Why it is in the news
Gujarat became the second State after Uttarakhand to enact a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) when President Droupadi Murmu gave assent on 17 September 2026 to the Gujarat Uniform Civil Code, 2026, which the Assembly had passed on 24 March 2026. The law was published in an extraordinary Gazette on 1 October 2026; it will come into force on a date to be notified by the State Government. It governs marriage, divorce, succession and live-in relationships, excludes Scheduled Tribes, and needed Presidential assent because it touches subjects on the Concurrent List.
The exam angle
Thesis: State-level UCCs are an incremental, federal route to Art. 44, but they test constitutional limits of State power over personal law and the balance between equality and religious freedom.