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Introduction:
The Constitution of India was enacted on 26th of January,
1950. The Constituent Assembly of India drafted the nation's
Constitution. Being drafted on 26th of November, 1949, the
Indian Constitution laid the foundations for establishment of the
Democratic Republic of India.
The Constitution of India has clearly articulated the social and
economic goals and has specified agents for achieving the
promised social revelation. Matters concerning formation and
working of the executive agencies (both political and civil) are
spelt out.
The Constitution of India was drafted over a period of 2
years, 11 months and 17 days. The members of Constituent
Assembly of India met for the first time in the year 1946 on
December 9. The next meeting of the Assembly took place on
August 14th, 1947 for the dominion of India in which the
proposal of forming various committees was presented. Such
committees include Committee on Fundamental Rights, the
Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution Committee.
One of the unique factors of this meeting was that the
Assembly gathered as the Sovereign Constituent Assembly of
India.
On 29th August, 1947 a Drafting Committee, with Dr.
Ambedkar as the Chairman, was formed on the basis of the
various reports submitted by the previous committees. It was in
the year 1948 that a Draft Constitution including a range of
proposals was formed by the concerned committee. The
Constituent Assembly of India held two meetings in February
1948 and October 1949 to go through the clauses of the Draft.
Finally, from 14th to 26th of November, 1949 the Constituent
Assembly analyzed each and every provision of the Draft. The
then President of the Constituent Assembly of India signed the
Draft on November 26th, 1949.
Today, there are 12 Schedules and 395 Articles in the
Constitution of India. Amendments have been made to the
Constitution time and again as per the need of the hour. Till
2006, there have been 94 Amendments made to the
constitution.
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Salient Features of the

Constitution:
The constitution of India is a comparative document. Some
important features of the Constitution are as follows:
1. Written constitution: Indian Constitution framed by the
constituent assembly, is a written constitution as opposed
to is a written constitution as compared to the British
constitution which is unwritten.
2. Lengthiest Constitution: Indian Constitution is a very
comprehensive and detailed document. It contains 395
Articles, 22 Chapters and 12 Schedules.
3. Fundamental Rights: There is a separate chapter in the
constitution granting fundamental rights to all citizens.
Part III of the Indian Constitution deals with fundamental
rights. These rights are judiciable and judiciary is their
guardian. These rights are embossed in Article 14 to 35 of
the Constitution.
4. Parliamentary Form of Government: Constitution of
India establishes parliamentary form government. Article
79 states that there shall be a parliamentary form of the
President and two houses, to be known respectively as the
‘Council of State’ and the ‘House of People’.
5. Federal Form of Government: Constitution of India
provides for federal form of government with a fairly
strong centre which plays a dominant role. There is a
division of power between the union and the state
governments. It establishes dual policy, with clearly
defined spheres of authority between the union and the
states.
6. Fundamental Duties: Part IVA- Article 51(A) of the
Constitution deals with the fundamental duties. The article
was embossed in the constitution by its 42nd amendment.
7. Directive Principles of the State Policy: Part IV-
Article 36 to 51 of the Constitution deals with directive
principles of the state policy. These are not enforced by
the court but principles therein laid down are
fundamentals in the governance of the country and it shall
be the duty of the state to apply these principles in
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making laws. Its main object is to establish a welfare state

in India
8. Independent judiciary: Concept of “independence of
judiciary” means freedom from bias or influence, freedom
in action or opinion, to act without fear or favour.
However, the conception of independence of judiciary
does not mean that the independence should be absolute
entitling a judge to act in an entirely arbitrary manner.
Simply it means courts freedom from fear, favour, bias
and prejudice in the decision making process.
9. Emergencies: The constitution is empowered to declare
3 types of emergencies via National, State, Financial.
10. Judicial Review: Judicial Review is the review by a
competent court of the validity of a law passed by the
legislature on the ground of its transgression of the
limitations imposed by the written constitution and the
power of such court to declare such law to be
unconstitutional and invalid.
11. Sovereign Democratic and Republic: The preamble of
Indian Constitution declares India to be sovereign,
socialist, secular and democratic republic.
12. Partly Rigid and Partly Flexible: Indian constitution is
less flexible than that of England and less rigid than that
of U.S.A. There are certain provision, which can be
amended by a simple majority in the parliament, while
there are certain provisions which can be amended only
by special majority and ratification by states.
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The Constituent Assembly.

