Constituent Assembly & Salient Features of the Constitution

Constituent Assembly & Salient Features of the Constitution

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

MEANING OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA WAS ELECTED TO WRITE THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA. FOLLOWING INDIA S INDEPENDENCE FROM GREAT BRITAIN, ITS MEMBERS SERVED AS THE NATION S FIRST PARLIAMENT.

Constituent Assembly Of India A constituent assembly is a body of representatives which is composed for drafting a constitution. In our times, we have re e tly see ho Nepal s o stitue t asse ly has drafted its constitution recently. We note that drafting the constitution is the only function of a constituent assembly. Once the constitution is ready and adopted; the assembly is dissolved. Further, since members of constituent assembly are represe tati es ele ted or u ele ted ; it s a for of representative democracy.

IDEA OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY The idea of Constituent assembly of India was first put forward by M.N Roy (Manbendra Nath Roy) in 1934. In 1935, it became the official demand of Indian National Congress. Cripps proposals were rejected due to territorial ambitions of Muslin League. It was accepted in August 1940 in the August Offer however, constituted under the Under Cabinet Mission plan 1946. It was first elected for undivided India but after partition, some of its members ceased to exist as a separate constituent assembly was created for Pakistan.

ELECTIONS OF MEMBERS OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY Members of Constituent Assembly were indirectly elected. Representatives of princely states were nominated by their respective heads of princely states. The seats were divided among the three principal communities like Muslim,Sikh and General( other than sikhs and muslim) The members of the Constituent assembly were indirectly elected by the members of the provincial assemblies by method of single transferable vote system of proportional representations. NUMBER OF MEMBERS OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY Initially, its total membership was kept 389. Of these,289 seats were to be allowed 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 and four from the 4 chief commissioners provinces one from each. These included 229 members from provinces and 70 from princely states. There were total 15 women members also. The membership plan was roughly as per suggestions of the Cabinet Mission plan. The asis of di isio s of seats as populatio roughly i : Lakh ratio.

FIRST MEETING OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of India took place in Constitutional Hall, New Delhi, on 9 th December 1946. It is constituted with the two bodies like 1.Legislative body (chaired by G.V. Mavlankar and prepare constitution for free India and second is Constituent Body ( chaired by Rajendra Prasad and to make Ordinary laws) Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha was the first president of the Constituent Assembly. I the first eeti g, the asse ly adopted a O je ti e Resolutio hi h later became the preamble of the constitution. It appointed various committees. The report of the committees formed the basis on which the first draft of the constitution was prepared. It reassembled on 14 August 1947 as Constituent Assembly for independent India. On December 11,1946 After partition, Dr. Rajendra Prasad became the president of Constituent Assembly of Independent India. Professor Harendra Coomar Mookerjee was Vice President of the Constituent Assembly. While Dr. Rajendra Prasad later became President of India, Prof. HC Mookerjee became first Governor of West Bengal.

OBJECTIVE RESOLUTION The historic Objectives Resolution was moved by Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 December 1946. It defined the aims of the assembly and enshrined the aspirations and values behind the Constitution making. On the asis of the O je ti es Resolutio, I dia s Constitution gave institutional expression to the fundamental commitments: equality, liberty, democracy, sovereignty and a cosmopolitan identity. The preamble of the constitution of India is derived from Objectives Resolution.

Some Functions Performed It ratified the I dia s e ership of the Co o ealth i May 1949. It adopted the National Flag on July 22, 1947. It adopted the National Anthem on January 24, 1950. It adopted the national song on January 24, 1950. It elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India on January 24,1950. The Constitution makers had gone through the constitutions about 60 countries and the Draft Constitution was considered for 114 days. On January 24, 1950 the Constitutent Assembly held its final session.

Committees of Constitution Assembly MAJOR COMMITTEES Union powers committee: Jawahar Lal Nehru Union Constitution Committee : Jawahar Lal Nehru States Committees : Jawahar Lal Nehru Drafting Committees : Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Rules of procedure Committee : Dr. Rajendra Prasad Steering Committee : Dr. Rajendra Prasad Provincial Constitution Committee : Sardar Patel Advisory committee on Fundamental Rights and Minorities : Sardar Patel Fundamental Rights Sub-committee : J B Kriplani Minorities sub-committee : H C Mukharjee

MINOR COMMITTEES Committee on functions of constitutent assembly : G V Mavlankar Order of Business Committee : K M Munshi House Committee : Pattabi Sitaramayya Flag Committee : Dr. Rajendra Prasad Finance and staff committee : Dr. Rajendra Prasad Committee on Chief commissioners provinces : Pattabhi Sitaramayya

MAIN WOMEN MEMBERS IN CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY SAROJINI NAIDU VIJAYLAXMI PANDIT

DRAFTING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

The Drafting Committee was set up on August 29, 1947. It was this Committee that was entrusted with the task of preparation a draft of the new Constitution. It considered seven members: Dr. B R Ambedkar N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar Dr. K M Munshi Syed Mohammad Saddullah N madhava Rau ( he replaced B L mitter who resigned due to ill health.) T T krishnamachari ( He replaced D P Kaitan who died in 1948.) The first draft of the Constitution of India, which was published in February 1948 and second published in October 1948. The drafting committee took less than six months to prepare its draft. In all it sat only for 141 days.

