Procedural achievements and the criticisms

Detail

1. What "procedural achievement" means

• Procedural achievements of the Constitution are the achievements in how the Constitution was made. They are separate from what it contains, such as rights, federalism or secularism.

• NCERT (Class 11, Ch 10) names two of them: 1. Faith in political deliberation 2. A spirit of compromise and accommodation

• Why this matters: a constitution earns respect when the way it was made is fair, not only when its content is good.

2. Achievement 1: Faith in political deliberation

• Political deliberation means deciding by open discussion and by giving reasons, not by force, numbers or bargaining.
• The Assembly tried to include everyone. Many groups had too few members in the Assembly. The makers still tried to take all of their views into account.
• The makers were willing to change their minds. They did not walk in with fixed positions.
• They gave reasons for each decision. An outcome had to be defended by argument that others could accept, not by the self-interest of one group.
• They saw disagreement as useful. A clash of views was treated as a way to reach a better answer, not as a threat.

3. Achievement 2: Compromise and accommodation

• Accommodation means making room for another group's concerns inside the final settlement.
• NCERT gives a test for telling a good compromise from a bad one:

Type	What is traded	Condition	Verdict
Bad compromise	A value is given up for mere self-interest	Bargaining or pressure	Not acceptable
Fair compromise	One value is partly given up for another value	Open, free deliberation among equals	Acceptable

• Consensus is better than majority vote here. Deciding the biggest questions by broad agreement, not by a simple majority, is itself morally good. A majority could have forced its view through, but it chose not to.
• Exercise 6(b) of the chapter tests this idea.

Examples of compromise in the text

• Official-language compromise (Munshi–Ayyangar formula):
• Article 343(1): the official language of the Union is Hindi in Devanagari script, with the international form of Indian numerals [5].
• Article 343(2): English was to continue for all official purposes of the Union for 15 years from 1950 [5].
• During those 15 years, the President could allow Hindi to be used alongside English. After 15 years, Parliament could by law keep English in use for set purposes [5].
• The Assembly adopted the draft with amendments on 14 September 1949 [5].

• The value at stake: national unity through one language was partly traded for fairness to non-Hindi regions.

• Time-bound reservation of seats (Article 334):

• The draft article set a 10-year limit on reserved seats for SCs and STs [3].
• In the debate of 24–25 August 1949, members said 10 years was too short. B.R. Ambedkar, as Chairman of the Drafting Committee, refused to tie the time limit to "reaching parity" [3].
• An amendment adding Anglo-Indian representation by nomination was accepted [3].

• The value at stake: equal citizenship without permanent group quotas was balanced against real social disadvantage. A fixed time limit made the special treatment temporary.

• Rights with reasonable restrictions: freedoms such as speech and movement in Article 19(1) can be limited by law on stated grounds in Article 19(2)–(6). Here individual liberty was balanced against public order, security and other values.

Article 334 today

• Constitution (104th Amendment) Act, 2019: it was introduced in the Lok Sabha as the Constitution (126th Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Bill No. 371 of 2019) on 4 December 2019 [4].
• It came into force on 25 January 2020 [4].
• SC/ST reserved seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies were extended to 80 years, which is up to 25 January 2030 [4][3].
• Anglo-Indian nomination stayed at 70 years, so it ended on 25 January 2020 [4].
• The government's stated reason was that the reasons behind the Constituent Assembly's decision "have not yet ceased to exist" [4].
• (NCERT: reservation of seats is presented as a time-bound measure in the original scheme.)

4. Criticism 1: "The Constitution is unwieldy"

• Unwieldy means too long and too heavy to handle easily. India's Constitution is among the longest in the world.
• NCERT's reply: the charge assumes that a constitution must sit in one short, single document. That assumption is wrong.
• The US example: even the short US Constitution is supplemented by other documents that have constitutional status.

• The Indian choice: India puts into one text matters that other countries leave to ordinary laws or conventions. Examples:

  • the Election Commission (Article 324)
  • the public service commissions, the UPSC and the state PSCs (Articles 315–323)

• Result: the length comes from writing more things down. It is not a design flaw. The full treatment is in the notes on constitution-making and salient features.

5. Criticism 2: "The Constitution is unrepresentative"

• The charge: the Constituent Assembly was elected on a limited franchise (only some people could vote). Its members were chosen by the provincial assemblies, not by universal adult franchise.
• The reply separates two ideas:
• "Voice": many Indians had no direct vote in choosing members. This part of the charge is true.