The Constituent Assembly of India was formed by the elected
members of the provincial assemblies of the country. Presided
over by Dr. Sachidanand Sinha for the first time, the Indian
Constituent Assembly played the most important role in
creating the Constitution of India. After Dr. Sinha, Dr. Rajendra
Prasad became the President of the Assembly. Comprising over
30 schedule class members, the Constituent Assembly also
included sections of Christians, Anglo-Indians and Minority
Community. Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, being the Minority
Community Chairman, also successfully worked for the
Christians. While H P Modi was the representative of the Parsi
community, Frank Anthony headed the Anglo-Indian section of
the country in the Constituent Assembly.

Some of the prominent female personalities of the Constituent

Assembly were Vijaylakshmi Pandit and Sarojini Naidu. From
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, B N Rau and Maulana Abdul Kalam
Azad to K M Munshi, Sardar Patel and Alladi Krishnaswami
Aiyer, each one had a major contribution towards the present
form of the Constituent Assembly.

Constituent Assembly in session.

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Parts of the Constitution :

The Constitution of India covers a total of 395 Articles in 22
parts. The parts of the Indian Constitution are mentioned
below:

• Part I - The Union and its Territory

• Part II - Citizenship
• Part III - Fundamental Rights
• Part IV - Directive Principles of State Policy
• Part IVA - Fundamental Duties
• Part V - The Union
• Part VI - The States
• Part VII - The States in Part B of the First Schedule
• Part VIII - The Union Territories
• Part IX - Panchayats
• Part IXA - Municipalities
• Part X - The Scheduled and Tribal Areas
• Part XI - Relations Between The Union and The States
• Part XII - Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits
• Part XIII - Trade, Commerce and Intercourse within The
Territory of India
• Part XIV - Services Under The Union and The States
• Part XIVA - Tribunals
• Part XV- Elections
• Part XVI - Special Provisions Relating to Certain Classes
• Part XVII - Official Language
• Part XVIII - Emergency Provisions
• Part XIX - Miscellaneous
• Part XX - Amendment of the Constitution
• Part XXI - Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions
• Part XXII - Short Title, Commencement, Authoritative Text
in Hindi and Repeals.

The Parliamentary form of Government of India was first

introduced by the Constitution of the nation. Consisting of
the President the Parliament of India has two Houses namely
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The President leads the
Executive of the Union as the Constitutional head. The Prime
Minister heads the Council of Ministers as per the Article
74(1) of the Indian Constitution. The 7th Schedule of the
Constitution of India indicates that the legislative powers are
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shared by both the State Legislatures and the Parliament of

India.

Preamble:
The Preamble highlights few fundamental values and guiding
principles on which the Constitution of India is based. It serves
as the guiding light for both, the Constitution as well as the
judges who interpret the Constitution in its light. The opening
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few words of the Preamble - "We, the people" - signifies that

the power is vested in the hands of the people of India.

The Preamble is one of the most significant parts of the

Constitution of India. Focusing on the core objective of the
Indian Constitution, the Preamble includes the following:

• Equality - which connotes equal opportunity for one and

all
• Justice - which means fair judgment in the fields of
politics, society and economy
• Fraternity - which works towards keeping the integrity
and strength of the country intact along with special
stress on individual dignity
• Liberty - which assures every citizen of India the
freedom of speech and expression, religious
independence and choice of going by one's own belief

The Preamble, as it is presented in the Constitution of

India, is mentioned below: "WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having
solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign
socialist secular democratic republic and to secure to all its
citizens: justice, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of
thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; equality of status
and of opportunity; and to promote among them all fraternity
assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity
of the Nation;

In our constituent assembly this twenty-sixth day of November,

1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this
constitution."

