Write a short note on making of Indian Constitution.

The present Constitution was framed by the Consituent Assembly of India set up under Cabinet Mission Plan of May 16, 1946.

The Constituent Assembly consisted of 385 members, of which 292 were elected by the elected members of the provincial Legislative Assemblies while 93 members were nominated by the Princely States. To these were to be added a representative each from the four chief Commissioners provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Marwar, Coorg and British Baluchistan.

Each Province and each Indian state or Group of States were allotted the total number of seats proportional to their respective population roughly in the ratio of one to a million.

Mr. B N Rao was the Constitutional Advisor of the Assembly.

The first meeting of the Constitution Assembly was on 9th December 1946 in which Dr. Sachidanand was the interim President of it. On December 11, 1946 Dr. Rajendra prasad was elected as its president.

There was 13 Committees for framing the Constitution.

The all Important the Committee who take the responsibility of drafting the Constitution called Drafting Committee formed on 29th August, 1947.

The members were:

1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar - Chairman
2. N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar
3. Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar (a distinguished jurist)
4. K. M. Munshi (a distinguished jurist)
5. Syyed Mohd.Saadulla
6. N. Madhav Rao (in place of B. L. Mitra)
7. D. P. Khaitan
(T. Krishnamachari - after death of Mr. khaitan in 1948).

The Constitution was finally passed and accepted on 26th November 1949. The last session of Assembly was on 24th January 1950. Which elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the President of India. In all, 284 members of the Assembly signed the official copies of the Indian Constitution which came into effect on 26th January 1950. Which is known and celebrated as the Republic Day of India.
Although the Constitution was ready on 26th November, 1949 but was delayed till 26th January, 1950 because in 1929 on this day Indian National Congress demanded 'Poorna Swaraj' in Lahore session under Jawahar Lal Nehru.
Constituent Assembly took 2 years-11 months-18 days to complete the Constitution.
Originally it had 395 articles & 8 schedules (12 at present).
Constituent Assembly adopted our National flag on 22nd July, 1947. It was designed by Pingali Venkaiah of Andhra Pradesh.

The idea to have Constitution was given by M. N. Roy (Political Philosopher).

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Making of the Indian Constitution

The struggle for freedom had helped in creating a consensus about the shape a democratic India would take after independence. There were differences of opinions among various leaders of the freedom struggle, but they were unanimous in making India into a democratic country.

Motilal Nehru and eight other leaders drafted a constitution as far back as in 1928. In 1931 at Lahore session of Congress, a resolution was passed about the overall objective of the constitution. Both these attempts had certain things in common; like inclusion of universal adult franchise, right to freedom and equality and protection of minority rights.

The leaders of the Congress had worked closely with the British institutions which helped them in understanding the role of various institutions in governing a country. Elections to the Provincial Assemblies were held in 1931 in which the political parties of India got an opportunity to participate in popular elections. Although it was not a fully democratic process, yet the nationalist leaders got a chance to learn the art of running a government. They learnt to set up institutions and manage them.

The nationalist leaders also learnt to take the positives from the constitutions of different countries to incorporate them in the Indian constitution by modifying them as per the local need. So, the Indian constitution has influences from democracy in France, parliamentary system in Britain, Fundamental rights in the US and socialism in Russia.

The Constituent Assembly

Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July 1946. Its first meeting was held in December 1946. After the partition, the Constituent Assembly was also divided into India and Pakistan's constituent assemblies. There were 299 members in the Indian Constituent Assembly. The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950.
The Constituent Assembly was not elected through universal adult franchise but its members came from all parts of India. They represented all the social groups of India. It can be said that the Constituent Assembly truly represented the society and its aspiration at that time.
The Constituent Assembly held its deliberations in a transparent manner so that different opinions could be heard before arriving at a solution.
Pan-India representation in the Constituent Assembly is the prime reason that our Constitution has withstood the tests of time.

Philosophy of the Constitution

To understand the philosophy of the Indian Constitution, you need to understand the preamble of the constitution. The keywords in the Preamble of the Constitution of India are discussed as follows:

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA: This statement means that the constitution was not handed down to us by any king or by any outside power, rather it was drawn and enacted by the people of India through their representatives.

