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MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION - Coggle Diagram
MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION
Framing the Constitution:
How must we be governed?
Who shall decide or settle this?
Making a constitution
effective depends upon many factors.
Mode of promulgation
The substantive provisions of a constitution
The Principle of Deliberation
procedures it adopted to frame the Constitution and
the values its members brought
Inheritance of the nationalist movement
Institutional arrangements
Constitutional Autochthony:
It means a desire among the people to have a homegrown constitution rooted in the native culture, political, socio-economic environment of the country.
The British decided upon the framework through which India was to be governed as evidenced
through Indian Councils Act (1861, 1892, 1909), Gol Act 1919, 1935.
Purna Swaraj resolution was passed in the Lahore Session(1929), the view changed regarding who
would frame the constitution for Indians
1934 that the idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was put forward for the first time by M.N. Roy
In 1935, the Indian National
Congress (INC), for the first time, officially demanded a Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India.
1938 Jawaharlal Nehru, on behalf the INC declared that ‘the
Constitution of free India must be framed, without outside interference
finally accepted in principle by the British Government in what is known as the ‘August Offer’ of 1940
HELP US IN WW 2 AND TAKE YOUR SWARJ
but no formal assurance
The Cripps Proposals were rejected by the Muslim League, which wanted India to be divided into two autonomous states
Finally, a Cabinet Mission (1946) was
sent to India While it rejected the idea of two Constituent
Assemblies, it put forth a scheme for the Constituent Assembly
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 after WW2
for formalising august offer
3 members
1) Sir Stafford cripps
2) Alexander
3) Pathric lawrence
Gandhiji ,started QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT
FORMATION OF CONSTITUENT ASSEBLY
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
FUNCTIONING OF Constituent Assembly
2"ndStage:
The various reports prepared by the committee were compiled by Sir BN Rau into the first draft of
the constitution.
3rd Stage
prepare a detailed draft of the constitution BY a drafting committee
chaired by Dr.BR Ambedkar.
AK Aiyar,
The members included N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar,
Syed Mohammed Saadullah,
T.T. Krishnamachari replaced DP Khaitan due to his death.
KM Munshi,
Madhav Rao joined later replacing BL Mitter due to his ill health,
4th Stage
The draft was published on Feb, 1948 to invite opinions from members of civil society and individuals
Around 7,635 amendments were proposed, of which the assembly discussed and disposed of 2473 amendments
5th 5tage:
This stage concerns the enactment of constitution
26th November, 1949. But the constitution came into force on 26th
January, 1950.
SIGNED BY 284/299
1st Stage - Committee Stage
Various committees were formed under the chairmanship of prominent individuals to form views
and prepare reports regarding the constitution that was to be framed.
Out of these, eight
were major committees and the others were minor committees.
Major Committees
Union Constitution Committee -Jawaharlal Nehru
Provincial Constitution Committee -Sardar Patel
Drafting Committee - Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas - Sardar Patel.
(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
(e) North-West Frontier Tribal Areas Sub-Committee
Rules of Procedure Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad
States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) -Jawaharlal Nehru
Steering Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Union Powers Committee - Jawaharlal Nehru
Minor Committees
Credentials Committee - Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar
House Committee - B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
Order of Business Committee - Dr. K.M. Munshi
Ad-hoc Committee on the National Flag - Dr. Rajendra PrasaD
Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly -G.V. Mavalankar
Ad-hoc Committee on the Supreme Court - S. Varadachari (Not an Assembly Member)
Committee on Chief Commissioners’ Provinces - B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
Expert Committee on the Financial Provisions of the Union Constitution -Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (Not an Assembly Member)
Linguistic Provinces Commission - S.K. Dar (Not an Assembly Member)
Special Committee to Examine the Draft Constitution -Jawaharlal Nehru
Press Gallery Committee - Usha Nath Sen
Ad-hoc Committee on Citizenship - S. Varadachari (Not an Assembly Member)
Finance and Staff Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad
COMM TO EXAMINE EFFECT OF INDIA IND ACT 1947
flag committee: -- Dr Rajendra prasad
CRITIQUE OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
AND THE CONSTITUTION
The constitution was unindian and borrowed constitution
Some alleged that it was a slavish imitation of the West, carbon copy of Gol Act, 1935.
The britishers gave governance frameworks in 1861, 1892, 1909, 1919 and finally 1935. Large parts of our constitution are borrowed from the 1935 act.
But all these articles were debated and discussed in the Constituent assembly before being adopted, thus only the structure was adopted, while the soul was debated in the assembly.
Since our constitution was also prepared late after many similar constitutions were already framed, it would be foolish to not look into other constitutions
ideas like these are not a copyright of any country
intelligent adaptation and not blind copying, example being Bill of Rights
in the USA vs. Part Ill in our constitution
Granville Austin said that calling the constitution unindian was absurd, because what
constitutes lndianness is not defined
While the constitution in its structure may seem to be a
culmination of British legislations, but the soul is different.
RANSACKING OF CONSTITUTIONS -Dr BR Amedkar
Congress dominated the CA
Congress consisted of communists, socialists, secularists, Hindu nationalists, Gandhians, capitalists etc. and hence did not have a coherent ideology and hence was a broad organization
Thus accusation of congress ideology in the Constituent Assembly seems unwarranted.
Lacks theoretical consistency
Since India has many contradictions, it is natural for the constitution to accommodate and reflect
these contradictions
It has provisions for modernity (liberty, equality, fraternity) and tradition (UCC, divorce, adoption
etc.)
