The exemption of Adivasi communities from the proposed Uniform Civil Code reflects a necessary balance between uniformity and diversity. Do you agree? Justify with constitutional and sociological arguments.

Q. The exemption of Adivasi communities from the proposed Uniform Civil Code reflects a necessary balance between uniformity and diversity. Do you agree? Justify with constitutional and sociological arguments. (15 marks, 250–350 words)

Article 44 directs the State to "endeavour to secure" a Uniform Civil Code, yet the West Bengal draft UCC Bill, 2026 — referred to the Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai Committee — keeps tribal communities outside its ambit [1], mirroring Uttarakhand's Act No. 3 of 2024 [2]. I largely agree that this exemption is a necessary, though not costless, balance.

Constitutional arguments for the exemption - Fifth and Sixth Schedules empower Governors and Autonomous District Councils to regulate tribal succession, marriage and social custom — a UCC overriding them would collide with an explicit constitutional design [3]. - Article 29 protects distinct culture; Article 25 protects religious freedom. Uniformity must be proportionate, not assimilationist [3]. - Precedent of gradualism: Hindu Code Bills (1955–56) reformed one community at a time; the 21st Law Commission (2018) similarly held a UCC "neither necessary nor desirable at this stage", preferring reform within personal laws [4].

Sociological arguments for the exemption - Tribal customary law is often community-owned and matrilineal (Khasi, Garo), not scriptural; imposing a codified template risks eroding clan-based land and kinship systems. - Adivasi identity has historically been protected against absorption; forced uniformity could deepen alienation in already vulnerable regions.

Where the balance is imperfect - The exemption weakens the equality logic the UCC invokes: tribal women may remain outside gains such as parity in ancestral property and curbs on child marriage [1]. - It concedes that "uniformity" is negotiable, exposing the code to the charge that exclusions are politically, not principally, drawn. - Since marriage and succession fall in the Concurrent List (Entry 5), varying State codes with differing exemptions may fragment personal law further [3].

The exemption is therefore best read not as a dilution but as constitutional pluralism in practice — India's unity has always been unity in diversity. The way forward is consent-based reform: consultation with Autonomous Councils, codification of tribal customs by the communities themselves, and gender-just amendments introduced from within, so that Adivasi women gain rights without Adivasi identity losing ground.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. West Bengal govt sets up committee to examine draft Uniform Civil Code Bill — The Tribune — Justice Desai committee; tribal communities kept outside the Bill's ambit; scope covering marriage, divorce and succession 2. The Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand, 2024 (Act No. 3 of 2024) — PRS Legislative Research — first State UCC; Section 2 excludes Scheduled Tribes 3. The Constitution of India (Part-wise official text), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India — Article 44 (DPSP), Articles 25 and 29, Fifth and Sixth Schedules, Concurrent List Entry 5 4. Law Commission floats Consultation Paper on Family Law Reform (2018) — Press Information Bureau — 21st Law Commission's view that a UCC is "neither necessary nor desirable at this stage"