The Making of the Constitution Indian Constitution was framed by a Constitutent Assembly in a long time of 2 years,11 month and 18 days. It is the longest Constitution in the world.An amount of Rs 64 lakh was spent in making the Constitution. 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 this Demand.For the first time,in Principle in the August proposals of 1940. The Constitutent Assembly was Constituted in Nov 1946 through indirect election of its members by provincial legislatures under the provisions of Cabinet Mission Plan,1946 The Assembly consisted of total 389 members, of which 292 were to be elected from province 93 were to be nominated from princely states 4 members were to be nominated from Chief Commissioner\s areas Each provinces was allocated seats in proportions to its population Also seats were further allocated to three communities-Muslims,Sikhs and General -in proportion to their population. Roughly one member was to represent a population of 10 lakh. Each provincial assembly elected its members for the Constitutent assembly through the single transferable vote system of proportional representation.The method of representation in princely states was to be decided with their consulation The Mountbatton plan of 3rd June,1947 announced partition of the Country and a separate Constitutent assembly for the proposed state of Pakistan. Consequentially the members of Constituent assembly representing those areas which were to be included in Pakistan West Punjab,East Bengal,North West Frontier Province(NWFP),Sindh,Baluchistan and Sylhet district of Assam were no more members of Indian Constituent Assembly. NWFP and Sylhet decided through a referendum to remain with Pakistan. Thus the membership of the Indian constitutent aseembly was reduced to 299 after partition and only 284 members signed the constitution on 26 nov 1949. The first meeting was held on Dec 9,1946 which was boycotted by Muslim League Dr Sachchidanand Sinha was elected as temporary Chairman and later Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected as permanent president of the Constituent Assembly Shri B.N.Rau was appointed as Legal adviser to the Constituent Assembly Jawaharlal Nehru introduced Objective Resolution on 13th Dec 1946. which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on January 22,1947.Its modified version forms the preamble of Indian Constitution To facilitate the work of Constitution making, the assembly appointed 22 committees of which 10 were on Procedural Affaris and 12 on substantive affairs The main committees were Rules of procedure committee Committee for Negotiating with states Steering committee Union and Provincial Constitution committee Flag Committee However ,the most important was the seven member Drafting Committee headed by Dr B.R.Ambedkar,which was set-up on Aug 29,1947.The Other members were - N.Gopalaswami Ayyangar,Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar,K.M.Munshi,Mohammad Saadullah,B.L.Mittar(Replaced by N.Madhav Rau later) and D.P.Khaitan(died in 1948 and was replaced by T.T.Krishnamachari) The Drafting Committee finalised the Draft Constituion of India in Feb 1948 and the second reading of the same by the Assembly was completed on Oct 17,1948.For the third reading of the Constituion ,the Assembly met on Nov 14,1949 and finished it on Nov 26,1949.The Constitution was adopted on the same date with members and the President signing the Constitution According to article 394,some of the provisions of the Constituion relating to citizenship elections,provisional parliament and temporary and transitional provisions contained in Articles 5,6,7,8,60,324,366,367,379,380,388,391,392,393 came into force on 26th Nov ,1949 and the remaining provisions came into force on 26th jan,1950 The Republic Day is celebrated on 26th Jan ,because India was Declared Republic on this day in 1950.Republic means ,a form of government where the head of the State (President) is directly or indirectly elected by the People 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 Independent Day ,following the resolution of congress session held in Dec 1929 at Lahore The Constitutent Assembly came to end on 24 jan,1950 but it emerged as provisional parliament on 26th Jan.Till the election of Lok-Sabha.The President of the Assembly Dr Rajendra Prasad was appointed as the First President of Indian Republic till the elections According to Article 395,with the Commencement of Indian Constituion ,the Indian Indepence Act 1935 are repealed .but the Abolition of privy Coucil Jurisdiction Act 1949 was not repealed Some Constituional Experts do not recognise the Constituent Assembly as soverign body as it was created by the proposals of British Govt.But after India became independent in Aug 1947,the Constituent Assembly functioned as a soverignentity for all practical purpose jawaharlal Nehru,Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel,Rajendra Prasad,Maulana Abul Kalam azad,Acharya.Krishnamachari and Dr B.R.Ambedkar played a very significant role in Constitution making.However Dr Ambedkar is recognised as Father of the Indian Constitution.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 06:56:21 +0000
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