Author: Mathew Joys, Las Vegas

The Indian Government is exploring the possibility of implementing a Uniform Civil Code. Religions and Communities should educate themselves on why personal law needs reform. We must modernize, democratize, and strengthen our institutions to make this transformation. People think that India needs the Uniform Civil Code to bring together its many different cultures. India runs by personal rules that don’t come from any religion at the moment.

“Uniform Civil Code is defined in the Constitution of India under Article 44 of the Directive Principles of the State Policy. According to Article 44 of the Constitution, the government must make every effort to provide UCCs for its residents across India.”

There is a fear that if a uniform Civil Code is enacted, it will erode the identity of every community, and they will be forced to adopt uniformity for the solemnization of marriage for the burial of the dead, and all kinds of things, which is total without basis because the object of uniform civil law is not to dictate you what customs and rituals you want to have. It is only about unity about the uniformity of justice.

The beauty of Indian democracy is the worst diversity in terms of culture cast and religion that it has it. Practical difficulties – India is a country with diversity in religion, ethnicity, castes, etc. Hence it is practically not feasible to come up with uniform rules for personal issues like marriage due to the cultural diversity. It is also difficult to convince every community to replace their age-old rules and traditions.

If we talk about freedom struggles or wars with Pakistan, the freedom fighters and our defense forces contributed to defending our land without caring about their religion. Indians are citizens and not people belonging to different communities. The Prime Minister has given a vision of “Amrit Kaal” and as citizen we have to work towards the realization of this goal. Abolition of racism, offering equal opportunities for higher education, supporting minority children in their education, and providing loans for minorities are some of the landmark decisions of the Narendra Modi government. When India is moving ahead to become a global superpower, Western powers with vested interests are putting all offers to defame India, and Indians have no union.

The collective effort to implement a uniform civil code would benefit the nation and humanity. It is natural if a man marries a woman, but if someone goes for four marriages, that is unnatural. Therefore, it is not against any religion but the collective decision that would benefit humanity. It was among the central promises of the BJP to form a committee for the implementation of the UCC.

According to reports, a meeting was held between Union Minister Amit Shah, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, and Solicitor General. Earlier, the Center had left the matter to the Law Commission. The Supreme Court had earlier also clarified that the issue falls within the purview of the legislatures. It is crucial that such a move comes at a time when elections are near.

Earlier for 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP promised to implement the Uniform Civil Code. The BJP is hinting that the legislation will be enacted with only a year to go before the next Lok Sabha elections.

Almost all laws in India (Criminal, Civil, Contract, Motor Vehicle Act etc.) are the same for any religion. But personal rules differ from religion to religion. There is also a change in religion and laws. A change from this is intended by the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code.

That is laws regarding marriage, divorce, property rights, alimony, wills, adoption, etc., differ from religion to religion. For example, according to Islamic law, a person can have up to 4 marriages. But according to Hindu law, a person can legally marry only once. New Delhi: The Center is exploring the possibility of implementing the Uniform Civil Code. According to reports, a meeting was held between Union Minister Amit Shah, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, and Solicitor General.

Earlier, the Center had left the matter to the Law Commission. Earlier, the Supreme Court had also clarified that the issue falls within the purview of the legislature. At this time, introducing UCC would only make things worse as it would make Muslims more insecure and vulnerable to being attracted towards fundamentalist and extremist ideologies. People worry that the UCC will remove their freedom of religion: Many people, especially religious minorities, think the Uniform Civil Code takes away their right to religious liberty. They fear a universal code of conduct because it would override their traditions and replace them with rules set by the majority religious group.

It is crucial that such a move comes at a time when elections are near. The plural democracy is an identity of modern India. Hence initiatives should be concentrated on bringing harmony in plurality, rather than blanket uniformity for flourishing Indian democracy.

A little progress each day, adds up big results. There are only two options: try to make progress or make excuses!

“Strength is Life; Weakness is Death.

Expansion is Life; Contraction is Death.

Love is Life; Hatred is Death”.

Any idea who said these famous words in 1893?

If not, the following narration of an incident will reveal the inspiration that molded a legend in an Indian village about 160 years ago; and kindled Indian religious and cultural concepts worldwide.

Imagine a classroom or may be kids sitting around a teacher under a banyan tree.

In that class, the teacher asked the children.

“Children, what do you want to be when you grow up?” One bright boy said: Teacher

Another: Doctor

So big jobs were said, one by one..

The teacher approached the last child and sat on the other end.

“Who do you want to be, kid?”

Boy: “I want to be a horseman.”

Teacher: “What..? Just a horseman? Aren’t you ashamed, kid. Bad! Bad!”

All that day, the boy was teased by all the children, and he was humiliated. He came home in the evening, sadly.

His mother was standing at the door waiting for him as usual.

Seeing her son’s face withered, the mother asked, “What’s the matter with you, Unni?”

Child: Teacher scolded me… All the children made fun of me…

Mother: Why?

Boy: “When the teacher asked me who I wanted to be, I said I wanted to be a horse-drawn carriage driver”.

