DISHA 2.0 (Designing Innovative Solutions For Holistic Access To Justice)

Policy Update
Shruti Chandra

Background

India’s commitment to justice is woven into the very fabric of its constitutional identity. The preamble to the Constitution of India embodies this vision by resolving to secure to all its citizens Justice – social, economic and political, affirming that an equitable justice delivery system is indispensable to the constitutional vision. This commitment is further reflected in Article 14.

Moreover, judicial interpretation has also strengthened access to justice under Article 21. In Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar (1979), the Supreme Court held that the right to a speedy trial is an essential ingredient of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21, recognising that effective legal representation is indispensable for meaningful access to justice. Further, Article 22(1) of the constitution requires that any person who is detained be given the right to “consult and to be defended by a legal practitioner of their choice”.

To embed access to justice within the State’s policy framework, the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976, inserted Article 39A into the Directive Principles of State Policy, directing the State to ensure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity and to provide free legal aid so that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.

To give practical effect to it, the government launched a comprehensive, pan-India scheme titled “Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India” (DISHA) in 2021. It was launched for a period of five years (2021-2026) with a total outlay of Rs. 250 crores. The DISHA scheme aims to provide easy, accessible, affordable and citizen-centric delivery of legal services.

Building upon its achievements, DISHA 2.0 has been recently approved as a Central Sector Scheme to be implemented by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, with an approved financial outlay of ₹255 crore for the period of 5 years (2026-27 to 2030-31) for pan-India implementation.

Functioning:

DISHA (2021–2026) originally had three core components:

Tele-Law: Pre-litigation legal advice through CSCs and the Tele-Law App.
Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services): Free legal assistance through registered pro bono advocates.
Legal Literacy & Legal Awareness Programme (LLLAP): Legal awareness and capacity building through Legal Services Institutions under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
Moreover, in order to ensure its widened reach, a dedicated Information Education and Communication (IEC) including (Technology) component has been embedded in DISHA.

DISHA 2.0 (2026-27 to 2030-31) includes four components:

Tele-Law: Reaching the Unreached (free pre litigation advice to all): The Tele-law connects people with panel lawyers through mobile-app and Toll-Free No. 14454 for rendering pre-litigation legal advice and through use of video/tele conferencing facilities available at the Common Service Centres (CSCs)/Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) at the panchayat level. Nyaya Sahayaks, who are active community based legal facilitators, have been engaged in the Aspirational Blocks to strengthen service delivery.

Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono legal Services) Programme: Under Nyaya Bandhu (Pro-Bono Legal Services) Programme, advocates voluntarily provide legal assistance to marginalized and disadvantaged sections of society covered under Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. To strengthen institutional coordination, Pro-Bono panels have been constituted in 23 High Courts across the country. In order to instill a culture of community led pro-bono services amongst law students, Pro-Bono Clubs are functional in the Law Schools/Colleges pan India.

Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness Programme (LLLAP): It envisages engaging with institutions and building partnerships across stakeholder Ministries/Departments, to build capacity of the grassroot workers, legally empower them and spread legal awareness through workshops, webinars, IEC materials, collaboration with Prasar Bharati and others.

VIDHI (Vision for Integrated Delivery of Harmonized Legal Initiatives)-Sanjeevani: It is envisaged as a key component under DISHA 2.0 to enhance the monitoring mechanism of the scheme through development and operationalization of a centralized Integrated Dashboard. The dashboard aims to provide a unified interface integrating real-time data streams from multiple sources to facilitate monitoring of the programme performance, service delivery and implementation progress. VIDHI Sanjeevani targets an overall outreach of 50 lakh beneficiaries over a period of five years i.e., 2026-31 and has no state-specific targets.

The Generative AI powered multilingual and multi-model Nyaya Setu chatbot platform was launched on 29th March, 2026. It helps people understand legal processes, rights, and next steps through simple voice and text interactions across 22 Indian languages through voice-first interface. It utilizes a Hybrid Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture to ensure responses are grounded in statutory legal texts, thereby reducing the risk of AI hallucination.

