Legal Education for The Civil Society

By Prof PB Sharma

Order, Order, Order, is the rule of the game for a society deeply rooted in the practice of Dharma, a way of life-based on the righteous conduct and character of its people in the civic society in which the Dharma ordains for one and all to ensure equality of opportunity, liberty, the freedom to excel and the responsibility to promote peaceful co-existence and harmony all around. Such a Dharma was codified as laws of a civilized society that safeguarded the principles of truth, purity of actions, pious intent and engagement in noble deeds, and living a life of divine that created bliss and happiness in abundance.

In such a law-abiding society the codes of Dharma were implemented through the instruments of law. The responsibility for the compliance of these laws was on the citizens themselves who were inspired to self-regulate themselves through Aatma-Saiyam¬. But the society and the government were also utmost vigilant to ensure the strict compliance of the laws, and the codes of Dharma.

Further, the compliance with law, the Dharma was considered to have a greater meaning and purpose beyond maintaining orderly behavior and righteous conduct. It was to create an environment in which the nobility flourishes unhindered and life becomes a celebration of divinity in action.

The Manu Smiriti describes Dharma as having 10 fold attributes of the code of conduct these include – Patience, Dhriti, Forgiveness, Chhama, Courage to uphold the righteous path, Dam, Honesty, Astheya, internal and external Purity, Swacch, Control of senses, Atma Sanyam, use of intellect and insight, Dhi, Intense Urge to aspire for higher levels of knowledge, Vidhya, Negating anger, Akrodh and Truthfulness, strict adherence to Satya.

धृतिः क्षमा दमोऽस्तेयं शौचमिन्द्रियनिग्रहः ।
धीर्विद्या सत्यमक्रोधो दशकं धर्मलक्षणम् ॥धर्मलक्षणम् ६.९२॥
दश लक्षणानि धर्मस्य ये विप्राः समधीयते ।
अधीत्य चानुवर्तन्ते ते यान्ति परमां गतिम् ॥गतिम् ६.९३॥

A profound understanding of the Dharma, the codes of law, and the engagement in its practice was part and parcel of the education system that nurtured capability, competence, and caliber together with character skills of personal integrity, professional morality, and service above self. As such legal education was integral to the education system in ancient India, the wonder that it was, a golden eagle of the world and the brightest star of the east that glowed its wisdom far and wide.

During my early childhood days, I witnessed such an India in the village where I was born and also in the town of Vidisha, where I grew up. The Crime was unheard of and the breach of Dharma was not only a sin but was also seen as a curse of God. The individuals were self-regulated and the society was vigilant enough to avoid the need for government interference for the maintenance of law and order and for controlling crimes and abetments of law.

However, as we came to modern education driven by career aspirations and the urge to lead a life full of material prosperity, education became largely an instrument to empower people with capabilities and create an intense urge to compete with each other with strong career goals and business aspirations.

This made modern education disconnect from nurturing the character skills through education as the focus shifted on Capabilities, Competence, and Caliber (The 3 C’s) leaving the 4th and most important C- Character, for the individual to nurture as they deem fit.

The upbringing in the family environment that groomed the sanskaras and the social pressure that ensured the march of individuals on the path of a righteous way of life gradually faded away, leaving the government to wield its power to enforce the laws and to regulate the behaviour of man.

The responsibility of regulating the conduct and behavior of the citizens can not be left only to the Government or to the judiciary. “If the education system remains disconnected from nurturing the dimension of Character skills relating to nurturing truthfulness, mindfulness and a caring and compassionate attitude deeply committed to complying with the laws and self regulates itself and if the society remains indifferent to regulating its people no amount of laws can suffice to create a law-abiding citizenship”.

