Please, Please!! What is this UCC?

[Sanjeev Sabhlok <sabhlok@almaak.usc.edu>]

On Thu, 3 Dec 1998, Indranil DasGupta wrote:

> Finally: I would like a debate followed by a "referendum" on including
> the UCC in the draft proposal. We can't duck this issue, even if
> many would like nothing better. Unfortunately, the Indian Constitution
> is very clear on this matter. The 1949 document expressed a firm desire
> for an UCC as soon as possible. Apparently for a lot of us,
> even 50 years seems to be too soon.

Dear Indranil,

I am glad that there are at least 3 non-Marxist Bengalis on this list!
(Subroto Roy, Nizam, and you). Good for Bengal. It might begin to
re-emerge at the leader of thought and action, once again.

On the UCC issue: Universal Civil Code.

This topic has been debated extensively at least on two occasions. Pl.
check out the archives.

I am really tired of listening to this. I want to know "The Case for
UCC"

Please - anyone who favors UCC - please get up, do some research, and
come back with a short essay on the case for UCC. Please do not wake up
each morning thinking that our Constitution said this and said that,
hence we must have UCC! It is 50 years and we don't have it!! India is
breaking up!!! The sky is coming down!!!!

OK, sorry for this exaggeration, but please note that there is NOTHING
in the world called Civil Code. It is a bunch of Acts and codes which
relate to civil life.  A large number of these codes are common across
religions. Those are the codes that affect the economy, and our
security.

Only a very few things differ: inheritance, marriage & divorce, etc.

Please first of all be very CLEAR about what you mean by UCC, to what
extent the codes between the religiouns are different, to what extent
these affect you in your day to day life, etc. The last time we
discussed this, there was heat and sweat, and we gave up. The UCC is too
vast a term. We want to narrow it down to what exactly is it that irks
the Hindus (say), and what is its economic/ social/ geographic/
chemical/ biological/ historical/ numismatical/ canonical/ atomic/
epistemological/ metaphysical/ etc., significance...

This is one case where the ball is in your court. You (along with many
others) are an advocate of UCC. Please specify the details of your
advocacy, and help clear the confusion that prevails on this topic
(which means, essentially, that it is driven by emotion rather than by
reason, so far).

A referendum will clearly go to the UCC side since they keep appealing
blindly to the Indian Constitution (by the way, UCC was merely a
Directive Principle; plus our Constitution stamps us all as socialistic;
so nothing sacrosanct about that argument; we want to hear the REAL case
for UCC, properly argued.). But before a referendum, let the case for
and against it be made clear.

Sanjeev




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