Legal rights on the back of a song

M.D. Pallavi at the launch of the Namma Nade Nyaayada Kade series.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Singer, actor, and filmmaker M.D. Pallavi’s rendition of ‘Shaalege Hogo Makkalu Naavu’ (We are school-going children) offers a blend of music and a message about the importance of education in children’s lives. The song’s simple, catchy tune emphasises the role education plays in shaping young minds.

This is the latest offering by Nyaaya, an organisation that strives to make law accessible. Written by poet Mamta Sagar, the song is the voice of every child aspiring for a bright future and a nation built on the strong foundation of education. The song effortlessly underscores the opportunities that formal education provides while shining a light on the importance of the Right to Education Act (RTI) and the Prohibition of Child Labour Act. It serves as a call to all parents to break the chains of child labour and ensure that every child can access education without barriers.

A series of songs

Speaking to The Hindu, singer and composer of the song Pallavi says, “This is a series of songs I am composing for Nyaaya, which has a group of women who are working with women and children, and the rural community, to help them understand their rights, equip them with what is legally right, and help them understand complex jargon of the legal language.” 

Pallavi says that the songs are being produced under the project Namma Nade Nyaayada Kade by Nyaaya. “They thought that music is something very useful for reaching out this kind of information to the target audience. When they approached me with this project, I realised that it is very challenging to take legal jargon and convert it into hummable or singable words. So, I asked Mamata Sagar to come on board and pen the lyrics,” she says. Pallavi adds that her focus while composing the songs was to make sure they are very easily accessible in terms of language, tune, musicality, and should have a recall value.

“Shaalege Hogo Makkalu Naavu” is Nyaaya’s second song, which has earlier also produced a song on domestic violence, also composed by Pallavi. The first song was called “Sahisabekilla Neevu” (You don’t have to tolerate), which talks about not having to tolerate violence from anyone in the domestic space, and how one can go to the police, NGOs and other help groups or talk to people in their own surroundings if they are feeling violated, and not feel alone with their struggle. Pallavi says that her next song with Nyaaya will be on child marriage, and it will be released soon. 

Anisha Gopi, team lead at Nyaaya says, “Nyaaya is committed to make legal information available in more accessible and innovative format. Namma Nade Nyaayada Kade, this specially curated series composed and sung by M.D. Pallavi with lyrics by Mamta Saga throws light on the legal rights of women and children.”

Team Nyaaya at the launch of the Namma Nade Nyaayada Kade series.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRAGEMENT

Nyaya’s larger work

Conceived by Rohini Nilekani and incubated at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Nyaaya, launched in November 2016, focuses specifically on making the laws accessible for non-lawyers. According to the founders, the organistion is an open-access repository of simple, actionable, reliable, and accessible legal (SARAL) information, incubated at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

Over the past seven years, Nyaaya has impacted over two crore users both online and offline by demystifying legal knowledge and ensuring access to justice by creating over 2,500 content pieces in text, video and audio formats in multiple languages, say the organisers. The organisation also mobilised 640 legal volunteers to empower grassroot communities and to make them legal champions, they say.

Stalls at the launch of the Namma Nade Nyaayada Kade series.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRAGEMENT

Samvidhaan fellowship

Last year, Nyaaya launched the Samvidhaan fellowship in Karnataka, a unique initiative where seven district lawyers were onboarded to work with over 12 Karnataka-based, community-based organisations to provide on-ground legal support to grassroot communities, directly reaching more than 5000 women and children within its first year. Nyaaya is also replicating this model to create its footprints in Bihar through its Nyaay Naari initiative. The organisation also runs a WhatsApp based helpline, ‘Ask Nyaaya‘, to answer legal questions. According to staff at Nyaaya, they answer more than 100 queries on WhatsApp every week. 

Gap in access

“Indian laws are not only difficult to understand but also challenging to recall. This creates a huge gap in accessing justice among underserved communities. Nyaaya is committed to bridging this gap through engaging and innovative formats. Our songs series, Namma Nade Nyaayada Kade is a testament to that commitment, and we are glad to have joined forces with Pallavi in making this vision a reality,” says Anisha.