Making of the Constitution: Constituent Assembly, Sources and Salient Features

1. What a constitution is and why societies need one

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• A constitution is the set of basic rules by which a state is formed and run. It is usually one written document. It shares power among the organs of government, limits that power, states the society's goals and is the highest law.
• Class 11, Constitution: Why and How? lists five functions of a constitution:
• It gives basic rules that everyone knows and that can be enforced. This brings coordination (people can plan around each other) and assurance (others will obey too).
• It says who decides and how government is formed. The decider can be a monarch, a single party (as in the old Soviet Union) or the people through representatives. In India, Parliament makes most laws.
• It puts limits on government, mainly through fundamental rights such as no arbitrary arrest and freedom of speech, conscience, association and trade. These can be cut back only in emergencies the constitution itself names.
• It enables government to meet the society's hopes. NCERT calls India's Constitution the "finest example" of this. Other cases: South Africa (housing, health care, protection from unfair discrimination) and Indonesia (national education, care of poor children).

• It expresses a people's political and moral identity. German identity was built on ethnicity; Indian citizenship is not based on ethnicity.

• Class 7 calls the Constitution a "rulebook", like a kabaddi referee's. The President swears to "preserve, protect and defend" it.

• Codified and uncodified constitutions. A codified constitution is one compact document, as in India and the USA. An uncodified one is spread across laws, conventions (settled practices) and court rulings, as in the UK (Magna Carta 1215, Bill of Rights 1689, Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949).
• Non-democracies also have constitutions. Constitutionalism is different from simply having one. It means government power is really limited by a higher law, through rights, separation of powers and judicial review, so that even an elected government cannot act arbitrarily.
• Supremacy of the Constitution. The Constitution ranks above Parliament because it creates Parliament and defines its powers. The reason is not that it came first. Legal anchors: Art. 13 (laws that break fundamental rights are void), Art. 245 (law-making is "subject to the provisions of this Constitution"), Arts. 32 and 226 (judicial review) and the Third Schedule oaths of "true faith and allegiance".

2. What gives a constitution authority

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• Mode of promulgation means how a constitution comes into being and who frames it.
• Constitutions drawn up by military rulers or unpopular leaders often stay on paper only.
• The most successful ones (India, South Africa, the USA) grew out of popular national movements.
• India's framers had huge public trust and were not seen as seeking power for themselves.
• India held no referendum, unlike Ireland in 1937. The people adopted the Constitution "by abiding by its provisions".

• Contrast: Japan's 1947 constitution was written under US military occupation.

• Substantive provisions. A constitution must give everyone some reason to accept it. It must not let a permanent majority oppress minorities, and it must not lock in the power of small groups. It offers "a framework for pursuing basic justice", not perfect justice.

• Balanced institutional design. Power is split among the legislature, executive, judiciary and independent bodies such as the Election Commission, so no single group can take over the whole system. Core values stay fixed, but the document is flexible enough to change. Too rigid a constitution breaks; too flexible a one gives no security.
• NCERT's three tests: Were the makers credible? Is power wisely organised? Is the constitution the focus of people's hopes, which is a question of justice?
• Nepal's constitution-making:
• Nepal had five constitutions granted by the King (1948, 1951, 1959, 1962, 1990).
• In October 2002 the King took over all powers.
• After an agitation led by the Maoists, Nepal abolished the monarchy in 2008.

• Its first Constituent Assembly (2008) failed to finish the job. The second (2013) adopted a federal republican constitution with seven provinces on 20 September 2015. Madhesi protests followed.

• Failed or troubled attempts shown in NCERT cartoons: the EU's constitutional treaty (rejected in the French and Dutch referendums of 2005) and Iraq's 2005 constitution, drawn as a "castle of cards" amid Shia–Sunni–Kurd conflict.

3. Constitutional antecedents: colonial Acts and nationalist blueprints

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• Government of India Act 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford reforms):
• Dyarchy meant dual government in the provinces. "Transferred" subjects (education, public health, local self-government) went to ministers answerable to the legislature. "Reserved" subjects (law and order, finance, land revenue) stayed with the Governor and his executive council.
• It created a two-house central legislature elected on a narrow property-based franchise.
• It extended communal representation to Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans.