We in India are paying a heavy price for the loss of civic sense. The disorderly behavior of our people has already created heaps of unhappiness, including enormous environmental air and water pollution making India figure in the list of a country having almost 15 out of 21 most polluted cities in the world including the National Capital of Delhi and its satellite towns of Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida and the millennium city of Gurugram!. The lack of traffic discipline and chaos on roads and highways has made India listed as the country with the maximum number of deaths in road accidents as the traffic rules are violated at the cost of life of our citizens. No wonder the indifference in society is causing no concern to the lawmakers who perhaps believe that it suffices to make laws and consider it fit not to spend much effort in creating vital awareness about the laws, least to make people aware that it makes a good civic sense to comply with the laws and live an orderly righteous life.

What makes us sad is the fact that despite India repeatedly figuring in the bottom-most countries in the list in the happiness index it makes no dent in either the society or the government, perhaps believing that all will be well one day, which never shall be by itself.

So the moot question is, what can be done to cause a rapid change in the state of affairs, and what role legal education can play in creating law-abiding citizenship that shall conform to the clarion calls of integrity, truthfulness, and honesty so badly needed in the digital age in which we have now entered with a big bang.

Thanks to Covid 19 for causing the descent of the digital age much faster than we ever anticipated and the digital transformation to penetrate at a much faster pace than ever before. Thanks to the Government of India for its policy thrust on accelerating digital transformation in all sectors of the economy and human endeavours.

First and foremost the message should go in the heart and mind of each citizen in India that the laws are for the welfare and well-being of one and all. And it is the fundamental duty of every citizen to obey the laws and be on the side of law-abiding citizenship.

It requires a massive awareness campaign to be launched by the government and the civic society together. Now that social media has been seen as a powerful tool to impact the behaviour of people at large, why not use this powerful instrument for mass awakening and for creating both awareness as well as the commitment to shaping Indian society as a law-abiding society? This will also reduce the burden of court cases and shall create layers of contentment and happiness.

The second is to integrate legal education and the awareness of basic civil and criminal laws in education from school levels onwards. As also sensitizes the children about the positive impact of the compliance of laws for their own well-being and welfare.

The gens are to be embedded with the law-abiding cells early in life as was done in ancient times through upbringing and family environment for nurturing the samskaras and universal values.

Law enforcement agencies are well advised to keep society at large on their side as much of the compliance is created by social pressures like the corporate culture impacting the compliance of corporate code of conduct and possessing with pride the value system that modern corporations are so proud of. A much greater synergy between law-enforcing agencies and civic society is needed to achieve success in this regard.

Legal education in the universities should not remain confined only to those seeking legal education for degrees and diplomas but also be integrated into the curriculum of all the degree programs offered by the university.

A greater knowledge of legal aspects of technology and science has now become as important as the enforcement of civil and criminal laws. As such the curriculum innovations should create space for taking on board the legal education of the program-specific laws and their impact on the wellbeing and welfare of society at large.

On top of legal education and the mass awareness that I have talked about above, urgent reforms are needed in the legal framework and in the way law enforcement agencies work. The millions of cases currently pending in lower courts could be disposed of by fast-track hearings by civic courts moving from village to village and town to town in tier 2 and tier 3 towns of India. Something like family courts for conflict resolution would do wonders in large number of civil and revenue cases. It is possible and should be attempted to create a fair and just society that shall promote both the awareness of the law as well as enhance the faith in the system that delivers justice.

In summing up we need to awaken the public at large for the value and worth of a law-abiding citizenship as also to create the environment to keep the public at large on the side of the law. Compliance to the law then will become a habit and the abetment of the law an exception. Peace and harmony shall then descend in society and India would reap a much bigger gain from its economic growth and development. Nobility shall flourish in the society and life in India would in a true sense become a celebration of divinity in action.

I have a dream that one day in my own life we the people of India shall live in such a law-abiding society in our country. Coming generations shall then rejoice with delight Sare Janha se Aachha Hindustan Hamara. The Mother India then shall bless us with abundance of happiness and the global community shall take India as their Guru.

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The author Prof PB Sharma is the past President of AIU, Founder Vice Chancellor of DTU and RGPV, President of the World Academy of Higher Education and Development, former Professor of IITDelhi, and Vice Chancellor of Amity University Gurugram.

The views expressed are the personal views of the author.