MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION

It was in 1934 that 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.

In 1935, the Indian National Congress (INC), for the first time, officially demanded a Constituent
Assembly to frame the Constitution of India.

In 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru, on behalf the INC declared that ‘the Constitution of free India must be
framed, without outside interference, by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise’.

The demand was finally accepted in principle by the British Government in what is known as the ‘August
Offer’ of 1940. In 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps, a Member of the Cabinet, came to India with a draft proposal
of the British Government on the framing of an independent Constitution to be adopted after the World
War II.

The Cripps Proposals were rejected by the Muslim League, which wanted India to be divided into two
autonomous states with two separate Constituent Assemblies.

Finally, a Cabinet Mission1 was sent to India. While it rejected the idea of two Constituent Assemblies, it
put forth a scheme for the Constituent Assembly which more or less satisfied the Muslim League.

COMPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUENT

ASSEMBLY
The Constituent Assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the
Cabinet Mission Plan. The features of the scheme were:

1. 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. Out of 296 seats allotted to the British India, 292
members were to be drawn from the eleven governors’ provinces2 and four from the four Chief
Commissioners’ provinces3 , one from each.

2. Each province and princely state (or group of states in case of small states) were to be allotted seats
in proportion to their respective population. Roughly, one seat was to be allotted for every million
population.

3. Seats allocated to each British province were to be divided among the three principal communities–
Muslims, Sikhs and General (all except Muslims and Sikhs), in proportion to their population.
4. The representatives of each community were to be elected by members of that community in the
provincial legislative assembly and voting was to be by the method of proportional representation by
means of single transferable vote

5. The representatives of the princely states were to be nominated by the heads of the princely states.

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. Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, was elected as the temporary President of the
Assembly, following the French practice. Later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of 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. 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.

ENACTMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar introduced the final draft of the Constitution in the Assembly on November 4, 1948
(first reading). The Assembly had a general discussion on it for five days (till November 9, 1948). The
second reading (clause by clause consideration) started on November 15, 1948, and ended on October
17, 1949. During this stage, as many as 7653 amendments were proposed and 2473 were actually
discussed in the Assembly. The third reading of the draft started on November 14, 1949. Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar moved a motion–‘the Constitution as settled by the Assembly be passed’. The motion on
Draft Constitution was declared as passed on November 26, 1949, and received the signatures of the
members and the president. Out of a total 299 members of the Assembly, only 284 were actually
present on that day and signed the Constitution. This is also the date mentioned in the Preamble as the
date on which the people of India in the Constituent Assembly adopted, enacted and gave to themselves
this Constitution. The Constitution as adopted on November 26, 1949, contained a Preamble, 395
Articles and 8 Schedules. The Preamble was enacted after the entire Constitution was already enacted.

ENFORCEMENT 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.

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. With the commencement of the Constitution, the Indian
Independence Act of 1947 and the Government of India Act of 1935, with all enactments amending or
supplementing the latter Act, were repealed. The Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act (1949) was
however continued.

CRITICISM OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

The critics have criticised the Constituent Assembly on various grounds. These are as follows:

1. Not a Representative Body: The critics have argued that the Constituent Assembly was not a
representative body as its members were not directly elected by the people of India on the basis of
universal adult franchise.

2. Not a Sovereign Body: The critics maintained that the Constituent Assembly was not a sovereign body
as it was created by the proposals of the British Government. Further, they said that the Assembly held
its sessions with the permission of the British Government.

3. Time Consuming: According to the critics, the Constituent Assembly took unduly long time to make
the Constitution. They stated that the framers of the American Constitution took only four months to
complete their work8e . In this context, Naziruddin Ahmed, a member of the Constituent Assembly,
coined a new name for the Drafting Committee to show his contempt for it. He called it a “Drifting
Committee”.

4. Dominated by Congress: The critics charged that the Constituent Assembly was dominated by the
Congress party. Granville Austin, an American Constitutional expert, remarked: ‘The Constituent
Assembly was a one-party body in an essentially one-party country. The Assembly was the Congress and
the Congress was India’9 .

5. Lawyer-Politician Domination: It is also maintained by the critics that the Constituent Assembly was
dominated by lawyers and politicians. They pointed out that other sections of the society were not
sufficiently represented. This, to them, is the main reason for the bulkiness and complicated language of
the Constitution.

6. Dominated by Hindus: According to some critics, the Constituent Assembly was a Hindu dominated
body. Lord Viscount Simon called it ‘a body of Hindus’. Similarly, Winston Churchill commented that the
Constituent Assembly represented ‘only one major community in India