SOVEREIGN: The sovereignty means that India is a free country and no external power can dictate the government of India. It is important to note that the British had proposed a dominion status for India which meant it would have been a country under the British monarchy. The Constituent Assembly rejected that proposal and preferred for full freedom.

SOCIALIST: The socialism which is being followed in India is somewhat different than what was being followed in various communist countries at that time. The Indian socialism was about generation of wealth by the society and sharing of wealth equally by the society. It was decided that the government would regulate the ownership of land and industry to reduce socioeconomic inequality.

SECULAR: There is no official religion in India and no religion gets special status from the government of India. Citizens have complete freedom to follow any religion. All religions are treated with equal respect by the government.

DEMOCRATIC: India would adopt a form of government in which people would elect their rulers and hold them accountable. It was also decided that the people would enjoy equal political rights.

REPUBLIC: This term means that the head of the state, i.e. the President of India is an elected person and it is not a hereditary position.

JUSTICE: The land of the law would not discriminate between citizens on the basis of caste, religion and gender. The government would work for the welfare of poor and oppressed so that social inequalities could be reduced.

LIBERTY: Citizens are given the liberty to express their opinions in a way which is found suitable by them. There are no unreasonable restrictions on the liberty of citizens.

EQUALITY: All citizens are equal before the law; irrespective of differences in socio-economic conditions. Every citizen would be provided equal opportunities to improve his/her socioeconomic conditions.

FRATERNITY: Each citizen should respect the spirit of brotherhood and no one should treat a fellow citizen as inferior.

Institutional Design

A constitution is not just a statement of values and philosophy. It is about incorporating these values into institutional arrangements. The constitution lays down the procedures for formation of a government. It defines the distribution of power among various organs of the government. It also defines certain limitations to the power of a constitutional body. It describes certain rights which are given to citizens and also describes certain restrictions on those rights.

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Hello friend,

India became Independent on 15th August, 1947. The first thing to do was to make a Constitution for the country. A Constitution is a documents of rules according to which the Government of a country is run. To make the Constitution an assembly of the elected representatives of the people was set up. It was called the Constituent Assembly. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the President of the Constituent Assembly.

A sub-committee of some members of the Constituent Assembly was formed to draft a constitution. This committee was known as the Drafting Committee. Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkor was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee. This committee drafted a Constitution for the country.

The draft Constitution prepared by this committee was presented to the Constituent Assembly. It was discussed by the elected representatives of the people in the Constituent Assembly. They made certain changes and then the Constitution was accepted. It took about three years to frame the Constitution.

The New Constitution came into force on 26^th January 1950. With it India became a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic. Every year on 26^th January, we celebrate our Republic Day with great pomp and show.

According to our Constitution, India is a Democratic Republic. The real power rests with the people. The Government of the country is run by the elected representatives of the people. India is a Republic. It means we have no king. The President or the Rashtrapati is the head of the Government. He represents our people, because he is elected by the elected representatives of our people.

Our President lives in the Rashtrapati Bhawan at New Delhi. Rashtrapati Bhawan is a very big house. It has big halls where the President meets the foreign dignitaries and some important persons of the country. It is near the Parliament House, where the representatives of our people meet to discuss and frame rules for the country. Our Rashtrapati is the Constitutional Head of the State. The Government is actually run by the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers. ,The Council of Ministers is chosen by the Prime Minister. Therefore he is the real Head of the State.

Our Constitution has given some Fundamental Rights to all citizens. These rights cannot be taken back except in the case of an emergency. These rights are right to freedom, right to vote and the right to constitutional remedies. Every citizen has the freedom to express his thoughts and ideas. He can express his thoughts and ideas by speech or in writing. He is free to live in any part of the country and follow any profession or occupation of his choice. All the citizens are equal before the law. Rich or poor, high or low all are equal without any distinction of any caste or creed or sex before the law. Every citizen is free to follow and propagate any faith or religion. He is free to worship in any way and perform the religious ceremonies. Every citizen above the age of 18 years has the right to vote. He can vote for any candidate in an election and elect the candidate of his choice.

Rights and duties go together. Every citizen should perform his duties honestly and diligently. Some of our important duties are to obey the rules and laws of the country, respect the rights of other citizens, pay the taxes honestly and in time and defend our country in times of need. Our Constitution is a written and a detailed documents which tells us how the Government of our country should run.

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