The wording of the Preamble highlights some of the

fundamental values and guiding principles on which the
Constitution of India is based. The Preamble serves as a guiding
light for the Constitution and judges interpret the Constitution
in its light. In a majority of decisions, the Supreme Court of
India has ruled that neither it nor any of its content is legally
enforceable.
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The original Preamble to the Constitution of India.

THE RIGHT TO EQUALITY (Article

14):
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The right to equality is one of the six rights that have been
granted to us. In the Indian Constitution this right have been
described as follows:

The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on

grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any
of them. No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race,
caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any
disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to
access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public
entertainment; or the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads
and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of
State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public.
Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any
special provision for women and children. Nothing in this
article or in clause (2) of article 29 shall prevent the State from
making any special provision for the advancement of any
socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for
the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

Equal opportunity for all: There shall be equality of

opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment
or appointment to any office under the State. No citizen shall,
on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of
birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or
discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office
under the State.

Nothing in this article shall prevent Parliament from making

any law prescribing, in regard to a class or classes of
employment or appointment to an office under the
Government of, or any local or other authority within, a State
or Union territory, any requirement as to residence within that
State or Union territory prior to such employment or
appointment.

Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any
provision for reservation in matters of promotion to any class
or classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of
the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes which, in the
opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the
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services under the State. Nothing in this article shall prevent

the State from considering any unfilled vacancies of a year
which are reserved for being filled up in that year in
accordance with any provision for reservation made under
clause (4) or clause (4A) as a separate class of vacancies to be
filled up in any succeeding year or years and such class of
vacancies shall not be considered together with the vacancies
of the year in which they are being filled up for determining
the ceiling of fifty per cent. Reservation on total number of
vacancies of that year.

Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any law

which provides that the incumbent of an office in connection
with the affairs of any religious or denominational institution or
any member of the governing body thereof shall be a person
professing a particular religion or belonging to a particular
denomination
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Right to Freedom (Article 19):

The Constitution of India contains the right to freedom, given in
articles 19, 20, 21 and 22, with the view of guaranteeing
individual rights that were considered vital by the framers of
the constitution. The right to freedom in Article 19 guarantees
the following six freedoms:

• Freedom of speech and expression, which enable an

individual to participate in public activities. The phrase,
"freedom of press" has not been used in Article 19, but
freedom of expression includes freedom of press.
Reasonable restrictions can be imposed in the interest of
public order, security of State, decency or morality.

• Freedom to assemble peacefully without arms, on

which the State can impose reasonable restrictions in the
interest of public order and the sovereignty and integrity
of India.

• Freedom to form associations or unions on which the

State can impose reasonable restrictions on this freedom
in the interest of public order, morality and the
sovereignty and integrity of India.

• Freedom to move freely throughout the territory of

India though reasonable restrictions can be imposed on
this right in the interest of the general public, for example,
restrictions may be imposed on movement and travelling,
so as to control epidemics.

• Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the

territory of India which is also subject to reasonable
restrictions by the State in the interest of the general
public or for the protection of the scheduled tribes
because certain safeguards as are envisaged here seem
to be justified to protect indigenous and tribal peoples
from exploitation and coercion.[21]

• Freedom to practice any profession or to carry on

any occupation, trade or business on which the State
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may impose reasonable restrictions in the interest of the

general public. Thus, there is no right to carry on a
business which is dangerous or immoral. Also, professional
or technical qualifications may be prescribed for practicing
any profession or carrying on any trade.
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Right to constitutional remedies

(Article 32 & 226):
Right to constitutional remedies empowers the citizens to move a court of law
in case of any denial of the fundamental rights. For instance, in case of
imprisonment, the citizen can ask the court to see if it is according to the
provisions of the law of the country. If the court finds that it is not, the person
will have to be freed. This procedure of asking the courts to preserve or
safeguard the citizens' fundamental rights can be done in various ways. The
courts can issue various kinds of writs. These writs are habeas corpus,
mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari. When a national or state
emergency is declared, this right is suspended by the central government.

Feedback:
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References:
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1. www.wikipedia.com.
2. google search engine.
3. www.ask.com.
4. Business law (Vipul
Prakashan)