OPINION

Translated by Madhusudhan Rao ವಿಶೇಷ ಮದುವೆ ಕಾಯಿದೆ (ಸ್ಪೆಷಲ್ ಮ್ಯಾರೇಜ್ ಆಕ್ಟ್) 1872 ರ ಬದಲಾಗಿ ಜಾರಿಗೆ ಬಂದ ವಿಶೇಷ ಮದುವೆ ಕಾಯಿದೆ (ಸ್ಪೆಷಲ್ ಮ್ಯಾರೇಜ್ ಆಕ್ಟ್) 1954 ಒಂದು ಪೌರ ಕಾಯ್ದೆಆಗಿದ್ದು, ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಜಾತಿ, ಧರ್ಮಗಳನ್ನು ಲೆಕ್ಕಿಸದೆ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳ ನಡುವೆ ಮದುವೆಗೆ ಆಸ್ಪದ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ.  ಈ ಕಾಯ್ದೆ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳು ತಮ್ಮ ವಿವಾಹವನ್ನು ಯಾವುದೇ ವಿಧಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಚರಿಸಲು ಅನುಮತಿಸುತ್ತದೆ ಮತ್ತು ಈಗಾಗಲೇ ಇತರ ಪ್ರಕಾರದ ವಿವಾಹದಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮದುವೆಯಾದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳಿಗೆ ತಮ್ಮ ವಿವಾಹವನ್ನು ಕಾಯಿದೆಯಡಿ ನೋಂದಾಯಿಸಲು ಅನುಮತಿ ನೀಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಜನರು ತಮ್ಮ ಸಂಗಾತಿಯನ್ನು ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡುವ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಧರ್ಮ ಮತ್ತು ಜಾತಿ ಅಡ್ಡ ಬರದಂತೆ ನೋಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಈ ಕಾನೂನು ಜಾರಿಗೆ ತರಲಾಯಿತು. ವಾಸ್ತವವಾಗಿ, ಈ ಕಾಯಿದೆಯಡಿ ವಿವಾಹ ಸಮಂಜಸ ಎನಿಸಿಕೊಳಲು ಮುಖ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿರುವುದೆಂದರೆ, ಸಂಬಂಧಪಟ್ಟ ಎರಡೂ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳು ತಮ್ಮ ಧಾರ್ಮಿಕ ನಂಬಿಕೆಗಳು ಅಥವಾ ಜಾತಿಯನ್ನು ಲೆಕ್ಕಿಸದೆ ಮದುವೆಗೆ ಒಪ್ಪಿಗೆ ನೀಡುವುದು. ಈ ಕಾಯಿದೆಯಡಿ, ವಿವಾಹ ಮಾನ್ಯ ಎನಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಮೂಲಭೂತ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆಗಳು ಇತರ…

The Special Marriage Act, 1954, which replaced the Special Marriage Act of 1872, is a civil law that provides for marriages of persons irrespective of faith or religion. The law allows the parties to observe any ceremonies for the solemnisation of their marriage and also permits persons who are already married under other forms of marriage to register their marriages under the Act.  The law was brought in to ensure that religion and caste do not come in the way of people choosing their partners. In fact, the fundamental requirement under this Act, for a valid marriage, is the consent…

On September 23, the Deputy Comissioner, Bengaluru Urban district, is hosting a virtual public consultation to discuss the environmental impacts of the proposed Peripheral Ring Road (PRR). The project has been in the news for a number of issues - continued public opposition over non-availability of the Detailed Project Report (DPR); the validity of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report; the number of trees which will be felled for it; the plethora of court cases brought in by a number of citizens set to lose their properties. That is quite a long list. Sure, the devil is in the details,…

A couple voting in the BBMP elections of 2015. What does it mean for Bengalureans to not have an elected Council now? File Pic: Akshatha M On September 10, the tenure of the BBMP Council ended, and the state government stepped in to appoint senior bureaucrat Gaurav Gupta as the corporation's administrator. Gaurav Gupta will remain in charge of the corporation until a new bunch of corporators are elected in the next Council election. It was a move that didn't surprise many who had been watching the space. But the Council elections aren't on the horizon anytime soon - partly…

“Read up. You really should. There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.” These are famous lines from Arthur Conan Doyle’s 'A Study in Scarlet'. A problem or its solution have all transpired before. But have we missed the lessons? It has been nine months since the first case of COVID-19 was reported from Wuhan, China in November 2019. The problem took a life of its own and knocked on India’s shores through Kerala in January 2020. It became Bengaluru's problem in March of 2020. While Bengaluru started out well in keeping the pandemic under…

It was the first thing on her to-do list as restrictions eased with Lockdown 5. Manjula recharged her phone for Rs 400. “I may have to skip a meal for this” she laments as the expense eats into her non-existent savings. “But my Amma should be able to call now” is her hope as she waits for her employers to call her back to work.  Working as a domestic help has been more than a decade of Manjula’s life.  She turned up at homes everyday like clockwork, to clean them without a day off. She stayed behind to help when they…

Bengaluru, predicted to be the fastest growing city in the world for the next 15 years, is already facing an acute water crisis. Its rapid infrastructural expansion has led to an ever-increasing demand for water, and local government bodies haven’t been able to keep up. The BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board), tasked with water supply, still doesn’t cover the 110 surrounding villages that had been merged into the city in 2007. Over the years, private water tanker operators have bridged this gap in water supply, playing a crucial role in the city’s daily life. However, they operate without…

Why do Shramik trains arranged after a 60-day long wait by workers have to be so carefully mismanaged? How do they end up taking extra-long routes? And why are passengers given such meagre amounts of water and food? Is this what ‘shramiks’ should get after spending days trying to satisfy all procedures, whims and fancies of the concerned departments and officials?  Why does everything to do with workers have to be a planned nightmare?  Let me share snippets from the journey of a worker from Bengaluru to Jampani village in Jharkhand, which led me to ask these questions.  The journey…

Over the last few weeks, the sight of garbage pickers and their trucks plying on empty streets in the early mornings has taught us the value of poor migrant labourers who provide essential services in our metros.  From the relative comfort of middle-class homes, we have learnt about their lives and have been moved by their plight.  But, there is another aspect of their predicament, which became clear to me only when I began supplying essential drugs and food packets to their families.  For some years, my friends and I, as volunteers of the Aam Aadmi Party, had held health…

[In Part 1 of this analysis, I discussed budget figures for 2020-21, and how resource mobilisation of the BBMP can be bettered. This concluding part is on suggestions to improve the finances of the civic body and how that can translate to efficiency.] A major source that the BBMP should tap for revenue -- after property taxes and leasing advertisement hoardings -- is to monetise its real estate through lease and rentals. Revenue from lease and rentals BBMP reportedly owns more than 20,000 properties across the city and most of them in prime locations. The rentals fixed are abominably low…