DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

SABBAVARAM, VISAKHAPATNAM, A.P., INDIA

PROJECT TITLE: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY MEMBERS: THEIR ROLE IN

FRAMING THE CONSTITUTION

SUBJECT: HISTORY-II

NAME OF THE FACULTY: Dr. Vishwachandranath Madasu

Name of the Candidate: Ch. Naga Rupaswini

Roll No. 20LLB025

Semester-II

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT:
I would like to sincerely put forward my heartfelt appreciation to our respected history-2
Professor Dr. Vishwachandranath Madasu for giving me a golden opportunity to take up this
project regarding “Constituent Assembly Members: Their Role in Framing the Constitution”.
I have tried my best to collect information about the project in various possible ways to depict
clear picture about the given topic.

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3
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................4

2) INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................4

3) INDIAN CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.......................................................................5

4) S.K. PATIL....................................................................................................................9

 EARLY LIFE.............................................................................................................9

 POLITICAL CAREER...............................................................................................9

 CONTRIBUTION....................................................................................................11

 PATIL’S RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................................12

 PATIL’S SIGNIFICANT PROPOSAL FOR THE RAILWAY BUDGET.............12

5) R.R DIWAKAR...........................................................................................................14

 BRIEF INTRODUCTION........................................................................................14

 POLITICAL CAREER.............................................................................................14

 CONTRIBUTION....................................................................................................15

 FIRST PRESS COMMISSION................................................................................16

 KEY WRITINGS.....................................................................................................17

6) RAMCHANDRA MANOHAR NALAVADE............................................................17

 CAREER..................................................................................................................17

 COMMITTEES TO WHICH N. RAMCHANDRA MANOHAR WAS A PART..17

7) CONCLUSION............................................................................................................17

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ABSTRACT:
TOPIC NAME: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY MEMBERS: THEIR ROLE IN
FRAMING INDIAN CONSTITUTION.
A Constituent Assembly’s essential characteristic is to derive its authority from the sovereign
will of the people. It is based on the principles that the Constitution should be framed by the
people. This is done through its real representatives. It is a sovereign body and does its work
with mature deliberation in a peaceable way. Constituent Assembly is a Western political
contribution to the science of Government. In this project the researcher will discuss about
three leaders and their role in politics during specified periods and how they contributed to
Indian History such as politics and also in some significant constituent changes.

INTRODUCTION:

It is necessary to know about the evolution of concept of Constituent Assembly, formation

of Indian Constituent Assembly and initiatives taken by its members to include the best
features of some Constitutions of the World for the benefit of Indian people. The term
“Constituent Assembly” signifies a representative body chosen for the purpose of either
considering and adopting or proposing a new Constitution or changes in the existing
Constitution. It is called for the sole purpose of establishing the fundamental organic law of
the State. It has nothing to do with ordinary legislature and the normal functions of the
Government. Almost all the written Constitutions of the world have been framed by the
Constituent Assemblies or Conventions. A Constituent Assembly’s essential characteristic is
to derive its authority from the sovereign will of the people. It is based on the principles that
the Constitution should be framed by the people. This is done through its real
representatives. It is a sovereign body and does its work with mature deliberation in a
peaceable way. Constituent Assembly is a Western political contribution to the science of
Government. It was first conceived and adopted in the State of Massachusetts in the United
States of America in about 1780. After the Declaration of Independence, the American war
followed. The greatest Constituent Assembly was set during the Convention of Philadelphia
in 1787. Since then Constituent Assembly became an indispensable instrument of political
self-determination. The study of different Constituent Assemblies reveals two different
methods of forming them. The countries with Anglo-Saxon influences predominate in
forming the Assembly with members who are elected by the existing provincial bodies,

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which may or may not be elected by a restricted franchise. The other method assumes that
the Assembly should reflect the views of the nation; this is achieved by adopting adult
franchise and proportional representation, which is more or less a scientific form of
providing separate electorates. The historic origin of the Constituent Assembly can be found
in the great movements that drove some of the people of Western countries to organize
themselves into nations in order to destroy arbitrary power.
INDIAN CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY:

