With Independence came the need of a constitution .

As suggested by MN Roy in 1934 , a

constituent Assembly was formed for this purpose in 1946 and on January 26,1950, the
constitution came into being .

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Before 1947 , India was divided into two main entities – The British India which consisted of
11 provinces and the princely states ruled by Indian princes under subsidiary alliance policy.
The two entities merged together to form Indian Union , but many of the legacy systems in
British India is followed even now. The historical underpinnings and evolution of the India
Constitution can be traced to many regulations and acts passed before Indian Independence.
Let us see the Historical background of the Indian constitution and its development through
the years.

THE COMPANY RULE (1773-1858)

REGULATING ACT OF 1773
This act is of great constitutional importance as :
 The first step was taken by the British Parliament to control and regulate affairs of
the east India company in India.
 It designated the Governor of Bengal as the Governor – General of Bengal.
 Warren Hasting became the first Governor-General of Bengal.
 Executive Council of the Governor-General was established . There was no separate
legislative council .
 It subordinate the Governors of Bombay and Madras of the Governor – General of
Bengal.
 The Supreme Court was established at Fort William ( Calcutta) as the Apex Court in
1774.

PITT’S INDIA ACT OF 1784

 Distinguished between commercial and political functions of the company.
 Court of Directors for Commercial functions and Board of Control for political
affairs.
 Reduced the strength of the Governor Generals council to three members.
 Placed the Indian affairs under the direct control of the British Government.
 The Companies territories in India were called “the British possession in Inida”.
 Governor’s councils were established in Madras and Bombay.

CHARTER ACT OF 1813

 The company monopoly over Indian trade terminated; Trade with India open to all
British subjects.

CHARTER ACT OF 1833

 Governor-General (of Bengal) became the Governor-General of India.
 First Governor – General of India was Lord William Bentick.
 This was the final towards centralization in British India.
 Beginning of a Central legislature for India as the act also took away legislative
powers of Bombay and Madras provinces.
 The act ended the activities of the East India Company as a commercial body and it
became a purely administrative body.

CHARTER ACT OF 1853

 The legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s Council were
separated.
 6 members in central legislative council. 4 out of six members were appointed by the
provincial governments of Madras, Bombay, Bengal and Agra.
 It introduced a system of open competition as the basis for the recruitment of civil
servants of the company ( Indian Civil Service opened for all ) .

THE CROWN RULE( 1858-1947)

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT OF 1858
 The rule of company was replaced by the rule of the crown in India .
 The powers of the British crown were to be exercised by the secretary of states for
India.
 He was assisted by the Council of India , having 15 members.
 The Governor General was made the Viceroy as his agent.
 Lord Canning was the first Viceroy of India.
 Abolished Board of Control and Court of Directors.

INDIAN COUNCILS ACT OF 1861

 It introduced for the first time Indian representation in the institutions like
Viceroy’s executive + legislative council (non-official). 3 Indians entered the
Legislative council.
 Legislative councils were established in Center and provinces.
 It provided that the Viceroy’s Executive Council should have some Indians as the
non-official members while transacting the legislative businesses.
 It accorded statutory recognition to the portfolio system.
 Initiated the process of decentralisation by restoring the legislative powers to the
Bombay and the Madras Provinces.

INDIAN COUNCIL ACT OF 1892

 Introduced indirect elections (nomination).
 Enlarged the size of the legislative councils.
 Enlarged the functions of the Legislative Councils and gave them the power
of discussing the Budget and addressing questions to the Executive.

INDIAN COUNCIL ACT 1909

 This Act is also known as the Morley- Minto Reforms.
  Direct elections to legislative councils; first attempt at introducing a representative
and popular element.
 It changed the name of the Central Legislative Council to the Imperial Legislative
Council.
 The member of the Central Legislative Council was increased to 60 from 16.
 Introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by accepting
the concept of ‘separate electorate’.
 Indians for the first time in Viceroys executive council. (Satyendra Prasanna
Sinha, as the law member)

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT OF 1919

 This Act is also known as the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms.
 The Central subjects were demarcated and separated from those of the Provincial
subjects.
 The scheme of dual governance, ‘Dyarchy’, was introduced in the Provincial
subjects.
 Under the dyarchy system, the provincial subjects were divided into two parts –
transferred and reserved. On reserved subjects, Governor was not responsible to
the Legislative council.
 The Act introduced, for the first time, bicameralism at the center.
 Legislative Assembly with 140 members and Legislative council with 60
members.
 Provided for the establishment of the Public Service Commission.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT OF 1935

 The Act provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation consisting of
the Provinces and the Princely States as units, though the envisaged federation
never came into being.
 Three Lists: The Act divided the powers between the Centre and the units into
items of three lists, namely the Federal List, the Provincial List and
the Concurrent List.
 The Federal List for the Centre consisted of 59 items, the Provincial List for the
provinces consisted of 54 items and the Concurrent List for both consisted of 36
items
 The residuary powers were vested with the Governor-General.
 The Act abolished the Dyarchy in the Provinces and introduced ‘Provincial
Autonomy’.
 These six Provinces were Assam, Bengal, Bombay, Bihar, Madras and the
United Province.
 Provided for the establishment of Federal Court.
 Abolished the Council of India.