• It required a review after ten years, which led to the Simon Commission (1927).

• Government of India Act 1935:

• It proposed an All-India Federation of provinces and princely states, which never came into being.
• It created three lists: Federal, Provincial and Concurrent. Residuary powers went to the Governor-General.
• Provincial autonomy replaced dyarchy in the provinces. Dyarchy at the Centre was never brought in.
• It set up the Federal Court (1937) and public service commissions.
• The provincial assemblies elected under it later elected the Constituent Assembly.

• It is the biggest single source of the Constitution's structure.

• Constitution of India Bill 1895: the first unofficial draft, generally credited to Tilak. It said every citizen could take part in public affairs and hold office.

• Nehru Report (1928): an all-parties committee under Motilal Nehru. It asked for dominion status, a bill of fundamental rights, joint electorates with reserved seats and linguistic provinces. Jinnah's Fourteen Points (1929) rejected it.
• Karachi Resolution (1931), on fundamental rights and the economic programme: civil liberties, equality, adult franchise, free primary education, a living wage and state control of key industries. It foreshadowed Parts III and IV.
• The demand for a Constituent Assembly: M.N. Roy (1934), Congress (1935), the August Offer (1940) and the Cripps Mission (1942).
• Sapru Committee (1945): proposed splitting rights into justiciable rights (enforceable in court) and non-justiciable ones. This became the Part III / Part IV split.

4. The Cabinet Mission and the composition of the Constituent Assembly

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• The Cabinet Mission Plan was announced on 16 May 1946 by Pethick-Lawrence, Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander.
• Seats were given roughly by population, at one seat per ten lakh people.
• Each province's seats were divided among general, Muslim and Sikh communities.
• Each community's members in the provincial assembly elected their own representatives by proportional representation through the single transferable vote (voters rank candidates, and surplus votes pass on to the next choice).

• Princely-state members were to be chosen "by consultation". In practice the rulers nominated them.

• Composition of the Constituent Assembly: 292 seats for the provinces, 4 for the chief commissioners' provinces and 93 for the princely states, 389 in all.

• The elections were held in July-August 1946 (Congress 208, Muslim League 73, others 15; verify). So the Constituent Assembly was partly elected indirectly, by assemblies chosen on a limited franchise, and partly nominated.
• First sitting, 9 December 1946. The League boycotted it. Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, was provisional President.
• On 11 December 1946 Rajendra Prasad was elected President (Class 7 wrongly calls him "Chairman").
• H.C. Mookerjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were Vice-Presidents. B.N. Rau was Constitutional Adviser.

• Class 7 says the Assembly was "formed" on 9 December 1946. That was actually its first sitting.

• After Partition (3 June 1947 Plan), members from areas going to Pakistan stopped being members. The Assembly fell to 299 (about 229 from the provinces and 70 from the princely states; verify).

• How representative it was: all religions were represented, with 28 Scheduled Caste members and 15 women. Congress held about 82% of seats after Partition, but it was so varied that it held "almost all shades of opinion".

5. Independence, sovereignty and the Assembly's dual role

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• The Indian Independence Act 1947 got royal assent on 18 July 1947 and took effect on 15 August 1947. It:
• ended British rule and created two dominions, India and Pakistan, each free to leave the Commonwealth;
• made the Governor-General a constitutional head acting on the cabinet's advice, and abolished the post of Secretary of State;
• let British paramountcy (overlordship) over the princely states lapse;
• kept the 1935 Act, as adapted, as the interim constitution;

• made each Constituent Assembly fully sovereign, free to frame any constitution and repeal any British law.

• The Assembly met again as the Assembly for divided India on 14 August 1947.

