Drafting Committee

Topic: Making of the Constitution: Constituent Assembly, Sources and Salient Features · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 10 "The Constitution of India: An Introduction"; Class 9, Ch 6 "Democracy"; Class 11, Ch 1 "Constitution: Why and How?"

Meaning

The Drafting Committee was a seven-member committee of the Constituent Assembly (the body elected to write India's Constitution), chaired by B.R. Ambedkar and set up on 29 August 1947. It turned the Assembly's decisions and its committees' reports into a full legal text, article by article, called the Draft Constitution [4].

It matters because this Draft became the text the Assembly debated over three readings and adopted on 26 November 1949. Ambedkar's role as its chair is why he is widely remembered as the main architect of the Constitution.

Explanation

Why the Assembly needed a Drafting Committee

• The Assembly was too big to write text in full meetings.
• After Partition it had 299 members [3].

• So it split the work. Small committees each studied one subject and wrote reports.

• The subject committees decided what the Constitution would say.

• Nehru led the Union Powers, Union Constitution and States Committees.

• Patel led the Provincial Constitution Committee and the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas.

• The Drafting Committee decided how to say it in law.

• It turned all these decisions into one complete legal text.
• It did not set policy. The Assembly had already decided the main questions.

How it was set up and what it was asked to do

• Date: set up on 29 August 1947 [4].
• Mover: Satyanarayan Sinha moved the motion to create it [4].
• Task: to examine the draft prepared in the Assembly's office and suggest changes. That draft was based on decisions the Assembly had already taken [4][5].
• Control stayed with the Assembly:
• Members insisted that the Committee stay under the Assembly's control.
• Rajendra Prasad (President of the Assembly) confirmed that the Assembly kept final authority [4].
• So the Committee could only propose. The whole Assembly decided.

Its members: seven seats, two changes

#	Member	Note
1	B.R. Ambedkar	Chair
2	N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar	Member from the start
3	Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar	Member from the start
4	K.M. Munshi	Member from the start
5	Syed Mohammad Saadullah	Member from the start
6	N. Madhava Rau	Replaced B.L. Mitter
7	T.T. Krishnamachari	Replaced D.P. Khaitan, who died in 1948

• The original seven named on 29 August 1947 included Mitter and Khaitan [4]. This is a common exam trap.

What it worked from and how its Draft moved forward

• Inputs:
• B.N. Rau's first draft (October 1947). Rau was the Assembly's Constitutional Adviser (its expert legal adviser, not a member of the Committee).

• The reports of the committees.

• Legal wording: S.N. Mukherjee was the chief draughtsman (the official who wrote the exact legal language).

• Steps from Draft to Constitution, in order: 1. Draft published: February 1948. The public got about eight months to comment. 2. First reading (4–9 November 1948): Ambedkar introduced the Draft. There was a general debate on its overall shape. ("Reading" means one full stage of debate, like the stages a bill goes through in Parliament.) 3. Second reading (15 November 1948 – 17 October 1949): the Draft was debated clause by clause. Amendments were moved, debated and voted on. This was the longest stage. 4. Third reading (14–26 November 1949): the final text was debated and passed. 5. Adopted: 26 November 1949. In force: 26 January 1950.

In the Constitution and practice

• Where it came from: no article of the Constitution created it. The Committee came first and the Constitution came out of its work. It was created by a motion of the Constituent Assembly on 29 August 1947 [4].
• Scale of the debate on its Draft:
• About 7,635 amendments were tabled (formally put forward). 2,473 were moved, discussed and disposed of [2][5].
• Of the Assembly's 165 sitting days, 114 days went on the Draft Constitution alone [3]. (NCERT gives 166 sitting days.)

• The Assembly held 11 sessions from 9 December 1946 to 26 November 1949 [5]. The whole work took 2 years, 11 months and 17 days [3][5].

• Openness: sessions were open to the press and the public. Every argument was answered "with great care and in writing".

• Ambedkar's two roles: he chaired the Drafting Committee. He was also independent India's first Law Minister (Class 7 NCERT).
• Recognition: on 26 November 1949, Rajendra Prasad said: "We could never make a decision which was or could be ever so right as when we put him [Ambedkar] on the Drafting Committee."
• Working across differences: Ambedkar was a bitter critic of the Congress and of Gandhi. Yet he chaired the key committee alongside Congress leaders Nehru, Patel and Prasad. This showed the Assembly's habit of reaching agreement through talks and debate.

Don't confuse with

• B.N. Rau (Constitutional Adviser): Rau wrote the first draft (October 1947) as an adviser. He was not a member of the Drafting Committee. The Committee examined and revised his work.
• Steering Committee: chaired by Rajendra Prasad. It coordinated the Assembly's business and the order of work. It did not write the constitutional text.
• Union Constitution Committee: chaired by Nehru. It designed the Union government (President and Parliament) as policy. The Drafting Committee only turned such decisions into legal text.
• President of the Constituent Assembly vs Chair of the Drafting Committee: Rajendra Prasad presided over the whole Assembly. Ambedkar chaired only the Drafting Committee, which worked under the Assembly's control [4].

Prelims Hooks

• Drafting Committee: set up on 29 August 1947. Motion moved by Satyanarayan Sinha. 7 members, chaired by B.R. Ambedkar [4].
• Trap: B.L. Mitter and D.P. Khaitan were original members [4]. They were replaced by N. Madhava Rau and T.T. Krishnamachari. K.M. Munshi and Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar were members from the start.
• Not members: Nehru, Patel, Rajendra Prasad and B.N. Rau. Rau was the Constitutional Adviser and wrote the first draft (October 1947).
• S.N. Mukherjee was the chief draughtsman. The Draft was published in February 1948, with about 8 months for public comment.
• Readings of the Draft: first 4–9 November 1948. Second, clause by clause, 15 November 1948 – 17 October 1949. Third 14–26 November 1949.
• Numbers: 7,635 amendments tabled and 2,473 disposed of [2][5]. 114 of 165 days were spent on the Draft [3].

Mains Points

• Expert drafting under democratic control:
• A small, expert committee made the text exact and consistent in law.
• But the Assembly kept final authority over it [4]. Every clause was debated and voted on in the open.

• This balanced skill with legitimacy (the people's acceptance of the Constitution as rightful).

• Answer to the "borrowed Constitution" charge:

• The Draft was open to public comment for about eight months.
• About 7,635 amendments were tabled [2][5], and 114 sitting days went on the Draft alone [3].

• So the text was argued over clause by clause, not just copied.

• Limits of the process:

• The Committee was small and worked mostly in English. It relied heavily on B.N. Rau's draft and the Government of India Act 1935.
• Critics say this left little room for ordinary people's voices.
• Counter-point: the debates were open to the press and public, and the Committee only proposed. The elected Assembly decided.

Related concepts

• Union Powers Committee
• Union Constitution Committee
• States Committee
• Provincial Constitution Committee
• Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas
• Fundamental Rights Sub-committee
• Steering Committee

Read more

• Committees, the Drafting Committee and the three readings