IDEAL Foundation for Social and Economic Development (IFSED) is a not-for-profit company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 operating under the aegis of Centre for Social Justice. The broad objective of the company is to make the overall legal system of India more accessible and to strengthen the system from both ends – that of the service provider and service seeker – so as to ensure access to justice.
Nyayika is a pioneering project of IFSED through which it brings professional legal services at affordable rates to the doorstep of vulnerable communities and people at large. IFSED undertakes activities to promote social and economic development of poor and marginalized people of the society irrespective of gender, caste, creed and religious faith. Legal aid and awareness among the poor and vulnerable is one of the main activities of IFSED.
It has been seen that people from disadvantaged communities often lack knowledge about their legal rights. Where there is awareness, people are unable to enforce and exercise their rights due to bottlenecks in the system. People are apprehensive about approaching the court of law for enforcing the rights because of complicated legal procedures, high fees of lawyers and delay of resolution. IFSED facilitates access to justice by organizing legal aid and awareness programmes for the disadvantaged community. Training of lawyers and paralegals is another focus area of IFSED. These trainings not only build capacities of lawyers and paralegals on the law and procedures but also focus on sensitization of the lawyers and paralegals on issues which people face at the grassroots. The objective behind this is to enable the lawyers and paralegals to respond better to the needs of people from disadvantaged communities.