Hanna Lerner said that while dealing with explosive issues, the constituent assembly employed three
methods
o Deferral: case of national language status of Hindi, which is left for future generations to decide
o Ambiguity: states role in interference in the religion.
o Non-justiciability: cow slaughter, prohibition of liquor, Uniform Civil Code, etc
It was unrepresentative
it was
indirectly elected
while there were
nominations
from the princely states.
congress party and Nehru had the opinion that the constituent assembly while being created, wanted it to be elected by the people of India.
But in those days, the preparation for
elections would take a long time and eventually the consequent transfer of power from British to Indian would be delayed
Each section's voice and opinion was represented in the constitution, and hence even if there
was no physical representation in Constituent Assembly, their opinions were discussed and
The constitution represented the will of many and not the needs of the few.
Congress was Hindu Dominated
Even the Hindu nationalists of that era, criticized the constitution
Since the majority of the population was Hindu, it was natural to expect them in the majority, but
this majoritarianism is not reflected in the constitution
Ungandhian constitution
eg; Mahatma Gandhi's
cottage industry vs. Nehru's industrialization.
His concept of oceanic circles of power meant that power should radiate from village to the centre
and not the reverse, but these were not added in constitution and added in DPSP in article 40
Ambedkar considered villages as dens of darkness, reeking of casteism, patriarchy, feudalism etc.
and hence any democratic representation at the local level will represent only local elites.
It is a highly voluminous document
It is a bulky constitution as compared to other constitutions.
When the constitution building exercise tries to bring under one fold the entire accumulated
experience of the working of so many constitutions from whom we have intelligently adapted, it is natural that it would turn up to be bulk
India has a single constitution for the whole country
The diversity of the country is large
Additionally, Centre-states relations are dealt in detail
The size of GOI ACT 1935
Too complicated and verbose language
The Constituent Assembly was teeming with legal experts and hence reflects similar language.
But in the end the constitution is a legal document, hence some legal jargon can be expected
Ivor Jennings termed the constitution as lawyer's paradise.
Ambedkar upon the inauguration of constitution said that
"We are entering an era of contradictions,
in the political sphere we will be recognizing one man one vote and one value while sadly in socioeconomic sphere, there is inequality. Hence this political democracy should be used to alleviate
socioeconomic inequalities."
Constitutionalism and constitutional morality should be nurtured in generations to come.
Function
When the same Constituent Assembly functioned as a legislature, it was presided by GV Mavlankar and not Dr. Rajendra Prasad
doubled up as a legislature functioning as a provisional parliament to
frame laws
The CA used to sit as a legislature in the morning session presided over by GV Mavlankar and came back as a Constituent Assembly to frame the constitution the afternoon presided over by Rajendra Prasad.
Framing the Constitution
It adopted the National Anthem, flag and national song
The constituent assembly also elected Rajendra Prasad as President of India from 1950-52 until the general elections were held for the union and states.
After 26th Nov, 1949 when the constitution was enacted and the constituent assembly's task ended, it still continued as a provisional parliament till general elections in 1952 .
The constitutional assembly was not a sovereign body from the date of its formation viz. Dec 9, 1946 till 14th Aug, 1947 just before our independence due to its nature of being a British creation.
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
Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest
member, was elected as the temporary President of the Assembly,following the French practice
Later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of theAssembly. Similarly, both H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were elected as the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly
11dec1946
On December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic‘Objectives Resolution’
DUE TO ML DISAGREEMENT, IT GOT ADOPTED ON 22 JAN 1947,
While elections to the Constituent Assembly were still in progress,
on July 8, 1946, the Congress Party appointed an Experts Committee for the purpose of preparing
material for the Constituent Assembly
Jawaharlal Nehru (Chairman)
M. Asaf Ali
K.M. Munshi
N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar
K.T. Shah
D.R. Gadgil
Humayun Kabir
K. Santhanam
The committee had two sittings, the first at New Delhi from July20 to 22, 1946, and the second at Bombay from August 15 to 17,1946
Granville Austin, a British constitutional expert,
observed: “It was the Congress Experts Committee that set India
Out of the 389 members
British Indian Provinces (11) 292
Chief Commissioners’ Provinces (4) 4
Princely States (Indian States) 93 who had accepted British paramountcy
The representation was done so that each assembly member represented around one million people.
After partition this assembly of 389 members got fractured into 299 members with 229 from British
provinces and 70 from the princely states
The meeting was, thus, attended by
only 211 members
SOME FACTS
Sir B.N. Rau was appointed as the constitutional advisor(Legal advisor) to the CA
H.V.R. Iyengar was the Secretary to the CA
The constitution was calligraphed beautifully by
Prem Bihari Narain Raizada,
while the artists who decorated the constitution with beautiful motifs were from Santiniketan headed by
Nandlal Bose and Beohar
Rammanohar Sinha
The calligraphy of the Hindi version of the original
constitution was done by Vasant Krishan Vaidya and
elegantly decorated and illuminated by Nand Lal Bose.
S.N. Mukerjee was the chief draftsman of the constitution in the Constituent Assembly
Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with
respect to an authoritative text of the Constitution in the Hindi
.
Later, a provision in this regard was made by the 58th
Constitutional Amendment Act of 1987
inserted a new Article 394-A in the last part of the Constitution i.e.,
Part XXII
Elephant was adopted as the symbol (seal) of the Assembly