Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP)

About Us

The Rationale

Poverty remains a persistent challenge in numerous countries, impacting significant proportions of their populations. Poverty reduction has been the goal for not only national governments, but also for international, multilateral, and regional organizations. Governments and international organizations implemented a variety of poverty reduction strategies, and, in some selected country contexts, they have been successful.

There has been agreement at the global level that poverty manifests itself multidimensionally, and it does not mean lack of income and wealth only. Poverty, as lack of choices and opportunities in life, is an important dimension that influences all other dimensions of poverty, such as access to health and education. Self-empowerment of an individual is necessary for them to be able to exercise choices and access opportunities.

Law has been used as a strategy for poverty eradication, but the approaches have always been top-down where people were treated as beneficiaries, giving little scope to improve their agency and choice. Moreover, the focus of these strategies was legal institutions and lawyers rather than people. Furthermore, another limitation to these strategies was that these were implemented in selected countries’ contexts only.

Legal empowerment of the poor presented a viable alternative in the 2000s when it came to the forefront for the first time. Empowerment has been a buzzword in academia and the non-profit sector over the last few decades. However, legal empowerment of the poor has not received much attention.

The Concept

Hosted by the United Nations, the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor was established in 2005, and it submitted its report in 2008. The Commission proposed an operational Legal Empowerment of the Poor (LEP) framework with four pillars. The four pillars are access to justice and the rule of law, property rights, labour rights, and ‘business rights. It also recommended two enabling conditions – ‘identity’ and ‘voice’, along with the four pillars.

Of the two conditions, ‘identity’ refers to the person’s legal identity. ‘Voice’ refers to the person’s ability to express their opinions and take part in the decision-making process. Of the four pillars, access to justice and rule of law is about making the formal judicial systems and other public institutions more accessible by recognizing and integrating customary and informal legal institutions into the formal systems.

The second pillar of property rights highlights the human right of ownership of property individually or in an association. The third pillar is labour rights, which advocates for the replacement of low productivity, low earnings, and high risks with the fulfilment of the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the Decent Work Agenda. The fourth pillar of the LEP agenda is business rights. Business rights are rights related to the businesses that people are developing and are engaged in.

In the legal empowerment approach, the most important characteristic is that the attorneys and lawyers do not act as specialists, but as partners to give equal importance to members of the community they serve. Another significant feature of the legal empowerment approach is the prominent role played by civil society organizations in it. The legal empowerment agenda tends to be more adaptable to civil society organizations, including local and national NGOs and community-based organizations.

The Centre

The Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP) is a joint initiative of the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy and Jindal Global Law School. This partnership is essential to achieve this synergy between policy and law in designing various interventions to explore theoretical and practical questions related to the LEP. Each of the schools will bring the following expertise and knowledge to CLEP.

Jindal School of Government and Public Policy (JSGP)

Knowledge of government policies and programs related to poverty reduction.
Knowledge of policies and programs related to access to justice and the rule of law, and labour, property, and business rights.
Knowledge of interventions that have been used along with LEP strategies such as identity, voice, social mobilization etc.
Experience working with communities, community organizations and mobilization.

Jindal Global Law School

Access to justice and the rule of law
Knowledge and experience of legal interventions such as legal aid, pro bono lawyering, Public Interest Litigation, Alternative Dispute Redressal methods such as mediation and paralegal training etc
Knowledge of the judiciary, law, lawyers, and legislation
Experience in running legal aid clinics, legal aid training and legal aid outreach.

Objective: To foster research, teaching, and practice of Legal Empowerment of the Poor

Proposed Activities

Scoping study of civil society organizations working in India with the help of LEP strategies
Review and compilation of laws, schemes, and programs related to property, labour, and business rights in India.
Policy paper series on relevant issues related to the LEP agenda in India.
Collaboration with civil society organisations in Haryana and Delhi and creating an opportunity for students to participate in activities related to legal literacy, paralegal training, and dispute resolution (Creating a practice lab for students)

Team

Co-directors: Professor Ajay Panday (JGLS) and Professor (Dr.) Naresh Singh (JSGP)

Founding members:

Professor Pratik Phadkule, Assistant Professor of Practice, JSGP
Kavya Agarwal. LLM (King’s College, London), JGLS Alumni
Abhirami Niranjan. MA PP (JGU), JSGP Alumni

Events

Work with Us

The centre welcomes new members (academics and practitioners) and student members, who will be encouraged to develop and pursue their research interests in areas of the LEP.

The centre welcomes student members who will be encouraged to develop and pursue their research interests.

Please write to Pratik Phadkule at pphadkule@jgu.edu.in

Blog

Introducing the Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP)

Addressing Poverty Through Empowerment and Justice

By: Vanshita Bansal, Student, Jindal Global Law School

In a world where poverty remains a never-ending challenge affecting millions, the need for modern approaches to tackle this issue has never been more important. While government and international organizations have made efforts to cut back poverty, the battle is far from over. Poverty isn’t merely the absence of income and wealth—it’s a multi-dimensional struggle that robs individuals of choices and opportunities. It decides every aspect of their lives from health to education. Providing individuals with the means to make choices and access opportunities is at the core of addressing poverty, and this is where the Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP) comes into play.

Traditional poverty reduction strategies often took a top-down approach, treating individuals as passive beneficiaries. These approaches primarily focused on legal institutions and lawyers, neglecting the importance of empowering people themselves. Moreover, these strategies were often limited in scope, targeting only specific countries.

Legal empowerment of the poor emerged as a groundbreaking alternative in the 2000s. While empowerment had become a buzzword in academia and the non-profit sector, legal empowerment of the poor remained an underexplored concept.