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947

 It declared India as an Independent and Sovereign State.
 Established responsible Governments at both the Centre and the Provinces.
  Designated the Viceroy India and the provincial Governors as the
Constitutional (normal heads).
 It assigned dual functions (Constituent and Legislative) to the Constituent
Assembly and declared this dominion legislature as a sovereign body.

MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION

DEMAND FOR A CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
It was in 1934 that the idea of a constituent assembly for India was put forward for the First
time by M.N . Roy , a pioneer of communist movement in India. In 1935 , the Indian
National Congress (INC) , for the first time, officially demanded a constituent Assembly to
frame the constitution of India. In 1938 , Jawaharlal Nehru , on behalf the INC declared that
the constitution of free India must be framed, without outside interference , by a Constituent
Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise.
The demand was finally accepted in principle by the British Government in what is known as
the ‘August Offer’ of 1940 . In 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 to be adopted after the world war II . The Cripps Proposal were rejected by the
Muslim League which wanted India to be divided into two autonomous states with two
separate Constituent Assemblies . Finally, a Cabinet Mission was sent to India.

COMPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

The constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated
by the cabinet Mission Plan. The feature of the scheme were:
1. The total strength of the Constituent Assembly was to be 389. Of these, 296 seats
were to be allotted to British India and 93 seats to 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 four chief commissioners provinces , one from
each.
2. Each province and princely state ( or group of states in case of small states) were to be
allotted seats in proportion to their respective population. Roughly, one seat was to be
allotted for every million population.
3. Seats allocated to each British province were to be divided among the three principal
communities – Muslims , Sikhs , and general , in proportion to their population.
4. 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.
5. The representatives of princely states were to be nominated by the heads of the
princely states.

OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION
On December 13,1946 , Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic ‘Objectives Resolution’ in the
Assembly. It laid down the fundamentals and philosophy of the constitutional structure.
 1. “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.
2. Wherein the territories that now comprise British India, the territories that now from
the Indian states , and such other parts as well as other territories as are willing to be
constituted into the independent sovereign India , shall be a Union of the all ; and
3. Wherein all power and authority of the sovereign Independent India, its constituent
parts and organs of Government are derived from the people; and
4. Wherein adequate safeguards shall be provided for minorities , backward and tribal
areas ; and depressed and other backward classes; and
5. 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; and
6. This ancient land attains its rightful and honoured place in the world and makes its
full and willing contribution to the promotion of world peace and the welfare of
mankind.
This Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Assembly on January 22, 1947. It
influenced the eventual shaping of the constitution through all its subsequent stages. Its
modified version forms the Preamble of the present Constitution.

DRAFTING COMMITTEE
Among all the committees of the Constituent Assembly , the most important committee
was the Drafting Committee was the Drafting Committee set up on August 29, 1947. It
was this committee set up that was entrusted with the task of preparing a draft of the new
Constitution . It consisted of seven members. They are :
1. Dr B R Ambedkar (Chairman)
2. N Gopataswamy Ayyanagar
3. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
4. Dr K M Munshi
5. Syed Mohammad Saadullah
6. N Madhava Rau
7. T T Krishnamachari
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 in
February 1948. The people of India were given eight months to discuss the draft and propose
amendments. In the light of the public comments, criticism and suggestions, the Drafting
Committee prepared a second draft which was published in October 1948…
The Drafting Committee took less than six months to prepare its draft. In all it sat only 141
days.

ENACTMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

Dr B R Ambedkar introduced the Final draft of the Constitution in the Assembly on
November 4, 1948 . The Assembly had a general discussion on it for five days ( till
November 9, 1948) .
The second reading started on November 15, 1948 and ended on October 17, 1949. During
this stage as many as 7653 amendments were proposed and 2473 were actually discussed in
the Assembly.
The motion on Draft Constitution was declared as passed on November 16,1949, 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 the date mentioned in the Preamble as the date on which the people of India in the
Constituent Assembly adopted, enacted and gave to themselves this constitution.
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.
Dr B R Ambedkar the then law Minister, piloted the Draft Constitution in the Assembly. He
took a very prominent part in the deliberation of the Assembly. He was known for his logical,
forceful and persuasive arguments on the floor of the Assembly. He is recognised as the
‘Father of the Constitution of India’. This brilliant writer, constitutional experts, undisputed
leader of the scheduled castes and the ‘chief architect of the Constitution of India’ is also
known as a ‘ Modern Manu’.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION

