General Awareness
Indian Constitution
Constituent Assembly
Demand for the Constitution – Indirectly
• "By Bal Gangadhar Tilak - 1895 (First)
• Dada Bhai Naoroji – 1906
• Gandhiji – 1922
• Gandhiji demanded the Constituent Assembly and the
framing of the Constitution. Mahatma Gandhi - "The
making of the Indian Constitution - will be adapted to the
wishes of the Indian people."
Direct Demand of the Constitution
• Swaraj Party / Swaraj Party - The idea
of constitution of Constituent Assembly was first
introduced by the Swarajya Party in 1924.
• In 1934 M.N. Rai gave the idea of constitution of
Constituent Assembly.
• 1938 - Nehru - Proposal for constitution by
Constituent Assembly elected by adult suffrage
Cripps Mission – 1942
• Chairman – Stafford Cripps
• Objective - Proposal for constitution of the Constituent Assembly
of India after World War II. The Muslim League opposed the
Cripps Mission. Gandhiji called it "post dated check".
Cabinet Mission Plan – 1946
• Chairman – Lord Pathick Lorence
• Arrival in India - 14 March 1946
• Objective - To make the constitution of constitution of
Constituent Assembly.
• Cabinet Members - Lord Pathick Lorence (Secretary of India), Sir
Stafford Cripps, AB Alexander (Minister of the Navy)
Constituent Assembly
• Formation July 1946
• Total Members – 389
• Representative of British Provinces – 292
• Representative of Chief Commissioner Areas – 4
• Representatives of princely states – 93
Four Chief Commissioner Provinces
• Delhi
• Coorg (Karnataka)
• Ajmer – Merwara
• British Baluchistan
• Scheduled Caste Members – 33
• Number of female members – 15
• The only Muslim female member - Begum Ejaz Rasool
First Meeting – 9 Dec 1946
• Place - Library Building of Council Chamber, Delhi
• President - Dr. Sachchidanand Sinha
• Hyderabad was the only princely state whose representatives did
not attend the Constituent Assembly.
• A space was allotted on a population of 10 lakhs.
• The Muslim League boycotted the first meeting and demanded an
independent Constituent Assembly for Pakistan
Second Meeting – 11 Dec 1946
• President - Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• Objective proposal - submitted by Jawaharlal Nehru on 13
December 1946.
• Approval - Objective proposal accepted on 22 January 1946.
• Two Vice Presidents of the Constituent Assembly - H.C.
Mukherjee & Krishnamachari
Key Committees of Constituent Assembly and Its Chairmen
• Steering Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• Union Constitution Committee – Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
• Provincial Constitution Committee – Sardar Patel
• Drafting Committee – Dr. Ambedkar
• Union Power Committee – Pt. Nehru
• Committee on the Rules of Procedure – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• Advisory Committee on Fundamental rights, Minorities and Tribal and
Excluded Areas – Sardar Vallabha Patel
Drafting Committee
• Formation - 29 August 1947
• President - Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar
• Objective - b. N. To discuss the draft constitution presented by
Rao
Members of the Draft Committee
• N. Gopal Swami Iyengar • Alladi Krishna Swami ayyer
• Kanhaiya lal Manik lal Munshi • B. L. Mitra
• D P Khetan • Syed Mohammad Sadullah
• Later b L. N. in place of friend T T Krishna Machari was made a
member in place of Madhav Rao and D P Khetan
• To draft the Indian Constitution , Constitutions of
almost 60 countries were studied
• Total Expenditure was around ₹ 64,00,000
• English Calligraphy : Prem Bihari Raizada
• Hindi Calligraphy : Vasant Krishna Vaidh
• Border of the pages were designed by : Nand Lal Bose
Constitution
• The Constitution of India is the highest legislation of India which
was passed by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949
and came into effect from 26 January 1950.
• This day (26 November) has been declared as the Constitution
Day of India while 26 January is celebrated as Republic Day in
India.
• The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any
republican country in the world
• At the time of construction, the original constitution had 395 Articles,
22 Parts and 8 Schedules.
• Presently the Indian Constitution has about 465 Articles, 12 Schedules
and is divided into 25 parts.
• It took 2 years 11 months 18 days to prepare the Indian Constitution
Preamble
• The Preamble of the Constitution reveals the elements, ideals
and inherent philosophy contained in the Constitution.
• 42 The constitutional amendment act 1976 added the words
'socialist', 'secular' and 'integrity of the nation' to the preamble.
• The Preamble reveals the philosophy of the Constitution and
hence it is called 'Key to the Constitution’.
• The preamble has been amended only once
