Explained: All About Making of the Indian Constitution

MAKING OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION

INTRODUCTION:

• The constitution of India was framed by the constituent assembly which was set up in 1946 for an undivided India.
• Dr B R Ambedkar was appointed as the head of the drafting committee so that the permanent and organized constitution can be drafted.
• On 26 November 1949, India stood on its own feet as this date laid the foundation stone of Independent India as on this day, we adopted our constitution after 2 years 11 months and 18 days of the hardship of our great leaders including Dr BR Ambedkar, Dr Rajendra Prasad, H.C. Mukherjee, Jawaharlal Nehru, and many other great leaders.
• There were five basic principles on which the assembly has confined itself to form the lengthiest constitution of the world and i.e. the country being republican state, federal structure, parliamentary form of government, permanent judiciary and fundamental rights.
• According to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, “Ours is a battle; Not for wealth, nor for power, ours is battle; for freedom; for reclamation of human personality.”

CONSTITUTION OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY:

• The idea of constituent assembly and framing of a constitution was initially put forth by Manabendra Nath Roy in 1934 according to Indians which was also supported by Indian National Congress in 1935. He also published the nation’s first draft constitution in 1944 named ‘M.N Roy’s Constitution of free India: A draft’
• The constituent assembly was formed on 16th May 1946 under the Cabinet mission plan.
• According to the cabinet mission plan, the total strength of constituent assembly was 389, out of which 296 were to represent British India and 93 to Princely states.
• When the election took place, the Congress won 208 seats out of 296, 73 seats were won by Muslim league and others won 15 seats.
• These elections create chaos in the country between Hindu-Muslim and Muslims refused to cooperate with the congress which triggers the riots between them.
• Lord Mountbatten announced to scrap the cabinet mission plan on 3^rd June 1947. This lead to the passing of the Indian Independence Act 1947 and the partition of the country into two parts i.e. India and Pakistan.
• After the partition, the strength of the constituent assembly was reduced to 299, which was further divided into 229 represent British India and 70 represent Princely states.

MAKING OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION:

• On 9^th December 1946, the constituent assembly held its first meeting in which Dr Sachidanand Sinha, being the oldest member of the assembly, was elected as the interim president of the constituent assembly.
• However, on 11^th December 1946, Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first permanent President and H.C. Mukherjee as the Vice-President of the constituent assembly.
• The constituent assembly was in the opinion that 22 different committees should be formed to deal with the different tasks of the making of the constitution.
• The Drafting Committee had seven members: B.R. Ambedkar, K.M Munshi, Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyangar, N. Gopalaswami, Mohammad Saadulla, B.L. Mitter and D.P. Khaitan.
• Originally there were 395 articles divided into 22 parts and there were 8 schedules.
• The constituent assembly held 11 sessions and took 2years 11 months and 18 days to complete its task of drafting the constitution.

SESSIONS OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

Indian Constitution had gone through different stages of drafting:

1. In its First stage, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the ‘Objectives Resolution’ in the assembly. The objective resolutions were:
2. To make India be a sovereign republic.
3. To establish India as a Democratic union.

• All the power of central and state government will be derived from people.

1. To secure to all the citizens
2. To maintain the integrity of the territory
3. To provide an adequate safeguard for minorities, BC, SC/ST & tribal areas.

• To promote international peace and security.
• To have for India, a rightful, honoured and dignified place in the world platform.

1. After that various committees were formed to look after the various aspects of the India constitution like Union Powers Committee, Union Constitution Committee, Advisory Committee on fundamental rights. Important committee along with their chairman is as follows:

1. In this stage, Sir B.N. Rau, on the basis of various reports and discussion of the different committees, prepared a draft constitution which was sent to the drafting committee for further scrutiny.

1. In this stage, on 27^th October 1947 the draft which was submitted by B.N. Rau was started to get scrutinized by the drafting committee along with all the other recommendations. The committee then made changes in the draft and submitted it to the president of the constituent assembly.

1. After the 4^th stage, the draft received by the constituent assembly was circulated to the public for suggestions. Various report, suggestions and critiques were received which were further scrutinized by the Special Committee of members of the Union Constitution Committee, Provincial Constitution Committee and Union Powers Committee. The drafting committee again started the discussion and resubmitted the draft of the constitution on 21 February 1948.

1. The resubmitted draft was presented to the constituent assembly by Dr B.R. Ambedkar. The assembly started the debate on each and every clause on which various objections were raised. The debate at this stage was protracted and the most crucial debate of the constituent assembly.

1. After the sixth stage, the drafting committee went on to make certain changes as suggested by the constituent assembly along with some other tasks like renumbering articles, minor changes in language, etc. On 14^th November 1949, the final draft was introduced in the assembly.

1. At this stage, the drafted constitution underwent a second reading. There were again various amendments suggested by the assembly, however, most of them were rejected.

1. At this stage, the drafted constitution went through a third reading where again there were few substantive debates and speeches. There were positive responses from the member of the assembly. BR Ambedkar also moved a motion 'that the Constitution as settled by the assembly be passed'.

1. At this final stage, the third reading came to an end and on 26^th November 1949, the assembly voted to pass the motion that Dr B.R. Ambedkar had proposed in the previous stage. On 24^th January 1950, the final Constitution was signed by 284 members the member of the constituent assembly and on 26^th January 1950, it came into effect.

SOURCES OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION:

Indian constitution is a very unique document which had derived its concepts from various sources.

1. The major Structural part of the constitution (like the executive functions, emergency provisions) has been derived from the Government of India Act 1935.
2. The Philosophical part of the constitution like Fundamental Rights and DPSP are borrowed from American and Irish constitution respectively.

• The Political part of the constitution like the principle of cabinet government & the relation between executive and legislature is borrowed from the British constitution.

DIFFERENT SOURCES

SOME IMPORTANT FACTS:

1. The Preamble was adopted on 22 January 1947 and it is based on the Objective Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly on December 13, 1946.
2. 284 members of the constituent assembly signed the final approved constitution.
3. There were 15 women members in the constituent assembly.
4. The Constitution of India is the longest and the most voluminous constitution in the world.
5. The final draft of the constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 but was enacted 2 months later on 26 January 1950 because, on this date in 1930, INC demanded Poornaswaraj at the Lahore session on 26 January in 1930.
6. The original copies of the Indian Constitution weren’t typed or printed. They have been handwritten and are now kept in a helium-filled case within the library of the Parliament.
7. The Preamble of the India Constitution was inspired by the Preamble and Structure of the United States of America.