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By:

Akhilesh Sinha

25 June 2025 at 2:53:54 pm

Cultural identity begins once again

AI generated image New Delhi: The Assam government's decision to introduce the UCC Bill in the state assembly on Monday marks a significant shift in the political landscape. After Uttarakhand and Gujarat, Assam has become the third BJP-ruled state to move decisively toward giving legal shape to the Uniform Civil Code. Indications also suggest that the issue may soon emerge at the center of political discourse in West Bengal. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Atul Bora introduced the "Assam...

Cultural identity begins once again

AI generated image New Delhi: The Assam government's decision to introduce the UCC Bill in the state assembly on Monday marks a significant shift in the political landscape. After Uttarakhand and Gujarat, Assam has become the third BJP-ruled state to move decisively toward giving legal shape to the Uniform Civil Code. Indications also suggest that the issue may soon emerge at the center of political discourse in West Bengal. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Atul Bora introduced the "Assam Uniform Civil Code Bill, 2026" in the Assembly. The proposed legislation extends far beyond issues of marriage and divorce, touching several sensitive aspects of the social structure. According to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the law seeks to regulate five major areas, a ban on polygamy, a uniform minimum age for marriage, compulsory registration of marriages and divorces, equal inheritance rights for daughters in ancestral property, and mandatory registration of live-in relationships. The government argues that the legislation is aimed at providing legal protection to women and eliminating entrenched social evils. The most striking aspect of the Assam model, however, is its "exception clause." Scheduled Tribes have been kept outside the ambit of the proposed law, whether they reside in the hills or the plains. Traditional religious customs and rituals have also been exempted. This reflects the government's attempt to balance the message of equality with the ethnic and cultural sensitivities of the Northeast. Indeed, this remains one of the core challenges of Indian federalism that maintaining harmony between uniformity and diversity. The opposition has sharply criticised the Bill both inside and outside the Assembly from the very beginning of the session. While the ruling party claims that introducing the UCC fulfills one of its key electoral promises, opposition parties such as the Congress, Trinamool Congress, and Raijor Dal have questioned both the timing of the legislation and its potential social consequences. Assam Congress working president Zakir Hussain Sikdar described the move as the BJP's "political agenda" and asked what tangible benefit it would bring to ordinary citizens. The opposition has also alleged that there was no broad-based social or political consultation before introducing the Bill. Roots of Idea Yet, the idea of a Uniform Civil Code is far from new. Article 44 of the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Indian Constitution directs the State to endeavour to secure a common civil code for all citizens. The roots of this idea can be traced back to the colonial era. In 1835, the British government proposed the concept of a uniform law, though personal religious laws were kept outside its scope. Goa, through the Portuguese Civil Code, has long had a form of common civil law in place. However, in independent India, Uttarakhand became the first state to take a concrete step in this direction. The UCC Bill was introduced in the Uttarakhand Assembly in February 2024 and implemented in January 2025 after receiving presidential assent. The Uttarakhand model granted equal property rights to sons and daughters and made registration of live-in relationships mandatory, while exempting Scheduled Tribes. Gujarat, too, passed a UCC Bill this year, with a particular emphasis on inheritance laws. Under the proposed framework, if a person dies intestate, parents, children, and spouses would receive equal shares in the property. Highlighted Need The judiciary, too, has repeatedly underscored the need for a Uniform Civil Code. In the landmark Shah Bano case, the Supreme Court observed that Article 44 had remained "a dead letter" and stated that a common civil code could strengthen national integration. In the Sarla Mudgal judgment as well, the Court expressed disappointment over the failure to implement the UCC. Again in 2015, the Supreme Court reiterated the need to uphold the spirit of Article 44 by moving toward a common civil framework for the entire country. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was among the strongest advocates of a Uniform Civil Code. During the Constituent Assembly debates, he argued that such a law would apply equally to people of all religions and would have nothing to do with religious practices themselves. He believed that ensuring equality in matters of family, marriage, inheritance, and civil rights was the duty of the State, so that individual rights would not be compromised in the name of community traditions.

Mumbai shoos: ‘Kabootar, Ja Ja, Ja’

Mumbai: After centuries of uneventful feeding of pigeons, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has cracked down on the practice, angering bird-lovers, activists and followers of Jain religion, co-existing in the country’s commercial capital.

 

Following an order of the Bombay High Court, the BMC first covered the famed Kabutarkhana, Dadar, with plastic sheets, deployed marshals to deter habitual feeders and trained guns on other designated or unofficial pigeon feeding spots across the metropolis.

 

Among other things, the high court has banned the ‘jivdaya’ activity and on July 31 directed the civic body to take stringent action, including lodging FIRs on those who blatantly continue the feeding despite the bar.

 

Apparently irked by the civic assault, Maharashtra Minister for Skill Development shot off an open missive to the BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, urging him for alternatives.

 

Earlier, Higher & Technical Education Minister Uday Samant informed the state legislature of the government’s plans to shut down all the 51 designated ‘Kabutarkhanas’ in Mumbai, some also having heritage value.

 

Though feeding birds, especially pigeons is an accepted norm among most communities, it has special significance for Jains as ‘jivdaya’ (non-violence as compassion for all the living) is a central tenet of Bhagwan Mahavir Jain’s principles of life.

 

Existing for centuries in Mumbai, since the past few decades, eyebrows have been raised over pigeon-feeding as it has led to unchecked growth in the population of these ‘symbols of peace’, estimated at between 150-200 pc.

 

Recent studies have indicated that pigeons are carriers of various airborne diseases that can harm local biodiversity and pose public health risks.

 

Pigeon droppings have bacteria causing respiratory problems, drivers, especially two-wheelers in the vicinity of the ‘kabutariyas’ face dangers and large numbers of these birds concentrated in some localities drive away other avians, besides the poo staining or damaging important buildings or monuments.

 

‘Recycling’ pigeons for a living!

Pigeon feeding is a familiar sight near the 51-odd Jain temples or certain other places of worship in Mumbai, where it is now banned, and other major cities now mull the same.

 

In Mumbai and other cities, there are professional ‘pigeon sellers’ who bring these birds and hawk them at strategic locations near Jain temples, minting money from the single stock. 

 

Many Jains - as a religious responsibility - whip out wads of currency to buy the birds, and then ask the seller to ‘release’ them from captivity as the client experiences a spiritual halo for his compassionate good deed, and leaves.

 

However, barely minutes later, the entire flock of pigeons returns to the same seller who again ‘jails’ them in the cages, awaiting the next devout Jain to pay up and give them wings of freedom…!


Bollywood fans recall the famed scene in the blockbuster "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" (1995) of the villainous Amrish Puri feeding pigeons by cajoling, 'auh, auh, auh'...

 

Later, even the besotted Shah Rukh Khan joins him, with a romantically sinister motive - melt Puri's heart to win his sweetheart Kajol...and succeeds !


Two decades ago, even Trafalgar Square in London barred it, but pigeon feeding reportedly continues near St. Peter’s Square flanking Apolistic Palace - the Pope’s residence in The Vatican (Rome, Italy), with even some Popes known to extend their generous hands to feed and bless the birds.

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