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In this issue

Religion ruled in a time when there were no Governments, no Parliament and most importantly, a negligible number of people who didn’t subscribe to the prevalent religion of the region. Consequently, lack of opposition and backing of the rulers made religion so supreme that it even superseded the power of rulers in some cases. Flash forward to present times where multiple faith followers can be found in a single family. The spread of information led to people with intelligence ponder the bad things in their own religion. Questioning and pondering led to these matters being discussed by legislature and ultimately in enacting laws to regulate religion. Evil practices such as sati, dowry and child marriage got outlawed. Then why not talaaq and halala, which to any prudent and reasonable person would appear unfair and unreasonable? Mere so, when the same have been banned in numerous Muslim nations. When the legal legends like Dr Ambedkar’s advocated for Hindu Code Bill, regulation of Muslim Law or a Uniform Civil Code saw much opposition, forcing the Nehru government to settle with Article 44 of the Constitution, which is one of the Directive Principles of State Policy, and says: “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.” We are still in search of a convincing answer to this. The double feature cover story this month looks into the need of continuing triple talaaq and its position worldwide. On the occasion of World Red Cross Day, 8 May, we “Showcase” the society which has worked fearlessly across enemy lines to ensure proper care and treatment of those injured in wars and victims of epidemics.