The idea of the Constituent Assembly for India was first put forward by Mr. M.N. Roy, the
pioneer of the communist movement in India in the year 1930. In his open letter to the
executive committee of the Socialist International protesting against the British party’s
failure to support the Indian freedom struggle, he had stated that the people of India would
never accept any constitution framed by imperialist Round Table Conference or any such
Commissions. The only Constitution acceptable to them would be the one framed by a
Constituent Assembly to be elected by universal suffrage. The demand for a Constituent
Assembly as part of its official policy was made by the Indian National Congress in 1934.
The Congress Working Committee refused to accept the 1933 White Paper containing the
proposal for Indian Constitutional reform and observed that: the only satisfactory alternative
to the White Paper is a Constitution drawn up by a Constituent Assembly elected on the
basis of adult franchise or as near it as possible, with the power, if necessary, to the
important minorities to have their representatives elected exclusively by the electors
belonging to such minorities After the revival of the Indian National Congress in 1936,
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became its President and began to popularize socialism.

He reintroduced the demand for a Constituent Assembly by passing resolutions in the Indian
National Congress. Mahatma Gandhi had written in Harijan in 1939 that he was compelled
by Pandit Nehru to study the implications of a Constituent Assembly. He further expresses
that Constituent Assembly alone can produce a Constitution indigenous to the country and
truly and fully representing the will of the people. Further, he felt that the Constituent
Assembly will represent all communities in their exact proportion. Except it there is no
other way of doing full justice to rival claims without it there can be no finality to
communal and other claims. After the Second World War, a new Government came to
power in Great Britain in July 1945. The new Government announced their decision to
convene a constitution drafting body. To find the solution for the question of Indian
Independence, a team of three British Cabinet Ministers called the Cabinet Mission were

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sent to India in March 1946 to assist the Viceroy in setting up the machinery in India by
which the Indians could devise their own Constitution. They held prolonged discussions
with the Indian leaders of both Indian National Congress and the Muslim League.

On May 16, 1946, the Mission announced their plan publicly. According to the Plan, India
was to remain one State. The Provinces would be grouped geographically into three regions,
one which would be predominantly Muslim, one predominantly Hindus, and in the third the
population of the two communities would be nearly equal. The provincial representatives to
the All India Constituent Assembly after a preliminary meeting would meet in three group
assemblies to frame the Constitution for the component provinces and after this, they would
return to the All India Assembly to draft the National Constitution. 8 Both Congress and the
Muslim League accepted the plan of the Cabinet Mission but with some reservations. The
British Government realized that their attempt to evolve a Constitution agreeable to all the
sections of the Indian people had been unsuccessful. The elections were held and the
members of the Constituent Assembly were elected in July 1946 but the first session of the
Assembly could not be summoned until December 9, 1946 due to election of the provincial
representatives in accordance with the Cabinet Mission’s plan. The Indian National
Congress won with an overwhelming majority. The Constituent Assembly consisted of 389
members of whom 292 were elected by the elected members of the Provincial Legislative
Assemblies while 93 members were nominated by the Princely States. A representative
from each of the four Chief Commissioners Provinces of Delhi, Ajmer Marwad, Coorg, and
British Baluchistan were also added. The seats of each province were distributed among the
three main communities viz. General, Muslims, and Sikhs in proportion to their respective
populations.

Even before the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly could commence effectively, a
sharp difference of opinion arose between the Congress and the Muslim League. Between
July and December 1946, Sir B.N. Rau was consulted frequently by both the Congress and
the Muslim League on specific issues. In September 1946, Mr. Jinnah had a detailed
discussion with Sir B.N. Rau, which covered almost every point. The first meeting of the
Constituent Assembly, which was held on December 9, 1946, was boycotted by the Muslim
League. The members of the Muslim League withdrew from the Constituent Assembly and
they urged dissolution of the Constituent Assembly on the grounds that it did not fully
represent all sections of the people of India. At one of its initial sessions, the Constituent
Assembly passed a resolution that it could not be dissolved except by a resolution assented

