The Making of the Constitution

A Constitution is a set of rules, written or unwritten, acceptable to all the people living together in a country. It is the supreme legislation that governs how residents of a territory interact with one another and how they interact with the government.

With the build-up of national consciousness among Indians and the decline of moderate elements in the Indian freedom struggle, the demand for the formation of a constitution for Indians by themselves became even louder.

The demand that the Indians themselves should determine India’s Political destiny had been put forward by Mahatma Gandhi as early as 1922.

Historical Background

• In 1925, Lord Birkenhead, the secretary of state for India, challenged the Indians to draft a constitution that would have a general agreement among all Indians. In response to that as well as Simon Commission which did not have a single Indian member, the Indian National Congress under Motilal Nehru decided to constitute an All Parties Conference to draft the Constitution of India. It came out as a Nehru Report in 1928.
• In 1931, the Indian National Congress passed a resolution at the Karachi session, which dwelt on how the Constitution of independent India should look like.
• The white paper issued after the third Round Table Conference outlined the British Government’s proposal for constitutional reforms in India.
• In 1934, MN Roy, who pioneered the communist movement in India, proposed the idea of a constituent assembly for India.
• The failure of the Simon Commission and the Third Round Table Conference led to the enactment Of the Government of India Act ,1935 to satisfy Indian aspirations, accentuated the demand for a Constituent Assembly of the people of India.
• Gandhiji wrote an article, “The Only Way”, in the Harijan of 19 November 1939, in which he expressed the view that the “Constituent Assembly alone can produce a constitution indigenous to the country and truly and fully representing the will of the people.”
• In the “August offer “of 1940, the demand for a Constituent Assembly was for the first time fully conceded by the British Government, though in an indirect way and with important reservations.
• In 1942, Cripps’s mission under Sir Stafford Cripps was sent to India with a draft proposal of the British government to form an independent constitution for India to be adopted after the Second World War.
• Finally, in 1946, a cabinet mission arrived in India to discuss with all the parties the issues of interim government and principles and procedures of framing a new constitution for independent India.

Composition of the Constituent Assembly

• The assembly was constituted in November 1946 in accordance with the scheme formulated by the Cabinet mission.
• The cabinet mission provided for the indirect elections to the Constituent Assembly by the elected members of the provincial legislature.
• The total strength of the Constitution-making body was 389. Of these, 296 representatives were from British India (292 representatives from 11 Governor’s provinces, and four from Chief Commissioner’s Provinces of Delhi, Ajmer, Coorg, and British Baluchistan) and 93 representatives from the Indian States.
• The party-wise break up of the assembly’s British Indian Membership reveals (after the election) that:
  1. Congress won 208 out of 296 seats,
  2. followed by the Muslim League, which won 73 seats,
  3. 8 by Independents,
  4. 7 seats by others which included Unionists, Unionist Muslims, Unionist SC, Krishak Praja, Scheduled Caste Federation, Sikh (Non-Congress), and Communists.
• The first Session of the constituent Assembly was on 9 December, 1946.

President/ Chairman- Dr Sachidanand Sinha. (He died two days later, and Dr Rajendra Prashad was elected the next President.) Vice President- Harendra Coomar Mukherji

Did the constituent assembly represent the masses of India?

It is often argued if the constituent assembly truly represented the Indian masses since the representatives were not elected through the Universal Adult Franchise. They were elected indirectly, that too through a restricted franchise that represented the elite section of society.

However, in defence, it can be said that:

1. The assembly represented different shades of opinions and consisted of representatives from diverse socio-religious backgrounds.
2. Though the Congress dominated the assembly, there was an unwritten consensus within the party that it should represent social and ideological diversity.
3. The Congress also brought experts like K. Ayyer and N.G. Ayyanger from outside the party.
4. Dr Ambedkar and John Matthai, who were not members of the Congress, were made Cabinet ministers. Similarly, SP Mukharjee represented the Hindu Mahasabha.

Thus, we can say that the constituent assembly tried to accommodate various viewpoints despite the limitations of having been elected by the restricted franchise.

