The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is set of rules and regulations that is formulated and has to be followed by all, its main intention is to remove various personal laws that have been followed by Hindus (includes various small religions under Hindus, along with Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhist), Muslims and Christians from many years. UCC will be giving justice to all in a common way rather than following separate laws for people, the main aim of it is remove religious differences, and to protect the fundamental rights of everyone. It basically supports “One Nation, One Law”.The State has a duty to implement the UCC as stated under article 44 of the DPSP (Directive Principles of State Policy) for the welfare of its citizens. However, do you think that UCC will be suitable in nation like India, with its diverse set of religions and cultures existing, if it what are the advantages and disadvantages of UCC?
The first ever situation where UCC was thought to be implemented in the nation is in the Shaho Bano case, where the court directed the parliament to implement UCC and have common laws for all, however the decision was nullified by the Supreme Court. Now to know the suitability of UCC to India it becomes essential to evaluates the pros and cons of this particular action. There are many advantages in implementing UCC and they have been discussed as follows:
- Boosts National Integration: If UCC is implemented it will banish all the small differences existing between people. Everyone will just be considered as a common person and nothing else while receiving justice.
- Equality: There will be no more discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, gender, class, etc.
- Gender Equality. Implementing the UCC will ensure men and women receiving the same protection and laws. They will be considered not to be any different in the eyes of law. This will bring equality by finally treating men and women equal in all perspectives.
- UCC will bring social changes in the society by removing all the personal codified laws, and will fulfill the motto of common laws to all. Therefore, removing all the differences that are existing in the present day society.
- It also gives various opportunities to our generation to fully utilise our potential towards building the nation, as there would be no differences.
On the other hand there are disadvantages of UCC which have to be considered, and they are:
- India is a secular and diverse country, hence it becomes slightly difficult to frame a common set of rules and regulations for all.
- Religious freedom which is perceived to be a fundamental rights may be violated in the process of implementing UCC. Religions are considered as a protection to the sanctity of the nation, they represent the nation, our history and the efforts of ancestors to build the nation, therefore taking this decision may deteriorate the cultural and secular value of the nation.
- Freedom to choose one’s religion is considered to be a personal matter of a person, hence it is not right for the state to involve into the personal matters.
- As stated above this will majorly affect our communal harmony
Taking into consideration all th pros and cons of implementing UCC we can come to a conclusion that UCC can be implemented, it is tough but its not impossible, this can be fulfilled if authority to do the task is given in the right hands, and there has effective series of discussions in order to decide the correct set of common laws. However by implementing UCC we may compromise on the concept of religion which has been prevailing in India from many generations, India is valued in the international realm for its secularist concepts, hence doing this may act a threat to India’s value worldwide, but only if UCC is implemented many problems like gender inequality, and underdevelopment can be solved. Therefore I personally feel that may their is an alternative to UCC, instead of applying it to the whole nation, we may apply it in specific situations , its like a partial UCC. As involving into religious matters and totally changing them is not possible in a nation like India, where sometimes politics is influenced by this religion, so we can involve into it whenever any clause seems to disturbing and a change is required.
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