• Dual role. As the constitution-making body it was presided over by Rajendra Prasad. From November 1947 it also sat as the Dominion legislature, presided over by G.V. Mavalankar, and passed ordinary laws.
• Other acts of the Assembly: it adopted the national flag (22 July 1947), ratified Commonwealth membership (May 1949), adopted the national anthem and national song (24 January 1950) and elected Rajendra Prasad as the first President (24 January 1950).
• Dominion status means self-government within the Commonwealth under the British Crown. India was a dominion from 15 August 1947 to 26 January 1950. Its Governors-General were Mountbatten and then, from June 1948, C. Rajagopalachari, the only Indian to hold the post.
• Provisional Parliament: from 26 January 1950 the Assembly sat as India's single-house legislature under original Art. 379, with a provisional President under Art. 380. The 7th Amendment (1956) later omitted both articles. It served until the first elected Parliament met in 1952 and passed the First Amendment (1951).

6. Committees, the Drafting Committee and the three readings

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• Class 11 counts eight major committees, usually chaired by Nehru, Prasad, Patel or Ambedkar. These men often disagreed, yet worked together.

Chair	Committee and its job
Nehru	Union Powers Committee: divided powers and favoured a strong Centre after Partition. Union Constitution Committee: designed the President and Parliament. States Committee: negotiated with the princely states.
Patel	Provincial Constitution Committee: designed government in the provinces. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas: its reports shaped Part III and the safeguards.
J.B. Kripalani	Fundamental Rights Sub-committee: drafted the list of rights
H.C. Mookerjee	Minorities Sub-committee
Gopinath Bardoloi / A.V. Thakkar	Tribal-area sub-committees, which shaped the Sixth and Fifth Schedules
Rajendra Prasad	Steering Committee: coordinated the Assembly's business. Also the Rules of Procedure Committee.
B.R. Ambedkar	Drafting Committee

• The Drafting Committee was set up on 29 August 1947 with seven members: B.R. Ambedkar (chair), N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar, K.M. Munshi, Syed Mohammad Saadullah, N. Madhava Rau (who replaced B.L. Mitter) and T.T. Krishnamachari (who replaced D.P. Khaitan after his death in 1948).
• It worked from B.N. Rau's first draft (October 1947).

• The Draft Constitution was published in February 1948, and the public had about eight months to comment.

• Three readings:

• First reading: 4–9 November 1948.
• Second reading, clause by clause: 15 November 1948 – 17 October 1949.

• Third reading: 14–26 November 1949.

• Scale of the work:

• About 7,635 amendments were tabled and about 2,473 discussed (verify).
• The Assembly held 11 sessions and 165 sitting days (Class 11 says 166). It worked for 2 years, 11 months and 17 days, often cited as 18.

• Its sessions were open to the press and the public.

• Prasad's tribute (26 November 1949): "We could never make a decision which was or could be ever so right as when we put him [Ambedkar] on the Drafting Committee."

7. Deliberation, consensus and the Objectives Resolution

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• Deliberation. The Assembly's authority came from how it worked, not only from who sat in it. Members argued with the whole nation in mind. Their disputes were about principle: centralised or decentralised government, Centre–state relations, the powers of the judiciary and property rights.
• Universal adult franchise passed "without virtually any debate". Class 11 sees this as the best proof of the Assembly's democratic commitment.
• Public reason means arguing from principles and giving reasons others can accept, instead of pushing narrow interests. NCERT ranks the debates alongside the French and American revolutions.
• Consensus. The Assembly tried to reach agreement, though some clauses went to a vote. Granville Austin called this method "consensus and accommodation".
• Inheritance of the nationalist movement. Decades of the freedom struggle had already built a shared view on the main principles. The Constitution is therefore "a moral commitment" to the movement's promises.
• The Objectives Resolution was moved by Nehru on 13 December 1946 and adopted on 22 January 1947. It set out the Assembly's aims and later shaped the Preamble.