1. LENGTHIEST WRITTEN CONSTITUTION
Constitution are classified into written , like the American Constitution , or unwritten , like
the British Constitution . The Constitution of India is the lengthiest of all the written
constitution , elaborate and detailed document.
Originally (1949) the constitution contained a Preamble, 395 Articles ( divided into 22 parts)
and 8 schedules. Presently , it consists of a Preamble, about 465 Article ( divided into 25
parts ) and 12 scheduled. The various amendments carried out since 1951 have deleted about
20 Article and one Part (VII) and added about 90 Articles, four Parts (IVA , IXA , IXB , and
XIVA ) and four Schedules ( 9, 10 , 11 and 12). No other Constitution in the world has so
many Articles and Schedules.
Four factors have contributed to the elephantine size of our constitution. They are :
a) Geographical factors , that is , the vastness of the country and its diversity.
b) Historical factors, eg., the influence of the Government of India act of 1935, which
was bulky.
c) Single Constitution for both the centre and the states except Jammu and Kashmir.
d) Dominance of legal luminaries in the Constituent Assembly.
The Constitution contains not only the fundamental principles of governance but also detailed
administrative provisions. Further , those matters which in other order modern democratic
countries have left to the ordinary legislation or established political conventions have also
been included in the constitutional document itself in India.
 2. DRAWN FROM VARIOUS SOURCES
The constitution of India has borrowed most of its provisions from the constitution of
various other countries as well as from the Government of India Act of 1935. Dr B R
Ambedkar proudly acclaimed that the Constitution of India had been framed after ‘
ransacking all the known Constitution of the World’.
The structural part of the Constitution is , to a large extent , derived from the Government of
India Act of 1935. The philosophical part of the constitution derive their inspiration from the
American and Irish Constitution respectively. The political part of the constitution have been
largely drawn from the British Constitution.
The other provision of the Constitution have been drawn from the constitution of Canada ,
Australia , Germany , USSR , France, South African , Japan, and so on.
The most profound influence and material source of the constitution is the Government of
India act ,1935 . The Federal scheme, Judiciary , Governors , emergency powers, the Public
Service Commissions and most of the administrative details are drawn from this act. More
than half of the provisions of Constitution are identical to or bear a close resemblance to the
Act of 1935.

3. BLEND OF RIGIDITY AND FLEXIBILITY

Constitution are also classified into rigid and flexible. A rigid Constitution is one that
requires a special procedure for its amendment, as for example, the American Constitution. A
flexible constitution, on the other hand , is one that can be amended in the same manner as
the ordinary laws are made, as for example, the British Constitution.
The constitution of India is neither rigid nor flexible but but a synthesis of both. Article 368
provides for two types of amendments:
a) Some provision can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament, i.e., a two-
third majority of the members of each House present and voting, and a majority, of
the total membership of each House.
b) Some other provisions can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament and
with the ratification by half of the total states.
At the same time , some provisions can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament in
the manner of ordinary legislative process. Notably, these amendments do not come under
Article 368.

4. FEDERAL SYSTEM WITH UNITARY BIAS

The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of government. It contains all the usual
features of a federation, viz., two government , division of powers, Written Constitution ,
supremacy of constitution , rigidity of constitution, independent judiciary and bicameralism.
However , the Indian Constitution also contains a large number of unitary or non-federal
features, viz, a strong Centre , single Constitution, single citizenship, flexibility of
Constitution, integrated judiciary, appointed of state governor by the Centre, all India Service
, emergency provisions, and so on.
 5. PARLIAMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT
The constitution of India has opted for the British parliamentary system of government rather
than American Presidential system of Government . The parliamentary system is based on the
principle of cooperative and co-ordinate between the legislative and executive organs while
the presidential system is based on the doctrine of separation of powers between the two
organs.
The parliamentary system is also known as the ‘Westminster’ model of government,
responsible government and cabinet government. The Constitution establishes the
parliamentary system not only at the centre but also in the states. The features of
parliamentary government in India are:
a) Presence of nominal and real executives;
b) Majority party rule,
c) Collective responsibility of the executive to the legislature,
d) Membership of the ministers in the legislature ,
e) Leadership of the prime minister or the chief minister.
f) Dissolution of the lower house.
Even though the Indian parliamentary system is largely based on the British pattern, there are
some fundamental differences between the two. In a parliamentary system whether in India or
Britain , the role of the prime minister Has become so significant and crucial that the political
scientists like to call it a ‘ Prime Ministerial Government’.

