FRACA is kicking off 2026 with a bang! On January 28, Solène Ferreira will honor us with a presentation analyzing the new Uniform Civil Code (UCC, 2025) legislation in Uttarakhand in light of the sociopolitical context in northern India. Come one, come all!
Presentation summary:
The entry into force of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state of Uttarakhand on January 27, 2025, is a first in India's post-independence legislative history. The BJP's latest election promise since the 1990s, this reform, which aims to standardize civil law for all religious communities, raises the issue of religious pluralism in a society as diverse as India. To what extent does this reform reconcile the goal of civil equality with respect for religious freedom and minority rights in India? What concerns have been raised by the requirement to register cohabiting relationships in terms of individual freedom and privacy? Through a legal analysis of the text of the law, this presentation examines how this standardization of civil law fits into the nationalist political discourse of national unity and social cohesion. It also examines the potential effects on the rights of religious minorities, historically governed by separate personal law regimes. Finally, this paper places the case of Uttarakhand in the broader context of contemporary political and religious transformations in northern India.
Short biography:
Solène Ferreira is a doctoral student in anthropology at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and in religious studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Her thesis focuses on the agricultural rituals of peasant communities in the Indian Himalayas in light of climate change and Hindu nationalism. She is communications manager at the Center for Studies and Research on India, South Asia, and its Diaspora, and a member of the Indo-Pacific Chair at Laval University.
Research interests: anthropology of religion, Hinduism, religion and politics studies, rural worlds and peasant societies, environmental transformations, agricultural policies
