The Daily Bhasker reports that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of central Indian state Madhya Pradesh made the announcements at a specialist advocates meeting last Sunday. The conference was called in a bid to assess issues affecting the legal profession and also to obtain views on the other issues affecting the state.

Financial help

The Hindu newspaper reports that the Mr Chouhan also announced the state law commission would be revived, adding that the government was serious about providing financial help to those entering the legal sector, including a grant of R12,000 (£137) to each entrant.
Mr Chouhan also said that he agreed in principle to the Advocates’ Protection Act and would seek the opinion of legal experts in the matter.

Small firm woes

Meanwhile, web site Live Mint has reported on the difficulties small firms face in India when competing with bigger practices with established reputations.
With firms reportedly opening every week in some months, many have taken aggressive price strategies to gain market share. Cyril Shroff, the Mumbai managing partner of Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh Shroff & Co, said ‘Today our biggest problem is not foreign firms, it is people working at one-tenth the price that we work at. You are constantly being pulled down in price.’