Abstract

India is a secular country having various cultures and traditions, yet having no religion of its own. It is a country with mixed culture, tradition, practices, yet there is no uniformity as such. Under the Constitutional provisions of Article 44 which basically talks about uniform civil code which will bring uniformity in all matters relating to personal laws of our country. During 18th century Warren Hasting provided that all Hindus and Muslims were to be governed by their respective personal laws in matters of inheritance, marriage, divorce and other religious usages. During the British era, the Britishers identified that ruling India was a difficult task due to the fact that India is a country with diverse communities having separate sets of beliefs and morals. Britishers tried to make a uniform Code for criminal matters and under the hand of Lord Macaulay Indian Penal Code was enacted in the year 1860, but however a common code for civil matters was not possible. Goa being under the colonial system of Portuguese adopted Goa Civil Code and became the first and the only Indian state to have Uniform Civil Code. As the proverb goes “A Journey of thousand miles begins with a single step”- A small initiative has been taken to bring all personal laws under one roof. The Legislators time immemorial has tried to frame a uniform civil Code but has ultimately failed. Is it only the religious factors or it’s just that Art 44 of the Indian Constitution is embodied as a human being with no hands or legs? Through this article, the Author have tried to find out the main reasons for failure of uniform civil code and have tried to show that the dreamland of making India fall under the ambit of UCC is actually a reality or simply a myth?. Hence the author will try to elaborate the present scenario of UCC and the future consequences of bringing UCC into our Indian society.

Keywords