By L S Herdenia
BHOPAL: Following in the footsteps of other BJP-ruled states, Madhya Pradesh is also planning to rollout its own version of Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Chief minister Mohan Yadav has hinted that the new statute may be in place within the next six months.
Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to implement UCC. Assam and Gujarat are in the process of enforcing it. Other BJP-ruled states may follow suit.
At the weekly meeting of the cabinet in Bhopal on April 7, the chief minister asked the ministers to study the provisions in the UCCs implemented or in the process of implementation in other states. They were asked to come up with suggestions on how UCC can be implemented in the state and also foresee the challenges the government may face. There are indications that a high-level committee comprising bureaucrats and legal experts may soon be constituted to draft the new law.
However, implementation of UCC in the state will have its own challenges. Madhya Pradesh is the home to the biggest Adivasi population among all states in the country. Around 1.53 crore Adivasis live in the state. They form 21 per cent of the state’s population which means that every fifth resident of the state is an Adivasi. Not even one of the 55 districts of the state has a zero Adivasi population and in many districts, upwards of 80 per cent residents are Adivasis.
Almost 45 different tribes reside in the state and all of them have their own sets of norms and customs related to marriage, divorce and inheritance. Imposing any kind of uniformity over them would be an almost impossible task and is very likely to invoke the resentment and anger of community. The ruling BJP has been trying to make steady inroads into the Adivasi areas of the state. And its efforts have met with big success. It won 24 of the 47 seats reserved for the STs in the last (2023) Assembly elections. It holds all the six Lok Sabha seats reserved for STs in the state. Clearly, the ruling party would be averse to turning the Adivasis against it.
The government, of course, has the option of excluding the Adivasis from the operation of the proposed UCC. But placing more than one-fifth of the population out of the ambit of the UCC will hardly justify its ‘uniform’ nomenclature.
There is another factor. Naxalism has, officially, been uprooted from the state. Three districts in the state – Dindori, Balaghat and Mandla – were in the list of LWE (Left-wing extremism) affected districts in the country. Police say that all the naxals operating in the forests of these districts have either been killed or arrested or have been surrendered. But there in simmering resentment and tension in the Adivasi areas of the state. Confrontations with personnel of the forest department and acquisition of land for ‘development projects are among the key concerns of the Adivasis. Similarly, while the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA Act) was implemented in the state in 2022, organisations working for Adivasi self-governance and rights claim that the rules framed by the state government under the Act have effectively smothered the soul of the statute.
Currently, the state government is facing anger of the Advasis in the Chhattarpur district. The Adivasis have launched what they call ‘Chita Andolan’ (Pyre protest). Hundreds of Adivasis, mostly women, some with their children, lay on pyres on April 9 to protest against the Ken-Betwa link project signalling that they would oppose the project till their last breath. The project proposes to divert the water from the Ken River to the basin of the Betwa River via a dam and canals stretching up to 200 km. The massive project, it is said, will irrigate 10 lakh hectares of land and provide drinking water to 62 lakh people in the drought-hit areas of the state. The chief minister Mohan Yadav has said that the project will lay the foundation for farmers’ prosperity in the state.
However, the Adivasis do not agree. They claim that the project encroaches upon their forest rights and would displace a large number of people from their home and hearths. The protests are continuing even as prohibitory orders have been imposed in the Chhattarpur and the neighbouring Panna districts. (IPA Service)
