70 +THEMES

POLITY

CONSTITUTION ASSEMBLY
DEMAND FOR A CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
● In 1934 that the idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was put forward for the firstmeit
by M.N.Roy.
● In 1935, the Indian NationalCongress (INC), for the first time, officially demanded
aConstituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India.
● The demand was finally accepted in principle by the British Governmentinwhat is known
as the 'August Offer' of 1940.
● In1942, SirStaffordCripps, a Member of the Cabinet,came to India with a draft proposal of
the British Government on the framing of an independent Constitution to be adopted after
the World War I.

COMPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

● The Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme
formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan Important

1. The representatives of each community were to be elected by members of that

community in the provincial legislative assembly and voting was to be by the method of
proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.
2. The representatives of the princely states were to be nominated by the heads of the
princely states.
● Mahatma Gandhi was not a member in constitution assembly.

WORKING OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

● The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on December9, 1946.
● The meeting was, thus, attended by only 211 members. Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha, the
oldest member, was elected as the temporary President.
● Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Assembly.
● Both H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were elected as the Vice-Presidents of the
Assembly. In other words, the Assembly had two Vice-Presidents.

Objectives Resolution

OnDecember13,1946,Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic 'Objectives Resolution in the

Assembly. It laid down the fundamentals and philosophy of the constitutional structure.

FEATURE
This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to proclaim India as an
Independent Sovereign Republic and to draw up for her future governance a Constitution:
● Wherein the territories that now comprise British India, the territories that now form the
Indian States and such other parts of India as are outside India and the States as well as
other territories as are willing to be constituted into the independent sovereign India, shall
be a Union of them all.
● wherein the said territories, whether with their present boundaries or with such others as
may be determined by the Constituent Assembly and thereafter according to the law of
the Constitution, shall possess and retain the status of autonomous units together with
residuary powers and exercise all powers and functions of Government and
administration save and except such powers and functions as are vested in or assigned
to the Union or as are inherent or implied in the Union or resulting therefrom.
● and wherein all power and authority of the sovereign independent India, its constituent
parts and organs of Government are derived from the people;
● wherein shall be guaranteed and secured to all the people of India justice, social,
economic and political; equality of status of opportunity, and before the law; freedom of
thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action, subject to law
and public morality.
● wherein adequate safeguards shall be provided for minorities, backward and tribal areas,
and depressed and other backward classes.
● whereby shall be maintained the integrity of the territory of the Republic and its sovereign
rights on land, sea and air according to justice and the law of civilized nations

8. This ancient land attains its rightful and honoured place in the world and makes its full and
● This ancient land attains its rightful and honoured place in the world and makes its full
and willing contributiontothepromotionofworld peace and the welfare of mankind."

This Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Assembly on yraunaJ 22,1947. tIinfluenced
the eventual shaping of the
constitution through all its subsequent stages. Its modified version forms the Preamble of the
present Constitution.

The Indian Independence Act of 1947 made the following three changes in the position of the
Assembly:
1. The Assembly was made a fully sovereign body, which could frame any Constitution it
pleased. The act empowered the Assembly to abrogate or alter any law made by the
British Parliament in relation to India.
2. The Assembly also became a legislative body. Hence, two separate functions were
assigned to the Assembly, that is, making of the Constitution for free India and enacting of
ordinary laws for the country.
3. The Assembly became the first Parliament of free India (Dominion Legislature).
Whenever the Assembly met as the Constituent body it was chaired by D.r Rajendra
Prasad and when it met as the legislative body
4. It was chaired by G.V. Mavlankar.

Constituent Assembly also performed t h e following functions:

.1 tI ratified the India's membership of the Commonwealth in May 1949.
2. It adopted the national flag on July 22, 1947.
3. It adopted the national anthem on January 24, 1950.
4. It adopted the national song on January 24, 1950.
5. It elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India
on January 24, 1950.
● On January 24, 1950, the Constituent Assembly held its final session.
● It did not end, and continued as the provisional parliament of India from January 26,
1950, till the formation of new Parliament after the first general elections in 1951-52.

