Law textbooks in 12 Indian languages by academic session 2023-24

As per the report, seventy-five law textbooks will be available in 12 major Indian languages from the academic session 2023-24.

Under the New Education Policy, a lot of emphasis is being given to introducing regional languages in education. In line with this, from the next academic session 2023-24, seventy-five law textbooks will be available in 12 major Indian languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

The plan is also to produce the entire legal education curriculum in all 22 official Indian languages in the near future.

Chamu Krishna Shastry, chairman of the government's high-powered panel on Indian languages, said, "The committee’s immediate commitment was to produce 75 legal education textbooks in 12 Indian languages recognised by the Bar Council of India’s Rules of Legal Education and then gradually produce law education curriculum in all 22 official Indian languages,” as reported by Tribune India.

The Background

The Bar Council of India (BCI) established a national committee for developing regional languages in legal education. The committee is chaired by Justice S A Bobde, retired Chief Justice of India.

Manan Kumar Mishra, chairman of BCI, had said the committee would ensure the publication of good legal textbooks in regional languages so that law institutions would not have any difficulty in imparting legal education in local languages, as reported by Indian Express.

 “There will be pressure on courts to translate judgments into local languages. About 90% of people are denied justice because they don’t understand laws or comprehend judgments that impact their lives,” Shastry said.

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