UCC will be greatest tribute to gender justice, says JNU Vice Chancellor

NEW DELHI:  The Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said that the implementation of a universal civil code would be a “great tribute” to gender justice. Delivering the Dr B R Ambedkar lecture series, she said uniformity of laws is meant to make people progressive and broad-minded. The VC said that Ambedkar wanted the implementation of a uniform civil code.

“Goa has a uniform civil code which was imposed by the Portuguese so there also Hindus, Christians and Buddhists and everybody has accepted it so why is it that it is not being done. “Uniformity of laws, their accomplishment as per the Constitution, meant making people progressive and broad-minded to accept the laws put for the society,” she said.

Pandit was speaking on ‘Dr B R Ambedkar’s Thoughts on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil Code’. She said “unless we have social democracy, our political democracy is a mirage. “It is pertinent you cannot have a minority having all the rights when the majority does not, sometime you will have a backlash that you will not be able to handle.” 

 Talking about the need for reservation for women, she said most would favour it but even today out of 54 universities just six have women vice chancellors with only one from the reserved category. “The importance of Babasaheb has not been given his space till very recently and it is very important that such speakers should be made a part of even our school education. Babasaheb has become even more relevant today because of gender-based discrimination,” she said.