A committee constituted to draft a Uniform Civil Code for the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Madhya Pradesh has recommended excluding Adivasis from the scope of the bill, PTI reported on Tuesday.

The Uniform Civil Code aims to introduce a common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all citizens. Currently, such personal affairs of different religions are based on community-specific laws, largely derived from religious scripture.

The report of the government-appointed multi-member panel, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, was submitted to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Monday and forwarded to the law department.

Desai also headed the panels that drafted Uniform Civil Codes for Uttarakhand and Gujarat. Earlier this month, the Maharashtra government also constituted a committee headed by her to prepare a draft Uniform Civil Code for the state.

After scrutiny and approval by the Cabinet, a Uniform Civil Code Bill is likely to be introduced during the Monsoon Session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, which begins on July 20.

The panel was tasked with studying existing laws governing marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance, adoption and live-in relationships before preparing a draft suited to the state’s social, cultural and economic conditions, PTI quoted a statement by the state government as saying.

“The committee has recommended excluding Scheduled Tribes from the Uniform Civil...

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