making of indian constitution

• The members of Constituent Assembly drafted the Indian Constitution.

• The 1st meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place in Constitution Hall, New Delhi, on Monday, the 9th December 1946

• The title of the first debate was “Election of Temporary Chairman,” Acharya J. B. Kripalani (United Provinces: General) requesting Dr.Sachchidananda Sinha to take the Chair as temporary Chairman. (Constituent Assembly Debates)

• The Constituent Assembly reassembled after partition of Pakistan as Constituent Assembly for the remaining India on 14th August 1947.

• The members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies indirectly elected the members of the Constitutent Assembly.

• The Constituent Assembly was composed of members along the lines suggested by the plan proposed by the Committee of the British Cabinet, also known as the [[Cabinet Mission]].

• According to this plan provinces and princely states or group of states were allotted seats proportional to their respective population roughly in the ratio of 1:1 million

• The provinces were to elect 292 members while the princely states were to send a minimum of 93 seats.

• The Composition of the Constituent Assembly 284 members were present on 26th November 1949 and appended their signature to the Constitution as finally passed.

• The Final meeting was held on 24th January 1950 with the title of “Signing of the Constitution” and [[Dr. Rajendra Prasad]] was the Chairman of the debate.

• The Constituent assembly debate consists of [[12 Volume]] and it was held between 9th December 1946 to 24th January 1950

• The idea of Constituent Assembly was implicit in the demand for Swaraj made by the Indian National Congress as early as 1906.

• In 1936 Constituent Assembly having the power to finally determine the Constitution of the country.

• The Constituent Assembly went into action as per the Cabinet Mission plan.

• The Constituent Assembly, when it met for the first time on December 9, 1946, was not a sovereign body. This met was boycotted by the Muslim League, which insisted on a separate state of Pakistan.

• It had to follow the prescribed procedure set up by the Cabinet Mission of the British Parliament.

• Its total membership for entire India was 389, out of which 93 members were from the princely states and 296 were elected from the British Indian provinces.

• On December 11, 1946, the Indian National Congress elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the permanent Chairman of the Constituent Assembly.

• The Constituent Assembly was a partly elected and a partly nominated body.

• The members were elected indirectly by people in the provincial assemblies, who in turn had been elected on the basis of a limited franchise (on the basis of tax, property and education)

• Further, the Constituent Assembly included all leading personalities of India of the time, with the exception of Gandhi and Jinnah.

• On March 15, 1946, Clement Atlee, the Labour Party’s Prime Minister, categorically admitted the right of Indians to frame their own Constitution.

• The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act, 1947 in July of the same year.

• As per the Independence Act, the two independent dominions were created w.e.f. August 15, 1947.

Major Committees

• Union Powers Committee: Jawaharlal Nehru
• Union Constitution Committee: Jawaharlal Nehru
• States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) : Jawaharlal Nehru
• Provincial Constitution Committee: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
• Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
• Rules of Procedure Committee: Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• Steering Committee: Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• Drafting Committee: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Enactment and Enforcement

• After two readings of the draft, during which various alterations were accommodated, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar proposed a motion on 26th November, 1949, which has been mentioned as the day ‘people of India in the Constituent Assembly adopted, enacted and gave to themselves the Constitution of India’.

• January 26, 1950, was chosen as the ‘date of commencement’ on which the Constitution came into force owing to its historic importance (although some provisions came into force on 26th November, 1949 only).

Criticism of the Constituent Assembly

• Not a Representative Body
• Not a Sovereign Body
• Domination of Congress members
• Lawyer-Politician Domination

Evolution as an Ongoing Process

• The 42nd constitutional amendment mentioned explicitly the concepts of secularism and socialism as a part of the Constitution.
• Article 15(4) was added by the 1st constitutional amendment act and provides for affirmative action for socially and economically backward sections of society or for SC/STs.
• Article 15(5) was added by the 93rd constitutional amendment act and provides for affirmative action for socially and economically weaker sections of society in educational institutions, whether aided or unaided.
• Constitution is open to constant interpretation by the Supreme Court. This feature allows the Supreme Court to accord such interpretations so as to make the Constitution:
• Right to Education (Article 21A) was incorporated through the 86th constitutional amendment enacted by the Parliament of India after landmark judgements by the Supreme Court in the Mohini Jain and Unni Krishnan case.
• Article 21 or the ‘Right to Protection of Life and Personal Liberty’. Starting with its judgment in the Maneka Gandhi vs. Union of India case,
• 1978, the SC has time and again brought about various judgments so as to tackle various issues crippling normal life of Indian citizens or some other need of the hour. The CNG ruling in Delhi, Ganga river protection, right to adequate shelter, right to privacy as a Fundamental Right, right to die with dignity as a Fundamental Right and thus allowing passive euthanasia et al are instances of such rulings.