Interrogating the Socio-Cultural and Legal Implications of the Uniform Civil Code on Tribal Autonomy in Assam, India

Abstract

The debates over the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) have gained popularity after the expression of the political intention of the contemporary government for its implementation in India. However, the debate often ignores the heterogeneous tribal communities whose tradition and culture have already been submerged and homogenized with the dominant religious groups besides being protected by the Constitution of India. The tribal population now refers to themselves as either Hindu, Muslim, or Christian while following unique cultural and religious practices since ancient times. This is mostly because of the implementation of uniform personal laws that differentiate only the major religious groups. Now with the implementation of UCC, even such differentiation is also going to be neutralized. Given such circumstances, it is doubtful whether the Tribal Autonomy guaranteed under the Constitution will successfully protect the unique cultural identity of the tribal population post-implementation of UCC. The paper therefore conducts an empirical investigation into the three Autonomous District Councils of Assam interrogating the socio-cultural and legal implications of UCC on the tribal autonomy to generalize the conclusion with respect to the whole of India. It was found that there lie uncertainties with regard to consequences among the local tribal population and mostly they are afraid of losing the autonomist privileges.

Keywords: Autonomous District Councils of Assam, Personal Laws, Tribal Communities, Uniform Civil Code