New Delhi:

The government on Friday rejected suggestions that it has issued guidelines to states to implement a uniform civil code.

In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha about “guidelines issued by the government for implementing the Uniform Civil Code in different states”, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal asserted that “no such guidelines were issued by the Government of India to state governments for implementing the uniform civil code”.

Responding to a sub-question, the minister said B R Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, while moving the relevant provision in the Constituent Assembly, had said there is a uniform code of laws in the country, covering almost every aspect of human relationship.

“The only province the civil laws have not been able to invade so far is marriage and succession and therefore, draft Article 35 (now Article 44) is provided as a part of the Constitution,” Meghwal said, quoting Ambedkar.

In short, a uniform civil code means a common law for all citizens of the country that is not based on religion. Personal laws and laws related to inheritance, adoption and succession are likely to be covered by the common code.

In his Independence-Day address this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had noted that the Supreme Court has given various directions regarding a common code.

The spirit of the Constitution also encourages such a uniform code, he had said, referring to Article 44 under the Directive Principles of State Policy.

The article says it is the duty of the State to secure a uniform civil code for the citizens throughout the territory of India. “It is our responsibility to fulfil the dream of the makers of our Constitution. I believe that there should be a serious discussion on the subject,” PM Modi had said.

Uttarakhand came out with its own uniform civil code recently.

The Centre has referred the matter to the Law Commission, which began fresh public consultations on it last year.

Before that, the 21st Law Commission, which was in operation till August 2018, had examined the issue and solicited the views of all stakeholders on two occasions. Subsequently, a consultation paper on “Reforms of Family Law” was issued in 2018.

In its consultation paper issued on August 31, 2018, the 21st Law Commission, headed by Justice (retired) B S Chauhan, had said the diversity of India’s culture can and should be celebrated, and specific groups or weaker sections of the society must not be “dis-privileged” in the process.

The commission had said it had dealt with laws that were discriminatory rather than providing a uniform civil code, “which is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage”.

The consultation paper said most countries are now moving towards recognition of difference, and the mere existence of difference does not imply discrimination but is indicative of a robust democracy.

A uniform civil code in India has been a key agenda of successive election manifestos of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Uniform Civil Code will come and the BJP will talk to NDA allies to make it happen, Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal told NDTV on the 100-day anniversary of the third consecutive government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Uniform Code is one of the first three promises of the BJP which it has inherited from its predecessor Jan Sangh, Mr Meghwal said. 

“We have fulfilled the other two promises — the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and the scrapping of Constitution’s Article 370 that gave Jammu and Kashmir its special status… The Law Commission is working on it (the Uniform Civil Code) , but some states have already implemented it… Uttarakhand, Goa. Other states are thinking about it,” Mr Meghwal told NDTV in an exclusive interview. 

The Prime minister, he added, has declared it from the ramparts of the Red Fort in his address on Independence Day. We will talk to the allies and certainly take steps in his direction,” he added.

The Uniform Civil Code, which will do away with personal laws of various communities on key issues like marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption, and bring all citizens on par, has been bitterly criticized by the Opposition, given its current form. 

A few NDA allies — among them Bihar Chief Minster Nitish Kumar and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu — are also on the same page as the Opposition.  Both parties have called for wider discussions and consensus on the law before it is given a final shape.

The draft bill is now before a Parliamentary Standing committee. 

In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called the current criminal law “communal” and said it should be replaced by secular version. 

“Many people in the country –and it is true — believe that the Civil Code we currently follow is, in fact, a communal one,” PM Modi had said. “It is imperative that we establish a Secular Civil Code in the country… only then can we eliminate discrimination based on religion,” he had added.

The Supreme Court has also called for the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in several of its judgments.

Bikaner:

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Monday hit out at Rahul Gandhi for his claim that the government was trying to bypass the reservation system through lateral entry, reminding the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha that former prime minister Manmohan Singh was made the finance secretary in 1976 through the lateral entry route.

The minister also dismissed as “baseless” Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that RSS people will be hired as public servants through this mode and pointed out that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who made the system of lateral entry methodical by giving the mandate to UPSC for framing rules. Earlier, he pointed out, there was no formal system in place for such entry into governance.

“Whatever appointments or recruitments or selections are to be done, UPSC will do it. Where is the issue of BJP, RSS in this? Baseless allegations are being made,” Arjun Meghwal told PTI Videos in Bikaner.

