Committees, the Drafting Committee and the three readings

Detail

Why the Assembly worked through committees

• The Assembly was too big to write text line by line in a full meeting. After Partition it had 299 members [3].
• So the work was split up:
• Committees (small groups of members) studied one subject each and wrote reports with draft provisions.

• The whole Assembly then debated those reports and decided.

• Class 11 counts eight major committees. Most were chaired by one of four leaders: Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel or B.R. Ambedkar.

• These four often disagreed:
• Ambedkar was a bitter critic of the Congress and of Gandhi.
• Patel and Nehru differed on many issues.
• Yet they worked together. This showed a habit of agreeing through talks and debate.

The major committees on what the Constitution would say

Chair	Committee	What it did
Nehru	Union Powers Committee	Decided which subjects belong to the Union (Centre)
Nehru	Union Constitution Committee	Designed the Union government: President and Parliament
Nehru	States Committee	Negotiated with the princely states
Patel	Provincial Constitution Committee	Designed government in the provinces (later states)
Patel	Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas	Its reports shaped Part III (Fundamental Rights) and the safeguards for minorities and tribal people
Rajendra Prasad	Steering Committee; Rules of Procedure Committee	Coordinated the Assembly's business; set its rules
B.R. Ambedkar	Drafting Committee	Turned the decisions into a complete legal text

• Union Powers Committee: the committee that decided which powers the Centre would hold.
• It was appointed on 25 January 1947 with Nehru as chair [4].
• First Report (17 April 1947): it worked within the weak-Centre plan of the time. It listed Union subjects under Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communications. It also listed "implied" powers that follow from these, such as currency and the Union judiciary [4].

• After Partition, its thinking changed. It favoured a strong Centre, with residuary powers (powers over any subject not named in any list) given to the Union.

• Union Constitution Committee: the committee that planned the structure of the Union government, mainly the President and Parliament.

• States Committee: the committee that held talks with the princely states (areas ruled by Indian kings under British overlordship) about joining the new Constitution.
• Provincial Constitution Committee: the committee that planned the government of the provinces, such as the Governor and the legislature.
• Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas: Patel's committee for rights and for the protection of vulnerable groups. It worked through four sub-committees:

Sub-committee	Chair	Later outcome
Fundamental Rights Sub-committee	J.B. Kripalani	Drafted the list of rights → Part III
Minorities Sub-committee	H.C. Mookerjee	Safeguards for religious and other minorities
North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas	Gopinath Bardoloi	→ Sixth Schedule (autonomous district councils in the North-East)
Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than Assam)	A.V. Thakkar	→ Fifth Schedule (Scheduled Areas in other states)

• Fundamental Rights Sub-committee: the group under the Advisory Committee that wrote the first list of rights every citizen would hold.
• Steering Committee: the committee that planned and coordinated the Assembly's work. It decided the order of business and linked the committees together.

Committees on how the Assembly ran

• Besides the subject committees, there were committees for the Assembly's own work [3]:
• Rules of Procedure, Steering, Finance and Staff, and the Ad hoc Committee on the National Flag: all chaired by Rajendra Prasad.
• Credential Committee (checked members' election papers): Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar.
• House Committee: B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
• Order of Business Committee: K.M. Munshi.

• Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly: G.V. Mavalankar.

• The fuller table of committees appears in the history note on framing the Constitution.

The Drafting Committee

• Drafting Committee: the committee that turned the Assembly's decisions and the committee reports into a complete, article-by-article legal text, the Draft Constitution.
• Set up on 29 August 1947.
• Satyanarayan Sinha moved the motion [5].
• Its task was to examine the draft prepared in the Assembly's office and suggest changes. That draft was based on decisions the Assembly had already taken [5][6].

• Members insisted that the Committee stay under the Assembly's control. Rajendra Prasad confirmed that the Assembly kept final authority [5].

• Seven members: 1. B.R. Ambedkar (chair) 2. N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar 3. Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar 4. K.M. Munshi 5. Syed Mohammad Saadullah 6. N. Madhava Rau, who replaced B.L. Mitter 7. T.T. Krishnamachari, who replaced D.P. Khaitan after Khaitan died in 1948

• The original seven named on 29 August 1947 included Mitter and Khaitan [5]. This is the source of a common exam trap.

