Making of the Indian Constitution:
o It was in 1934 that the idea of a Constituent Assembly for India
was put forward for the first time by M. N. Roy, a pioneer of
communist movement in India.
o In 1935, the Indian National Congress (INC), for the first time,
officially demanded a Constituent Assembly to frame the
Constitution of India.
o In 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru, on behalf the INC declared that ‗the
Constitution of free India must be framed, without outside
interference, by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of
adult franchise‘.
o The demand was finally accepted in principle by the British
Government in what is known as the ‗August Offer‘ of 1940.
o In 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the cabinet, came to India
with a draft proposal of the British Government on the framing of
an independent Constitution to be adopted after the World War II.
o The Cripps Proposals were rejected by the Muslim League which
wanted India to be divided into two autonomous states with two
separate Constituent Assemblies.
o Finally, a Cabinet Mission was sent to India. While it rejected the
idea of two Constituent Assemblies, it put forth a scheme for the
Constituent Assembly which more or less satisfied the Muslim
League.
COMPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
The Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the
scheme formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan. The features of the
scheme were:
1. The total strength of the Constituent Assembly was to be 389. Of
these, 296 seats were to be allotted to British India and 93 seats to the
Princely States. Out of 296 seats allotted to the British India, 292
members were to be drawn from the eleven governors‘ provinces 2 and
four from the four chief commissioners‘ provinces, one from each.
2. Each province and princely state (or group of states in case of small
states) were to be allotted seats in proportion to their respective
population. Roughly, one seat was to be allotted for every million
population.
3. Seats allocated to each British province were to be decided among the
three principal communities—Muslims, Sikhs and general (all except
Muslims and Sikhs), in proportion to their population.
4. The representatives of each community were to be elected by
members of that community in the provincial legislative assembly and
voting was to be by the method of proportional representation by means
of single transferable vote.
5. The representatives of princely states were to be nominated by the
heads of the princely states.
It is thus clear that the Constituent Assembly was to be a partly elected
and partly nominated body.
The elections to the Constituent Assembly (for 296 seats allotted to the
British Indian Provinces) were held in July–August 1946.
The Indian National Congress won 208 seats, the Muslim League 73
seats, and the small groups and independents got the remaining 15
seats.
However, the 93 seats allotted to the princely states were not filled as
they decided to stay away from the Constituent Assembly.
Although the Constituent Assembly was not directly elected by the
people of India on the basis of adult franchise, the Assembly comprised
representatives of all sections of Indian Society—Hindus, Muslims,
Sikhs, Parsis, Anglo–Indians, Indian Christians, SCs, STs including
women of all these sections.
The Assembly included all important personalities of India at that time,
with the exception of Mahatma Gandhi and M A Jinnah.
WORKING OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
o The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on December 9,
1946. The Muslim League boycotted the meeting and insisted on a
separate state of Pakistan.
o The meeting was thus attended by only 211 members.
o Dr Sachchidanand Sinha, the oldest member, was elected as the
temporary President of the Assembly.
o Later, on December 11, 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad and H C
Mukherjee were elected as the President and Vice-President of the
Assembly respectively.
o Sir B N Rau was appointed as the Constitutional advisor to the
Assembly.
Objectives Resolution
On December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic ‗Objectives
Resolution‘ in the Assembly.
It laid down the fundamentals and philosophy of the constitutional
structure.
It read:
1. ―This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to
proclaim India as an Independent Sovereign Republic and to draw up
for her future governance a Constitution:
2. Wherein the territories that now comprise British India, the territories
that now form the Indian States, and such other parts of India as are
outside India and the States as well as other territories as are willing to
be constituted into the independent sovereign India, shall be a
Union of them all; and
3. wherein the said territories, whether with their present boundaries or
with such others as may be determined by the Constituent Assembly
and thereafter according to the law of the Constitution, shall possess and
retain the status of autonomous units together with residuary
powers and exercise all powers and functions of Government and
administration save and except such powers and functions as are vested
in or assigned to the Union or as are inherent or implied in the Union or
resulting therefrom; and
4. wherein all power and authority of the Sovereign Independent India,
its constituent parts and organs of Government are derived from the
people; and
5. wherein shall be guaranteed and secured to all the people of India
justice, social, economic and political; equality of status of opportunity,
and before the law; freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith,
worship, vocation, association and action, subject to law and public
morality; and
6. wherein adequate safeguards shall be provided for minorities,
backward and tribal areas, and depressed and other backward classes;
and
7. whereby shall be maintained the integrity of the territory of the
Republic and its sovereign rights on land, sea and air according to
justice and the law of civilized nations; and
8. This ancient land attains its rightful and honoured place in the world
and makes its full and willing contribution to the promotion of world
peace and the welfare of mankind.‖
o This Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Assembly on
January 22, 1947. It influenced the eventual shaping of the
constitution through all its subsequent stages. Its modified version
forms the Preamble of the present Constitution.
o The representatives of the princely states, who had stayed away
from the Constituent Assembly, gradually joined it.
o After the acceptance of the Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947 for a
partition of the country, the representatives of most of the other
princely states took their seats in the Assembly.
o The members of the Muslim League from the Indian Dominion
also entered the Assembly.
