DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

Visakhapatnam
COURSE OUTLINE (EVEN SEMESTER) AY 2020-21
Title of the Subject: Law & Poverty
Semester: IV
Name of the Faculty:Dr N.Bhagya Lakshmi Total No. of Hours: Min 60
Credits: 4

ABOUT THE COURSE:

The satisfaction of human needs is widely accepted as a characteristic of any just society. However, in
view of the stages of development and ideological preferences, there may be marked differences between one
society and another on the issue of perception of human needs, priorities of human needs and the techniques
deployed for securing them. Though human needs issues have been traditionally explored by disciplines like
Economics, Political Science, Anthropology, and Psychology in recent times human need have started
receiving the attention of legal scholars, who have made human needs their starting points for more meaningful
inquiries in the fields of human rights, social justice, individual liberty, equality, etc.

OBJECTIVE OF THE COURSE:

 The crucial and primary objective of this course is to introduce to the students the basic understanding
of vulnerable, marginalized, poor, and related law.
 To understand the basic legal issues of the socially, economically disadvantaged weaker sections of the
society along with the examination of how the legal system deals with the issue of access to justice to
the poor
 This course seeks to examine the relationship between ‘legal institutions’ and ‘poverty’ wherein the
former not only act as critical tools for empowerment and emancipation but also serve as instruments of
impoverishment and exclusion.
 To understand beneficial schemes and welfare measures of the Government and its effective
implementation for the alleviation of poverty
 To understand the role of the international legal arrangement in dealing with the issue of poverty
 The idea is to understand the interface of human, legal, and social processes, evaluate law as a policy
action instrument, and access the scope for law reform as part of development.
 Analyze the role of legal resources in combating poverty and more particularly, discuss theimportance
of understanding poverty through the prism of the human rights framework and study contemporary
efforts at poverty reduction through the creation and assertion of legalrights.

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 DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY
Visakhapatnam
LEARNING OUTCOME:
 On pursuing this course, the students will be able to identify the legal responses to the phenomena of
"poverty" and "development" both in the national and international context.
 Evaluate against other international dimensions, principles, and institutions in the reduction of poverty.
 Propose a solution to the existing problems of poverty in India and the role of institutions in the
reduction of poverty.

PEDAGOGY:
 Case Analysis, Lecture based and problem-based learning would be used. Case studies would be used
for initiating discussions in the module on different Anti-Povertyu Alleviation Schemes.

Unit CASES FOR REFERENCE No. of

No. UNIT- 1: INTRODUCTION&PERILS  Law Subjects - List of Cases Hours
OF THE POVERTY  Social Sciences - Case
Studies / recommended
readings
(List of cases are not exhaustive -
Faculty may discuss or indicate
any additional Cases)
1.1 People’s Union for Civil Liberties
& Another v. State of
Conceptualizing & Defining Maharashtra & Others 2014 (10)
Impoverishment SCC 635.
1.2 Understanding Poverty & Theories -
1.3 RamsharanAutyanuprasi and
another v. Union of India and
Measurements of Poverty -Dimensions of
Poverty Others, AIR 1989 SC 549
1.4 five faces of oppression of Poverty.
1.5 Illiteracy- Unemployment-Bonded Labour Francis Coralie Mullin v. The
Child Labour - Prostitution- Surrogacy and Administrator, Union Territory of
penury cause crime. Delhi, (1981) 2 SCR 516 12
UNIT – 2: IMPOVERISHMENT OF VULNERABLE GROUPS & LAW AS A
DETERMINANT
2.1 Olga Tellis and Ors. v. Bombay
Municipal Corporation and
Pavement Dwellers – Forest Dwellers Ors(1985) 3 SCC 545. 12
2.2 Vagrants- Untouchables –Marginalized-
Disabled in Poverty BhagawanDass v. Punjab State
Electricity Board, AIR 2008 SC
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 DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY
Visakhapatnam

990
2.3
M. R. Balajee v State of Mysore,
Aged in Poverty- Indigent AIR 1963 SC 469
2.4
Rakesh Chandra Narayan v. the

Land Distribution – Development induced State of Bihar and Others 1989

displacement AIR 348
2.5
Denial of Housing –Access denied to KurraSubbarao v. Dist. Collector,
education- Eradication of evil practices (1984) 3 APLJ 249
UNIT – 3: CONSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS&LEGISLATIVE
FRAMEWORK
3.1
Ram Lakhan v State, 137 (2007)
Fundamental Rights- Right to work –
Right to Food – Right to shelter- DLT 173
3.2 Right to bail
12
3.3 Access to health – Access to Education – Amitha v Union of India, (2005)
Access to Justice. 13 SCC 721

3.4 Ahmedabad Municipal

Human Rights-Civil Rights- Legal Aid- Corporation v. Nawab Khan
Gulab Khan, (1997) 11 SCC 123
3.5 Disaster Management – Welfare
Legislations

UNIT - 4 : WELFARE POLICIES AND EMPOWERMENT OF POOR&

INTERNATIONAL REGIME

4.1 State Policies- National Schemes for Poor

4.2
Chameli Singh &Ors v. State of
U.P & Another, A I R 1996 S C
Rural Development Schemes
1051
4.3
T.N. GodavarmanThirumulkpad
v. Union of India, AIR 1998 SC
Economic Reforms
769
4.4
R.M.Wasawa v State of Gujarat,
(1974) 3 SCC 581
Implementation of the policies.

4.5 Role of UNICEF- UNESCO - UDHR –

12
WHO – UNDP - ILO
UNIT 5: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN POVERTY ALLEVIATION & ECONOMIC
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 DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY
Visakhapatnam
SHOCK OF COVID-19

5.1 Associate Banks Officers

Millennium Development Goals Association v. State Bank of
Sustainable Development- India, AIR 1998 SC 32
5.2
MadhuKishwar v State of Bihar,
Anti-Poverty Programs.Migrants
1996(5) SCC 148
5.3 legal profession

5.4
State of Madhya Pradesh v.
PramodBhartiya, AIR 1993 SC
286
Insurance Sector- education system
12
5.5 World Economy
Text Books
Minimum Two Text Books
Sl. Author/s Title of the Book Edition and Publisher
No.
1. AbhijitVinayakBanarjee, Understanding Poverty Oxford University Press, 2006
Roland Benabou

2. S. Muralidhar Law, Poverty and Legal LexisNexis Butter Worths, 2007

Aid Access to Criminal
Justice

3. Sadhnaarya , Anupama Poverty Gender and Sage Publications, 2006.

Roy Migration

Books for Reference

Minimum Two Reference Books

Sl. Author/s Title of the Book Edition and Publisher

No.
1. Baxi. Upendra, N.M.
Tripathi
2. Radhakrishnan, Ray
3. Deepali Pant Josh
Law And Poverty, Critical Oxford, 2000.
Essays
Oxford Handbook of Oxford University Press, 2005.
Poverty In India, New
York
Poverty and Sustainable Gyan Publication, 2006.
Development