Law for the people: interactive approaches to legal literacy in India (PLA 53)

The term ‘law’ evokes a variety of reactions and responses. The development sector, at least in India, is on the one hand extremely vigorous in court action, but on the other, minimally informed about the legal system. The myth surrounding law and legal terminology is perhaps the biggest reason for pending litigation and lack of enforcement measures, especially in rural areas. Demystifying law, legal systems and legal literature is crucial. This paper describes one such effort in rural Rajasthan, India.

Guest-editor: Sonja Vermeulen. This special issue of PLA comes from the Power Tools initiative which aimed to develop, test and circulate existing and new tools to bridge key gaps in policy processes and content. These policy tools – tips, tactics and approaches – provide practical help to people working to improve the policies and institutions that govern access to and use of natural resources.

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA, formerly PLA Notes) is the world's leading series on participatory learning and action approaches and methods. PLA publishes articles on participation aimed at practitioners, researchers, academics and activists. All articles are peer-reviewed by an international editorial board. See: www.planotes.org

Keywords: policy, natural resource management (NRM), community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), Power Tools.

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