Guwahati, March 8: The Union ministry of law and justice has taken up a project to train 400 lawyers in eight northeastern states to provide legal assistance to disadvantaged sections.

Fifty lawyers each from the eight states empanelled with the state legal service authorities are being trained up by Legal Cell for Human Rights, an NGO based here.

Director of the NGO, Ravi Sagar, told The Telegraph today that the training has been organised as part of the ministry's eight-month-long project to train lawyers to improve the justice system in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir, where there is long problem of conflicts, natural disasters and backwardness.

"We have already conducted training in Imphal (Manipur) from March 1 to 3 and in Aizawl (Mizoram) from March 5 to 7. Fifty lawyers empanelled with the Sikkim state legal service authority will be provided similar training in Gangtok from March 15 and gradually we will organise similar training in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

The NGO has been providing capacity building training to poor and disadvantaged sections to access justice against exploitation, neglect or harassment. It has trained many workers in tea gardens in Assam in seeking legal assistance against deprivation of basic amenities, including proper wages.

The training is being conducted with assistance from the National Legal Service Authority and its state units in the Northeast. The lawyers empanelled with the state legal service authorities provide legal assistance to those who cannot afford legal assistance for justice against violation of their rights, exploitation and deprivation.

"The lawyers were empanelled by the legal service authorities in order to realise the constitutional dream of free legal aid to the weaker and vulnerable sections of society. Hence, in order to discharge their professional duty effectively, adequate qualitative training is essential for all the empanelled advocates," Sagar said.

The training covered subjects such as rights and legislative protection of women, children, the aged, people with disabilities, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, OBCs, poor, victims of natural calamities, ethnic conflicts among others.

"The judges, former judges or senior lawyers who spoke in the training sessions emphasised the upholding of the professional ethics, civil and criminal justice system and laws relating to the vulnerable sections of society. We hope such training will help our lawyers to understand the problems with more compassion and assist those in need," he said.

Justice Kotiswar Singh, Justice B.P. Katakey, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, representatives from state legal service authorities, lawyers, law teachers, state government officials among others attended the training in Manipur and Mizoram.