CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

Table of Contents

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

What is Constitution?

The constitution of a country is a set of written or unwritten rules that are accepted by all the people of that country. It is the supreme law that determines the relationship among the citizens of the country and also the relationship between the government and its citizen.

Constitution Of India

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It is the set of basic rules which are supreme and no government can ignore this. It is the document which lays down the fundamental rules which governs the politics and society of India. It set out the fundamental rights and duties of citizen.

“All countries that have the constitutions are not necessarily democratic. But all countries that are democratic will have constitutions”

What is the role of Constitution in a country?

  • It generates a degree of trust and coordination between the different kinds of people to live together.
  • It specifies how the government will be constituted.
  • It specifies the power and limits of the government.
  • It specifies the rights of its citizen.

Process of making of Indian Constitution…

  • The idea to have Constitution was first given in 1934 by M. N. Roy.
  • The drafting of the Constitution was done by an assembly of elected representatives called the Constituent Assembly.
  • The Constituent Assembly was set up under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946.
  • The election to the Constituent Assembly was held in July 1946. Its first meeting was held on 9th December 1946.
  • After the partition of India, the Constituent Assembly was also divided into the Constituent Assembly of India and that of Pakistan.
  • Originally the Constituent Assembly had 389 members, but after the Partition of India, it was reduced to 299 members.
  • The Constituent Assembly took 2 years 11 months and 17 days to complete the Constitution. During this period 11 sessions held covering a total of 165 days.
  • The Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26th November 1949, but it came into effect on 26th January 1950.
  • The constitution replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country’s fundamental governing document, and the ‘Dominion of India’ became the ‘Republic of India’.
  • To mark and glorify this day India celebrates January 26 as Republic Day every year. 

Members of the Constituent Assembly.

  • Some of the important persons of the Constituent Assembly are:
    • B. R. Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel, G. V. Mavalankar, Abul Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Balwantrai Mehta.
  • It had over 30 representatives of Schedule Class.
  • Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian Community.
  • H. P. Modi represented the Parsis.
  • Sarojini Naidu. Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh, Amrit Kaur, and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit were the female members.

Salient features of the Indian Constitution.

  • Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was the chairman of the Drafting Committee. He was considered to be its chief architect.
  • Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is also considered as the “Father of the Indian Constitution.”
  • Sachchidananda Sinha was the president of the Constituent Assembly for the first two days.
  • Later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Constituent Assembly.
  • H. C. Mukherjee was elected as the Vice-President of the Constituent Assembly.
  • The Constituent Assembly’s final session convened on 24 January 1950.
  • Each member signed two copies of the constitution, one in Hindi and the other in English.
  • The original constitution is hand-written, with each page decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Acharya Nandalal Bose.
  • Its calligrapher was Prem Bihari Narain Raizada.
  • It was published in Dehradun.

Structure of the Constitution.

  • Originally in 1949, the Constitution had a preamble and 395 articles, which was divided into 22 parts and 8 schedules.
  • Presently, it consists of a Preamble and about 465 articles, which is divided into 25 parts and 12 schedules.
  • Till August 2020, it has been amended 104 times.
  • Deleted – 20 Articles and 1 part i.e. Part – VII
  • Added – 90 Articles, 4 parts i.e. Parts (IVA, IXA, IXB, and XIVA) and 4 schedules i.e. (9, 10, 11 and 12)

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