The Constitution-making Process

1. An “Objective Resolution” was moved in the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1946 by J L Nehru, which was to guide the constituent assembly in the months to come.
   • The resolution provided the guiding principles and Philosophy that were to permeate its task of constitution-making.
   • It envisioned a federal polity with sovereignty belonging to the people.
   • The constituent assembly finally adopted it on 22 January 1947 and later took the form of the Preamble to the Constitution.
2. For the smooth functioning of the Constituent Assembly, some important committees were formed:
   • The Union Power Committee was chaired by Jawaharlal Nehru and had nine members;
   • The Committee on Fundamental Rights and Minorities was headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and had 54 members;
   • Steering Committee was chaired by KM Munshi.
   • Provincial Constitution Committee was chaired by Sardar Patel and had 25 members;
   • The committee on Union Constitution was headed by Nehru and had 15 members.
3. After discussing the reports of these committees, the assembly appointed a Drafting Committee on 29 August 1947 headed by Dr R. Ambedkar.
4. The first draft of the Constitution of India was prepared in October 1947 by the Advisory branch of the constituent Assembly under Sir B.N Rau.
   • First reading: The final draft of the Constitution was introduced by Dr BR Ambedkar on 4 November 1948. The assembly had a general discussion on it for 5 days.
   • Second Reading: Clause-by-clause consideration started on 15 November 1948 and concluded on 17 October 1949. At this stage, as many as 7653 amendments were proposed, of which 2473 were discussed.
   • Third reading: In the Third Reading, a motion by DR. B.R Ambedkar declared “the constitution as settled by the assembly be passed”. This motion was adopted on 26 November 1949.
5. On 24 January 1950, the final day of the constituent assembly, members officially signed the Constitution.
6. The Constituent Assembly also performed several other important functions, like passing certain statutes of a constituent nature. They also adopted the national flag, the national anthem and ratified the decision regarding the membership of the commonwealth and election of the first President of the Republic.

Significant timeline

• 9 December 1946: Establishment of the Constituent Assembly ( Muslim League boycotted the meeting). In this meeting, Dr Sachchidanand took the chair as temporary chairman of the house.
• 11 December 1946:The assembly elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as the permanent chairman of the constituent assembly.
• 13 December 1946:An ‘Objective Resolution’ was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru, which laid down the philosophy and principles of the Constitution, which later became the Preamble of the Constitution.
• 22 January 1947:Objective resolution was unanimously adopted.
• 22 July 1947:National flag was adopted.
• 15 August 1947: India achieved independence. The nation was split into two Dominion of India and Pakistan.
• 29 August 1947: Drafting Committee was appointed, with Dr B. R. Ambedkar as the chairman. The other 6 members of the committee were:
  1. KM.Munshi,
  2. Muhammed Saadulah,
  3. Gopala Swami Ayyangar,
  4. Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer,
  5. Madhava Rao (replaced B.L. Mitter, who resigned due to ill health),
  6. T. Krishnamachari (replaced D.P. Khaitan, who died in 1948).

• 16 July 1948: Along with Harendra Kumar Mukherjee, V. T. Krishnamachari was also elected to serve as the second vice-president of the Constituent Assembly.
• 26 November 1949: The constituent assembly passed and adopted the Constitution of India.
• 24 January 1950: In its Last meeting, the Constituent Assembly signed the Constitution of India (with 395 articles, 8 schedules, and 22 parts).
• 26 January 1950: The ‘Constitution of India’ came into force after 2 years, 11 months and 18 Days.

Explore additional significant articles on Indian Constitution listed in the table below:

What is a Constitution?	Evolution of Indian Constitution
The Crown Rule	Features of Indian Constitution
Sources of the Indian Constitution	The Preamble of Indian Constitution
Union and Its Territory	Citizenship
Fundamental Rights	DPSP
Fundamental Duties	Amendment of the Indian Constitution
The Doctrine of Basic Structure	Parliamentary System
Federal System	Centre-State Relations
Inter State Relations	Reforms in Centre State Relations
Emergency Provisions	Polity