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to by at least two-third of the total members of the Assembly.’0 According to Mr. Jinnah,
the formation of independent Pakistan was inevitable. In March 1947 Lord Mountbatten
took over as the Viceroy and on June 3, 1947, he announced that England would recognize
the existence of two independent States of India and Pakistan from August 15, 1947. A
separate Constituent Assembly for Pakistan was created on July 16, 1947. After these
developments, the membership of the Constituent Assembly of India was reduced to 299 out
which 229 represented the Provinces and 70 were nominated by the Princely States. The
Indian meet in three group assemblies to frame the Constitution for the component
provinces and after this, they would return to the All India Assembly to draft the National
Constitution. 8 Both Congress and the Muslim League accepted the plan of the Cabinet
Mission but with some reservations. The British Government realized that their attempt to
evolve a Constitution agreeable to all the sections of the Indian people had been
unsuccessful. The elections were held and the members of the Constituent Assembly were
elected in July 1946 but the first session of the Assembly could not be summoned until
December 9, 1946 due to election of the provincial representatives in accordance with the
Cabinet Mission’s plan. The Indian National Congress won with an overwhelming majority.
The Constituent Assembly consisted of 389 members of whom 292 were elected by the
elected members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies while 93 members were
nominated by the Princely States. A representative from each of the four Chief
Commissioners Provinces of Delhi, Ajmer Marwad, Coorg, and British Baluchistan were
also added. The seats of each province were distributed among the three main communities
viz. General, Muslims, and Sikhs in proportion to their respective populations.

Even before the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly could commence effectively, a
sharp difference of opinion arose between the Congress and the Muslim League. Between
July and December 1946, Sir B.N. Rau was consulted frequently by both the Congress and
the Muslim League on specific issues. In September 1946, Mr. Jinnah had a detailed
discussion with Sir B.N. Rau, which covered almost every point. The first meeting of the
Constituent Assembly, which was held on December 9, 1946, was boycotted by the Muslim
League. The members of the Muslim League withdrew from the Constituent Assembly and
they urged dissolution of the Constituent Assembly on the grounds that it did not fully
represent all sections of the people of India. At one of its initial sessions, the Constituent
Assembly passed a resolution that it could not be dissolved except by a resolution assented
to by at least two-third of the total members of the Assembly.’0 According to Mr. Jinnah,

8
the formation of independent Pakistan was inevitable. In March 1947 Lord Mountbatten
took over as the Viceroy and on June 3, 1947, he announced that England would recognize
the existence of two independent States of India and Pakistan from August 15, 1947. A
separate Constituent Assembly for Pakistan was created on July 16, 1947. After these
developments, the membership of the Constituent Assembly of India was reduced to 299 out
which 229 represented the Provinces and 70 were nominated by the Princely States.
The Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament with effect from August
15, 1947 giving legality to the status of the Constituent Assembly. The Constituent
Assembly, which had first met on December 9, 1946, reassembled after midnight of August
14, 1947, as the Sovereign Constituent Assembly for India in the Constitution Hall, New
Delhi and earnestly began its work of drafting the Constitution of India.”
The Constituent Assembly took almost three years to complete its historic task of drafting the
Constitution for Independent India. During this period, it held 11 sessions covering a total of
165 days. Of these, 114 days were spent on the consideration of the Draft Constitution. The
Constitution of India was adopted on November 26, 1949. In all 284 members actually signed
the Constitution on January 24, 1950.12 The Constitution came into force on January 26,
1950 and the Constituent Assembly was dissolved. Granville Austin had said “With the
adoption of the Constitution by the members of the Constituent Assembly on 26 November
1949, India became the largest democracy in the world. By this act of strength and will,
Assembly members began what was perhaps the greatest political venture since that
originated in the Philadelphia in 1787.”

S.K. PATIL:

EARLY LIFE:

He was born in the village of Zarap, between Kudal and Sawantwadi, in the year 1898. His
father worked as a police officer in the state of Kolhapur. He studied law in Poona before
moving to Bombay in 1921 at the age of 23 to enter Barrister Velingkar’s Chambers. In 1929,
he founded his own law firm and focused on Small Causes Court and City Civil Court cases,
as well as a few Civil Appeal Cases on the Appellate Side of the Bombay High Court. In the
early 1930s, he was briefed to appear with M. A. Jinnah in a few criminal cases. By the end
of his successful practise in the mid-1940s, he came to be regarded as a forceful Pleader in
First Appeals before the High Court. He was routinely briefed to appear before various
District Courts in Bombay Province.

