Overview

• The two-day conference in Sonapur, Guwahati was jointly organised by NALSA, the Assam State Legal Services Authority and the Gauhati High Court.
• Justice Surya Kant flagged persistent challenges including high child marriage rates in Bihar, a six-fold surge in NDPS cases in Assam, displacement of tribal communities, the plight of tea garden workers and growing mental-health needs.
• He detailed targeted programmes: DAWN for drug prevention and rehabilitation, ASHA to counter child marriage through education and training, SAMVAD for tribal and denotified communities and legal services for workers in the unorganised sector.
• He announced the NALSA Veer Parivar Sahayata Yojana 2025 to provide free legal aid to families of defence personnel serving in difficult border terrains.
• He said the effort will be judged by tangible outcomes and urged coordinated, tech-enabled outreach, as Assam’s chief minister pledged cooperation and sought harmonising of child-protection and child-marriage laws.