TIME & RESOURCES WERE USED TO DRAFT INDIA S CONSTITUTION The Constituent assembly set for total 11 sessions. The first session was held in December 1946. The draft constitution was published in January, 1948 and people of India were given eight months to input their feedback on this. The eleventh session was held between 14-26 November, 1949. The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November, 1949 and the members appended their signatures to it on 24 January, 1950. Constitution of India came into force on 26 January, 1950. On that day, the Constituent Assembly ceased to exist, transforming itself into the Provisional Parliament of India until a new Parliament was constituted in 1952 via general elections. The constituent assembly took 2 years, 11 months and 17 days to frame the constitution. It spent Rs. 64 Lakh in the preparation. The fi al out o e of the al ost three year s lo g process was the constitution document with 22 parts, 395 articles and 8 schedules.

Provisions of Constitution that came into immediate effect on 26 November 1949 Though, the constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, some provisions relating to Citizenship, Elections, provisional parliament, temporary & transitional provisions were given immediate effect on 26 November 1949. The articles which came into force on 26 November 1949 included articles 5, 6, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 372, 388, 391, 392, and 393. Out of them, citizenship was most important and had to immediately come into force to constitutionally handle the refugee crisis due to partition of India.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION

INTRODUCTION It should be noted at the outset that a number of original features of the constitution (as adopted in 1949) have undergone a substantial change, on account of several amendments, particularly 7 th, 42 nd, 44 th, 73 rd and 74 th Amendment. In fact the 42 nd A e d e t A t is k o as Mi i Co stitutio due to the i porta t a d large u er of changes made by it in various parts of the constitution. However, in the Kesavananda Bharti case (1973) the Supreme Court ruled that the constituent power of Parliament under Arti le 3 does ot e a le it to alter the asi stru ture of the Constitution.

A Lengthiest Written Constitution: A written constitution is framed at a given time and comes into force on a fixed date as a document. Our constitution was framed in 2 years, 11 months and 18 days, it was adopted on 26th November, 1949 and enforced on January 26, 1950. The Constitution of India is the lengthiest of all the written constitutions of the world. Originally 1949 the constitution contained a Preamble, 395 Articles, 8 Schedules and 22 parts. But Presently it consists a Preamble, about 465 articles, (divide into 25 parts) and 12 Schedule. The various amendments carried out since 1951 have deleted 20 Articles and one Part (VII) and added about 85 articles, 4 Parts ( IVA, IXA,IXB,and XIVA) and 4 schedules ( 9,10,11,12). Drawn From Various Source: The constitution of India has borrowed most of its provisions from the Constitutionof various other countries as well as from the GOI Act of 1935. Other countries like Canada, USSR(Russia), Australia, USA, France, South Africa, Germany, Japan etc.

Rigid and Flexibile: The Indian Constitution is a unique example of combination of rigidity and flexibility. A constitution is called rigid or flexible on the basis of its amending procedure. In a rigid constitution, amendment of the constitution is not easy like the constitutions of USA, Switzerland and Australia are rigid constitutions. Whereas, the British Constitution is considered flexible because its amendment procedure is easy and simple. The Constitution of India has three categories of amendments ranging from simple to most difficult procedure depending on the nature of the amendment. Federal Polity: India has a federal structure. In a federation there are two distinct levels of governments. There is one government for the whole country which is called the Union or Central Government and there is a government for each Unit or state.

The USA is a federation whereas the UK(Britain) has a unitary form of government where there is only one government for the whole country and the power is centralized. The Co stitutio of I dia does ot use the ter federal state ut alls India a U io of States. There is a proper distribution of powers between the Union/Central Government and the State Governments in form of Union List, State List and the Concurrent List. Parliamentary Democracy: India has a parliamentary form of democracy. This has been adopted from the British system. In a parliamentary democracy there is a close relationship between the legislature and the executive. The Cabinet is selected from among the members of legislature. The cabinet is responsible to the latter. In this form of democracy, the Head of the State is nominal so in India, the President is the Head of the State. Constitutionally the President has numerous powers but in practice the Council of Ministers headed by the PM, exercises these powers. The President has to act on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers

Fundamental Rights : The Constitution of India guarantees Fundamental rights. The Constitution provides for six Fundamental Rights which are justiciable and hence are protected by the judiciary. 1 Right to Equality (Art 14-18) 2. Right to Freedom (Art 19-22) 3. Right against Exploitation (Art 23-24) 4. Right to Freedom of Religion (Art 25-28) 5. Cultural & Educational Rights( Art 29-30) 6. Right to Constitutional Remedies ( Art 32) Fundamental Duties: Fundamental Duties were added to our Constitution by the 42nd Amendment. On the recommendation of Swaran Singh Committee. It lays down a list of ten Fundamental Duties for all citizens of India. While the rights are given as guarantees to the people, the duties are obligations which every citizen is expected to perform.