The mother laughed and hugged her son and said, “Why my son should be a horse and carriage driver… but what kind of horse and carriage driver should he be?

Mother: Son come on, let me show you something to remember.”

The mother took her son to the pooja room and opened the door to a large picture. She pointed to the image of the horse carriage.

“Look at the Geeta Upadesam picture. There is a chariot on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Arjuna as a passenger is seated at the back. The chariot is driven by a charioteer (driver), Lord Krishna. He is holding the reins”.

His mother said, “Unni, you should become a horse carriage driver like this and lead the whole world; that is what mother wants.”

Mother’s words flowed through the child’s body like a thousand watts of electricity. The child’s sadness and humiliation suddenly changed to extreme joy.¦.

Who was that intelligent mother who changed her son’s thinking with a single word?

Goddess Bhuvaneshwari!

Who was that boy? Narendra !! Yes, our very own great- SWAMI VIVEKANANDA.

Hoover Dam near Las Vegas, is known globally for its cute architecture. The reservoir created by the damming of the Colorado River became Lake Mead, drew thousands of visitors to this wondrous contrast of desert and water. Lake Mead gets water from Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the country. Its water supply is around a fourth of what it used to be.

Now the Lake Mead is at an elevation of 1,046.3 feet. That’s more than 40 feet lower than the 1,087.1 feet elevation two years ago in June 2020. The latest two-year projection from the federal agency shows that the lake could drop as low as 1,020 feet within the next two years.

From 1983, fast-forward nearly four decades, Lake Mead is now 178 feet lower and continuing to shrink, may find alarming!

The megadrought currently choking the western United States is the worst drought in the region in more than 1,000 years. It’s having an enormous impact across many states and on several major reservoirs, including Lake Mead, a water source for millions of people in the West. 

Last week measured at 1,044.03 feet, its lowest elevation since the lake was filled in the 1930s. If the reservoir dips below 895 feet — a possibility still years away — Lake Mead would reach dead pool, carrying enormous consequences for millions of people across Arizona, California, Nevada and parts of Mexico. A dead pool would not mean no water was left in the reservoir, but even before Lake Mead was hit, there were concerns that water levels could fall so low that hydroelectric power production would be hindered.

A clear high-water mark known as a “bathtub ring” is seen on the shores of Lake Mead at the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 10, comparing the reservoir when filled in the 1930s. (Photo by Bridget BENNETT).

Astounding to hear the latest news of a body in a barrel, human skeletons along the shorelines, ghost towns, a crashed B-29 Superfortress that used to track cosmic rays, Prehistoric salt mines etc., are revealed when the water level dropped. What all will the receding waters of Lake Mead show in the days ahead?

The Colorado River Basin, a lifeline of the American Southwest, is shrinking. And, with it, the country’s two largest reservoirs are going dry. Just 30 miles east of Las Vegas sits Lake Mead on the border of Arizona and Nevada. It’s the largest artificial reservoir in North America.

Lake Mead pumps water from the Colorado River to nearly 25 million people. It’s a significant water source for residents and tribes in Arizona, Nevada, California, parts of Mexico and some of the country’s most productive agricultural sites. About 75 percent of the water goes to irrigation for agriculture. That supplies about 60 percent of the food for the nation that’s grown in the United States.

But the lake has been declining for decades due to rising temperatures and climate change, cracked earth and mud where water used to be. Now it’s only 30 percent full, an historic low. Over the years, rusted debris and sunken boats have emerged, more recently, some darker discoveries, human remains lost for decades.

Below Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam provides hydroelectric power to 1.3 million people across three states. But the dam is operating at 67 percent of its capacity. If the reservoir’s elevation falls below 950 feet, the dam’s turbines will stop spinning.

States in the Southwest have started limiting some of their use of the Colorado River Basin. And last month, federal officials took unprecedented action to temporarily keep enough water in Lake Powell, one of the country’s largest reservoirs, to continue generating hydropower for a million homes.

Southern California already started restricting water use, including watering of lawns to once or twice a week, for about six million residents. It’s also having a significant impact on Lake Mead, a primary water source for agriculture and millions of people in the American West.

In Nevada there have been measures to remove grassy lawns and save irrigation water that they can put back into the system. So there is a spirit of ensuring that people can protect water for the folks in their jurisdictions.

Now as a creative solution,  the following report is highly impressive. Regarding the Mississippi Water Letters of June 26, citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure don’t need all that water. All it does is cause flooding and massive tax expenditures to repair and strengthen embankments. 

The best solution would be for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build an aqueduct from the Old River Control Structure on the Mississippi to Lake Powell, fill it, and then send more water from there down the Colorado to fill lake Mead. About 4.5 million/gals a second flow past that structure on the Mississippi. As mentioned, New Orleans has a problem with that much water anyway, so let’s divert 250,000 gallons/sec to Lake Powell, which currently has a shortage of 5.5 trillion gallons.

Lake Mead has a somewhat larger shortage, about 8 trillion gallons, but it could be filled in about 370 days at 250,000 gallons/sec.Hence, this megadraught is not the catastrophic end of everything, alternative solutions will pave way for better days ahead.