What Is Uniform Civil Code

Uniform Civil Code is a set of personal laws that would apply to all citizens regardless of their religion, gender or sexual orientation. Most people think that the Uniform Civil Code (Article 44 of the Constitution) threatens Article 25 of the Constitution, saying that religious freedom is a fundamental right. The Indian government has been talking about the Uniform Civil Code and the Batch of Petition in recent months. The Union law ministry recently asked the Law Commission to look into how the universal civil code can be implemented.

What Is Uniform Civil Code?

The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in India aims to eliminate the different laws based on the scriptures and practises of each major religious group in the country and replace them with a single set of rules that apply to everyone. Everyone must follow the same set of rules irrespective of their religion. It is listed as a Directive Principle of State Policy in Article 44 of the Constitution. It says that, “The State should try to ensure that everyone in India has the same civil code.”

What Are the Pros of the Uniform Civil Code?

• To give all citizens the same rights: In a democratic republic, civil and personal laws should be the same for everyone, no matter their religion, class, caste, or gender.
• To try to achieve gender equality: Most people think that almost every religion’s rules about personal behaviour are unfair to women. When it comes to succession and inheritance, men often have more rights than women. Men and women will be on the same level if there is a single civil code.
• To meet the hopes and dreams of the younger generation: More than half of the population of India are under the age of 25. The universal and global ideas of equality, humanism, and modernity set the goals and attitudes of their societies. If we want to build a better country, we need to take their belief that identity shouldn’t be based on religion.
• To bring the country together: Except for personal laws, all criminal and civil laws in India are the same for everyone. It means that all Indian people are already treated the same in court. With the Uniform Civil Code in place, all citizens will have to follow the same rules. There will be no way to politicise discrimination, concessions, or special rights that a certain group of people gets because of their religion.
• To avoid the potentially divisive issue of changing personal laws that are already in place: Personal rules are mostly based on the patriarchal beliefs of the upper class, which are the same in all religions. This is because patriarchal and orthodox people still worry that changing the personal rules would make them less pure, so they are against it.

What are the Cons of the Uniform Civil Code?

• India has a lot of problems to deal with because it has a large and diverse population: India has so many different religions, sects, classes, and states that it’s hard to develop a set of rules for things like a marriage that apply to everyone.
• People worry that the UCC will take away their freedom of religion: Many people, especially religious minorities, think that the Uniform Civil Code takes away their right to religious freedom. They are afraid of a universal code of conduct because it would override their traditions and replace them with rules set by the majority religious group.
• Getting the government involved in private matters: According to the constitution, people are free to choose whatever religion they want to follow. If rules are set and followed the same way for everyone, religious freedom will be limited.
• The job is important and difficult: Ideally, such a code must be made by borrowing freely from different personal laws, making small changes to each, issuing judicial rulings that ensure equality between men and women, and adopting broad interpretations of marriage, maintenance, adoption, and succession by recognising the benefits that one community gets from the others. The government should always be fair and careful with both the majority and minority groups. If this isn’t done, it could lead to violence and riots.
• This change is still not ready: As the beef debate, the saffronisation of school and college curriculum, and the love jihad debate continue, the Muslim community in India is very vocal about its opposition to these issues. 

Conclusion

In the end, a UCC can only be created via an evolutionary process that safeguards India’s unique legal tradition. UCC may be able to promote religion and gender equality. Communities should educate themselves on why personal law needs reform. We must modernise, democratise, and strengthen our institutions to make this transformation. If Indian democracy is to succeed, people should find peace in diversity rather than seeking to be the same.