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POLITICAL CAREER:

Everyone called Sadashiv Kanoji Patil the ‘uncrowned king of Bombay.’ Those where the
days before Bal Thackeray made his foray into politics and Mumbai was Bombay.

The boss of Bombay’s Congress party was not just a prominent fundraiser, he was also an
important member of the so-called Syndicate, along with S Nijalingappa and Atulya Ghosh,
that controlled the party in the days before its first split in 1969. Sadoba Patil, as he was
popularly known, represented Bombay South in the Lok Sabha for three terms from the first
general election in 1952 and was considered invincible in the constituency, one of the more
prestigious in India. So the ‘king’ wasn’t perturbed when the combined Opposition put up a
then little-known Mangalore-born trade unionist George Fernandes of the Samyukta Socialist
Party as its candidate in the 1967 general election. But George was nothing if not
hardworking. The firebrand, only 37 then, campaigned tirelessly, covering large swathes of
the constituency with his workers. And when the results were declared, the unthinkable had
happened. George Fernandes (with 48.5% of the vote) had unseated the ‘king.’ That was how
Fernandes got his nickname, George the Giantkiller.

As for S K Patil, the shock defeat heralded the end of his political career. Two years later, in
1969, Indira Gandhi took on the Syndicate and split the party. Former defence minister
George Fernandes first shot into national prominence when he defeated Congress stalwart S
K Patil in the 1967 parliamentary elections. He also had a strong Mumbai connection.
Recalling the veteran socialist’s association with the city, CPI leader Prakash Reddy said
Fernandes had in 1967 emerged as the “giant killer” by defeating Patil, who was then called
the “uncrowned king of Bombay” and represented the Bombay South Lok Sabha seat.

Mumbai at that time had a tradition of strong labour force in the industrial sector, civic body
and small businesses known as ‘gumasta’. Fernandes stood up for the workers of the civic
body, BEST (Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport) undertaking and the gumasta
workers and fought for their rights. He made a name for himself among the labour class in the
1960s, Reddy said.

“Patil was a very powerful leader. He was invincible. George said S K Patil can be defeated
and decided to contest against him. He got the backing of the labour work force,” the CPI
leader recalled.

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During the Sanyukta Maharashtra movement in 1950s and 1960s, the mood of people in
Mumbai was anti-Congress since the party was perceived to be against the inclusion
of Bombay into the state of Maharashtra. “All major unions of the civic body, BEST and
small businesses in Mumbai were set up by George Fernandes. This helped George defeat S
K Patil, who was close to top industrialists,” he said. Before contesting the 1967 Lok Sabha
poll, Fernandes had led a successful municipal workers' strike in Mumbai, he mentioned.

The Praja Socialist Party was headed by Madhu Dandawate and Fernandes headed the
Samyukta Socialist Party. Both the parties merged to form the Socialist Party and supported
the Shiv Sena in the 1968 civic polls in Mumbai. The Socialist Party and Shiv Sena alliance
won the civic polls that year. “Fernandes was so much blinded by the anti-Congress and anti-
Indira Gandhi sentiment that he compromised on his socialist ideology to support the dual
membership of associating with the RSS, resulting in his fallout with trade union leader
Sharad Rao,” Reddy said.

Fernandes had also shared a close relationship with Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray.
He was also among the very few to refer the Sena patriarch as ‘Bal’, city-based senior
journalist Yogesh Trivedi remembered. Fernandes passed away in Delhi Tuesday following a
prolonged illness, his family sources said. He was 88. He was suffering from Alzheimer's
disease and had recently contracted swine flu.