The Indian Independence Act of 1947 made the following three changes
in the position of the Assembly:
1. The Assembly was made a fully sovereign body, which could
frame any Constitution it pleased. The act empowered the
Assembly to abrogate or alter any law made by the British
Parliament in relation to India.
2. The Assembly also became a legislative body. In other words, two
separate functions were assigned to the Assembly, that is, making of a
constitution for free India and enacting of ordinary laws for the country.
These two tasks were to be performed on separate days. Thus,
the Assembly became the first Parliament of free India (Dominion
Legislature). Whenever the Assembly met as the Constituent body it was
chaired by Dr. Rajendra Prasad and when it met as the legislative body,
it was chaired by G V Mavlankar.
These two functions continued till November 26, 1949, when the task of
making the Constitution was over.
3. The Muslim League members (hailing from the areas included in the
Pakistan) withdrew from the Constituent Assembly for India.
Consequently, the total strength of the Assembly came down to 299 as
against 389 originally fixed in 1946 under the Cabinet Mission Plan.
The strength of the Indian provinces (formerly British Provinces) was
reduced from 296 to 229 and those of the princely states from 93 to 70.
Other Functions Performed
In addition to the making of the Constitution and enacting of ordinary
laws, the Constituent Assembly also performed the following functions:
1. It ratified the India‘s membership of the Commonwealth in May 1949.
2. It adopted the national flag on July 22, 1947.
3. It adopted the national anthem on January 24, 1950.
4. It adopted the national song on January 24, 1950.
5. It elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India on January
24, 1950.
o In all, the Constituent Assembly had 11 sessions over two years, 11
months and 18 days.
o The Constitution-makers had gone through the constitutions of
about 60 countries, and the Draft Constitution was considered for
114 days.
o The total expenditure incurred on making the Constitution
amounted to Rs. 64 lakh.
o On January 24, 1950, the Constituent Assembly held its final
session. It, however, did not end, and continued as the provisional
parliament of India from January 26, 1950 till the formation of new
Parliament after the first general elections in 1951–52.
COMMITTEES OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
The Constituent Assembly appointed a number of committees to deal
with different tasks of constitution-making.
Out of these, eight were major committees and the others were minor
committees.
Major Committees
1. Union Powers Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
2. Union Constitution Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
3. Provincial Constitution Committee – Sardar Patel
4. Drafting Committee – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
5. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal
and Excluded Areas – Sardar Patel. This committee had the following
sub-committes:
(a) Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee – J.B. Kripalani
(b) Minorities Sub-Committee – H.C. Mukherjee
(c) North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially
Excluded Areas Sub- Committee – Gopinath Bardoloi
(d) Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than those in Assam)
Sub-Committee – A.V. Thakkar
6. Rules of Procedure Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) –
Jawaharlal Nehru
8. Steering Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Drafting Committee
Among all the committees of the Constituent Assembly, the most
important committee was the Drafting Committee set up on August 29,
1947.
It was this committee that was entrusted with the task of preparing a
draft of the new Constitution.
It consisted of seven members. They were:
1. Dr B R Ambedkar (Chairman)
2. N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
3. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
4. Dr K M Munshi
5. Syed Mohammad Saadullah
6. N Madhava Rau (He replaced B L Mitter who resigned due to illhealth)
7. T T Krishnamachari (He replaced D P Khaitan who died in 1948)
The Drafting Committee, after taking into consideration the proposals of
the various committees, prepared the first draft of the Constitution of
India, which was published in February 1948. The people of India were
given eight months to discuss the draft and propose amendments.
In the light of the public comments, criticisms and suggestions, the
Drafting Committee prepared a second draft, which was published in
October 1948.
ENACTMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
o Dr B R Ambedkar introduced the final draft of the Constitution in
the Assembly on November 4, 1948 (first reading).
o The motion on Draft Constitution was declared as passed on
November 26, 1949, and received the signatures of the members
and the president.
o Out of a total 299 members of the Assembly, only 284 were
actually present on that day and signed the Constitution.
o This is also the date mentioned in the Preamble as the date on
which the people of India in the Constituent Assembly adopted,
enacted and gave to themselves this Constitution.
ENFORCEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
o Some provisions of the Constitution pertaining to citizenship,
elections, provisional parliament, temporary and transitional
provisions, and short title contained in Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324,
366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391, 392 and 393 came into force on
November 26, 1949 itself.
o The remaining provisions (the major part) of the Constitution
came into force on January 26, 1950. This day is referred to in the
Constitution as the ‗date of its commencement‘, and celebrated as
the Republic Day.
o January 26 was specifically chosen as the ‗date of commencement‘
of the Constitution because of its historical importance. It was on
this day in 1930 that Purna Swaraj day was celebrated, following
the resolution of the Lahore Session (December 1929) of the INC.