The Concept: Legal Empowerment Framework

In 2005, the United Nations launched the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, releasing its report in 2008. This groundbreaking report introduced the Legal Empowerment of the Poor (LEP) framework, built upon four pillars:

Access to Justice and the Rule of Law: Making formal judicial systems more accessible by recognizing and integrating customary and informal legal institutions.
Property Rights: Affirming the human right to property ownership, whether individually or collectively.
Labour Rights: Advocating for the fulfilment of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the Decent Work Agenda, replacing low productivity, low earnings, and high risks.
Business Rights: Safeguarding the rights of those engaged in business ventures.

Additionally, two enabling conditions were identified: ‘identity,’ referring to legal identity, and ‘voice,’ denoting the ability to express opinions and participate in decision-making processes. In the legal empowerment approach, lawyers do not act as specialists but as partners, giving equal importance to the communities they serve. Civil society organizations play a significant role, making the legal empowerment agenda highly adaptable to their needs.

The Centre

CLEP is a collaborative effort between the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy and the Jindal Global Law School. This partnership is instrumental in combining policy and law to design interventions that address theoretical and practical questions related to the legal empowerment of the poor.

Jindal School of Government and Public Policy (JSGP) brings expertise in government policies, access to justice, the rule of law, labour, property, and business rights. It also brings in the experience of working with communities and community organizations.

Jindal Global Law School contributes knowledge and experience in access to justice, legal aid, pro bono lawyering, Public Interest Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution methods, judiciary, law, lawyers, and legislation. Additionally, it brings the experience of running legal aid clinics, as well as training and outreach.

Our Objective: Fostering Empowerment Through Research and Practice

CLEP is committed to fostering research, teaching, and the practice of Legal Empowerment of the Poor.

Proposed Activities

CLEP envisions a range of activities, including:

Conducting a scoping study of civil society organizations in India utilizing LEP strategies.
Reviewing and compiling laws, schemes, and programs related to property, labour, and business rights in India.
Publishing a policy paper series on relevant issues related to the LEP agenda in India.
Collaborating with civil society organizations in Haryana and Delhi, offering students opportunities for legal literacy, paralegal training, and dispute resolution, and creating a practice lab for students.

Get to Know Our Directors and Innovative Founders

Co-directors

Professor Naresh Singh
Executive Dean, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy

Co-Director, Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor

Professor Ajay Pandey
Professor, Jindal Global Law School

Co-Director, Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP)

Founding Members

Mr. Pratik Phadkule, Assistant Professor of Practice, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy (JSGP)
Ms. Kavya Agarwal, LLM (King’s College, London), JGLS Alumni
Ms. Abhirami Niranjan, MA PP (JGU), JSGP Alumni

Join Us on This Empowering Journey

The Centre extends a warm invitation to new members who wish to join our community, including academics, practitioners, and the student body. We are committed to inspiring individuals to explore and pursue their research within the realm of the LEP.

Stay tuned for further updates and opportunities. Let’s serve as the driving force for a positive change, offering a ray of hope to those in need.

Aatma Nirbhar Mahila of Haryana: A sneak-peek into the lives of Self-Help Group (SHG) workers.

By: Tanya Narang, Student, Jindal Global Law School

In today’s world, women are not just homemakers but are also hardworking entrepreneurs. Women empowerment is not limited to abstract utopia, it has to become a reality. It is the will to work and, not a business school degree that makes a woman empowered. We don’t have to go too far to find examples of empowered women as they live close to us. We see them everywhere from women in the corporate houses to the Ghoonghat women of the village.

Recently, I had the privilege of meeting some hardworking SHG workers of Bheira Bakipur, Sonipat. It has been a remarkable experience to get to know these women. Not only because they treated me with amazing biryani but also because they change the way I perceived village women.

‘Hum saath hai aur hum Aatma Nirbhar hai’ (We are together, and we are self-reliant), said one of the women. A SHG helps in assisting women who want to open their businesses but lack necessary economic and social resources. A SHG isn’t only a place where these women discuss business, but it also becomes a safe space where they discuss and help each other with their personal issues. This newfound independence is more than financial, it instills a sense of autonomy that inspires them to dream bigger and strive for even greater achievements. They are not dependent on their husband’s income anymore. They earn and save money that they have earned by their skill. What do the village women do with the money they save? They unite, pool their savings, and form SHGs that provide each member of the group with loan and other financial assistance at a low interest rate of 1%. What sets this initiative apart is their commitment not only to their own needs but also those of their husbands’ entrepreneurial dreams. This helps in eliminating the frustration that one often faces when seeking loans from traditional banks. Instead of facing financial hurdles, they find support, encouragement, and access to financial resources at the convenience of their home.

In a world where women face unequal treatment on various levels, story of these SHG women is nothing but inspiring. Their journey of self-reliance and perseverance encompasses a wide range of businesses, from crafting homemade pickles to fashioning intricate handmade dolls. The journey of these women is a testament to the power of collaboration, determination, and resilience.

On October 8th, Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP) is set to host a transformative event called the Village Conclave. This conclave aims to discuss Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) and SHGs play a huge part in it. During the conclave, these participants will also have the opportunity to learn how to leverage legal mechanisms for safeguarding their current businesses and explore new opportunities. They will also be setting up stalls at the university during the conclave. This will provide them with a platform to showcase their talent and expand their customer base beyond the village’s boundaries.

I invite you all to attend the Village Conclave to witness the extraordinary talent and entrepreneurial spirit of these women and browse through there stalls. Together we’ll celebrate the power of unity, entrepreneurship, and community. Let’s make a small difference and be a part of their remarkable journey of empowerment.

Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP)