Constituent Assembly of India

• The Constituent Assembly of India involved discussions about the adoption of a Constitution.

Demand for Constituent Assembly

• M.N. Roy put the idea out around 1934.
• Jawahar Lal Nehru declared that a constitution of free India would be framed by the Constituent Assembly.
• The Indian National Congress demanded a Constituent Assembly to frame the constitution the first time.
• The August Offer was accepted in 1940 but ultimately Congress and the Muslim League rejected the offer,.
• Sir Stafford Cripps was sent to India with a draft proposal in 1942 on framing an independent Constitution to be adopted after World War II.
• The Muslim League rejected the proposal and demanded two separate constituent assemblies.
• In November 1946, the Constituent Assembly was constituted which satisfied both the INC and the Muslim League.

Important Definitions

• A Constitution is a set of written rules that is accepted by all.
• India's Constitution is partly rigid and partly flexible.
• In 1934, M.N. Roy first demanded a Constituent Assembly and was the founder of the CPI Communist Party.
• In 1935, the demand was put forward by Congress.
• In 1936, the demand was raised by Nehru in Congress Session Lucknow, who presided over the session.
• In 1940, the August Offer by Linlithgow, then Viceroy, accepted the demand for a CA, but the demand was later rejected by Congress and the Muslim League.

Temporary President

• A temporary president was appointed in 1946 for the first meeting on December 9th, 1946 before Dr. Rajendra Sinha was appointed the permanent President on December 13th, 1946
• J.L.N. moved the Objective Resolution.

Government Types

• A communist government is where the source or means of production is controlled by the government, the example is China.
• An oligarchic government is controlled by a few people, the examples are China, and Russia.
• A monarchic government is controlled by a single person, specifically a king or monarch, the example to North Korea.
• A totalitarian government involves total control over the lives of citizens by whoever rules.

Objectives Resolution and Committees

• The first meeting was held on December 9th, 1946 with 211 members in attendance.
• On December 13th, 1946, the Objective Resolution was put forward by Jawaharlal Nehru, which was later known as the Preamble.
• On January 22nd, 1947, the Objective Resolution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly and committees were formed including 8 major and 13 minor committees.

Provisions of Cabinet Mission Plan

• The total seats were 389.
• There were 296 elected seats from British India, with 292 being from the Governors Province and 4 from the Chief Commissioner Provinces.
• There were 93 nominated seats from Provinces/Princely States.
• The members of the Cabinet Mission Plan were Patric Lawrence (Chairman), Stafford Cripps, and AV Aloxondary.
• Congress (INC) secured 208 seats and Muslim League won 73 seats.
• Independent candidates secured 15 seats.
• There were 299 remaining seats after the Muslim League's boycott and subsequent events leading to India's partition.

Drafting Committee

• The Drafting Committee was set up on August 29th, 1947 and had 7 total members
• B R Ambedkar was the chairman and considered the father of the Indian Consitution, also known as "Modern Manu or Modern Man"
• The members were Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar, N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Muhammad Saddullah, B L Mitter (Replaced by N Madhav Rau), D P Khaitan (Replaced by T T Krishnamachari), and K M Munshi.
• There were 11 sessions held for 165 days.
• The total time was 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days when the Constitution was made.
• 64 lakhs was spent to frame the Constitution.

Important Drafts

• The first draft occurred between December 9th and 23rd, 1946.
• The 11th draft occurred during December 14th-26th, 1949.
• The final draft was presented by B R Ambedkar before the public on November 4th, 1948 from Bengal Constituency.
• The Constitution was adopted on November 26th, 1949, also celebrated as "Constitution Day."
• Some provisions were imposed on November 26th, 1949, concerning citizenship, elections, and Provisional Parliament.

Constituent Assembly Functions

• There were to major functions: law-making (to legislate) and Constitution maker
• GV Mavalankar was the first speaker of Lok Sabha.
• The Vice President was TT Krishnamachari, H C Mukherjee.
• Rajendra Prasad was the President following elections and Sachinandan Sinha was the Temporary President before elections.
• The Assembly functioned as the first parliament of India.

Other Functions of Constituent Assembly

• The National Flag was adopted on July 22nd, 1947.
• The National Anthem, "Jana Gana Mana," was created by Rabindranath Tagore.
• The National Song, "Vande Mataram," was created by Bankim Chatterjee.
• Commonwealth Ratification occurred in May 1949.

Final Constituent Assembly Details

• B N Rao was the Legal/Constitutional Advisor.
• S N Mukherjee was the Chief Draftsman.
• 284 members of the CA signed the constitution, including 15 female members.
• The last sitting of the CA was on January 24th, 1950.
• Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India on January 24th, 1950.
• Prem Behari Narain Raizada hand wrote the Constitution, in English while Vasant Krishan Vaidya created the Hindi version.
• Nan Lal Bose and Beohar Ram Manohar decorated the document.
• The language of the Constitution is English.
• The symbol of the Constitution is an elephant.
• The first country to make a constitution was the USA with a Written Constitution.
• Nehru, as chairman, and eight other Congress leaders, drafted a Constitution for India: 1928.

Committees and Chairmen

• Various committees were formed, including the Union Power Committee led by Jawaharlal Nehru.
• The Rules of Procedure Committee and Steering Committee were both led by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and the Provincial Constitution Committee was led by Sardar Patel.
• The Drafting Committee was led by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
• The Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, and Tribal and Excluded Areas was led by Sardar Patel.
• The Union Constitution Committee and States Committee were both led by Jawaharlal Nehru.

Democracy

• Democracy, defined as for the people, by the people, and of the people, was defined by Abraham Lincoln.
• A ceremony that marks the end of Republic Day Celebration is the Beating Retreat Ceremony.
• On Independence Day the PM hoist the Indian flag in Red Fort, and on Republic Day the President unfurls the flag at Kartavya Path.
• The UK has an unwritten Constitution.

Written vs Unwritten Constitution

• A Written Constitution is compiled and structured in systematic form by a few members and is formally constituted but not easy to amend, the example is India.
• An Unwritten Constitution is not structured or formally constituted and is easy to amend.

Federal vs Quasi Federal

• The Indian Constitution has more than one level of government.
• India is Quasi Federal with some features unitary and some federal.
• Radicalism is a change in someone's general pattern of thinking.
• An example is Naxalism, NE insurgency.
• Key Features of the Indian Constitution include Federalism.
• A federal feature is that it gives power that State.
• A unitary feature is that it takes away power from the State.
• Federation with unitary bias is by K C Wheare.
• There is a division of power between the Centre and the State.

Federal and Unitary Features

• Federal Features include supremacy of the Constitution, Division of power between the Union (central Governments) and State, and The existence of an independent judiciary in the Indian Constitution.
• Unitary Features include single Citizenship, single Constitution, power of union to override on the state matters, during emergency the system becomes virtually unitary, changes in the names and boundaries of the states by the Parliament, Integrated Judiciary System, Centre appoints the Governors, and Dependence of states on the centre for economic assistance and grants.