1. The knowledge of one’s body and mind in connection with the society and nature is broadly termed as education. Laws are both nature-made and man-made. Science and art reveal the mysteries of nature and society and equip us with the broad knowledge to face life boldly and honorably and to perpetuate human race. Likewise, the laws that are made by man for the well-being of all must be studied in order to assess and judge one’s position in the society. Each country has its own set of civil and criminal codes legitimized and internalized for its citizens. If the normal literacy is measured in terms of reading, writing and arithmetic the legal literacy is measured in terms of one’s knowledge of the laws that determine his or her social status in any given society.

2.  If the rising crime levels are any indication and if growing atrocities on women and children are taken into consideration we can safely conclude that we have far-from-desired legal literacy levels in our country.

3.  Human being is a social animal and he or she cannot live without interdependence and bonhomie in the society. There are certain tendencies in the society which can be termed as harmful. The source of harm can be an individual or an institution. We must avoid harm and to avoid harm we must know its nature in relation to us and how it can be controlled and regulated through law. Laws help us in gaining precisely that knowledge as they deal with legal relations between and among various subjects. Hence we got to know the laws to determine our social status.

4.  Easily the ones who are far removed from the realms of legal awareness, one would say. Majority of those who are put to exploitation, be it economic or social, are illiterates. The discrimination against women and children can be distinctly seen even today. The dalits and the disabled fare no better, not to speak of the plight of the tribal population. In one word, who ever is economically, politically and socially rendered insecure are the vulnerable and marginalized people and the degree of vulnerability is relative.

5.  Alert is born out of the realization that until and unless the level of legal awareness (which cannot be de-linked from the general awareness) is significantly higher harmonious and vibrant society cannot be ushered into our midst. In fact, ALERT is the brain child of a committed set of persons who floated an LPO, Acumen Legal Services Pvt. Limited that caters to the global clientele on legal outsourcing matters. As a corollary to it and after months of insight gained in the legal sector it was thought fit to bring into being an NGO that volunteers to spread the legal awareness and legal literacy in our country, particularly among the marginalized and vulnerable sections of the society. That is the minimum commitment and social responsibility that ALERT can pledge to its fellow beings.

6.  Various means and dynamics are devised to reach out to the poor and marginalized in the spread of legal literacy. Helping the poor students in the pursuit of their law studies by providing them material and appropriate counseling and coaching, designing simplified modules and training materials to spread legal literacy, conducting and organizing trainings and workshops, interface with the media, creation of youth and women legal clubs who can be groomed as catalysts in this goal are some of the plans ALERT presently considers in the advancement of its goal.

7.   ALERT understands that in order to spread legal literacy among the poor and marginalized sections of the society it has to endear itself to them first. Hence community development activities and other social mobilization strategies are planned to reach out to the people. As it is a sustained and continuous process ALERT strives to create permanent structures and systems that will take forward the good work already initiated. Formation of youth and women legal clubs that are trained on several aspects of law will be in place. Linkages and networking with both the government institutions and other NGOs and CBOs are also in the pipeline. In fine, ALERT adopts a comprehensive and multi-layered strategy to spread the legal literacy in the country with the help of all those who share its vision and who are willing to contribute their time and resources to make it a success in order to create a better society.

8.   It is a society in which all the legitimate needs of the people are well met with minimum conflict and litigation without any trace of discrimination. A knowledgeable populace can certainly be the harbingers of such a society.

9.   There are many living proofs around us that clearly show that if the people are better educated, particularly in the laws of the land then the possibility of a better organized society is possible though the litigation cannot be completely eradicated. Thus in most of the countries in Europe and even in the USA one can see that the needs and wants of the people are met in a better way and the informed citizenry can make their respective governments amenable to their views and choices.

10.   Social empowerment means the social empowerment of the vulnerable people. And it empowers them with all the necessary knowledge and courage to question the indignities harped on them in order to assert their position in the society to justify the principle of equality of law or right to equality enshrined in out Constitution.

11.   It is clear from the foregoing that legal literacy is critical and in fact a sine qua non for a healthy democracy. Tolstoy says that the strength of any government (let’s say autocratic government) lay in people’s ignorance and the more the people are ignorant the more will be the exploitation in general as people are not aware of their rights enshrined in the Constitution and in other legislations. In fact, some of the fundamental rights like right to life, right to equality, right against discrimination etc. and loudly proclaimed by the national and international covenants and backed by the civilized world. It is the responsibility of the democratically elected government to see that literacy in general and legal literacy in particular spreads and the citizens play a more effective role in preserving and propagating democratic spirit and ideals and the foremost duty is to protect the human rights of the citizens, more so the marginalized sections of the society. It is also the responsibility of the non-governmental organization like ALERT to actively cohabit with the government and other line agencies in spreading legal literacy in order to uphold the human rights. It is no exaggeration to say that  the protection of human rights of the citizens of any nation is directly proportional to the extent and spread of legal literacy in that country.