In the previous post, we have discussed Constitutional development phases during British Era in India. In this post, we will read about the Making of the Constitution. Constituent Assembly, an assembly which over the time came out with the constitutional framework.
So, it was not merely an overnight journey of Constituent Assembly. It took a long period of time and effort to frame the constitution for the nation required accommodating all the cultural groups.
The idea of the Constituent Assembly
In 1934, M N Roy, a pioneer, proposed the idea of Constituent Assembly for India.
After that in 1935, Indian National Congress (INC), for the first time demanded a constituent assembly to frame the constitution of India. And the demand was accepted by the British Government in “August offer” of 1940.
In March 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps came to India with a draft proposal on the framing of an independent Constitution. But it came with one condition that India needs to support Britain in the World War-II. And after the war, the idea of framing the constitution will be executed.
But unfortunately, the Muslim League rejected the Cripps proposal. The league demanded the division of India into two autonomous states and two separate Constituents Assembly.
So, finally, a Cabinet Mission came to India. And it rejected the idea of two constituent assemblies.
Composition of Constituent Assembly
In November 1946 Constituent assembly came into existence. According to the schema given by the Cabinet Mission.
- The total strength of 389, 296 seats allotted to British India. And 93 seats allotted to Princely states in the Constituent Assembly.
- So, each province and princely state were having seats in proportion to their population.
- The representatives of each community were elected by the members of that community. The voting was done by the method of single transferable vote.
- The heads of princely states nominated representatives of their respective states.
So, in short, the Constitution Assembly had partly elected and partly nominated body.
Working of the Constituent Assembly
The first meeting of the Assembly held on December 9, 1946. 211 members attended the meeting. And the oldest member, Dr Sachidanand Sinha elected as the temporary President of the Assembly (following the French practice).
Later, on December 11, 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad and H C Mukerjee became the President and Vice-President of the Assembly.
Objective Resolution
On December 13, 1946, Jawahar Lal Nehru moved the historic ‘Objective Resolution‘ in the Assembly. So, the important statements of Objective Resolution were,
- This Constituent Assembly proclaim India as the Independent Sovereign Republic.
- The territories that now comprise in the union of India are British India, the territories that now form the Indian states, such other parts of India as are outside India and the states are willing to be constituted into independent sovereign India.
- All power and authority of Sovereign Independent India, its constituent parts and organs of the Government are derived from the People.
Some Important Facts
In all, the Constituent Assembly had 11 Sessions over two years, 11 month and 18 days (merely a fact, can be asked in State public service commissions)😊.
Important Committees of Constituent Assembly
There were 8 Major and 15 Minor committees. Here we have some description of the major committees.
Major Committees
- Union Powers Committee — Jawahar Lal Nehru
- Union Constitution Committee — Jawahar Lal Nehru
- Provincial Constitution Committee — Sardar Patel
- Drafting Committee — Dr B R Ambedkar
- Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights and Minorities and Tribal and excluded are — Sardar Patel
- Rules of procedure Committee — Dr Rajendra Prasad
- States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with states ) — Jawahar Lal Nehru
- Steering Committee — Dr Rajendra Prasad
Enactment and Enforcement of the Constitution
On November 26, 1949, Indian masses adopted the Constitution. It contained a preamble, 395 articles, 22 parts and 8 schedules. As of now, there are 448 articles, 25 parts and 12 schedules.
January 26, 1950, was specifically chosen as the ‘date of commencement‘ of the Constitution because of historical importance. It was on this day in 1930 that ‘Purna Swaraj‘ day was celebrated. (INC Lahore session)
Criticism of The Constitution Assembly!!!
So, there are some criticism we found for Constituent Assembly. Some says it was not a representative body, other says it was not a Sovereign body; Some intellectuals also say members of assembly took a very long time to make a constitution.
To some extent these criticisms are valid too. But if we look for a broader perspective, India is a diverse country and to have a constitution which facilitate all the diversities, is a very difficult task. So, I am sure we all cherish our beautifully written constitution. 😊
Here, we have discussed, how constituent assembly framed the longest written constitution in the world.
So, in the upcoming post, we will elaborate on some interesting features of the Indian Constitution.
Thanks and Stay Civilized. 😊
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