The Monitoring of the outcome of the DISHA 2.0 Scheme is envisaged through VIDHI- Sanjeevani, a Centralized Integrated Dashboard apart from regular review meetings, field visits and direct feedback by way of regional workshops and through a dedicated Programme Management Unit (PMU).

Performance:

The erstwhile DISHA Scheme (2021-26), with a financial outlay of Rs. 250 crore, was implemented by the Department of Justice on a pan India scale. As on 31st May 2026, the DISHA Scheme had achieved a cumulative outreach of over 2.37 crore beneficiaries, comprising 1.13 crore+ pre-litigation legal advices under Tele-Law, 10,681 registered Pro-Bono Advocates along with 109 Pro-Bono Clubs established across 31 States/UTs under Nyaya Bandhu, and outreach to 1.24 crore+ beneficiaries under LLLAP.

Tele-Law	Nyaya Bandhu	The Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness Programme
Provides pre-litigation legal advice through video/tele-conferencing with panel lawyers via ~2.5 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) across 777 districts (including 112 Aspirational Districts and 500 Aspirational Blocks) in 36 States/UTs; 1.13 crore+ legal advices delivered	A pro bono culture is being promoted among advocates, law students. Under this programme, pro bono Advocates provides free legal assistance and representation in the courts to the eligible beneficiaries under Section 12 of the LSA Act, 1987. 10,681 registered Pro-Bono Advocates and 109 Pro-Bono Clubs established across 31 States/UTs under Nyaya Bandhu.	Promotes partnerships with Ministries, Departments, institutions and schools for capacity building of grassroots legal workers and dissemination of legal awareness/literacy. It has reached 1.24 crore beneficiaries.

Source : PIB, Ministry of Law & Justice, 22 June 2026. (Data compiled as on 31st May 2026)

Impact:

Facilitating Access to Legal Remedies: Rights without effective remedies have little practical value. Through accessible legal services and citizen-centric legal assistance, DISHA 2.0 may also enable citizens to effectively enforce their legal rights.
Leveraging Digital Public Infrastructure: Integration of Tele-law, CSCs and e Sanjeevani
Last mile reach: Legal Services are now being available at the Gram Panchayat level through Common Service Centres which ensures that legal services reach remote and underserved populations.
Harnessing AI for better user interaction: Generative AI powered multilingual and multi-model Nyaya Setu chatbot platform was launched on 29th March, 2026 as a part of DISHA 2.0. It provides people information about legal processes, rights, and next steps through simple voice and text interactions across 22 Indian languages through voice-first interface.
Better Implementation oversight: Monitoring of the outcomes under DISHA 2.0 scheme is envisaged through VIDHI – Sanjeevani, a Centralized Integrated Dashboard to enable real time monitoring of schemes outcomes, complemented by review meetings, field visits, regional workshops and a dedicated Programme Management Unit (PMU) for timely course correction and accountability.
Improved Legal Awareness: LLLAP component would deepen grassroots awareness of legal rights, entitlements and remedies.

DISHA 2.0 targets to achieve a cumulative outreach of 3.00 crore beneficiaries across all the four Programme Components.

Emerging issues:

