Foreword

2021 started with the devastation of the second wave of Covid-19 with the Delta variant upending our lives. It ended with fears of the Omicron variant wreaking havoc, particularly severely for those who had been spared earlier. Living with Covid-19 is now the reality we must accept and prepare for.

Of all the lessons Covid-19 has taught us as law and policy researchers, if we had to select one it would be the need to think and act local. In a range of sectors, if India is to remain resilient and grow, it must strengthen its grassroots governance, empower its states and local bodies and ultimately support communities in their journey towards self-reliance and prosperity.

Much of our focus at Vidhi in the last year has been in increasing our presence in state capitals. We have been clear from Day 1, that if good laws matter at the Union level, they matter even more at the state and local level where they have a real, direct impact on people.

Vidhi Karnataka has gone from strength to strength working with the Karnataka government on 6 draft laws in the last year. One of these has been enacted with the others in various pre-enactment stages. Particularly satisfying was our work on how Indian cities can be made accessible to persons with disabilities. This research culminated in our report "Beyond Reasonable Accommodation" which looks at how the legal architecture of planning in India results in cities being designed only for able-bodied residents. We are currently engaging with the Karnataka Government to find ways to action some of the key suggestions of this report to make Bengaluru a truly inclusive city.

We have also opened a new state chapter in Maharashtra. Based out of Mumbai, our Maharashtra team has already taken up three areas of reform—devising systemic solutions to improve the plight of orphans and other abandoned children during Covid-19, reforming public libraries in the state including providing the blueprint for a digital public library and reviewing regulatory systems in city transport. This is only the beginning—we hope to collaborate with local stakeholders in the years to come to become a thought leader that drives better law-making in Maharashtra. Hopefully it will also provide a template that we can follow in other state capitals as we sustainably expand our presence.

Covid-19 has also shown that it is simply not enough to depend on the state for basic livelihoods—we have to help ourselves. Nyaaya, our open access digital resource that explains India's laws, set up a Covid-19 helpline that answered questions from citizens ranging from how to get ex gratia compensation to possible remedies when a hospital does not release the corpse of a patient for non-payment. The helpline mobilised a volunteer base of over 300 lawyers and law students who have resolved close to 700 legal queries in 5 different languages. This is the last mile of real legal change—to help citizens secure their rights and get their due. Nyaaya is scaling this helpline into a full-fledged access to justice initiative that will come to the aid of citizens when it matters the most.

Our Impact Report captures the key highlights of our work in the last year. What we are particularly proud of in this Report is our Virtuous Impact Cycle which is a methodologically robust way to measure the impact our work has had. This, together with a some select impact stories, will give you the unmistakable flavour of what makes Vidhi distinct from any other thought leadership organisation in India—we think originally, we engage with all stakeholders fairly and most importantly we make sure that our research transcends the realm of ideas to become actual, implementable law and policy.

Thank you for being part of our journey.