MAJOR COMMITTEES
.1 Union Powers Committee - Jawaharlal Nehru
2. Union Constitution Committee -Jawaharlal Nehru
3. Provincial Constitution Committee -Sardar Patel
1. Drafting Committee - Dr. B.R. Ambedka
2. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas -
Sardar Patel.

This committee had the following five sub-committees:

(a) Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee - J.B. Kripalani
(b) Minorities Sub-Committee - H.C. Mukherjee
(c) North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partialy Excluded Areas Sub-
Commitee -Gopinath Bardoloi
(d) Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than those in A s s a m ) S u b - C o m m i t t
e e - A . V. T h a k k a r
(e) North-West Frontier Tribal Areas Sub-Committee ®a
6. Rules of Procedure Committee Dr. Rajendra Prasad
7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) - Jawaharlal Nehru
8 . Steering Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad

DRAFTING COMMITTEE
.1 Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (Chairman)
2. N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
3. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
4. Dr. K.M. Munshi
5. Syed Mohammad Saadullah
6. N. Madhava Rau (He replaced BL.. Mitter who resigned due to ill-health)
.7 T.. Krishnamachari (He replaced D.P. Khaitan who died in 1948)
The Drafting Committee, after taking into consideration the proposals of the various
committees, prepared the first draft of the Constitution of India, which was published ni
February, 1948.
Drafting Committee prepared a second draft, which was published in October, 1948.

PROCESS
● on November 14, 1949 D.r B.R. Ambedkar moved a motion-'the Constitution as settled by
the Assembly be passed.
● The motion on Draft Constitution was declared as passed on November 26, 1949, and
received the signatures of the members and the president. Out of a total 299 members of
the Assembly, only 284 were actually present on that day and signed the Constitution.
● This is also when Constituent Assembly adopted, enacted and gave to themselves this
Constitution.

FEW FACTS
● The Constitution as adopted on November 26, 1949, contained a Preamble, 395 Articles
and 8 Schedules.
● The Preamble was enacted after the entire Constitution was already enacted.

ENFORCEMENT OF THECONSTITUTION
● Some provisions of the Conutositn pertaining t o citizenship, elections etc came into
force.
● The remaining provisions (the major part) of the Constitutionn came into force on January
26, 1950. This day is referred to in the Constitution as the 'date of its commencement,
the Republic Day
 PREAMBLE
TERMS AND MEANINGS
Socialism
The Indian brand of socialism is a 'democraticsocialism'
and not a 'communistic socialism' (also known as 'state
socialism') which involves the nationalisation of all means
of production and distribution and the abolition of private
property.
Democratic socialism, on the other hand holds faith in a
'mixedeconomy' where both public and private sectors
co- exist side byside
As the Supreme Court says, 'Democratic socialism aims
to end poverty, ignorance, disease and inequality of
opportunity Indian socialism is a blend of Marxism and Gandhism, leaning heavily towards
the Gandhian socialism'.

LIBETRY
● The term 'liberty' means the absence of restraints on the activities of individuals.
● Also providing opportunities for the development of individual personalities.
● The Preamble secures to all citizens of India liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith
and worship.

SUPREME COURT

BERUBARI CASE
● In the Berubari Union16 case (1960), the Supreme Court said that the Preamble shows
the general purposes behind the several provisions in the Constitution, and is thus a key
to the minds of the makers of the Constitution.
● Despite this recognition of the significance of the Preamble, the Supreme Court
specifically opined that Preamble is not a part of the Constitution.
KESAVANDA BHARTI
● In the Kesavananda Bharati case17 (1973), the Supreme Court rejected the earlier
opinion and held that Preamble is a part of the Constitution.
● It observed that the Preamble is of extreme importance and the Constitution should be
read and interpreted in the light of preamble.

LIC CASE
● In the LIC of India case18 (1995) also, the Supreme Court again held that the Preamble
is an integral part of the Constitution.
● However, two things should be noted:
1. The Preamble is neither a source of power to legislature nor a prohibition upon the
powers of legislature.
2. It is non-justiciable, that is, its provisionsarenotenforceable in courts of law.

