DISHA 2.0: Meghwal clears ₹255 crore justice access scheme for 2026-31
Synopsis
India's flagship legal aid scheme gets a five-year renewal and a technology upgrade — DISHA 2.0 brings an AI-powered multilingual chatbot and a centralised dashboard to a programme that already reached 2.37 crore citizens. With ₹255 crore committed through 2031, the government is betting that artificial intelligence can close the gap between constitutional promise and ground-level justice delivery.
Key Takeaways
Arjun Ram Meghwal approved DISHA 2.0 on 22 June 2026 , extending the justice access scheme for five years (April 2026 – March 2031).
Total financial outlay is ₹255 crore , fully funded by the Government of India via Gross Budgetary Support.
A new component, VIDHI-Sanjeevani , introduces an AI-powered Nyaya Setu Chatbot (built with BHASHINI ) for multilingual legal query resolution.
The previous DISHA Scheme (2021–26) reached 2.37 crore beneficiaries ; DISHA 2.0 targets 3 crore beneficiaries .
Existing components — Tele-Law , Nyaya Bandhu , and LLLAP — are retained alongside the new digital platform.
The scheme is co-terminus with the XVI Finance Commission cycle and aligned with SDG-16 and Viksit Bharat 2047 .
Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal has approved the continuation and restructuring of the Central Sector Scheme DISHA (Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice) as DISHA 2.0, extending the programme for five years from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031. The revamped scheme carries a total financial outlay of ₹255 crore, fully funded through 100 per cent Gross Budgetary Support from the Government of India.
Key Developments
The approval was announced on Monday, 22 June by an official of the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice. The scheme was appraised and recommended by the Standing Finance Committee, chaired by Niraj Verma, Secretary, Department of Justice. Its tenure is co-terminus with the XVI Finance Commission cycle, anchoring it within the broader fiscal planning framework.
What DISHA 2.0 Introduces
The restructured scheme adds a fourth component — VIDHI-Sanjeevani (Vision for Integrated Delivery of Harmonised Legal Initiatives) — featuring a Centralised Digital Platform and an AI-powered Nyaya Setu Chatbot developed in partnership with BHASHINI for multilingual legal query resolution. An Integrated Dashboard will consolidate real-time data streams from all four components, enabling data analytics and reporting at scale.
The three earlier components are retained: Tele-Law, which provides free pre-litigation legal advice; Nyaya Bandhu, which facilitates pro bono legal services by lawyers; and the Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness Programme (LLLAP).
What the Previous Scheme Achieved
The erstwhile DISHA Scheme (2021–26), with a financial outlay of ₹250 crore, was implemented pan-India by the Department of Justice. As of 31 May 2026, it had reached a cumulative 2.37 crore beneficiaries — comprising over 1.13 crore pre-litigation legal advices under Tele-Law, 10,681 registered Pro-Bono Advocates, 109 Pro-Bono Clubs across 31 States and Union Territories under Nyaya Bandhu, and outreach to over 1.24 crore beneficiaries under LLLAP.
Policy Alignment and Targets
DISHA 2.0 is framed as an advance of India's commitment to SDG-16 and the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. It draws on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address at the National Conference on 'Strengthening the Legal Aid Delivery Mechanisms' on 8 November 2025, where he stated that 'ease of doing business' and 'ease of living' would remain incomplete without 'ease of justice'. The scheme also reaffirms the constitutional mandate under Article 39A, which directs the state to ensure no citizen is denied access to justice on account of economic or other disabilities.
DISHA 2.0 targets a cumulative outreach of 3 crore beneficiaries across all four programme components over its five-year run. With AI-powered tools and a centralised dashboard now integrated, the government is signalling a shift from outreach volume to technology-enabled delivery quality.
Point of View
And did Nyaya Bandhu connect people to lawyers who resolved their disputes? The previous scheme's 2.37 crore figure is a reach metric, not a justice metric. If DISHA 2.0's integrated dashboard is designed to capture resolution rates rather than contact rates, it could become a model for evidence-based legal aid — but that design choice needs to be made explicit, not left to implementation.
NationPress
22 Jun 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Nyaya Setu Chatbot introduced under DISHA 2.0?
The Nyaya Setu Chatbot is an AI-powered, multilingual legal query tool developed in collaboration with BHASHINI, India's national language technology platform. It is part of the new VIDHI-Sanjeevani component and is designed to provide technology-enabled justice delivery through a centralised digital platform.
How many people did the original DISHA scheme reach?
As of 31 May 2026, the original DISHA Scheme (2021–26) had reached over 2.37 crore beneficiaries — including 1.13 crore pre-litigation legal advices under Tele-Law and outreach to 1.24 crore beneficiaries under the Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness Programme.
Who approved DISHA 2.0 and when?
Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal approved DISHA 2.0, as announced on 22 June 2026. The scheme was appraised and recommended by the Standing Finance Committee chaired by Niraj Verma, Secretary, Department of Justice.
What is the target outreach for DISHA 2.0?
DISHA 2.0 targets a cumulative outreach of 3 crore beneficiaries across all four programme components over its five-year tenure from 2026 to 2031, up from the 2.37 crore reached under the previous scheme.
