Making of Indian Constitution-1

1.Features of Federal Constitution: - a) Double seat of government. B) Division of power c) Two houses of parliament.

2.Features of Unitary constitution: - a) Single citizenship b) Single constitution c)Single supreme court d) Appointment of Governors.

3. Minerva Mills Case (1980): - nullify the provisions of 42nd Amendments and held that there could be not any amendment in the basic structure of the constitution.

4. Golaknath Case: - Supreme Court held that the Parliament could not amend the fundamental rights.

5. Keshavanand Bharti vs State of Kerala Case (1973) : - Supreme court held that the Preamble was part of the constitution and contained its basic structure and it can be amended. Following this ruling, the 42nd amendment, 1976 inserted the words ‘Socialist’ , ‘Secular’ , and ‘Integrity’ in the Preamble.

6. The idea of constitution was given by M.N.Roy.

7. The demand for a constituent Assembly to draft Indian constitution was for the first time, raised by the Congress in 1935. The British Government accepted the demand for the first time in principle in the August Proposals of 1940.

8. The constituent Assembly was constituted in Nov. 1946 through indirect election of its members by provincial legislatures – through the single transferable vote system of proportional representation - under the provision of Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946.

9. The Assembly consisted of total 389 members, of which 292 were to be elected from provinces, 93 were to be nominated from Princely states and four members were to be nominated from Chief Commissioner’s Areas. Roughly one member was to represent a population of 10 lakh.

10. The Mountbatten plan of 3rd June, 1947 announced partition of the country and a separate constituent Assembly for the proposed state of Pakistan. Thus the membership of Indian constituent Assembly was reduced to 299 after partition and only 284 members signed the Constitution on 26th November, 1949.

11. The first meeting of the constitution Assembly was held on Dec.9, 1946 which was boycotted by Muslim League. Constituent Assembly reassembled on August 14, 1947.

12. Dr. Sachchidanand Sinha was elected as temporary Chairman and later Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as permanent President of the Constituent Assembly.

13. Sh. B.N.Rau was appointed as Legal Advisor to the Constituent Assembly. H.A.S. Exam (H.P.P.S.C.)

14. To facilitate the work of Constitution making, the Assembly appointed 22 Committees, of which 10 were on Procedural Affairs and 12 on Substantive Affairs.

15. The most important committee was the seven member Drafting Committee headed by Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, which was set up on August 29,1947. The other members of the committee were- N. Gopalswami Ayyangar, Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar,K.M.Munshi, Mohammad Saadullah, B.L. Mittar (replaced by N. Madhav Rau) and D.P.Khaitan (who died in 1948 and was replaced by T.T. Krishnamachari).

16. Provincial Constitution Committee –members 25 , Chairman – Sardar Patel

17. Committee on Union Constitution – Members – 15 – Chairman – J.L.Nehru

18. Union Power Committee – Members – 9 – Chairman – J.L.Nehru

19. Committee on Fundamental Rights and Minorities – Members – 15 – Chairman – Sardar Patel

20. Steering Committee – Members – 3– Chairman – K.M. Munshi.

21. Flag Committee – Chairman – J. B. Kriplani.

22. Vice Chairman of Constituent Assembly – H.C. Mookharjee.

23. The Drafting Committee finalized the Draft Constitution of India on Feb 21, 1948.

24. The first reading of the Draft Constitution was held from 21st Feb, 1948 to 26th Oct. 1948. The second reading was completed by Constituent Assembly between 15th Nov 1948 to 17th Oct 1949. And for the third reading the assembly met on Nov 14, 1949 and finished it on Nov 26, 1949.

25. Some of the provision of the constitution came into force on 26th Nov. 1949 and the remaining provisions of the Constitution came into force on 26th Jan, 1950. January 26 was selected as the date of Commencement of Indian Constitution because of its historical significance. It was on this date in 1930 that Indian people observed ‘Independence Day’ following the resolution of Congress session held in Dec. 1929 at Lahore. H.A.S. (H.P.P.S.C.)

26. The Constituent Assembly came to end on 24th January 1950 but it emerged as provisional parliament on 26th January till the election of Lok Sabha.

27. Dr. Ambedkar is recognized as ‘Father of the Indian Constitution’.

28. J.L.Nehru introduced Objective Resolution on 13th December 1946 which was adopted on January 22, 1947. Its modified version forms the Preamble of Indian Constitution. H.A.S. (H.P.P.S.C.)

29. Interim Government was formed on 2nd Sept. 1946. Portfolio held in interim government : Food and Agriculture – Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Defence – Baldev Singh, Finance – Liyakat Ali Khan, H.A.S. (H.P.P.S.C.)

Law – B.R. Ambedkar ,Commerce - Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar, Home – Sardar Patel,

30. Constitution originally contained 395 articles and 8 schedules. H.A.S. (H.P.P.S.C.)

Constituent Assembly took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to frame the Constitution. An amount of Rs. 64 lakh was spent in making the Constitution. AS many as 7365 amendments were proposed in the Draft constitution and number of visitors came to witness the proceeding of the constituent Assembly were 53000. First draft of the constitution presented in Oct. 1947 contained only 315 articles and 8 schedules.