AMENDABILITY
● The court held that the basic elements or the fundamental features of the Constitution as
contained in the Preamble cannot be altered by an amendment under Article 368.
● The Preamble has been amended only once so far, in 1976, by the 42nd Constitutional
Amendment Act, which has added three new words-Socialist, Secular and Integrity-to the
Preamble.
 AMENDMENT
Article 368

Power of Parliament to amend the constitution and procedure there -

The provision of amendment of the Constitution has been made with a view to overcome
the difficulties which may come in future in the working of the constitution.

The procedure for amendment is neither very easy nor very difficult.

The Constitution can be amended in three ways.

(a) Amendment by simple majority of the Parliament,
(b) Amendment by special majority of the Parliament, and
(c) Amendment by special majority of the Parliament and the ratification of half of the state
legislatures.

By Simple Majority of Parliament

Anumber of provisions in the Constitution can be amended by a simple majority of the two
Houses of Parliament outside the scope of Article 368.
These provisions include:
.1 Admission or establishment of new states.
2. Formation of new states and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states.
3. Abolition or creation of legislative councils in states.
4. Second Schedule-emoluments, allowances, privileges and so on of the president, the
governors, the Speakers, judges, etc.
5. Quorum in Parliament.
6. Salaries and allowances of the members of Parliament. 7. Rules of procedure in
Parliament.
8. Privileges of the Parliament, its members and its committees.
9. Use of English language in Parliament.
10. Number of puisne judges in the Supreme Court.
1. ConfermentofmorejurisdictionontheSupremeCourt. 12. Use of official language
13. Citizenship-acquisition and termination.
14. Elections to Parliament and state legislatures.
15. Delimitation of constituencies.
16. Union territories.
17. FifthSchedule-administrationofscheduledareasand
scheduled tribes.
18. Sixth Schedule-administration of tribal areas.
By Special Majority of Parliament
The majority of the provisions in the Constitution need to be amended by
a special majority of the Parliament, that is, a majority of the total
membership of each House and a majority of two-thirds of the members
of each House present and voting.

The provisions which can be amended by this way includes:

(i)Fundamental Rights;
(ii) Directive Principles of State Policy; and
(iii) Al other provisions which are not covered by the first and third categories.

By Special Majority of Parliament and Consent of States

Those provisions of the Constitution which are related to the federal structure of the polity can
be amended by a special majority of the Parliament and also with the consent of half of the
state legislatures by a simple majority.
AMENDMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

The question is whether F.Rs. can be amended under Art.368 came for consideration of
S.C. in Shankari Prasad Vs UOI, AIR, 1951.
In this case the validity of 1st Const. Am. Act, which inserted Arts.31A and 31B as
challenged the ground that it takes away the rights conferred by Part-III of the constitution.

The S.C. held that the power to amend constitution U/Art.368 also includes the F.Rs and
the word "law in Art.13(2) incldues only an ordinary law and not constitutional amendment.
In Sajjan Singh Vs State of Rajasthan, AIR, 1965 the validity of 17th Amendment Act,
1964 was challenged.
The S.C. approved the judgment given in Shankari Prasad case.
In Golak Nath Vs State of Punjab, AIR, 1971 the validity of 17th Amd. Act which inserted
certain Act. in 9th schedule was again challenged.
S.C. overruled it earlier decision in Shankari Prasad's and Sajjan Singh's cases and held
that Parliament has no power to take away or abridge F.Rs of citizens.
The S.C. applied the Doctrine of prospective overruling and held that this decision will have
only prospective operation.
It held that an amendment of Cosnt. is a "Law" within the meaning of Art.13(1) and if
any amement violates any of the FRs. the court would declare such amendment as void.
24th Amendment Act, 1971
In order to remove difficulties created by decison of S.C. in Golak Nath's case,
Parliament enacted the 24th Am. Act. which has added a new clause (4) in Art.13 which
provides that an amend is not a law.

