Uttarakhand becomes first state to implement Uniform Civil Code

News Network
January 27, 2025

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The Uniform Civil Code (UCC), a law that has faced long-standing criticism from the Opposition, will officially come into effect in Uttarakhand on January 27, making it the first state in independent India to put into effect such a law.

According to the state’s chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the government has completed all preparations to implement the law, including getting approval of the rules for the implementation of the Act and training of officials concerned. The rationale given for the law is that it will bring about ‘uniformity in the society and ensure equal rights and responsibilities for all citizens.’

"UCC is just an offering made by our state in the great 'yagya' being performed by the Prime Minister to make the country a developed, organised, harmonious and self-reliant nation," PTI quoted Dhami as saying in a statement.

The BJP had made a promise to implement the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand in the run-up to the 2022 assembly polls.These polls saw the party storming to power for a second consecutive term, something never done by any other party in the state since its creation in 2000.

According to CM Dhami, the historic mandate was because of the party's commitment to passing the UCC.

The Uniform Civil Code journey in Uttarakhand

The Uttarakhand state cabinet cleared a proposal to form an expert panel on the Uniform Civil Code in March 2022 in the first cabinet meeting after winning the assembly elections. The panel, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, was constituted on May 27, 2022 to prepare the draft of the UCC.

The Desai committee submitted a comprehensive draft in four volumes, prepared after one and a half years of dialogue with different sections of the state's population. It was sent to the state on February 2, 2024 and just a few days later, the Uttarakhand assembly passed the UCC bill. President Droupadi Murmu gave it her assent in March 2024, nearly two years after the initial proposal.

Another expert committee was at work after that, headed by former chief secretary Shatrughna Singh. It was formed to frame the rules and regulations for the implementation of the Act. The Sinha committee submitted its report to the state government late last year.

The state cabinet gave its approval recently and authorised the chief minister to decide a date for its implementation. Dhami decided the date to be January 27, 2025, a day after the country celebrated its 76th Republic Day.

What is in the Uttarakhand UCC?

The Uniform Civil Code Act of Uttarakhand will govern and regulate the laws relating to marriage and divorce, succession, live-in relationships and related matters.

It sets equal marriageable age for men and women, grounds of divorce and procedures across all religions, and bans polygamy and 'halala'.

Doon University Vice Chancellor Surekha Dangwal, who was part of the panel that drafted the UCC and was among those who framed the rules for its implementation, described to PTI the provisions aimed at bringing about gender parity in matters of marriage, divorce and succession, treating all children as legitimate including those born of void or voidable marriages, simplifying the process of preparing a will and regulating live-in relationships as the most outstanding in the UCC. She termed gender parity across all religions as the spirit of UCC.

According to Duggal, the UCC makes registration of all marriages and live-in relationships mandatory. She also said that the government has created facilities to help people register their marriages online so that they do not have to run around government offices for it.

"Another remarkable feature of the UCC is that it treats all children as legitimate. We have in fact totally done away with the term illegitimate in the context of children," she said. The UCC also makes a special provision for defence personnel called "privileged will" which can be made both in writing or by word of mouth.

Any soldier or air force personnel engaged in an expedition or actual warfare or a mariner at sea can make a privileged will for which rules have been kept flexible.

UCC criticism

Opposition leaders have criticized the UCC, arguing that it may lead to societal division along religious lines and might be impractical and overly ambitious.
The debate surrounding the UCC extends beyond Uttarakhand, as Article 44 of the Indian Constitution advocates for a uniform civil code across the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has referenced the Supreme Court's direction on the need for a common code, stressing that fulfilling the vision of the Constitution's framers remains a national goal.

Uttarakhand's implementation of the UCC is likely to set a precedent, with other states potentially following suit. The success of the law's implementation will depend on its ability to balance individual rights and social harmony.

As Uttarakhand stands at the forefront of this legal revolution, the coming weeks will offer a clearer picture of how the UCC will be received, both in the state and across India. The state's experience with the UCC will undoubtedly shape the future of personal law reform in the country.

