The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on Saturday inaugurated the ‘International Lawyers’ Conference 2023’ at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
As per an official communique, the conference was aimed to serve as a platform for meaningful dialogue and discussion on various legal topics of national and international importance, foster exchange of ideas and experiences, and strengthen international cooperation and understanding of legal issues.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister expressed delight in getting the opportunity to interact with the greats of the global legal fraternity. Highlighting the presence of the Lord Chancellor of England, Mr Alex Chalk and the delegates of the Bar Association of England, representatives from Commonwealth and African countries, and the people from across the country, the Prime Minister said that the International Lawyers’ Conference 2023 has become a symbol of the spirit of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.
The Prime Minister welcomed the foreign dignitaries to India and also thanked the Bar Association of India for taking the lead in organizing this program. He emphasized the role of the legal fraternity in the development of any country. “For years, the judiciary and the bar have been the guardians of India’s judicial system,” he said.
Prime Minister Modi also highlighted the role of legal professionals in the freedom struggle. He gave examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Babu Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Lokmanya Tilak and Veer Savarkar.
“Experience of the legal profession has worked to strengthen the foundation of independent India and today’s impartial judicial system has also helped in bolstering the confidence of the world in India”, he added.
The Prime Minister underlined that the International Lawyers Conference is taking place at a time when the nation has been a witness to several historic decisions and recalled the passage of Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha which entitles a 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha.
Prime Minister Modi elaborated on the deep connectedness of today’s world. He said there are many forces in the world today that do not care about the borders and jurisdiction. “When dangers are global, ways to deal with them should also be global”, he said.
“He touched upon cyber terrorism, money laundering, and possibilities of misuse of artificial intelligence and said that preparing a global framework on such issues goes beyond just government matters but calls for connectedness among the legal framework of different countries,” read the communique.
Speaking on Alternate Dispute Resolution, the Prime Minister said that with the increasing complexity of commercial transactions, ADR has gained currency all over the world. He said that in order to systematize the informal tradition of dispute resolution in India, the Government of India has enacted a mediation Act. Similarly, Lok Adalats are also playing a big role and Lok Adalats have solved about 7 lakh cases in the last 6 years.
Highlighting an important aspect of justice delivery that is not talked about, the Prime Minister mentioned the simplicity of language and law. The Prime Minister gave insights about the Government’s approach and informed about the ongoing discussion regarding presenting any law in two languages – one to which the legal system is accustomed and another for common citizens. “Citizens should feel that the law belongs to them”, Modi emphasized as he underlined that the Government is making an effort to draft new laws in simple language and gave the example of the Data Protection Law. The Prime Minister congratulated the Supreme Court of India for making arrangements to get its judgments translated into 4 local languages Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati and Oriya and hailed the monumental change in the judicial system of India.
In conclusion, the Prime Minister emphasized the need to find ways of streamlining the legal processes through technology, reforms and new judicial processes. He said that technological advancement has opened new avenues for the judicial system and called for the leveraging of technological reforms by the legal profession, the communique added.