DOCTRINE OF BASICS STRUCTURE

The validity of 24th Const. Amd. Act, was challenged in Keshvananda Bharti Vs Kerala,
AIR, 19.....popularly known as F.R. case.
In this case S.C. has held that the Parliament has full power to amend any provision of
the constituon including Part-III but it has not power to amend the basic feature or framework
of the constitution.
Judges enumerated certain essentials of basic-feature in this case-
(1) Supremacy of the constitution
(2) Republic democratic and secularism.
(3) Separation of powers
(4) Federal character of the constitution
(5) Rule of law
(6) Judicial review
(7) Democracy which implies free and fair election
(8) Jurisdiction of S.C. U/Art.32

42nd Amendment Act, 1976-

To remove all the limitations imposed the amending power of the Parliament by the
ruling of S.C. in Kesvananda Bharti's case, the Parliament enacted 42nd Amd. Act, and
added new clauses (4) and (5) to Art.368 which removed all the limitations imposed on
Parliament by S.C.

In Minerva Mills Vs UOI, AIR 1980 the S.C. struck down clauses (4) & (5) of
Art.368 as it destroyed the basic feature of the constitution.
In this case S.C. held that following are also basic structure of the constitution-
(1) Limited power of Parliament to amend the constitution.
(2) Harmony and balance between F.Rs. and D.P.S.P.
(3) Fundamental Rights in Certain case

PYQs2013
CITIZENSHIP
The Constitution confers the following rights and privileges on the citizens of India (and
denies the same to aliens):
1. Right against discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article
15).
2. Right to equality of opportunity in the matter of public employment (Article 16).
3. Right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence
and profession (Article 19).
4. Cultural and educational rights (Articles 29 and 30).
5. Right to vote in elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislative
assembly.
6. Right to contest for the membership of the Parliament and the state legislature.
7.Eligibility to hold certain public offices, that is, President of India, Vice-President of India,
judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts, Governor of states, Attorney General of
India and Advocate General of states

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION
● The Constitution deals with the citizenship from Articles 5 to 1 under Part Il.
● However, it contains neither any permanent nor any elaborate provisions in this regard. It
only identifies the persons who became citizens of India at its commencement (i.e., on
January 26, 1950).
● It does not deal with the problem of acquisition or loss of citizenship subsequent to its
commencement. It empowers the Parliament to enact a law to provide for such matters
and any other matter relating to citizenship.
● Accordingly, the Parliament has enacted the Citizenship Act (1955), which has been
amended from time to time.

The other constitutional provisions with respect to the citizenship are as follows:
● No person shall be a citizen of India or be deemed to be a citizen of India, if he has
voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign state.
● Every person who is or is deemed to be a citizen of India shall continue to be such
citizen, subject to the provisions of any law
● Parliament shall have the power to make any provision with respect to the acquisition and
termination of citizenship and all other matters relating to citizenship.

SINGLE CITIZENSHIP
● Though the Indian Constitution is federal and envisages a dual polity (Centre and states),
it provides for only a single citizenship, that is, the Indian citizenship.
● The citizens in India owe allegiance only to the Union.
● There is no separate state citizenship.

DPSP
These principles reflect the ideology of socialism.
These lay down that the State shall strive to
promote the welfare of people by securing and
protecting as effectively as it may, a social order
in which justice-social, economic and political
shall form in all institutions of national life.
LIST OF DPSP
SUPREME COURT
The 25th Amendment Act
inserted a new Article 31C which contained the following two provisions:
1. No law which seeks to implement the socialistic Directive Principles specified in Article 39
(b)22 and (c)23 shall be void on the ground of contravention of the Fundamental Rights
conferred by Article 14 Article 19 (protection of six rights in respect of speech, assembly,
movement, etc) or Article 31 (right to property).
2. No law containing a declaration for giving effect to such policy shall be questioned in any
court on the ground that it does not give effect to sucha policy.

● In the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973), the Supreme Court declared the above second
provision of Article 31C as unconstitutional and invalid on the ground that judicial review
is a basic feature of the Constitution and hence, cannot be taken away.
● However, the above first provision of Article 31C was held to be constitutional and valid.

DIRECTIVES OUTSIDE PART IV

Apart from the Directives included in Part IV, there are some other Directives contained in
other Parts of the Constitution.
FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES
FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES
● Swaran Singh Committee suggested the incorporation of eight Fundamental Duties in the
Constitution.
● 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act (1976) included ten Fundamental Duty