• "Opinion": the Assembly still covered a wide range of views, regions, religions and ideologies.

• The full answer is in the notes on constitution-making.

6. Criticism 3: "The Constitution is an alien document"

• The charge: the Constitution was copied from Western models and does not fit Indian culture.
• Partly true: the Constitution is modern and partly Western. Its parliamentary system, rule of law and fundamental rights come from Western sources (see the sources table in constitution-making).
• K. Hanumanthaiya, in the Constituent Assembly Debates (CAD) on 17 November 1949:
• "We wanted the music of Veena or Sitar, but here we have the music of an English band."
• He said the legal, lawyer-like approach of the draft gave it a foreign look [2].
• He also attacked the Drafting Committee, saying its members had not been part of the freedom movement [2].
• He later became the second Chief Minister of the state now called Karnataka [2].

NCERT's reply (i): Indians made modern ideas their own

• Many Indians took up Western modern ideas as their own tools.
• For them, Westernisation was a way to protest against injustice inside their own tradition, such as caste and the treatment of women.
• Rammohan Roy began this tradition. Dalits continue it.
• 1841: as early as this, Dalits in north India sued landlords in the new colonial courts. They used a "foreign" institution to fight local oppression.

NCERT's reply (ii): Alternative modernity

• Alternative modernity means a mixed culture. It formed when Western modern ideas met Indian traditions. The result is unlike either the West or the old Indian order.
• The Constitution reflects this mix. Drafting was "selective adaptation and not borrowing":
• Selective: the makers chose only what suited Indian needs.

• Adaptation: they changed every borrowed idea to fit India.

• Illustration: the chapter's cartoon shows the makers putting "our own distinct imprint" on every borrowed aspect.

Exercise 7: the Jayesh / Saba / Neha dialogue

• The three students argue about whether the Constitution is "borrowed".
• Neha's point: Indians opposed colonialism as a principle, meaning one people ruling another. They did not oppose British or Western ideas as such.
• So using ideas such as parliamentary democracy does not betray the freedom struggle.
• Exercise 8 of the chapter also draws on these criticisms.

Prelims Hooks

• Procedural achievements (NCERT): (1) faith in political deliberation; (2) a spirit of compromise and accommodation. Both are about how the Constitution was made, not what it says.
• Fair compromise test: one value is partly traded for another value in free deliberation among equals. Trading a value for self-interest is a bad compromise.
• "Music of Veena or Sitar… English band": K. Hanumanthaiya, CAD, 17 November 1949, voicing the "alien document" criticism [2].
• Article 343: Hindi in Devanagari is the official language of the Union. English was to continue for 15 years. The formula is the Munshi–Ayyangar formula, adopted on 14 September 1949 [5].
• Article 334: the original limit was 10 years. The 104th Amendment Act, 2019 extended SC/ST seat reservation to 80 years (25 January 2030). Anglo-Indian nomination ended after 70 years (25 January 2020) [3][4].
• Trap: the Bill was numbered the 126th Amendment Bill, but the Act is the 104th Amendment Act, 2019 [4].
• "Selective adaptation and not borrowing" describes how the Constitution was drafted. This is the idea of alternative modernity.
• 1841: Dalits in north India sued landlords in the new courts. NCERT uses this as an example of Indians making modern institutions their own.
• Unwieldy criticism: India puts bodies such as the Election Commission (Art. 324) and the public service commissions (Arts. 315–323) into the Constitution itself.

Mains Points

• Legitimacy through process: the Assembly was elected on a limited franchise, yet deliberation, giving reasons and deciding by consensus gave the Constitution moral authority. Use this to answer "Was the Constituent Assembly representative?" by separating "voice" from "opinion".
• Compromise as a constitutional method: Article 343's 15-year English window, Article 334's time-bound reservations and the reasonable restrictions in Article 19 show values being balanced against each other, not traded for self-interest. Article 334 has been extended again and again, most recently to 2030 by the 104th Amendment, 2019 [4]. This raises a debate: were the "temporary" compromises ever really time-bound?
• The "alien document" debate (GS-I/II): Hanumanthaiya's "English band" charge [2] can be set against NCERT's two answers: Indians made modern ideas their own (Rammohan Roy, the Dalit lawsuits of 1841), and the Constitution reflects an alternative modernity built by selective adaptation. Neha's point in Exercise 7 adds that Indians opposed colonial rule, not Western ideas.
• Length as a strength: writing institutions such as the Election Commission and the PSCs into the Constitution gives them protection that ordinary laws cannot. The cost is a longer and more frequently amended text.