Point in the Resolution	What it became in the Constitution
Independent sovereign republic	Preamble
Union of British India, the Indian States and other willing territories	Art. 1, "Union of States"
Units keep residuary powers	Reversed after Partition: residuary powers went to the Union (Art. 248)
All power flows from the people	"We, the People"
Justice, equality and freedoms	Preamble, Parts III and IV
Safeguards for minorities, backward and tribal areas	Arts. 29–30, Arts. 330–342, Fifth and Sixth Schedules
Territorial integrity; world peace	Arts. 1–4; Art. 51

8. Adoption, commencement and the original document

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• Adoption: 26 November 1949. Since 2015 this date has been Constitution Day, notified by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in Ambedkar's 125th birth-anniversary year. It was earlier observed as National Law Day.
• Signing: 284 members signed on 24 January 1950.
• Commencement of the Constitution: it came fully into force on 26 January 1950, now Republic Day. The date was chosen to recall Purna Swaraj Day (26 January 1930).
• Provisions in force from 26 November 1949 (Art. 394):
• Arts. 5–9 (citizenship), 60 (President's oath), 324 (Election Commission) and 366–367 (definitions and interpretation).
• Arts. 379, 380, 388, 391, 392 and 393 (provisional Parliament and President, transitional matters, short title), and Art. 394 itself.
• The reason: citizenship rules and the Election Commission were needed at once to prepare the rolls for the first elections.

• Fundamental rights and the Directive Principles began only on 26 January 1950.

• Art. 395 repealed the Indian Independence Act 1947 and the GoI Act 1935. This cut the legal link with the British Parliament.

• Original manuscript of the Constitution:
• Prem Behari Narain Raizada wrote the English text by hand.
• Nandalal Bose and his team illustrated it with scenes "from Mohenjo-daro to the freedom movement": a gurukula, Rama's conquest of Lanka, Nataraja, the Mahabalipuram descent of Ganga, Akbar and Nalanda.

• It is kept in helium-filled glass cases in Parliament's library, because helium does not react with paper or ink.

• Authoritative Hindi text of the Constitution: Art. 394A, added by the 58th Amendment (1987). Under it the President publishes the official Hindi translation of the Constitution and its amendments.

9. Influences and sources: freedom movement, civilisational heritage and other constitutions

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• Freedom movement (Class 7). Many freedom fighters sat in the Assembly. They carried in its values (equality, justice, freedom, fraternity) and answers to "how" questions: votes for all adults, separation of powers, rights and Centre–state relations.
• Civilisational heritage (Class 7). Principles it names: accepting different viewpoints, nature as sacred, the pursuit of learning, respect for women, vasudhaiva kutumbakam ("the world is one family") and sarve bhavantu sukhinah (well-being for all). It also mentions older ideas of governance (janapadas, sanghas, Kautilya's saptanga) and their stress on duties.

• Balance: the Fundamental Duties were actually added in 1976 (42nd Amendment, on the Swaran Singh Committee's advice). Standard lists trace them to the USSR.

• Sources of the Indian Constitution:

Source	What India took from it
GoI Act 1935	Federal scheme, Governor's office, judiciary, PSCs, emergency provisions, administrative detail
Britain	Parliamentary government, rule of law, law-making procedure, single citizenship, cabinet system, writs, Speaker, first-past-the-post
USA	Fundamental rights, judicial review, independent judiciary, impeachment of the President, removal of judges, Vice-President
Ireland	Directive Principles, nomination to the Rajya Sabha, method of electing the President
Canada	Federation with a strong Centre, residuary powers with the Centre, Governors appointed by the Centre, advisory jurisdiction
Australia	Concurrent List, freedom of trade, joint sitting
Weimar Germany	Suspension of fundamental rights during an emergency
USSR	Fundamental Duties; the ideal of social, economic and political justice
France	Republic; liberty, equality, fraternity
South Africa	Amendment procedure, election of Rajya Sabha members
Japan	"Procedure established by law"

• Class 11: this was "not slavish imitation". Each borrowed provision had to be defended as suited to Indian problems.

10. Salient features I: form, structure and institutional design

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• Written constitution: India's is the world's longest written constitution.
• Originally it had a Preamble, 395 articles, 22 parts and 8 schedules.
• Now it has 25 parts, 12 schedules and about 470 articles (verify current).

• Amendments made it grow: Parts IVA, IXA, IXB and XIVA were added, and Part VII was repealed in 1956.

• Why it is so long: India's size and diversity; the 1935 Act as a model; one constitution for both the Union and the states; many lawyers among the framers; and detail on bodies such as the Election Commission and the PSCs, which other countries leave to ordinary law.

