November 26, 2024 is the 75th Constitution Day. The day when the Constituent Assembly, the body representing the erstwhile provinces and princely states, concluded its deliberations over a period of two years, 11 months and 17 days to finalize the fundamental document on which the country would be governed. had to be ruled over and adopted. Constitution of 26 November 1949.
Although India gained independence on August 15, 1947, this assembly came into existence only in 1946, following steps taken by the British to work out the modalities of transfer of power. Its first meeting was held on December 9, 1946, when Sachidanand Sinha, the country’s oldest parliamentarian, who had served as a member of the Imperial Legislative Council between 1910 and 1920, took charge as pro tempore Speaker.
initial occupation
The initial tasks before the Assembly were to elect a permanent Speaker, frame its rules of functioning and appoint committees to perform functions such as discussion on fundamental rights, issues related to Scheduled Castes. The very next day, the Assembly finalized the process of filing nominations and on December 11, 1946, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected its Speaker. On the same day, a 15-member rules committee was also formed to make rules of functioning. The Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah stayed away from the debate. Condemning this, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan said on December 11, 1946: “We believe that this will be only temporary, as their cooperation is absolutely essential to the success of any Constitution.”
On December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru introduced a historic resolution, which served as a blueprint for the drafting of the Constitution and also became part of its Preamble. The resolution read: “This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolution to declare India an independent sovereign republic and to frame a Constitution for its future government.” This eight-section resolution invited all areas of British India and people outside it to become part of an independent sovereign country and guaranteed justice to all people – social, economic and political; Equality of status, equality of opportunity and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, profession and association under law and public morality.
amendments led to discussion
The number of amendments proposed led to lengthy discussion. Shrikrishna Sinha from Bihar said: “In my opinion, it is really unfortunate that a proposal of such a sacred nature should be subjected to amendment. I deliberately call it sacred. He further said: “Sir, if carefully analyzed this is the solution. It presents a picture of the vision of future India. The India of the future will be a democratic and decentralized republic, in which ultimate sovereignty rests with the people and in which the fundamental rights of the minorities living in this land will be protected.
Syama Prasad Mukherjee of Bengal said: “The resolution has its own importance… I hope so, Sir, because we are not making a Constitution now, because we are only making a general outline of the things we wish to do In future, the House will refuse to hear narrowly technical matters.
The discussion on the resolution could not be concluded before the end of the first session on December 23, 1946, as more than 50 members remained adamant in expressing their views. Although the President suggested holding the proceedings during the Christmas holidays and also on Sundays, most of the members did not agree to it due to their busy schedules. The second session was held between January 20 and 25, 1947, when Dr. Prasad objected to comments made by Winston Churchill and others in the British Parliament on the Constituent Assembly not being representative of all communities. Dr. Prasad said, “Out of the total 926 members who participated in the initial session, 210 members participated. These 210 members included 155 Hindus out of a total of 160, 30 Scheduled Caste representatives out of a total of 33, all five Sikhs, five Indian Christians out of a total of seven, representatives of all five backward tribes, all three. Anglo-Indians, all three Parsis, and four Muslims out of 80.”
every community was represented
He added: “The significant absence is certainly that of the representatives of the Muslim League – an absence which we all deeply regret. But it is clear from the figures I have quoted that, except the representatives of the Muslim League, every community in India, irrespective of the party affiliation of the persons representing that community, was represented in the Assembly; And, therefore, to describe the Assembly as ‘the only major community in India’ or ‘a body of Hindus’ or ‘a meeting of caste Hindus’ is a complete travesty of the facts. After this, the Assembly continued its discussion on the motion moved by Nehru. Speaking in favor of this, S. of Madras. Nagappa said: “This is a resolution, sir, which gives wide scope to all communities and sections of this country… I must say, sir, that equal opportunity means, one day or the other, even That a Harijan should also be the Prime Minister of India.”
This resolution was passed on January 23, 1947, with some members withdrawing their proposed amendments. Then, Nehru replied: “The first task of this Assembly is to liberate India through a new Constitution, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked masses and to give every Indian full opportunity to develop himself according to his capacity. Have to give. It is definitely a great work.” When the third session met between April 28 and May 2, 1947, Dr. Prasad told the Assembly that the British Government had declared its intention to transfer power to the Indians by June 1948. Therefore, he urged the Assembly to campaign for its finalization. Constitution. The fourth session was held between July 14 and July 31, 1947. Meanwhile, the British government announced the partition of India on June 3, 1947, and this led to some changes in the membership of the Assembly.
Drafting panel constituted
The fifth session began on the intervening night of 14 and 15 August, 1947, when Nehru delivered his famous ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech. On August 29, 1947, the Assembly constituted a seven-member drafting committee, comprising Alladi Krishnaswami Iyer, N. Gopalaswami Iyengar, BR Ambedkar, KM Munshi, Syed Mohammad Saadullah, BL Mitter and DP Khaitan. In return, the committee elected Dr. Ambedkar as its president. Then, BN Rau, the constitutional advisor to the assembly, prepared a rough draft of the Constitution for the consideration of the drafting committee. The original draft contained 243 articles and 13 schedules. However, after discussing it in detail, the first draft contained 315 articles and eight schedules. At the end of the consideration stage, the number of articles increased to 386 and in its final form, the draft Constitution contained 395 articles and 8 schedules. 7,635 amendments were tabled in the draft and 2,473 of them were moved. As far as the charge that the Assembly wasted public money by taking too long to finalize the Constitution, Dr. Ambedkar highlighted the time taken by other countries. He said Canada took two years and five months and Australia took nine years. “The constitutions of America, Canada, South Africa and Australia are much smaller than ours. As I said, our Constitution has 395 articles, while the American has only seven articles, the first of which is divided into four sections totaling 21, the Canadian has 147, the Australian has 128 and the South African has 153 sections. ,
Speaking on November 25, 1949, he said: “The second thing to remember is that the framers of the constitutions of America, Canada, Australia and South Africa were not faced with the problem of amendment. He was transferred. On the other hand, this Constituent Assembly had to deal with about 2,473 amendments. In view of these facts, I find the allegation of delay to be completely baseless.”
Highlighting the tremendous work done, Dr Prasad said: “If you consider the population with which this Assembly has had to deal, you will find that it is more than the population of the whole of Europe except Russia, which 319 million. As against 317 million. The countries of Europe have never been able to join together or even unite in a federation, let alone under a unitary government. Here, irrespective of the population and the size of the country, we have succeeded in creating a Constitution that covers the entire country.
Responding to the charge that the Assembly has wasted public money, Dr Prasad said: “The cost that the Assembly has had to bear during its three years of existence is not very high when you look at the factors that went into its formation. Let’s consider. I understand that the expenditure till 22 November 1949 comes to ₹ 63,96,729. After detailed discussion of every sentence, word and punctuation mark in the 395 articles, the Assembly adopted the Constitution on November 26, 1949, and it came into force on January 26, 1950 with a hair-raising Preamble, which begins with Is: “We, the people of India…”
published – November 24, 2024 10:43 PM IST
