Above the fold: Top stories of the day
1. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to head to Islamabad, meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
2. While Delhi debated the odds, Beijing put in place odd-even number vehicle restrictions starting Tuesday.
3. After the floods, fears of an epidemic in Chennai, where displaced families are still counting their losses.
4. The Delhi High Court quashed Sonia and Rahul Gandhi's pleas against summons to appear in the National Herald corruption case.
The Big Story: Uniform but unequal?
On Monday, the Supreme Court said it was up to Parliament to enact a uniform civil code that would bring the personal laws of all religious communities under one umbrella. The court was hearing a petition by one Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who wanted the court to nudge the government towards such a code. Upadhyay cited the suffering of Muslim women under personal law as a rationale. The court answered that it was not for a person from one community to point out the flaws in the personal laws of another; it might consider the matter if Muslim women complained about their personal laws.
The court does well to stay out of a politically fraught question. Article 44 of the Indian Constitution directs that the "state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens of India a uniform civil code". Yet ever since the BJP made the uniform civil code part of its core agenda, along with the Ram Temple and the abolition of Article 370, the debate on common civil laws for all communities has run along political faultlines: left versus right, Congress versus BJP. For a productive conversation on the uniform civil code, the issue needs to be dehyphenated from party politics.
The questions to ask instead are these: Is a common civil code the best way to emancipate citizens from regressive laws or can that be achieved more effectively by reforming community-specific personal laws? Will a uniform civil code, one that is genuinely secular and does not resemble the personal laws of any one community, serve the principle of equality of all citizens? Back in the 1940s, the drafters of our Constitution felt the need for a uniform civil code but recognised that Indian society, with its entrenched inequalities and prejudices, was not yet ready for a law that treated everyone the same, no matter what their disadvantage. Is Indian society ready for such a law today?
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's big story
Aarefa Johari reports how Muslim women would rather have personal law reformed and codified than a common civil code.
Peter Ronald deSouza asks the BJP three questions about its stated intent to bring in a uniform civil code.
Mohan Guruswamy on how India needs a uniform civil code rooted in reason.
Politicking and policying
1. The Tamil Nadu government allegedly kept about 30,000 policemen sitting idly by as the floodwaters rose in Chennai.
2. A fire in Mumbai's Damu Nagar slum, which broke out after 25 gas cylinders burst, kills two and burns down 2,000 homes.
3. A pamphlet circulated by the Indian delegation in Paris talks of how Indians lead a naturally eco-friendly lifestyle: less meat, more yoga.
Punditry
1. In the Hindu, Suhrith Parthasarathy on how the Tamil Nadu government's duty cannot end with rescue and relief work after the Chennai floods.
2. In the Telegraph, Ashok V. Desai warns of a food crisis.
3. In the Indian Express, Pratap Bhanu Mehta on the flaws in Nepal's constitutional settlement.
Don't Miss...
Been Sarwar on an online appeal that Pakistanis apologise to Bangladeshis:
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1. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to head to Islamabad, meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
2. While Delhi debated the odds, Beijing put in place odd-even number vehicle restrictions starting Tuesday.
3. After the floods, fears of an epidemic in Chennai, where displaced families are still counting their losses.
4. The Delhi High Court quashed Sonia and Rahul Gandhi's pleas against summons to appear in the National Herald corruption case.
The Big Story: Uniform but unequal?
On Monday, the Supreme Court said it was up to Parliament to enact a uniform civil code that would bring the personal laws of all religious communities under one umbrella. The court was hearing a petition by one Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who wanted the court to nudge the government towards such a code. Upadhyay cited the suffering of Muslim women under personal law as a rationale. The court answered that it was not for a person from one community to point out the flaws in the personal laws of another; it might consider the matter if Muslim women complained about their personal laws.
The court does well to stay out of a politically fraught question. Article 44 of the Indian Constitution directs that the "state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens of India a uniform civil code". Yet ever since the BJP made the uniform civil code part of its core agenda, along with the Ram Temple and the abolition of Article 370, the debate on common civil laws for all communities has run along political faultlines: left versus right, Congress versus BJP. For a productive conversation on the uniform civil code, the issue needs to be dehyphenated from party politics.
The questions to ask instead are these: Is a common civil code the best way to emancipate citizens from regressive laws or can that be achieved more effectively by reforming community-specific personal laws? Will a uniform civil code, one that is genuinely secular and does not resemble the personal laws of any one community, serve the principle of equality of all citizens? Back in the 1940s, the drafters of our Constitution felt the need for a uniform civil code but recognised that Indian society, with its entrenched inequalities and prejudices, was not yet ready for a law that treated everyone the same, no matter what their disadvantage. Is Indian society ready for such a law today?
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's big story
Aarefa Johari reports how Muslim women would rather have personal law reformed and codified than a common civil code.
Peter Ronald deSouza asks the BJP three questions about its stated intent to bring in a uniform civil code.
Mohan Guruswamy on how India needs a uniform civil code rooted in reason.
Politicking and policying
1. The Tamil Nadu government allegedly kept about 30,000 policemen sitting idly by as the floodwaters rose in Chennai.
2. A fire in Mumbai's Damu Nagar slum, which broke out after 25 gas cylinders burst, kills two and burns down 2,000 homes.
3. A pamphlet circulated by the Indian delegation in Paris talks of how Indians lead a naturally eco-friendly lifestyle: less meat, more yoga.
Punditry
1. In the Hindu, Suhrith Parthasarathy on how the Tamil Nadu government's duty cannot end with rescue and relief work after the Chennai floods.
2. In the Telegraph, Ashok V. Desai warns of a food crisis.
3. In the Indian Express, Pratap Bhanu Mehta on the flaws in Nepal's constitutional settlement.
Don't Miss...
Been Sarwar on an online appeal that Pakistanis apologise to Bangladeshis:
"In 2012, Bangladesh asked Pakistan for an official apology. In response, Pakistan said it had already expressed regret in different forms and that it is time to move forward.
Ahmed’s petition has come under fire from those who point out that East Pakistanis as they were then, also committed atrocities against West Pakistanis. There is no denying that arson, looting, rape and murder were committed by both sides, although the scale and numbers continue to be disputed.
To those who say that Pakistan shouldn’t apologise unless Bangladesh apologises for the actions of the Mukti Bahini (East Pakistan rebels), Ahmed responded: “as if two wrongs make a right, or as if a terrorist outfit represents a nation”. He terms as “disgraceful” the Pakistan government’s rejection of the insinuation that its armed forces committed atrocities against the people of Bangladesh."