THE UNIFORM CIVIL CODE

Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, Gujarat on October 29 joined the list of BJP-ruled states that have called for implementing the uniform civil code(UCC).

What is uniform civil code?

The uniform civil code (UCC) in India proposes to replace the personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community in the country with a common set governing every citizen.

The practices it includes are the uniformity in-laws of marriage, divorce, succession, adoption, guardianship, and partition of land and assets to all citizen without any discrimination. The other aspect of proposing UCC is to protect the rights of women of different religions in India.

The constitution has a provision for Uniform Civil Code in Article 44 as a Directive Principle of State Policy which states that “The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.”

PROS

> To provide equal status to all citizens.

> Personal laws of almost all religions are discriminatory towards women. Men are usually granted upper preferential status in matters of inheritance. Uniform civil code will bring both men and women at par.

> In India, 55% of its population is below 25 years of age. Their view of shedding identity on the basis of any religion has to be given a serious consideration so as to utilize their full potential towards nation-building.

> There will be no scope of politicization of issues of the discrimination or special privileges enjoyed by a particular community on the basis of their particular religious personal laws. Hence, it will support national integration.

> Existing personal laws are mainly based on the upper-class patriarchal notions of the society in all religions

CONS

> It is practically tough to come up with a uniform set of rules for personal issues like marriage due to tremendous cultural diversity of India.

> Minority communities perceive uniform civil code as an encroachment on their right to religious freedom. They fear that a common code will neglect their traditions and impose rules which will be mainly dictated and influenced by the majority religious communities.

> The constitution provides for the right to freedom of religion of one’s choice. With codification of uniform rules and its compulsion of uniform rules and its compulsion, the scope of the freedom of religion will be reduced.

>This task will be very demanding time and human resource-wise.

> Time is not yet suitable for this reform.

CONCLUSION

At the end of the day, a uniform civil code can only emerge through an evolutionary process, which preserves rich cultural heritage, of which all the personal laws are equal constituents.

The plural democracy in an identity of the modern India. Therefore, efforts should be focused on harmony in plurality than blanket uniformity for flourishing Indian democracy.