The India Legal Research Foundation will on Saturday, June 10, launch the much-awaited multilingual India Legal App, a path-breaking legal helpline that allows every citizen of India to access high calibre legal help from the safety of her/his home at the touch of a button.

The India Legal App will be launched by former Chief Justice of India Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah, who is also the Chief Patron of India Legal magazine,  in Bengaluru. Several legal luminaries of the country will attend the event online in a webinar.

Former Chief Justice of India Justice U.U. Lalit, Attorney General R. Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Senior Advocate and Balaji Foundation Chairperson Pradeep Rai, National Law University Delhi Vice Chancellor Prof (Dr) GS Bajpai, Former IIM Bangalore Dean Prof Trilochan Sastry, Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association President Manoj K. Mishra and India Legal Editor-in-Chief Inderjit Badhwar will take part in the webinar. The event will be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube on the India Legal and APN News accounts.

The India Legal App intends to change the way legal aid is made available to the people. The app gives ease of access, as a person can have a jargon-free discussion on complex matters with lawyers.

The complete assurance of privacy and easy payment methods is certain to make the legal experience of people very different from interminable hassles they may have heard about.

The app can be used in 6 Indian languages,  including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and Punjabi.  

The app is also useful in times of distress as a person sensing trouble or threat can contact a legal ‘friend’ till the time the police arrives.

Lawyers associated with the India Legal App assure to help people 24×7, ready to guide them through extremely tough situations, wherever they are in the country.

The India Legal App is an embodiment of trust and faith. Any individual can install this app on their mobile and directly communicate with a lawyer.

Slowly, this facility will extend to even those without mobile phones. They can avail of this service through their nearest common service centres, or Jan Suvidha Kendra/Setu/e-Seva Kendra/Pragya Kendra.

The service will be available at a reasonable cost, which can then also be paid at that service centre.

The India Legal App services include:

• 1. Free legal advice over the phone.

• 2. Payment of a specified amount for legal advice through audio and video calls.

• 3. Payment of a specified amount for document preparation.

• 4. Payment of annual membership fees to receive legal services.

Additionally, the India Legal App provides legal information and related videos to ensure users of the India Legal App are well-informed about legal matters.

India Legal is a respected politico-legal weekly magazine (both print and online) in the country, with complete professional journalistic and expert inputs. Its readers include lawyers, law firms and those related to the judiciary and justice system.

The India Legal Research Foundation (ILRF) is a non-profit organisation equipped with senior lawyers and devoted to bring justice to those who deserve it, but cannot afford it. ILRF provides free legal aid to the deserving and people in need.

The BJP and the Congress are divided over the inclusion of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in chapters of school textbooks in Karnataka.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar said the alleged removal of the chapters on the RSS founder was a crime against Youth. The BJP has hit out at the Karnataka government demanding an apology that it is distorting history.

BJP Leader CN Ashwath Narayan said the Congress should take its time and should not take decisions in a hurry. He further added, as a government it should take into account the concerns of all sections of the society.

While the Congress MLC BK Hari Prasad said the Karnataka government will not include chapters on the RSS founder because he considered him as a coward and a fake freedom fighter.

Karnataka Education minister Madhu Bangarappa said the school syllabus will be changed from this year itself. He said old textbooks would not be recalled but supplementary textbooks will be sent to the teachers explaining what topics to be taught and what topics to be left out.

He said the changes in the syllabus was being made keeping in mind the future of the children. He added, the Congress had already made the announcement in the pre election manifesto itself.

He did not go into the details and said a special technical team is going to handle the process of revision of the textbooks.

The Congress had promised in thier election manifesto that they would remove the National Education Policy. He also added, the changes in the syllabus would be minimum so that no inconvenience is caused to the students in their studies.

The technical team will give their suggestions and recommendations which will be sent to the Education Minister.The Minister will discuss the changes in the syllabus with the cabinet members. This process will take 10-15 days.

After winning the recent held state election, the Congress said they are going to change the syllabus of the textbooks. They said they are not going to allow texts and lessons to poison the minds of their children.   

Maharahstra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday took serious note of the death threat issued to Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar earlier today by unknown persons.

Shinde said he has spoken to senior police officers and given instructions for investigation into the tweets. Shinde said Sharad Pawar’s safety will be fully taken care of by the state.

A Twitter user posted saying the NCP chief will meet the same fate as rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, who was shot dead in Pune on August 20, 2013.

In his reaction, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said threatening any leader or overstepping the bounds of civility while expressing oneself on social media will not be tolerated.

Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, the Baramati Member of Parliament, met Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar and demanded immediate action. She submitted printouts of the death threat to the police. Earlier on Friday, Sule told media that Sharad Pawar has received threats through a website. Claiming such actions as “low-level politics”, Sule urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Maharashtra Home Minister to look into the matter.

Sharad Pawar is a critical leader for the Opposition formation in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The veteran leader has been a bridge for several regional parties in their interaction with former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

Pawar had himself outed the challenge within the NCP posed by several people, including nephew Ajit Pawar, by threatening to resign as NCP president. Grassroots leaders of the NCP prevailed upon Pawar not to resign from the party leadership, thereby stalemating potential plans for the NCP to bail out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and ally itself with the BJP.

Pawar will be attending the Opposition jamboree in Patna, Bihar on June 23 where senior opposition leaders from a range of parties will be attending. The meet which was initially slated for June 12 had to be called off since Rahul Gandhi was away on his US trip.