He said that RSS is an organisation that promotes cultural nationalism.

The minister alleged that Rahul Gandhi was trying to mislead people and tarnish the image of institutions like UPSC by “spreading lies”.

“The efforts of Rahul Gandhi, who is making such false allegations, are never going to succeed,” he said, adding that despite being the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, which is a constitutional post, Rahul Gandhi was making irresponsible statements.

“Dr Manmohn Singh was also part of the lateral entry. How did you directly make him the finance secretary in 1976?” the minister said.

He said that the then Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia entered service through the lateral entry route. He said CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi was made head of the National Advisory Council. “The prime minister’s is a constitutional post. But is NAC a constitutional body,” he quipped adding Sonia Gandhi was placed above the prime minister.

He alleged the then prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had opposed reservation in 1961 and as the leader of opposition, Rajiv Gandhi opposed OBC reservation on the floor of Lok Sabha.

“You started lateral entry. Prime Minister Modi made it methodical,” he said.

The minister noted that these are contractual posts. “Suppose an environment expert becomes a deputy secretary, what is the problem… person has to be an expert in a particular field,” he said.

He said the lateral entry is open to all. “Persons of SC, ST and OBC categories also apply. IAS vacancies are different. They claim we are ending reservations. What were you doing when you were recruiting? Suddenly their love for OBCs has come out. They are trying to mislead SC, ST, OBC students,” he said.

Condemning the rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata, he said that the whole country is ashamed.

“After the incident, efforts were made to destroy the evidence. It is a very shameful incident and we condemn it in very strong words,” he said.

Later, Arjun Meghwal, who is an MP from Bikaner, reached a BSF outpost in Khanuwali on the Indo-Pakistan border and celebrated the festival of Raksha Bandhan with women BSF personnel.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

There is no proposal to make voting in the country compulsory, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

The Lower House was also told that there was no proposal to restrict the distribution of freebies to the public on the eve of elections.

In two separate written replies, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said there was no proposal for making voting compulsory in the country and also no plan to restrict the distribution of freebies by parties on the eve of polls.

He also said the Election Commission had informed that overall 65.79 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the recently-held Lok Sabha elections.

Assam and Bihar had highest and lowest turnout, respectively, for all phases of the Lok Sabha polls.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The absence of the words “socialist, secular” in English copies of the Constitution distributed to MPs yesterday has provoked a massive controversy a day after the special session officially moved to parliament’s new building.

The opposition has called it an “attack” on the Constitution.

Reacting to the charge, Law Minister Arjun Meghwal said the copies featured the “original version” of the Preamble of the Constitution. “When the Constitution came into being, it did not have the words ‘socialist, secular’. These words were included in the 42nd amendment of the Constitution in 1976,” he pointed out.

The comment fueled more protests as the opposition accused the government of sneaking in a big change without following due process. The Hindi copies of the Constitution, however, had the correct version, which raised questions about whether the “change” was inadvertent or deliberate.

“The new copies of the Constitution that were given to us, the one we held in our hands and entered (the new Parliament building), its Preamble doesn’t have the words ‘socialist secular’,” Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, questioning the intentions of the ruling BJP.

“We know that the words were added after an amendment in 1976, but if someone gives us the Constitution today and it doesn’t have those words, it is a matter of concern. Their intention is suspicious. It has been done cleverly. This is a serious matter and we will raise this issue,” he said.

“I doubt their intentions as their heart does not seem to be clear on this,” added Mr Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha.

Binoy Viswam of the CPI-M called the omission a “crime”.

Copies of the Constitution were distributed in a gift bag handed to MPs on the opening day of the new parliament building.

The preamble of the Constitution originally described India as a “sovereign, democratic republic”.

During the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government, several changes were pushed through the 42nd amendment, and this included adding the words “socialist” and “secular” between “sovereign” and “democratic” and changing “unity of the nation” to “unity and integrity of the nation”.

In 1978, many of the changes were reversed but the amended preamble stayed.

In 1994, the Supreme Court said “secularism” is part of the basic structure doctrine, which means that certain basic characteristics cannot be erased.

Once an amendment is notified, the old Constitution should cease to be printed, opposition leaders said. Any change to the Constitution, therefore, would be tampering, they asserted.