Maharashtra is the only State which has two Pradesh Congress Committees. This situation
arose when BPCC refused to mer itself with the MPCC on the formation of unilingual
Maharashtra in 1960. Actually, leaders of neither BPCC and MPCC have been really anxious
to end the anomaly. That the BPCC should want to preserve its independence existence is, of
course, understandable. The BPCC has been S K Patil’s pocket-brough and the base for his
operations in the all-India Congress.1 In the event of a merger the BPCC would be swallowed
by the much larger MPCC and Patil, totally lacking any following in Maharashtra, could not
hope to exercise much influence in the enlarged much influence in the enlarged MPCC. But,
contrary to the popular impression, even the MPCC has not been eager for a merger. Y B
Chavan, who knows well S K Patil’s skill as a politician has feared that taking over the BPCC
might involve the risk of acquiring a potential rival to his undisputed sway over the MPCC.

CONTRIBUTION:
1
Congress Debacle, 8 (11) Economic and Political Weekly, 1973, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4362422.

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Sadashiv Kanoji Patil (abbreviated as S. K. Patil) (1898-1981) was a former Congress leader
from Maharashtra. A veteran freedom-fighter, he was a qualified journalist, scholar and
orator. He was thrice elected Mayor of Bombay and was known as “the uncrowned king of
Bombay”. He supported, assisted and nurtured a number of institutions, particularly in
Mumbai and enriched the city culturally. He was the Member of Parliament from Bombay
when it was part of the unified Bombay State. He was a Union Minister during the time of
Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shashtri and Indira Gandhi.2 Though a three-time MP, he was
defeated by George Fernandes in Mumbai South (Lok Sabha constituency) in 1967 for 4th
Lok Sabha. He then fought a by-poll from Banaskantha in Gujarat and rejoined Lok Sabha. In
1969 he left Congress of Indira Gandhi with senior leaders like Morarji Desai and
Nijalingappa. He contested from Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat in 1971 on Congress (O) ticket
but lost to the Congress candidate. In the Lok Sabha discussions on the report of the States
Reorganisation Commission, on 15 November 1955, Patil demanded that the Bombay city be
constituted as an autonomous city-state, laying great stress on its cosmopolitan character.
However, Bombay state was partitioned into the present-day states of Gujarat and
Maharashtra in 1960, and the city of Bombay (now called Mumbai) became the capital of
Maharashtra.

PATIL’S RECOMMENDATIONS:

The Patil committee’s recommendations to double the primary membership fee and the
suggestion for extra contributions by those holding elective posts in the organisations met
with rank-and-file hostility during the All-India Congress Committee’s opening day debate
on party reorganisation. Mr. S.K. Patil, who introduced the official proposals for overhauling
the Congress Constitution, drew a gloomy picture of the party’s financial position and
pleaded that there was no alternative but for members themselves to generate funds for the
party. Judging from the tenor of today’s debate, the A-ICC delegates are reluctant to be
convinced by the arguments of Mr. Patil, whose reorganisation panel’s recommendations
formed the basis of official amendments to the constitution. A fatal consequence of this
process was the reluctance of other leaders in the Government to use their initiative and take
risks. S K Patil referred to this when he compared Pandit Nehru to a banyan tree under whose
heavy shadow smaller plants did not get a chance to grow. The effect on the people was to

2
Decline of Indira’s Government, 1 (3) Economic and Political Weekly 1966,
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4356891.

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encourage them to look upon Pandit Nehru as the infallible leader who would bring them to
the promised land. This attitude made them very indulgent towards him.

PATIL’S SIGNIFICANT PROPOSAL FOR THE RAILWAY BUDGET:

He introduced the railway budget on February 1965. The Opposition's effectiveness this time
has largely been due to the fact that a large body of Congress Members have been in tune
with its criticism of the Government; how- ever much he may condemn the bundhs, the
average Congress M P is worried at the growing country wide unrest over the Government’s
inability to check the price rise. The political isolation of the Treasury Benches could be
made up neither by S. K. Patil trying to play the de facto leader with Satyanarayan Sinha
being caught in a state of virtual stupor at almost every critical moment, nor even by
Chavan’s periodic warnings about the Pindi-Peking axis. The reports of Pak arms build-up
with the help of U S arms have further weakened the Asoka Mehta-Subramaniam case for
beg- ging for dollars sans self-respect.3 It was not a case of M P’s being apathetic to the crisis
facing the nation. Rather the Government could not infuse into its own ranks a sense of
urgency, it has not been able to generate the confidence that it can deliver the goods.

