SARTHIE 1.0 campaign is a joint initiative of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment (DoSJE), Government of India and the National Legal Services Authority, India (NALSA).

The aim of the initiative is to empower marginalized and vulnerable individuals of the society including Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Transgender Persons, Senior Citizens, Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), sanitation workers, waste pickers, victims of substance abuse, and persons engaged in the act of begging, through a combination of awareness programs and legal assistance, to avail benefits and entitlements guaranteed by social welfare legislations and other enactments as well as administrative programmes of the Government.

It aims to empower individuals by raising awareness on, and providing legal assistance for availing, their rights, benefits and entitlements. The initiative seeks to bridge the awareness gap among these groups regarding their legal rights, welfare entitlements, and government schemes.

The initiative is designed to ‘empower’ individuals through ‘awareness’ and ‘assistance’, in order to achieve a dynamic balance of social, educational and economic empowerment of the vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalized sections of society. The activities undertaken under this campaign shall act as a platform for disseminating vital information on social welfare schemes and policies, assisting individuals in accessing benefits and entitlements and exchanging good practices, in both urban and rural populations.

NALSA’s existing nationwide network in States, districts and talukas, will facilitate the organising of awareness camps and seminars for the marginalised and vulnerable sections of society and providing legal assistance for availing, their rights, benefits and entitlements.

This information was provided by UNION MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT, SHRI RAMDAS ATHAWALE, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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VM

(Rajya Sabha US Q1880)