairness, and equity. It aspires to a world full of hope, tolerance, and equity, where there is no poverty and everyone lives with a sense of dignity and security.

Hamari Pahchan NGO and its projects related to education

Hamari Pahchan has organized several campaigns before. One such campaign or project was 'Dristhi'. The project's objectives were to instill fundamental life skills, give them the confidence to seize important chances for a bright future, and promote overall personality development. This non-profit group arranged weekly classes, outreach expansion, distribution drives for required extras like textbooks and stationery, and programs for vocational training and personality development.

In the words of itself, "The number of children struggling with illiteracy in India is alarming. As per the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 32 million children in India have never even seen the face of a school. Moreover, the Education Ministry revealed that 29 million children do not have access to necessary digital devices. Current scenario highlights the need to bridge the gap between the privileged and the underprivileged children."

The NGO team further talks about their "Gadgetshala" initiative under this project. Its main objective is to enhance a child's learning experience by using technology and the internet to give Drishti Classes. Children are placed in groups with mentors who help them along the way and make sure they have easy access to resources.

Hamari Pahchan has undertaken numerous undertakings and initiatives, of which this is just one example. With the current situation in mind, it intends to start another effort aimed at raising legal knowledge.

Importance Of Legal Awareness:

• Hamari Pahchan describes several instances of how being aware about one's rights can give them a sense of security.
• It increases awareness regarding legal rights and remedies which in turn improves access to justice. It is particularly important for marginalized communities, such as women, children and rural residents, as they face multiple barriers to access legal support.
• It ensures that people are aware of their legal rights and responsibilities, including key legal concepts like equality before the law and protection from discrimination.
• It encourages legal compliance by educating people about their legal responsibilities and the consequences of noncompliance.
• Legal awareness empowers people with the knowledge and tools they need to report corruption and other forms of misconduct, resulting in a reduction in corruption.

Legal knowledge is essential to upholding justice, law, and order in society. Hamari Pahchan believes that by giving people and communities the information and awareness of their rights and responsibilities as well as the means to seek redress when those rights are violated, it empowers them.

Given the complexity of Indian law, legal knowledge is even more important. Collaboration between the government, civil society organizations, and other pertinent parties is also essential to developing inclusive legal awareness programs and activities that are available to all.

NGO's efforts in realizing this issue

A legal awareness survey was conducted by a member of Hamari Pahchan which showed results of how much legal awareness does common people possess. Upon analyzing the results, it was concluded that only two people out of every ten people knew their legal rights and how to defend themselves against injustice done to them. But what about the others? Who will make the other eight people aware about their legal rights and duties? Hamari Pahchan NGO strives to take responsibility and fulfill it.

Not only NGOs but the government, too, has taken various initiatives before for creating legal awareness among the citizens of its country. This NGO strives to take this vision of government further and organize various legal awareness campaigns around Delhi and spread a word of legal rights, with special emphasis on the people of rural areas or people with less means of gathering information.

Afterall, it is not just the duty of a government but also the organizations as well. As you may remember, during his remarks on National Legal Services Day, our Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji stressed the importance of "Sabka Nyaya" in addition to "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas." This NGO, therefore, feels it is appropriate to bring up a number of issues and obstacles to accessing justice at this time.

Conclusion:
Among the concerns that plague us all are the high expense of litigation, the disparity in the ability of each litigant to benefit from the legal system, inadequate legal knowledge, onerous litigation procedures, and the caliber of legal aid services accessible to the underprivileged and disenfranchised. Though the legal aid camps, legal aid clinics and legal awareness programmes are being conducted regularly, we still have a long way to go in creating awareness on legal rights among the public in general and actual ways of getting redressal through the legal system in particular.

'Hamari Pahchan' aims at fulfilling these gaps and promoting legal awareness through their campaigns and projects for which it is obliged to welcome any person who is willing to volunteer for this initiative and bring out the positive impact in the society.

Apply here to be a volunteer for legal awareness campaign:

• https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf9hpXpAgNpehZkbUAeDberamLh_C5gmkmOoeIS81h31s_dhw/viewform