6. INTEGRATED AND INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY

The Indian Constitution establishes a judicial system that is integrated as well as
independent . The supreme Court stans at the top of the integrated judicial system in the
country. Below it, there are high courts at the state level . Under a high court, there is a
hierarchy of subordinate courts, that is, the district courts and other lower courts. The single
system of courts enforces both the central laws as well as the state laws, unlike in USA,
where the federal laws are enforced by the federal judiciary and the state laws are enforced by
the state judiciary.
The Supreme Court is a federal court, the highest court of appeal, the guarantor of the
fundamental rights of the citizens and the guardians of the constitution . Hence, the
constitution has made various provisions to ensure its independence – security of tenure of
the Judges, fixed service conditions for the judges, all the expenses of the supreme court
charged on the Consolidated Fund of India, prohibition on discussion on the conduct of
Judges in the legislatures, ban on practice after retirement, powers, to punish for its contempt
vested in the Supreme Court, separation of the judiciary from the executive, and so on.

7. FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Part III of the Indian constitution guarantees six Fundamental rights to all the citizens:
(a) Right to Equality (Article 14-18)
(b) Right to freedom (Article 19-22)
(c) Right against Exploitation (Article 23-24)
(d) Right to freedom of Religion (Article 25-28)
 (e) Cultural and Educational Rights (Article 29-30)
(f) Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32)
(g) The fundamental right are meant to promoting the idea of political democracy. The
operate as limitations on the tyranny of the executive and arbitrary laws of the
legislature. They are justiciable in nature, that is, they are enforceable by the courts
foe their violation. The aggrieved person can directly go to the supreme court which
can issue the writs of habeas corpus, mandamus ,prohibition , certiorari, and quo
warranto for the restoration of his rights. However, the fundamental Rights are nit
absolute and subject to reasonable restrictions.

8. DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLE OF STATE POLICY

According to Dr B R Ambedkar, the Directive Principles of State Policy is a 'novel
feature of the Indian Constitution. They are enumerated in Part.
IV of the Constitution. They can be classified into three broad categories socialistic,
Gandhian and liberal-intellectual
The directive principles are meant for promoting the ideal of social and economic
democracy. They seek to establish a 'welfare state' in India. However, unlike the
Fundamental Rights, the directives are non-justiciable in nature, that is, they are not
enforceable by the courts for their violation. Yet, the Constitution itself declares that
these principles are fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the
duty of the state to apply these principles in making laws'. Hence, they impose a
moral obligation on the state authorities for their application. But, the real force
(sanction) behind them is political, that is, public opinion. The Supreme
Court held that 'the Indian Constitution is founded on the bedrock of the balance
between the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles.

9. FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES
The original constitution did not provide for the fundamental duties of the citizens.
These were added during the operation of internal emergency(1975-77) by the 42nd
Constitutional Amendment .Act of 1976 on the recommendation of the Swaran .Singh
Committee. The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2002 added one more
fundamental duty.
The Part IV-A of the Constitution (which consists of only one Article 51-A) specifies
the eleven Fundamental Duties viz., to respect the Constitution, national flag and
national anthem; to protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the country; to
promote the spirit of common brotherhood amongst. all the people; to preserve the
rich heritage of our composite culture and so on. The fundamental duties serve as a
reminder to citizens that while enjoying their rights, they have also to be quite
conscious of duties they owe to their country, their society and to their fellow-
citizens. .However, like the Directive Principles, the duties are also non-justiciable in
nature.

10.UNIVERSAL ADULT FRANCHISE

The Indian Constitution adopts universal adult franchise as a basis of elections to the
Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. Every citizen who is not less than 18 years
of age has a right to vote without any discrimination of caste, race, religion, sex, literacy,
wealth, and so on. The voting age was reduced to 18 years from 21 years in 1989 by the 61st
Constitutional Amendment Act of 1988.The introduction of universal adult franchise by the
Constitution-makers was a bold experiment and highly remarkable in view of the vast size of
the country, its huge population, high poverty, social inequality and overwhelming illiteracy.
Universal adult franchise makes democracy broad-based, enhances the self-respect and
prestige of the common people, upholds the principle of equality, enables minorities to
protect their interests and opens up new hopes and vistas for weaker sections.

CONCLUSION
A Constitution needs to be stable as it the supreme source of power, and the Fundamental
framework for a nation’s political and legal institutions, it has a performance that ordinary
laws or Acts pf Parliament do not have.
“SO LONG AS YOU DO NOT ACHIEVE SOCIAL LIBERTY, WHATEVER FREEDOM
IS PROVIDED BY THE LAW IS OF NO AVAIL TO YOU.”
- B R AMBEDKAR
JAI HIND!!!