India, Feb. 25 -- Earlier this month, the state of Uttarakhand passed, with much fanfare, what it calls the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The Uttarakhand UCC is popularly believed to be a state-level precursor to a larger-scale, potentially nationwide attempt to put into place a "uniform civil code". The exact contours and nature of this Code have been contentious and long-debated: even in the context of Uttarakhand, experts have questioned how "uniform" it is, given that it excludes the Scheduled Tribes (STs) from its ambit, and also leaves the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) untouched. It is evident, therefore, that the contention around this project is far from over....