Schedule	Content
I	States and Union territories
II	Second Schedule: pay, allowances and privileges of the President, Governors, presiding officers, judges and the CAG
III	Third Schedule: oath forms for ministers, legislators and candidates, judges and the CAG. The President's oath is in Art. 60, the Vice-President's in Art. 69 and the Governors' in Art. 159.
IV	Rajya Sabha seats
V / VI	Scheduled areas / tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram
VII	Union, State and Concurrent Lists
VIII	22 languages
IX (1951), X (1985), XI–XII (1992)	Protected laws; anti-defection; panchayat and municipal functions

• Rigid and flexible together: some parts are easy to amend, others need special majorities (detail in amendment-basic-structure).
• Federal with a unitary bias: a "Union of States" (Art. 1), a strong Centre, single citizenship, an integrated judiciary, all-India services, emergency powers and Governors appointed by the Centre. K.C. Wheare called it "quasi-federal".
• Parliamentary government on the British model, but with an elected President and a Parliament that is not sovereign.
• Synthesis of parliamentary sovereignty and judicial supremacy: Parliament can amend most of the Constitution (Art. 368), but courts can strike down laws and even amendments (Arts. 13, 32 and 226; the basic structure). This is a middle path between Britain and the USA.

11. Salient features II: rights, duties, franchise and safeguards

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• Fundamental Rights (Part III, Arts. 12–35) are justiciable: a person can go to court to enforce them, directly to the Supreme Court under Art. 32. Class 7's examples: Art. 14, Art. 21, the right against exploitation and Art. 21A (86th Amendment, 2002).
• Directive Principles (Part IV, Arts. 36–51) are not enforceable in court. Class 7's examples: Arts. 38, 41, 44, 47, 48A and 49. Class 7: directives are "guidelines", while rights are "promises that must be kept". The framers chose this split on purpose.
• Fundamental Duties (Part IVA, Art. 51A) were added by the 42nd Amendment (1976). There are now eleven; the eleventh, on parents' duty to educate their children, came with the 86th Amendment (2002).
• Secular state: there is no official religion (Arts. 25–28). The word "secular" was added to the Preamble in 1976.
• Universal adult franchise (Art. 326): every adult can vote. The 61st Amendment (1988) lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. India gave the vote to all adults from its very first election, unlike the step-by-step extension in the UK and USA.
• Single citizenship (Part II), unlike the USA's dual citizenship.
• Independent bodies: the Election Commission (Art. 324), the CAG (Art. 148), and the UPSC and state PSCs (Art. 315).
• Emergency provisions: Arts. 352, 356 and 360.
• Three-tier government: panchayats and municipalities were added by the 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992).

12. Criticisms of the Constitution and its makers

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• Borrowed constitution ("a bag of borrowings"). NCERT's reply: the framers borrowed innovatively and selectively and fitted each idea to Indian needs. Ambedkar (4 November 1948): the only new things possible in a constitution framed so late are "the variations made to remove the faults and to accommodate it to the needs of the country".
• Carbon copy of the 1935 Act: Ambedkar made "no apologies". There is nothing shameful in borrowing administrative details already tested in India.
• "Un-Indian" or "un-Gandhian": K. Hanumanthaiya (17 November 1949) said "we wanted the music of veena or sitar" but got "an English band". The village-based design survives only in Art. 40.
• Lawyers' paradise (Ivor Jennings, 1953): the Constitution's length and legal detail invite court cases. Reply: detail is a safeguard in a new democracy, because it leaves less room for abuse.
• Criticism of the Constituent Assembly as unrepresentative: it was indirectly elected on a limited franchise; Congress dominated it (Austin: "The Assembly was the Congress, and the Congress was India"); the League boycotted it; and princely members were nominated.
• Replies in Class 11, Constitution: Why and How?: all communities and 28 SC members sat in it, Congress itself was very diverse, and members used public reason.
• Reply in Class 11, The Philosophy of the Constitution: the Assembly lacked the people's voice, but it represented a wide range of opinion.

• Dalits see the Constitution as their own, as Ambedkar statues in town squares show. The first general election (1951–52) confirmed it in practice.

• Assessment: the Constitution survived when many others "perished with the paper they were first written on", and it served as a model for others, most notably South Africa.

