INDIAN CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
The Indian Constituent Assembly laid the foundation of the Indian Constitution and and gave India its own constituition. The Constituent Assembly thoroughly studied the Constitution of major democracies of the World and included their best features in the Indian Constitution. So, while reading Indian Polity and specially Constitution it becomes important to have the detailed knowledge of the Indian Constituent Assembly which is an essential topic for UPSC, State PSC/PCS, SSC and major competitive exams.
In this article, we are providing the detailed description of the Indian Constituent Assembly along with all major key facts. Candidates/readers must go through the article thoroughly.
Cabinet Mission & Constituent Assembly
• The Constituent Assembly of India was formed on the recommendation of the Cabinet Mission.
• The total number of members of the Constituent Assembly was decided to be 389, in which 292 were to be included from the British provinces, 93 from the princely states and 4 from the commissioned areas.
• According to the plan of the mission, the elections were held in July 1946 for a total of 296 members of the British provinces and commissioned areas, in which 208 members of the Congress, 73 members of the Muslim League and one members each from the Unionist Party, Unionist Muslim, Unionist Schedule Caste, Krishak Praja Party, Sikh Party, Communist and Untouchable Caste Party were elected and the independent candidates got 8 places.
Meeting of Constituent Assembly
• The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held on 9 December 1946 in the Library Building of the Council Chamber. Dr. Sachidanand Sinha was elected as the temporary president of this Constituent Assembly. The Muslim League boycotted this meeting and demanded a separate Constituent Assembly for Pakistan.
• The members of the Constituent Assembly were indirectly elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly.
• On 11 December 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected as the permanent President of the Constituent Assembly.
• The proceedings of the Constituent Assembly began on 13 December 1946 with the Objectives Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru. The resolution was adopted on 22 January 1947.
Reconstitution of Constituent Assembly
• After the partition plan of 3 June 1947, the Constituent Assembly was reconstituted and its number was fixed at 324.
• After the partition of the country, a meeting of the Constituent Assembly was called on 31 October 1947 in which 299 members participated. Of these, 229 members were from different provinces and 70 members were from princely states.
• B.N. Rao, the Constitutional Advisor of the Constituent Assembly prepared the first draft of the Constitution on October 1947.
• On 29 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly constituted a Drafting Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. Ambedkar was elected in the assembly from Bengal with the help of the Muslim League.
• The Drafting Committee consisted of seven members -
(1) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
(2) N. Gopal Swami Ayenger
(3) Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer
(4) Kanhaiyalal Maniklal Munshi
(5) Syed Mohammad Sadullah
(6) N. Madhav Rao (in place of B.L. Mitra)
(7) D.P. Khetan (after his death T.T. Krishnamachari)
• After discussions and dialogues on the draft of the Constitution, the Drafting Committee presented its report to the Constituent Assembly on 21 February 1948.
Reading of the Constitution
• The first reading of the Constitution in the Constituent Assembly lasted from 4 November to 9 November 1947.
• The second reading of the Constituent Assembly started on 15 November 1947 and ended on 17 October 1949.
• The third reading began on 17 November 1950 and ended on 26 November 1950. On this date it was announced that the constitution was passed. Citizenship, Provisional Parliament, Temporary and Transitional provisions etc. became effective on 26 November 1950. On this date the people of India adopted, enacted and surrendered this constitution. On this date the 15 articles came into force which are as follows – 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 324, 366, 367, 372, 380, 388, 391, 392 and 393.
• The remaining provisions of the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. This date is named the date of commencement of the Constitution. Constitution was signed on 24 January 1950 when the last meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held.
KEY FACTS REGARDING CONSTITUTION
• The adopted constitution had 395 articles, 22 parts and 8 schedules. Presently the constitution has 444 articles, 25 parts and 12 schedules. Jayaprakash Narayan and Tej Bahadur Sapru rejected the membership of the Constituent Assembly on grounds of health reasons. A total of 33 and 12 women members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes respectively contributed in the making of this constitution.
• The process of making the constitution took a total of 2 years 18 months and 11 days and the draft of the constitution was debated for a total of 114 days. About Rs 6.4 crore was spent on this work.
• The 11 meetings of the Constituent Assembly were held for the making of the constitution and in the 12th meeting, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first President and the national anthem was accepted.
• The main reason for the implementation of the remaining part of the Constitution on 26 January 1950 was that the Indian National Congress was celebrating 26 January as Independence Day from 26 January 1930.
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