Digital Divide: Dependence on digital platforms may exclude citizens with limited Internet access, digital literacy and smartphone ownership.
Judicial Capacity Constraints: Persistent judicial vacancies and case pendency across courts in India continue to dilute the effectiveness of access to justice initiatives, as litigants may have to bear the financial burden of prolonged court proceedings.
Data Protection Concerns: Handling citizens’ legal information through digital platforms necessitates robust privacy and cybersecurity safeguards.
Awareness Gap: Despite expansion of legal services, many eligible beneficiaries remain unaware of or reluctant to utilize available legal aid mechanisms.
Non-binding Institutional Convergence: The Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness Programme (LLLAP) envisages collaboration with Ministries, Departments and other stakeholders but largely relies on institutional coordination rather than statutory or mandatory obligations which may result in uneven implementation across States.
Limited institutionalisation of Pro-Bono services: The Expert Committee on Legal Aid 1973 in its report titled ‘Processual Justice to the People’ recommended making legal aid a binding professional obligation for advocates assigned legal aid cases by legal aid organisations. However, rules of the Bar Council of India Rules treat free legal aid as an ethical obligation, not a legally enforceable duty. This may constrain the availability, consistency and institutionalisation of pro bono legal representation under initiatives such as Nyaya Bandhu.
Weak Local Governance Linkages: LLLAP envisages capacity building of grassroots workers for legal awareness outreach, but does not specify how these trained resources will be integrated into Panchayat-level institutions and utilised in practice for community-level legal awareness.

Way Forward:

Strengthening the Legal Aid Ecosystem: Supreme Court recently proposed Young Lawyers’ Professional Assistance Fund, to provide financial support to early career advocates, enabling greater participation in legal aid and strengthening the long-term capacity of justice delivery.
Institutionalisation capacity: The Supreme Court in State of Maharashtra v. Manubhai Pragaji Vashi (1995) emphasised that effective free legal aid requires a robust legal education system and adequately trained legal professionals. Accordingly, DISHA 2.0 should institutionalise continuous capacity building of Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs), law students, grassroots functionaries and legal aid providers to strengthen last-mile access to justice.
Leveraging Retired Judicial Expertise: The Nyaya Mitra model, under which the Department of Justice engages retired judicial officers as ‘Friends of Justice’, could be extended to support legal literacy, mentor Para Legal Volunteers and complement the objectives of DISHA 2.0.
Outcome-based Monitoring: Develop clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) under VIDHI-Sanjeevani to assess not only service delivery but also equity outcomes, including the proportion of SCs, STs, women, senior citizens, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups accessing legal aid.
Legislative Backing for Pro Bono Services: The Advocates Act, 1961 could be amended to provide a statutory basis for minimum pro bono legal service obligations.
Centre – State Institutional Convergence: Given the absence of state-specific targets under VIDHI-Sanjeevani and LLLAP’s reliance on institutional coordination, a formal mechanism linking the central scheme with State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs) may be instituted for coordinated State-level implementation.

DISHA 2.0 directly advances India’s commitment to SDG-16 and the Viksit Bharat vision of 2047. At the National Conference on “Strengthening the Legal Aid Delivery Mechanisms” held on 8 November 2025, the Hon’ble Prime Minister highlighted that “ease of doing business” and “ease of living” would remain incomplete without “ease of justice”. It reaffirms the Government of India’s abiding commitment to ensuring that no citizen is denied access to justice by reason of economic or other disabilities.

References

Department of Justice. (n.d.). Access to justice. Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India https://www.doj.gov.in/department/our-division/details/access-to-justice-ITN5ITMtQWa

Ministry of Law and Justice. (2026, March 13). Government is implementing different scheme for ensuring affordable and accessible justice to citizen. Press Information Bureau, Government of India.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2239463&reg=3&lang=1

Press Information Bureau. (2026, June 22). Central Sector Scheme “Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice” (DISHA) 2.0 to strengthen holistic access to justice approved by Union Minister of State (I/C) for Law and Justice Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal. Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2276525&reg=3&lang=1

Kachhwaha, R. (2018, March 15). Access to legal aid in India: An unfulfilled promise? LiveLaw.

https://www.livelaw.in/access-legal-aid-india-unfulfilled-promise

About The Contributor

Shruti Chandra is a Research & Editorial Intern at IMPRI. She holds a B.A. (Hons) degree in Sociology from Delhi University and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Sociology. Her areas of academic interests include social and environmental justice, gender studies, social stratification, rural development and public policy.

Acknowledgement

Sincere gratitude is extended to the IMPRI team for their guidance and support and to the reviewers Pragya Raghav and Purbaa Jagannath for their valuable feedback.