Never before has New Delhi seen a set-up in authority which carries the overpowering
impression of being tentative, a sort of caretaker regime that is desperately trying to show off
its own importance.4 This is brought about to a very large measure by Indira Gandhi drifting
away from the very source of her strength as Prime Minister. Seven months ago, she owed
her Premiership to Kamaraj’s powerful backing. But as she tried to play the Prime Minister
on her own, defending on a small set of airconditioned advisers with little grass-roots links
with the large body of Congress opinion, keeping herself studiously at a distance from
Kamaraj, the incongruity of her position was not difficult to discern. As things turned out,
Kamaraj in his pronouncements adhered unwaveringly to the basic Nehru line while she
allowed Asoka Mehta and Subramaniam to practically overhaul the entire economic strategy,
which in the eyes of the common man meant more and more dependence on US munificence
and when even that too was not forth coming in the wake of devaluation, the discredit
became all the more spectacular. In this background of devalued political authority of the
Centre, the disruption of the Prime Minister’s personal equation with the Congress President

3
Congress Debacle, 8 (11) Economic and Political Weekly, 1973, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4362422.
4
Romesh Thapar, Delhi’s Major Obsession, 3 (4) Economic and Political Weekly, 1969,
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4358173.

13
has undermined the position of the Government more than that of the Party’s High
Command.

This is mainly because while Indira and her advisers tried to parade their pragmatism no
longer “prisoners of words” the strong common sense of Kamaraj chimed in with the
overwhelming national attachment to Nehru's basic policies, particularly in the economic
sphere. This contrast has been sharpened after Kamaraj’s tour of the Communist countries,
particularly of the Soviet Union, where his talks, mark- ed with candour and understanding,
gave him new convictions about the soundness of Nehru’s basic principles. Between the
Prime Minister and the Congress President, the latter seemed to have gained more in terms of
recouping political health by the trip to Moscow. Indira’s camp at first could not gauge the
reason for its fast-extending isolation in the wake of devaluation, although the Moscow talks
seemed to have brought home to her the international implications of this political isolation at
home.5 Mainly through some of her political advisers she tried to go in for organisational
gimmicks to make up for the setback on the political front. Hence came the overtures to the
Morarji camp overtures which no number of one-sided denials from the Prime Minister's
circle could totally write off. But it seems Morarji’s price is rather too high involving some
major reshuffle of the Cabinet. Besides, S K Patil is dead set to obstruct such an entente,
since he suffers from no illusion that his present eminence would be eclipsed once Morarji
comes back into the picture. The mutual antipathy be- tween the two has always been a thorn
in the path of Right consolidation in the Congress hierarchy.

R.R Diwakar:

BRIEF INTRODUCTION:

Diwakar was a member of the Indian National Congress and served as the President of the
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) from 1930 to 1942. He became a member
of the Constituent Assembly of India and the Provisional Parliament. He was the Union
Minister of Information and Broadcasting from 1949 to 1952. Diwakar was elected as
member of the Rajya Sabha from Bombay State on 3 April 1952 but resigned on 13 June
1952, within a few months when was appointed the Governor of Bihar. He served as
Governor till 1957. In 1962 he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha where he served till 1968.
At his death, he was the last surviving member of the first Nehru cabinet.

5
Congress Debacle, 8 (11) Economic and Political Weekly, 1973, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4362422.

14
Diwakar has been described as a “Gandhian” and “more committed to Gandhian ideas
than Gandhi himself.” Diwakar was also the author of a number of books in English,
Kannada and Hindi. R.R. Diwakar, journalist/politician, talks of the Swadeshi Movement of
1905-06 and describes the mood and freedom activities in India, especially the Karnataka,
through to Independence and beyond. A Kannada speaker, he has written several books in
that language.

