22 June 2023

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. Each religion in India has its own set of laws, which makes for a convoluted system of personal laws. Examine the necessity of India implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) from this angle.

Paper & Topic: GS II – Constitution-related issues

Model Answer:

• The government is required by Article 44 of the Constitution to endeavour to guarantee that everyone has access to a uniform civil code throughout all of India. The goal of a unified civil code (UCC) is to replace personal laws with a common law for everyone. Everybody should be subject to a single law that regulates all aspects of life, including marriage, divorce, maintenance, and adoption. Enacting a UCC has also been regularly emphasised by the Indian legal system. The question of UCC has produced a lot of public controversy on the grounds of eliminating gender inequity and implementing “one nation, one policy.”

Arguments in favour of establishing an Indian civil code include the following:

• Preventing prejudice based on racial, gender, caste, and religious considerations is a goal of UCC. UCC will also stop discriminating in areas like inheritance, guardianship, marriage, divorce, and adoption.
• How to achieve secularism: The Preamble of the Constitution declares India to be a secular state. In order to achieve this secularism goal, a consistent civil law is a positive start. The UCC is a means through which the state may ensure that secularist objectives are respected because of the variety of religion and race in the country.
• Uniformity of the law: India’s unified civil code mandates that all citizens abide by the same laws. Everyone will be bound by the same common law, regardless of their religion, community, or customs. Personal law matters will become standard as a result, making it easier to maintain social order and settle disputes.
• Equality: Currently, personal laws in India are based on religion; as a result, while Muslims are allowed to remarry, Hindus or Christians will be subject to legal ramifications if they do the same. This is not the kind of equality that Article 14 of the Indian Constitution ensures. In terms of marriage, inheritance, family, property, and other legal considerations, all Indians should be accorded equal protection under the law. A uniform civil code would help achieve national unity by eliminating conflicting interests, according to the Supreme Court’s latest ruling.
• Secure women’s rights: Because many personal laws, such as those that adhere to a particular religion on marriage, divorce, and succession, violate women’s fundamental rights, implementing UCC can aid in reducing violence against women and defending women’s rights in India.
• Lesser burden on the Judiciary: According to an e-courts report, the high courts are currently managing 4.64 million cases. If there was a single law that applied to all, there would be less ambiguity, the judiciary would be less burdened, and issues could be settled more quickly and without delay. Everyone will profit equally from justice, and the number of personal injury cases will drop.

Defendants of India’s decision not to implement a standard civil code:

• Restrictions on the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of religion are the fundamental justification for opposing the adoption of the Uniform Civil Code. The right to practise one’s religion freely will be constrained if personal law rules are codified and made obligatory.
• In its different groups and states, India is home to a broad variety of religions, cultures, languages, and customs. These civilizations and faiths all have distinctive practises that distinguish them from one another. Therefore, bringing all of these practises under one roof and developing a single, all-encompassing law is a time-consuming and difficult endeavour.
• Implementing a uniform code may seem to amount to excessive government intervention in the personal lives of its residents. Muslims will contend that implementing the Uniform Civil Code would amount to robbing Muslims of their own laws because Sharia is a basic component of Islam and cannot be legally restrained.
• Low awareness: There is little familiarity with the concept of a single civil code. Due to the misconceptions surrounding its implementation, especially in minority groups, it is difficult to have a rational discussion about it.
• The quest for a common civil code is thought to constitute the link between vote-bank politics and communal politics.
• The Uniform Civil Code is the ideal law to give the Indian legal system secularism and uniformity in personal or civil laws. However, the most straightforward method to resolve any uncertainty surrounding UCC is to make minor adjustments to personal laws to make them more current.

Q2. The key drivers of the Indo-US relationship’s rapid development in recent years have been increased economic contact and strategic convergence. Analyse.

Paper & Topic: GS II – International Relations

Model Answer:

• The bilateral relationship between India and the US has transformed into a “global strategic partnership” based on shared democratic values and a rising convergence of interests on bilateral, regional, and international issues. The fast expanding trade and business links between India and the US are a key component of their complex relationship. The prime minister’s recent state visit to the US will serve to advance the process of defence, strategic, and trade cooperation between the two largest democracies in the world.

The US and India’s economic partnership:

• With two-way trade hitting a record $191 billion, the US has surpassed all other trading partners to take the top spot as India’s most important trading partner. India finds comfort in its favourable condition with the US given that it has a negative trade balance with the majority of its other trading partners. The US’s ninth-largest trading partner is India.
• Trade-enhancing communication routes: To improve bilateral cooperation on economic and trade issues, two examples of communication channels are a Ministerial level Economic and Financial Partnership and a Ministerial Trade Policy Forum. To encourage greater engagement of the private sector in discussions on trade and investment-related problems, there is a bilateral CEO’s Forum between India and the US. A bilateral investment plan between the US and India was also launched in 2014, with a focus on easing FDI, portfolio investment, capital market expansion, and finance for infrastructure.
• Over $60 billion has been spent by American and Indian companies in a range of Indian industries, including manufacturing, telecommunications, consumer products, and aerospace. Similar to this, Indian businesses have spent over $40 billion in sectors including renewable energy, medicines, and IT.
• FDI from the US: India received the highest amount of FDI ever in 2020–21, amounting to US$81.72 billion. With a contribution of 17.94%, the USA is the second-largest source of FDI equity inflow.
• The US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) welcomed India as a member. The three IPEF pillars—improving supply chains, capturing opportunities in clean energy, and combating corruption—have been accepted by India.

Commonalities between the US and India in terms of strategy:

• Countering China: Both the US and India have increased their engagement with a focus on China, indicating a strong strategic component in their relationship. The US is also talking about bolstering its security partnerships with India and formulating a strategy for cooperation over the next five years as both countries battle with China’s economic advancement and escalating belligerence.
• The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue was established as a symbol of strategic partnership. The US, Australia, Japan, India, and the Quad, a four-nation alliance, were repurposed in 2017 primarily as a forum for redoubling focus on the Indo-Pacific area and as a counter to China’s rising influence in the Indian Ocean rim. Following the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, the Quad initially began as a large cooperation but soon gained strategic importance.
• I2U2 is a partnership between India, Israel, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates that focuses on innovative projects and cooperative investments in the areas of water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
• India and the US came to an agreement on the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), a framework for cooperation on critical and emerging technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, and wireless telephony.
• In order to boost the semiconductor supply chain through strategic engagement and reliable supply chains, the two countries also established a collaboration. The biggest one is the possibility that India may align itself for a more central role in the global electronics supply chain, especially the possibility of convergence among the chip manufacturing incentive plan that India adopted.
• On a geopolitical and economic level, India and the US are collaborating more and more. As it strives to strengthen regional confidence, disengage from Pakistan, and lower risk with China, the US has profited from this convergence of size, strategy, and policy at a crucial time. India’s position among friendly nations as well as in the Indo-Pacific region has gained a stronger economic, strategic, and technological power as a result of increased investments, trade, defence links, and research hubs.