MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION
Timeline
• India was getting close to the independence and with this arose the need of the constitution. The
idea to have the constitution in India was first given in the year 1934 by Mr. M.N. Roy, the pioneer
of the communist movement in India.
• In the year 1935 the Indian National Congress for the first time demanded a Constituent Assembly
•
• to frame the constitution of India.
• In the year 1938 Jawaharlal Nehru on the behalf of congress said that the Constitution of India
•
will be made by the independent constituent assembly without any external interference.
The demand was accepted by the British parliament which came to be known as the August Offer
in the year 1940.
In the year 1942, Cripps India Mission came to India under Sir Strafford Cripps and stated that the
Constituent Assembly will be setup but after the Second World War.
Finally, in May 1946 Cabinet Mission Plan came to India under Cripps, Lawrence and Alexander
and they setup the Constituent Assembly of India
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. It read:
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 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; and
3. 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
4. wherein all power and authority of the Sovereign Independent India, its constituent parts and organs
of Government are derived from the people; and
5. 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; and
6. wherein adequate safeguards shall be provided for minorities, backward and tribal areas, and
depressed and other backward classes; and
7. 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
8. 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.
Constituent Assembly
The Constituent Assembly of India consists of 389 members out of whom 292 members were elected from
the various provinces, 93 members were nominated from the princely states and 4 members were from
the Chief Commissioner areas of Delhi, Ajmer-Marwar, Coorg and British Baluchistan.
The members of the Constituent Assembly were on the basis of the population and were in the ratio of
roughly 1: 10,00,000 (1 million).
The seats of the provinces were divided into three major communities i.e. Muslims Sikhs and General (all
except Muslims and Sikhs). The members of each community selected their members by the method of
proportional representation with single transferable voting system.
The Constituent Assembly included all the important personalities of India except Mahatma Gandhi and
M.A. Jinnah.
After the creation of the new constituent assembly for Pakistan 90 members resigned from the
constituent assembly of India which reduced the size of the assembly from 389 to 299 members.
Working of the Constituent Assembly The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place on 9th
December 1946 under the leadership of
Dr Sachidanand Sinha. However, he was only a temporary president and was replaced by Dr Rajendra
Prasad as the President on 11th December 1946. H.C. Mukherjee became the Vice President of the
Constituent Assembly. Mr. B.N. Rau was appointed as the advisor of the Constituent Assembly.
The Constituent Assembly presented three drafts of the Constitution on
4th November1948
15th November 1948 and
14th November 1949.
After enormous number of changes the Constituent Assembly of India finally adopted the Constitution
on
26th November 1949.
The last session of the Constituent Assembly took place on 24th January 1950 where Dr Rajendra
Prasad
was elected as the President of India and 284 members signed the official copies of the Constitution.
Some provisions of the Constitution pertaining to citizenship, elections, provisional parliament, temporary
and transitional provisions, and short title contained in Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380,
388, 391, 392 and 393 came into force on November 26, 1949 itself.
The remaining provisions (the major part) of the Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950.
This day is referred to in the Constitution as the ‘date of its commencement’ and celebrated as the
Republic Day.
