The politics of a Uniform Civil Code

On June 14, the 22nd Law Commission of India, headed by Ritu Raj Awasthi, a former chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, issued a notification eliciting the opinions of various stakeholders, including public and religious organisations, on a uniform civil code (UCC) for the country. The UCC is a proposal to formulate and implement a single set of civil laws to govern marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption for every Indian, irrespective of caste, religion or sexual orientation, replacing the existing religion-based personal laws. The notification came as a surprise as only five years ago, the 21st Law Commission had concluded that a UCC was “neither necessary nor desirable at this stage” for the country.