Ranganath Diwakar Information, known as: R. R. Diwakar, born on 30th September 1894,
died: 15th January 1990, Profession: patriot, philosopher, politician, and scholar. 6 Born on
September 30, 1894, Ranganath Diwakar who is famously known as R. R. Diwakar has
written several books on Gandhi, Satyagraha, and many others and is inspired by Shri
Aurobindo.

POLITICAL CAREER:

In the year 1962, he was nominated for Rajya Sabha yet again where he served till 1968.
Diwakar later died on 15 January 1990 and at the time of his death, he was the last known
surviving member from Nehru’s cabinet. Diwakar advocated himself as Gandhian more than
Gandhi himself.

He has written several books in English, Hindi, and Kannada and his main topic of interest
was Gandhi’s ideology, services, Aurobindo’s ideology, and services, etc.

Diwakar was also a member of the Indian National Congress and served as the President of
the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee from 1930-1942. He later became a member of
the Constituent Assembly of India and the Provisional Parliament. He later served as the
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting from 1949 – 1952 and was elected as a
member of Rajya Sabha from Bombay State. He served as a member of Rajya Sabha from 3
April 1952 but resigned on 13 June 1952. He later became a governor of Bihar and he
governed the state till 1957.

CONTRIBUTION:

Having undone the two major Emergency excesses against tho Press the legislative assault
through a triad of laws, and the forced merger of the news agencies government has perhaps
thought it prudent not to embark on further piecemeal measures to restructure or reform it.

6
Press Commission, 49 (25) Economic and Political Weekly, https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/25/glimpses-
past-web-exclusives/another-press-commission.html.

15
Hence a new Press Commission, which is to make a comprehensive study of a situation
which has vastly changed since the first one made its report in July 1954. The appointment of
the second Press Commission will freeze for some time debates on issues like diffusion of
newspaper ownership and delinking the Press from big business.
Since the 1954 report, there have been several studies on various aspects of the Press. For
instance, there was the one on small newspapers by a committee headed by R. R. Diwakar in
1966.7 Then there was the report of the Fact-Finding Committee on Newspaper Economics in
1974, and more recently the Kuldip Nayar Committee's report on news agencies. The
Emergency excesses on the Press and the misuse of the mass media were examined first in a
White Paper and later as part of the Shah Commission's First Interim Report.
Scholar, philosopher and patriot, Ranganath Ramachandra Diwakar, born 1894, was not only
a politician with an impressive record of service, but one who exuded peace and learning.
A staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi and a close student and admirer of Sri Aurobindo
from his school days, his books on the lives of Sri Aurobindo, Paramahamsa, Sri
Ramakrishna and Bhagawan Buddha have become very popular.
FIRST PRESS COMMISSION: 
The first Press Commission has some commendable achievements to its credit. Its report led
to certain significant measures towards regulating the newspaper industry. It was following
the recommendations of the first Press Commission that the Working Journalists Act was
passed and wage boards for the industry were set up. Then the office of the Registrar of
Newspapers was created, and annual reports on the Press in India published. 8 The Press
Council too followed the recommendations of the first Press Commission, and however
unsatisfactory and controversial its functioning was, the fact the Indira Gandhi government
decided to liquidate it through an ordinance during Emergency shows that its role was not
entirely negative.
One of the principal recommendations of the first Press Commission the price page schedule
meant to protect the small newspapers from the fierce competition the bigger ones presented
was shot down in court and till now no alternative for it has been thought of. The
Commission had recommended diffusion by gradual distribution of shares to employees and
to a small extent to the public. It had also recommended the conversion of the PTI into a
public corporation.
7
Press Commission, 49 (25) Economic and Political Weekly, https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/25/glimpses-
past-web-exclusives/another-press-commission.html.
8
Press Commission, 49 (25) Economic and Political Weekly, https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/25/glimpses-
past-web-exclusives/another-press-commission.html.

