Uniform Civil Code For The Citizens

Vaishnavi Suresh, Presidency University, Bengaluru

ABSTRACT

The Indian Constitution was enforced in the year 1950’s with an aim to make the lands of India suitable for all its citizens where individual liberty and public harmony are preserved. This is where the existence and conflicts between the directive principles of the state policy and fundamental rights happens. The ultimate objective of both the factors is to liberate the powers equally among the citizens for their betterment of lives. The directive principles of the state were formulated with the objective of achieving its benefits over the passage of time. It was also believed that directives will be proved supplementary to the state as a Sovereign, Socialist, and Secular Democratic Republic. But, as per the lapse of time, the directives proved to stand against the fundamental rights of an individual. The principles which are adopted to benefit the whole of a society may stand against the rights and freedom of an individual or a particular community.

The Directive Principles of State Policy are determined in the Articles 36-51 of the Indian Constitution. In this article, the author focuses on Article 44 which speaks about the Uniform Civil Code for all the citizens in India. It is regarded as a debatable yet a controversial one as the directly clashes with the personal laws, religious sentiments and other factors claimed to be the fundamental rights.