Uniform civil code

Abstract: While the Constitution of India guarantees equality as a Fundamental Right automatically voiding all laws inconsistent with Fundamental Rights 4 decades after adoption of the Constitution religious personal laws that discriminate against women still apply. Ostensibly supported by the Constitutional right to freedom of conscience guaranteed as a Fundamental Right which is claimed to encompass the right to be governed by religious personal laws the Constitution fails to resolve whether the religious nature of these laws prevents a secular State from interfering with them or whether the personal nature of these laws as distinct from territorial laws makes them immune to State control. The ambiguity permits contradictory claims and permits the State to act inconsistently to essentially similar claims of different communities. While Hindu personal law has been extensively reformed to frequently give equal legal rights to Hindu women the personal laws of other (minority) communities have remained untouched. While other explanations dominate (the communities religious laws are inviolate or there exists no demand for change) the real reason inequities continue is politics. After the British relinquished power the enterprise of making a nation out of so many disparate groups meant the promotion of national integration and establishment of the post-colonial States authority. Whether the State decides to reform the religious personal law of any community has been dependent upon considerations of national integration which has meant denying women equality. Yet the practice of selectively reforming religious personal laws has failed to facilitate the political goal of producing a unified nation. To ensure legal equality for women the State must first define the interrelation between the Constitution and the religious personal laws then assess the options available for ensuring legal equality of women: either to reform religious personal laws or sever the religious connection making them secular like all other civil laws.

Abstract: Table of Contents: Introduction: The Secular State in a Religious Society Gerald James Larson Part The Secular State and Legal Pluralism: The Current Debate and Its Historical Antecedents Religion, Personal Law and Identity Granville Austin Religious Minorities and the Law Ruma Pal Living with Difference in India: Legal Pluralism and Legal Universalism in Historical Context Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I Rudolph Part 2 Religious Endowments, Reservations Law, and Criminal Law Religious and Charitable Endowments and a Uniform Civil Code John H Mansfield Personal Law and Reservations: Volition and Religion in Contemporary India Laura Dudley Jenkins The Uniform Civil Code Debate: Lessons from the Criminal Procedures Arvind Verma Part 3 Personal Law and Issues of Gender Gender Implications for a Uniform Civil Code Robert D Baird The Personal and the Political: Indian Women and Inheritance Law Srimati Basu Colonialism, Nationalism, and Gendered Legal Subjectivities: Observations on the Historical Destruction of Separate Legal Regimes Kunal M Parker Who Was Roop Kanwar? Sati, Law, Religion, and Post-Colonial Feminism in Contemporary India Paul Courtright and Namita Goswami "Where Will She Go? What Will She Do?" Paternalism towards Women in the Administration of Muslim Family Law in Contemporary India Sylvia Vatuk Part 4 Cross-Cultural Perspectives Affirmative Action in the United States and the Reservation System in India: Some Comparative Perspectives Kevin Brown Personal Law Systems and Religious Conflict: A Comparison of India and Israel Marc Galanter and Jayanth Krishnan The Road to Xanadu: India's Quest for Secularism Rajeev Dhavan

Abstract: The women's movement in India progressed during the period of high nationalism and the freedom struggle, both of which shaped its contours. Among the movement's many achievements, the most significant were the constitutional guarantees of equal rights for women and universal adult suffrage. However, these guarantees did little to bring about social and material change in the lives of most Indian women. A New Women's movement, articulated to mass and popular politics, emerged in the 1970s. But, patriarchy remains deeply entrenched in India, influencing the structure of its political and social institutions and determining the opportunities open to women and men. The negotiation and conflict between patriarchy and the women's movement are central to the constitution of the nation-state. This paper explores these issues by examining two debates that have rocked the women's movement and Indian society: over the Uniform Civil Code and the proposed reservation for women of seats in legislative bodies. These controversies have contributed to and bear the mark of deep cleavages within the women's movement-cleavages due to caste, class, and community. To understand the full implications of these controversies and their divisive consequences, it is essential to understand their long-term historical roots. The discussion here draws out various positions within the women's movement and arguments advanced by the government, the media, and others.