BHOPAL: A higher percentage of women compared to men seek the introduction of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
More than 9.50 lakh suggestions about the UCC have been received by the government in the individual category, out of which around 5.50 lakh or 58 per cent are from men, while 4 lakh suggestions are from women. Around 100 suggestions have been sent by the transgender individuals.
While men outnumbered women in providing suggestions about the UCC, women are ahead of men in extending support to the introduction of the UCC in the state.
According to statistics available with the TNIE, a total of 92 per cent of men (5.10 lakh out of the 5.50 lakh who made the suggestions) are in support of the UCC, while 95 per cent or 3.8 lakh women, who gave suggestions, wanted the implementation of UCC in MP.
A further break-up of men on religious lines, who made the suggestions, revealed that out of the 5.20 lakh Hindu men, 95 per cent of 4.90 lakh supported the UCC, while out of the 3.70 lakh Hindu women, 97 per cent or 3.60 lakh backed the move to have UCC in the state.
However, the most significant and sharp contrast in numbers supporting the UCC was visible in the Muslim community.
Though only 44,000 Muslims came out with suggestions on the sensitive issue to the government, 71 per cent or 10,500 women out of the 15,000 women who made the suggestions were in UCC’s support.
On the contrary, out of the 29,000 Muslim men who sent their suggestions, merely 38 per cent or around 11,000 were actually supportive of the UCC being implemented in the state.
A total of 2,000 institutional suggestions were also received.
According to sources associated with the high-level committee constituted by the state government in April 2026, to study the UCC of other states and prepare the UCC draft for MP, all suggestions received on the dedicated website or through state-wide meetings with stakeholders, including social activists, right groups, religious leaders and politicians, besides government servants, are being examined.
Sources added that while 90 per cent of the UCC draft is almost ready, the remaining ten percent will be completed by accommodating most valid suggestions in the next few days.
The state government-constituted UCC committee, which met in Delhi on Friday, was chaired by the committee’s head and former Supreme Court judge, Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai.
The Committee will submit the UCC draft along with two reports (one report summing up the findings and consultations of the committee and the other embodying the suggestions made by various segments of society) in the next 7-8 days.
Importantly, the state government had recently stated that the UCC draft will be ready by July 5.
It remains to be seen whether the draft will be made public or not, before being introduced as a Bill in the monsoon session of Vidhan Sabha, starting July 20.
The high-level UCC committee’s meeting in Delhi on Monday happened two days after the committee members’ last district-level meeting, which took place in Gwalior on Wednesday.
At the meeting in Gwalior, the Congress MLA from Gwalior-Rural seat Sahab Singh Gurjar stressed on the need for giving equal weightage to suggestions from people in urban and as well as the rural areas.
While MP’s draft UCC, just like the UCC in the other three BJP-ruled states, will focus on marriage, divorce, inheritance and succession and associated issues, it has been unanimously decided to keep the entire tribal population out of its purview.
Tribals form 21 per cent of the state’s total population. MP has an estimated 1.65 crore tribal population, which is the highest in numbers among any other tribal inhabited state in the country.
It, however, remains to be seen whether those tribals who give their voluntary consent for being covered by UCC will be covered by the new law.
Also, it remains to be seen whether tribals who embraced religions like Christianity or Islam or tribal women who have married non-tribal men, will be brought under UCC’s purview or not.
Sources associated with the UCC committee, however, confided to TNIE on Saturday that on the lines of Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Assam (which have either implemented the UCC law or else passed the legislation paving it’s way for implementation), the UCC Bill may make registration of all live-in relationships mandatory.
The possible provision of compulsory registration of all live-in relationships in MP’s UCC draft will particularly aim to ensure that rights of women partners and children from such relationships are protected.
“The prime objective of the UCC is to protect women and child rights, and in cases of live-in relationships, if they are registered compulsorily, the male partners may be shielded from false charges of exploitation by women partners on break-up of relationships,” informed sources claimed.
Another important factor which had been raised during committee’s consultations with members of society in Bhopal on June 22, is related to the protection of rights and interests of elderlies and divyangs (specially- abled), particularly the aged people who are abandoned by their children, especially after ancestral properties are transferred.
