India is an ancient civilization governed by customs and traditions. Sometimes, it is called the museum of various religions, castes, cultures and ethnic groups. If we go down the ancient period we find that India was governed only geographically and not politically. Religion played an important role in the political life of the nation and it also acted as a guide for the ruler and the ruled. Hence the laws enacted at that time formed part and parcel of the religion. However, with the advent of the British rule, our nation entered the phase of modem history from the medieval one.

The British brought new things and new thoughts Western education, Idea of secularism, a constitution containing the rules and regulations for the people and the government, political institutions like parliament and the political thoughts like Democracy, Supremacy of the Constitution, Liberty, Equality, Justice, Rule of Law, etc They formulated Indian Penal Code, codifying criminal laws in 1860. But the civil sphere of life of all the people was left untouched. As a result of these developments a wave of nationalism arose in the minds of the people of India and with the enactment of various legislations like Government of India Act 1935, India for the first time became a nation politically. With freedom in 1947 and enactment of the Constitution in 1950, India was born as a nation and the Constitution, the supreme law, occupied a supreme position in the political life of this nation

Based on the ideals like equality, rule of law, justice, liberty, etc., our Constitution made enough provision to uphold these ideals. It is the duty of the government to enact legislation based on these principles. By keeping this in mind criminal law is made applicable to all the citizens of India irrespective of race, religion, caste or sex. But considering the vast diversities in India and the ambiguous condition prevailing at the time of Independence and the communal tension rife in our country, no uniform civil code for all the citizens was made. Thus, at the time of Partition one law was enacted partially throughout India, But in the light of our experience during the past 51 years and rigidity of religion and its texts, various problems were created challenging the philosophy of the Constitution, thereby Increasing the social tension in our society. However, the Supreme Court as the guardian of our Constitution asked for implementation of a Common Civil Code while giving the judgment in the Shah Bano Case, 1986,

Common Civil Code and Freedom of Religion

The concept of Common Civil Code occupied a position in the Directive Principles of State Policy as provided in Article 44 of our. Constitution. While Freedom of Religion is guaranteed in the Artides 28. 29 and 30 as Fundamental Rights, the government and its legislation promoted the goals of the Consu d can be subjected to reasonable restriction in the interest of the principles of the and the people and their freedom. But no one should forget that Fundamental Rights are Common Civil Code does not mean the legislation of majority community dominating the not Constitution minority community. Hence the identity and content of the Common Civil Code were not defined and it was kept in the Directive Principles. Therefore, the ‘Range’ of the Civil Code was not defined and very wisely it was left to the future governments and the socio-political-economic conditions by the founders of the Constitution

Nature of Indian Society

India is a multi-religious and multi-cultural country having various sub nationalisms. It is a very much complex and unique society in the world. Hence the problems of this society are multi-dimensional. This was the main reason behind keeping the Common Civil Code in the Directive Principles, considering the religious freedom and religions covering all the aspects of life which the government’s legislation does not cover. Also the majority of Indian people are illiterate and uneducated and can be driven in any direction by the political leaders for their own benefit. There are loopholes in the Personal Laws and many, of such laws have become outdated. Such provisions are misused by various individuals in their own interests which violate the basic principles of the Constitution as was witnessed in Shah Bano case 1985, Sarala Mudgal case 1994, Ameena case, etc. All these factors gave rise to problems in the changed social conditions with no solution.

Reforming the society

There is a guarantee of equal protection of law and equality before the law as given in the Articles 20, 21 and 22. Hence we must have one law governing all the people in our society irrespective of their religion, race, caste or sex. Formulation of such a law is one of the goals before our government which must reflect through its policies and legislation and uphold the supremacy of philosophy of the Constitution

Really ‘One Law is the dream of our nation. But this cannot be implemented overnight as the people are emotional in respect of their religion. Such a step can create discontent among the people unless they are taken into confidence. We should not forget that social reform is an evolution and not a revolution. So enactment of one law will take time. But in the light of our experiences, either the personal laws are to be modified to suit the given social condition or government should go on separating all the aspects of civil law which contradict the philosophy of the Constitution.

Having said this, in view of rising population especially of the major minority community which is proliferating at a very past pace, there is need to enact a common civil code; leaving all pretensions to 50-called secularism. There cannot be two laws for the citizens within the boundaries of a country Those who wish to have multi-marriage may jolly well go to the sacred land viz., “Pakistan”.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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