16
Some of these recommendations relating to the structure of the industry and the ownership
pattern of the news agencies were flogged to death by the Indian Federation of Working
Journalists. It was all populist rhetoric, with little grasp of the problem. The climax was
reached when Nandini Satpathy, as Indira Gandhi's minister for information and
broadcasting, surreptitiously got a “draft” bill for delinking and diffusion circulated through
certain busybodies among the working journalists; but in the face of severe criticism, she and
her government tried to pretend that they had nothing to do with the document. 9 There was
naturally a great deal of emphasis on ‘commitment’ and ‘social responsibility’ of the Press
during Emergency, and the bureaucrats (including police officials who enforced censorship
and managed the Press for Indira Gandhi during Emergency even drafted’ a code of conduct
for journalists and tried to get it across in the name of a so-called ‘Committee of Editors to
which the IFWJ was a party.
KEY WRITINGS:
Some of his best-known works in English kannada and Hindi are: My Encounte with Gandhi
1989, Mahayogi: Life, Sadhana and teachings of Aurobindo 1954, How to Process Colour
films at Home. A staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi and a close student and admirer of Sri
Aurobindo from his school days, his books on the lives of Sri Aurobindo, Paramahamsa, Sri
Ramakrishna and Bhagawan Buddha have become very popular.

RAMCHANDRA MANOHAR NALAVADE:

CAREER:
Ramchandra Manohar Nalavade is an Indian politician, he had also contributed his services to
steering committee. Nalavade Ramchandra Manohar is a member of Rajyasabha. He is a
member of Constituent Assembly from the provincial state of Bombay in November 1949. In
Steering Committee, the members role is to helps to steer a project through from start to
completion. Sometimes it might be formed entirely by staff from the organisation developing
and implementing the project, but more usually it is made up of representatives of key
organisations who are partners in the project, and/or who have particular expertise to lend to
the project, and/or whose clients are the intended users of the output of the project. It is very
important (and useful) to include at least one client of the service, or potential user of the
project that is being developed, as their views can be helpful in ensuring that the project is
correctly targeted.

9
Press Commission, 49 (25) Economic and Political Weekly, https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/25/glimpses-
past-web-exclusives/another-press-commission.html.

17
The dominion of India was reborn on January 26, 1950, as
a sovereign democratic republic and a union of states. With universal adult franchise, India’s
electorate was the world’s largest, but the traditional feudal roots of most of its illiterate
populace were deep, just as their religious caste beliefs were to remain far more powerful
than more recent exotic ideas, such as secular statehood.
COMMITTEES TO WHICH N. RAMCHANDRA MANOHAR WAS A PART:
He was named as a member of steering committee bye the President. In Steering Committee,
the members role is to helps to steer a project through from start to completion. Sometimes it
might be formed entirely by staff from the organisation developing and implementing the
project, but more usually it is made up of representatives of key organisations who are
partners in the project, and/or who have particular expertise to lend to the project, and/or
whose clients are the intended users of the output of the project.
CONCLUSION:
They have served the country in various ways and had been a part of the Indian
independence. They also take pride in working in and with various committee’s which
framed the Indian constitution. S.K Patil was a former Congress leader from Maharashtra. A
veteran freedom-fighter, he was a qualified journalist, scholar and orator. He was thrice
elected Mayor of Bombay and was known as “the uncrowned king of Bombay”. He
supported, assisted and nurtured a number of institutions, particularly in Mumbai and
enriched the city culturally. He was the Member of Parliament from Bombay when it was
part of the unified Bombay State. He was a Union Minister during the time of Jawaharlal
Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shashtri and Indira Gandhi. Diwakar was a member of the Indian
National Congress and served as the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee
(KPCC) from 1930 to 1942. He became a member of the Constituent Assembly of India and
the Provisional Parliament. He was the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting from
1949 to 1952. Diwakar was elected as member of the Rajya Sabha from Bombay State on 3
April 1952 but resigned on 13 June 1952, within a few months when was appointed the
Governor of Bihar. He served as Governor till 1957. In 1962 he was nominated to the Rajya
Sabha where he served till 1968. At his death, he was the last surviving member of the first
Nehru cabinet. Ramchandra Manohar Nalavade is an Indian politician, he had also
contributed his services to steering committee. Nalavade Ramchandra Manohar is a member
of Rajyasabha. He is a member of Constituent Assembly from the provincial state of Bombay
in November 1949.

18
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