2.
Making of the Constitution
Chronology of the important events in the making of Indian Constitution:
1. 1934 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 and an
advocate of radical democratism.
2. 1935 the Indian National Congress (INC), for the first time, officially demanded
a Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India and in 1938
Jawaharlal Nehru officially announced regarding the framing of Indian
Constitution without outside interference by forming a constitutional
assembly.
3. 1940 The demand for a constitution was accepted by the British. The then Viceroy
Lord Linlithgow made the “August Offer”. But it was rejected by the Indians.
4. 1942 Cripps Mission- Sir Stafford Cripps came to India with a draft proposal of the
British Government on the framing of an independent Constitution. They
were rejected by the Muslim League which wanted a separate Pakistan.
5. 1946 A Cabinet Mission plan was put forth. It consisted of 3 members- Pethick
Lawrence, A. V. Alexander and Stanford Cripps.
6. 1946 The Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 according to
the Cabinet Mission Plan.
Constituent Assembly:
It was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the Cabinet
Mission Plan. 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 the Princely States. Each province
and princely state was to be allotted seats in proportion to their respective population.
Roughly, one seat was to be allotted for every million population.
The Constituent Assembly was a partly elected and partly nominated body.
The Assembly included all important personalities of India at that time, with the exception
of Mahatma Gandhi and M A Jinnah.
Working of the Constituent Assembly
The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on December 9, 1946. The Muslim
League boycotted the meeting and insisted on a separate state of Pakistan. The
meeting was thus attended by only 211 members.
Dr Sachchidanand Sinha, the oldest member, was elected as the temporary President
of the Assembly, following the French practice.
Later, on December 11, 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad and H C Mukherjee were elected
as the President and Vice-President of the Assembly respectively.
Sir B N Rau was appointed as the Constitutional advisor to the Assembly.
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.
Its modified version forms the Preamble of the present Constitution.
Other Functions Performed
In addition to the making of the Constitution and enacting of ordinary laws, the Constituent
Assembly also performed the following functions:
1. It 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 (Jana Gana Mana) on January 24, 1950.
4. It adopted the national song (Vandemataram) on January 24, 1950.
5. It elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India on January 24, 1950.
The Constituent Assembly had 11 sessions over two years, 11 months and 18 days. The
Constitution-makers had gone through the constitutions of about 60 countries. The total
expenditure incurred on making the Constitution amounted to Rs. 64 lakh.
Committees of the Constituent Assembly
The Constituent Assembly appointed a number of committees to deal with different tasks of
Constitution- making. Out of these, eight were major committees and the others were
minor
Committees. The names of these committees and their chairmen are given below:
1. Union Powers Committee Jawaharlal Nehru
2. Union Constitution Committee Jawaharlal Nehru
3. Provincial Constitution Committee Sardar Patel
4. Drafting Committee Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
5. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Sardar Patel
Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas
a. Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee J.B. Kripalani
b. Minorities Sub-Committee H.C. Mukherjee
6. Rules of Procedure Committee Dr. Rajendra Prasad
7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating Jawaharlal Nehru
with States)
8. Steering Committee Dr. Rajendra Prasad
9. Committee on the Functions of the G.V. Mavalankar
Constituent Assembly
10 Special Committee to Examine the Draft Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
. Constitution
Drafting Committee
Among all the committees of the Constituent Assembly, the most important committee was
the
Drafting Committee set up on August 29, 1947. It was this committee that was entrusted
with the task of preparing a draft of the new Constitution.
Members of 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 B L Mitter)
7. T T Krishnamachari (He replaced D P Khaitan)
Dr B R Ambedkar introduced the final draft of the Constitution in the Assembly on
November 4, 1948. After 3 readings, the motion on Draft Constitution was declared
as passed on November 26, 1949.
The Indian Constitution as adopted on November 26, 1949, contained a Preamble,
395 Articles and 8 Schedules.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, for heading the Drafting committee is known as the ‘Father of
the Constitution of India’. He is also known as ‘chief architect of the Constitution of
India’ and ‘Modern Manu’.
January 26 was specifically chosen as the ‘date of commencement’ of the
Constitution because of its historical importance. It was on this day in 1930 that
Purna Swaraj day was celebrated, following the resolution of the Lahore Session
(December 1929) of the INC.
