Uniform Civil Code must for national integration

Uniform Civil Code must for national integration

Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda has asserted that a common code is necessary for national integration. However, the issue requires discussions with all stakeholders, including various personal law boards, to evolve consensus.

The Supreme Court had recently asked the central government to come to a conclusion regarding framing and implementing the Uniform Civil Code.
Even the high courts of Kerala and Karnataka, in their judgments dealing with some marriage laws, had already said that a common code was needed.
What does Article 44 say?

Article 44 of the Constitution says that there should be a Uniform Civil Code. According to this article, “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India”. Since, the Directive Principles are only guidelines, it is not mandatory to use them.

What is uniform civil code?

Uniform civil Code is a proposal to have a generic set of governing laws for every citizen without taking into consideration the religion.

Current situation:

Currently, there are personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community. They are separate from the public law and are applied on issues like-

Marriage
Divorce
Inheritance
Adoption and maintenance
Arguments against the implementation of a Uniform civil code:

India being a secular country guarantees its minorities the right to follow their own religion, culture and customs under Article 29 and 30. But implementing a Uniform Code will hamper India’s secularism.