What is the implementation process?

Shailesh Bagauli, secretary (home), stated that the government will issue two notifications: one for the implementation of the UCC and another for the rules and regulations, officially launching the UCC in the state.

Dhami had promised to implement the UCC if re-elected during the 2022 state polls. After becoming CM, he appointed a five-member committee led by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai to draft the code, which received feedback from over 2.3 lakh people, representing nearly 10% of Uttarakhand's families.

The 740-page draft was presented to the chief minister on February 2, 2024, approved by the cabinet on February 4, tabled in the assembly on February 6, and passed the following day. Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (retd) approved the bill on February 28 and President Droupadi Murmu subsequently signed it on March 11.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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News Network
December 4,2025

Udupi: A 40-year-old NRI from Udupi has reportedly lost more than Rs 12.25 lakh in an online investment scam operated through Telegram.

According to a complaint filed at the CEN police station, Leo Jerome Mendonsa, who has been working in Dubai for the past 15 years in computer accessories sales, maintains NRI accounts in Karkala and Nitte.

On November 12, 2025, Mendonsa was added to a Telegram group called Instaflow Earnings by unknown individuals. Users identified as Priya and Dipannita persuaded him to invest in “Revenue Tasks.” Initially, Mendonsa transferred Rs 1,100 multiple times and received the promised returns, encouraging him to continue.

On November 14, another user, Nishmitha Shetty, directed him to register on a website, digitvisionuoce.cc, and invest Rs 4 lakh in various shares. Over the next few days, he made multiple transfers totaling Rs 12,25,000, including Rs 50,000 via Google Pay, believing the scheme was legitimate.

After receiving the money, the alleged handlers stopped responding, and neither the invested amount nor the promised profits were returned.

The CEN police have registered a case under Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act and Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and investigations are ongoing.

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News Network
November 21,2025

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Local authorities say the Israeli military has expanded the so-called “yellow line” truce demarcation in Gaza City and repositioned its forces deeper into the territory in violation of a ceasefire agreement that came into force on October 10, besieging dozens of Palestinian families.

Gaza’s Government Media Office announced in a statement on Thursday that Israeli forces widened the boundary by shifting the markers, and advanced roughly 300 meters (984 feet) into the neighborhoods of Ash-Shaaf, An-Nazzaz and Baghdad Street.

The move pushed further into civilian areas, trapping families who were unable to flee as tanks rolled forward, it added.

“The fate of many of these families remains unknown amidst the shelling that targeted the area,” the office said, adding that the expansion of the yellow line shows a “blatant disregard” for the ceasefire deal.

On Friday, sources said the Israeli military carried out continued air and artillery strikes inside the so-called “yellow line” east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to the reports, Israeli warplanes and tanks targeted areas within the zone. One Palestinian was reported killed and several others wounded in the strikes, the sources said.

The fresh aggression came only a day after 25 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City and Khan Younis on Wednesday.

The media office reported that Israel has consistently violated the truce deal since its implementation last month, with near-daily attacks by air, artillery and direct shootings.

The office said over 400 violations have been documented. These breaches have resulted in the deaths of more than 300 Palestinians and left hundreds injured.

The Government Media Office in Gaza urged the guarantors of the ceasefire — the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — to take swift action to halt the ongoing violations and facilitate the delivery of food, shelter materials, medical aid, and infrastructure equipment.

The so-called “yellow line,” set out in the agreement between Israel and Hamas resistance movement, refers to a non-physical partition where the Israeli military repositioned itself when the truce deal took effect.

It has allowed Israel, which routinely fires at Palestinians who approach the line, to retain control over more than half of the Gaza Strip.

International bodies, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and other rights groups, have concluded that the Israeli war on Gaza amounts to genocide.

In the attacks in Gaza since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 69,546 people and injured 170,833 others, leveling large swaths of the territory and displacing almost all of the population. 

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