Directive Principles of State Policy: These have been adopted from the Irish Constitution, included in our Constitution to ensure social and economic justice to our people. Directive Principles aim at establishing a welfare state in India where there will be no concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. They can be classified into three broad categories --- socialists, Gandhian and liberal Intellectal. Single Integrated Judicial System: India has a single integrated judicial system. The Supreme Court is the apex court of the judicial system. Below it are the High Courts which control and supervise the lower courts. The Indian judiciary is like a pyramid with the lower courts as the base, High Courts in the middle and the Supreme Court at the top. Quasi Federal: It means a federal set up where despite having two clear sets of government central and the states, more powers are given to the Central Government, supremacy of the judiciary is an essential feature of a federation so that the constitution could be interpreted impartially.

Single Citizenship: Usually in a federal state the citizens enjoys double citizenship like in the USA. But in India there is only single citizenship which means that every Indian is a citizen of India, irrespective of the place of his/her residence or place of birth. He/she is not a citizen of the Constituent State like Rajasthan, Uttaranchal or Chattisgarh to which he/she may belong to. All the citizens of India can secure employment anywhere in the country and enjoy all the rights equally in all the parts of the nation. Independence of Judiciary: Indian judiciary is independent and impartial. It is free from the influence of the executive as well as the legislature. Its judges are appointed on the basis of their qualifications and cannot be removed easily neither can their terms of office be altered to their disadvantage

Universal Adult Franchise: Indian de o ra y fu tio s o the asis of o e perso o e ote. The Indian Constitution establishes political equality in India through the method of universal adult franchise. Every citizen of India who is 18 years of age or above is entitled to vote in the elections irrespective of caste, sex, race, religion or status. Emergency Provisions: The Constitution makers expected that there could be situations when the government could not be run in usual manner due to difficult circumstances. To cope with such situations, the Constitution elaborated on emergency provisions. There are three types of emergency; A) emergency caused by war, external aggression or armed rebellion; B) emergency arising out of the failure of constitutional machinery in states; and C) financial emergency. Secular State: The Constitution of India stands for a secular state. It does not upload any particular religion as the official religion of the Indian State.

Three -tier Government: There is 3 tier Government. Centre Govt, State Govt and Local Govt. The local Govt added by the 73 rd Constitutional Amendment act 1992 gave constitutional recognition Panchayat(rural loacl govt) and 74 th Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 gave constitutional recognition Muncipalities (Urban local govt).

SOURCES OF THE CONSTITUTION Government of India Act 1935 Federal Scheme (also from constitution of Canada) Office of Governor Judiciary Public Service Commission Emergency Provisions Administrative Details British Constitution Parliamentary form of government The idea of single citizenship The idea of the Rule of law Institution of Speaker and his role Lawmaking procedure Procedure established by Law

United States Constitution Preamble Fundamental Rights Federal structure of government Electoral College Independence of the judiciary and separation of powers among the three branches of the government Judicial review President as supreme commander of armed forces Equal Protection under law Irish Constitution Directive principles of state policy {Ireland itself borrowed it from Spain} Australian Constitution Freedom of trade and commerce within the country and between the states Power of the national legislature to make laws for implementing treaties, even on matters outside normal Federal jurisdiction Concurrent List

French Constitution Ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity Canadian Constitution A quasi-federal form of government a federal system with a strong central government Distribution of powers between the central government and state governments Residual powers retained by the central government Constitution of the Soviet Union (Russia) USSR Fundamental Duties Other Constitutions Emergency Provision Under article 356 Weimar Constitution(Germany) Amendment of Constitution, South Africa Due Procedure of Law, Japan

Answers of L-1 1. A 2. B 3. D 4. D 5. B 6. C 7. C 8. C

1. The national Anthem was adopted by the constituent Assembly on which of the following day? (a) 24 January, 1947 (b) 22 July, 1947 (c) 29 August, 1947 (d) 26 November, 1949 2. The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly had taken place on December 9, 1946 was presided by whom as its interim president? (a) Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (b) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (c) Dr. Rajendra Prasad (d) Dr. Sachidanand Sinha