• What it worked from:
• B.N. Rau's first draft (October 1947). Rau was the Assembly's Constitutional Adviser.

• The reports of the committees.

• S.N. Mukherjee was the chief draughtsman, the official who wrote the legal wording.

• Public comment: the Draft Constitution was published in February 1948. People had about eight months to comment before the debate.
• Ambedkar's other role: he was also independent India's first Law Minister (Class 7).
• Rajendra 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."

The three readings: how the Draft became the Constitution

• Reading: one full stage of the Assembly's consideration of the Draft. It is like the stages a bill goes through in Parliament.

Reading	Dates	What happened
First reading	4–9 November 1948	Ambedkar introduced the Draft. There was a general debate on its overall shape.
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.
Third reading	14–26 November 1949	The final text was debated. It was passed and adopted on 26 November 1949.

• Order of steps: committee reports → B.N. Rau's draft (October 1947) → Drafting Committee's Draft (published February 1948) → public comment (about 8 months) → first reading → second reading → third reading → adopted on 26 November 1949 → in force on 26 January 1950.

Scale and cost of the work

• Amendments: about 7,635 were tabled (formally put forward). Of these, 2,473 were moved, discussed and disposed of [2][6].
• Sessions: 11 sessions from 9 December 1946 to 26 November 1949 [6].
• Sitting days: 165 days [2][3] (NCERT: 166). Of these, 114 days were spent on the Draft Constitution [3].
• Time taken: 2 years, 11 months and 17 days [3][6]. It is often given as 18 days because some people count both the first and the last day.
• Openness: sessions were open to the press and the public. Every argument was answered "with great care and in writing".
• Cost: about ₹64 lakh is the figure commonly cited.

Prelims Hooks

• Drafting Committee set up on 29 August 1947. Satyanarayan Sinha moved the motion. It had 7 members, with B.R. Ambedkar as chair.
• Trap: B.L. Mitter and D.P. Khaitan were original members. They were later replaced by N. Madhava Rau and T.T. Krishnamachari. K.M. Munshi and Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar were members from the start.
• Nehru chaired the Union Powers, Union Constitution and States Committees. Patel chaired the Provincial Constitution Committee and the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas.
• Rajendra Prasad chaired the Steering, Rules of Procedure, Finance and Staff, and National Flag committees. K.M. Munshi chaired the Order of Business Committee. Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar chaired the Credential Committee.
• Sub-committee pairs: Kripalani – Fundamental Rights. H.C. Mookerjee – Minorities. Bardoloi – North-East tribal areas (Sixth Schedule). A.V. Thakkar – other excluded areas (Fifth Schedule).
• Union Powers Committee: appointed on 25 January 1947. Its first report came on 17 April 1947.
• Readings: first on 4–9 November 1948. Second, clause by clause, from 15 November 1948 to 17 October 1949. Third from 14 to 26 November 1949.
• Numbers: 7,635 amendments tabled and 2,473 disposed of. 11 sessions and 165 days (NCERT: 166). 2 years, 11 months, 17 days.
• B.N. Rau (Constitutional Adviser) wrote the first draft (October 1947). S.N. Mukherjee was the chief draughtsman. The Draft was published in February 1948.

Mains Points

• Consensus through committees: leaders who disagreed with each other (Nehru, Patel, Prasad, Ambedkar) shared the chairs. They debated in the open and answered every objection in writing. This gave the Constitution wide legitimacy (the people's acceptance of it as rightful), even though the Assembly was elected indirectly on a limited franchise.
• Partition reshaped federalism: the Union Powers Committee first worked to a weak-Centre plan limited to defence, foreign affairs and communications. After Partition it moved to a strong Centre with residuary powers in the Union. This explains India's federal system with a strong Centre.
• Public participation and careful debate: the Draft was open to public comment for about eight months. About 7,635 amendments were tabled, and the Assembly sat on 114 days for the Draft alone. This answers the charge that the Constitution was simply "borrowed" or imposed. Its text was argued over, not just copied.
• Limits of the process: the Drafting Committee was small, worked mostly in English, and 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. The answer: the Assembly kept final authority over the Committee, and the debates were open to the public.