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Exam angles

Prelims — high-yield facts and traps

• Seats: 389 = 292 (provinces) + 4 (chief commissioners' provinces) + 93 (princely states), at one seat per ten lakh people. After Partition: 299. 1946 results: 208 / 73 / 15 (verify).
• Members: 15 women and 28 SC members. 284 signed on 24 January 1950.
• Duration: 11 sessions and 165 sitting days (NCERT: 166), over 2 years, 11 months and 17 or 18 days.
• 1946 dates: 16 May Cabinet Mission Plan → July-August elections → 9 December first sitting (Sinha, provisional President) → 11 December Prasad elected President → 13 December Objectives Resolution moved.
• 1947–50 dates: 22 January 1947 Objectives Resolution adopted → 3 June Plan → 18 July Independence Act → 14 August reassembly → 29 August Drafting Committee → February 1948 draft published → 26 November 1949 adoption → 24 January 1950 signing → 26 January 1950 commencement.
• Committee chairs: Nehru (Union Powers, Union Constitution, States); Patel (Provincial Constitution, Advisory); Prasad (Steering, Rules of Procedure); Kripalani (Fundamental Rights Sub-committee); Mookerjee (Minorities); Ambedkar (Drafting). B.N. Rau was Constitutional Adviser, not a member.
• Art. 394 (in force from 26 November 1949): Arts. 5–9, 60, 324, 366–367, 379, 380, 388, 391–393. Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles were NOT among them.
• Art. 394A: authoritative Hindi text (58th Amendment, 1987). Art. 395 repealed the GoI Act 1935 and the Indian Independence Act 1947.
• Sources: Ireland (DPSP, Rajya Sabha nomination, presidential election method); Canada (residuary powers, Governors appointed by the Centre); Australia (Concurrent List, joint sitting); Weimar Germany (suspension of rights in an emergency); USSR (Duties); South Africa (amendment procedure); Japan (procedure established by law).
• Schedules: Second (emoluments); Third (oaths, but the President's oath is in Art. 60 and Governors' in Art. 159); Ninth (1951); Tenth (1985); Eleventh and Twelfth (1992).
• Antecedents: 1919 brought provincial dyarchy. 1935 brought provincial autonomy and three Lists; its federation and central dyarchy never operated. Sapru Committee (1945): the justiciable vs non-justiciable split.
• Traps, all FALSE:
• "The Assembly was directly elected by universal adult franchise."
• "The Constitution was approved in a referendum."
• "Ambedkar was President of the Assembly."
• "Constitution Day is 26 January."
• "Fundamental Rights came into force on 26 November 1949."

Mains — GS-II themes

1. "The Assembly was not representative, yet the Constitution is legitimate." Discuss through mode of promulgation, public reason, voice vs opinion, and ratification through practice.
2. "A bag of borrowings"? Show adaptation: a parliamentary system with an elected President, federation with a strong Centre, rights with reasonable restrictions, non-justiciable directives.
3. Continuity with the 1935 Act (Governor, emergency powers, the Seventh Schedule's structure, the services) and what it means for federalism today.
4. Constitutions that enable as well as limit: India and South Africa as transformative constitutions in deeply unequal societies.
5. Why India's Constitution lasted while Nepal and Pakistan replaced theirs: balanced design, flexibility and a culture of consensus.
6. Federal with a unitary bias, and the synthesis of parliamentary sovereignty and judicial supremacy: is the balance still intact?
7. The framers' method (committees, a published draft, clause-by-clause readings, consensus) as a benchmark for constitutional change today.

Current-affairs hooks

• Constitution Day (26 November) and the Constitution@75 events (2024–26), including events in Samvidhan Sadan, the old Parliament building renamed in 2023 (verify).
• Recurring calls to "rewrite" or review the Constitution.
• Comparative constitution-making: Nepal's political crisis and elections after 2025 (verify current); Chile's two rejected drafts (referendums in 2022 and 2023).
• Anniversaries: the Assembly's first sitting (9 December), Ambedkar Jayanti (14 April), Republic Day themes, and releases of digitised or translated Constituent Assembly Debates (verify).