Constituent Assembly of India

The history of Indian Constitution dates back to 1773, in which the first Regulating Act was brought in by the British. The Regulating Act, 1773 is regarded as the first written Constitution in India. After that, the British brought in different Acts to govern the British India. The present Constitution of India was framed by the Constituent Assembly of India. The Constituent Assembly was established under the proposals of Cabinet Mission Plan.

Constituent Assembly and Making of the Constitution

In 1946, the British Government sent a delegation or a mission to India called Cabinet Mission Plan consisting of Sir Pethick Lawrence as its chairman and Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander as its other members. The delegation visited India on 24th March, 1946 and it recommended for the formation of Constituent Assembly of India. Accordingly, elections were held to elect members of the Constituent Assembly in the month of July, 1946.

• There were in total 389 members in Constituent Assembly. As a result of establishment of separate Constituent Assembly for Pakistan in June, 1947, the number got reduced to 299.
  
  
• The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held on 9th December, 1946 in the Central Hall of the Parliament in New Delhi.
  
  
• Sri Sachidananda Sinha was elected as ad hoc or temporary chairman of the Constituent Assembly as he was the senior most member.
  
  
• On 11th December, 1946, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected unanimously as the President of Constituent Assembly and H.C. Mookerjee was elected as the vice President.
  
  B.N. Rao was appointed as chief advisor to the Constituent Assembly. Sometime later, V.T. Krishnamachari was elected as a second vice President in addition to H.C. Mookerjee.
  
  
• On 13th December, 1946, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru moved 'Objective Resolution' in the Constituent Assembly. This Resolution is the basis for the Preamble of the Constitution, which was unanimously accepted on 22nd January, 1947.
  
  
• There were in total 11 sessions of the Constituent Assembly held of which the first session took place from 9th to 23rd December, 1946 and the 11th session took place from 14th to 26th November, 1949. During this period, the Constituent Assembly consulted constituional sources of many other countries.
  
  The Constituent Assembly met once again on 24th January, 1950, to append signatures of the members to the Constitution of India.
  
  
• Constitution was adopted on 26th November, 1949 by Constituent Assembly and the Constitution of India came into being effective from 26th January, 1950. In total, the Constituent Assembly did sit for 166 days.
  
  
• 'Jana Gana Mana' was adopted as National Anthem by Constituent Assembly on 24th January, 1950.
  
  
• In total, there held three readings of the Constitution in the Constituent Assembly.
  
  
• The time taken by the Constituent Assembly in preparation of the Constitution is 2 years 11 months 18 days.
  
  
• The emblem of Constituent Assembly of India is Elephant.
  
  
• Out of 389 members, 292 were elected indirectly from British Provinces in the system of Proportional Representation, by elected members of the Assemblies of Provinces.
  
  93 members were nominated from the 552 Princely States. The remaining 4 were taken from Chief Commissioner Provinces namely Coorg, Ajmer-Merwara, Delhi and Balochistan.
  
  In this elections, Congress secured 208 seats and Muslim League secured 73 seats. But Muslim League boycotted Proceedings of the Constituent Assembly demanding for a separate Constituent Assembly for Pakistan.
  
  
• The 292 members, who were elected from the British Provinces on the basis of proportional representation, represented 1 million people. That is each member represented 1 million people.
  
  
• Criticism or comments on the composition of the Constituent Assembly -
  
  
  • Constituent Assembly represented one major section of the society - Winston Churchill
    
    
  • Constituent Assembly represented a Hindu community - V.A. Simon
    
    
  • Constituent Assembly represented Congress, Congress means India - Granville Austin

Committees of Constituent Assembly

Different committees were constituted by the Constituent Assembly of India to deal with various important issues while making the Constitution. Out of these, some committees were dealing with procedural affairs and others were dealing with substantive affairs. Each of these committees were headed by a chairman.

List of Committees of Constituent Assembly

The Constituent Assembly constituted 22 committees to deal with different tasks of making the Constitution. Of these 22 committees, 8 were major committees and the remaining were minor committees.

Major Committees Of Constituent Assembly



• Drafting Committee, headed by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
  
  
• Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas, headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
  
  
• Provincial Constitution Committee, headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
  
  
• Union Constitution Committee, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru
  
  
• Union Powers Committee, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru
  
  
• States Committee (Committee for negotiating with states), headed by Jawaharlal Nehru
  
  
• Rules of Procedure Committee, headed by Dr. Rajendra Prasad
  
  
• Steering Committee, headed by Dr. Rajendra Prasad
  
  

Minor Committees Of Constituent Assembly



• Finance and Staff Committee, headed by Dr. Rajendra Prasad
  
  
• Ad hoc Committee on the National Flag, headed by Dr. Rajendra Prasad
  
  
• Credential Committee, headed by Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer
  
  
• Special Committee to Examine the Draft Constitution, headed by Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer
  
  
• House Committee, headed by Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya
  
  
• Committee on Chief Commissioners' Provinces, headed by Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya
  
  
• Order of Business Committee, headed by K.M. Munshi
  
  
• Press Gallery Committee, headed by Usha Nath Sen
  
  
• Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly, headed by G.V. Mavalankar
  
  
• Language Committee, headed by ⁣Moturi Satyanarayana
  
  
• Ad hoc Committee on the Supreme Court, headed by S. Varadachari (not a member of Constituent Assembly)
  
  
• Ad hoc Committee on Citizenship, headed by S. Varadachari
  
  
• Expert Committee on the Financial Provisions of the Union Constitution, headed by Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (not a member of Constituent Assembly)
  
  
• Linguistic Provinces Commission, headed by S.K. Dar (not a member of Constituent Assembly)

Of all these above Committees, Drafting Committee and Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas are the most important ones.

Drafting Committee of Constituent Assembly

• The most important Committee of the Constituent Assembly was Drafting Committee, which was formed on 29th August, 1947 consisting of B.R. Ambedkar as its chairman and 6 members, namely Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, K.M. Munshi, Mohammed Sadullah, N. Madhava Rao and T.T. Krishnamachari.
  
  
• In the Drafting Committee, N. Madhava Rao replaced B.N. Mitter, who resigned due to ill health and T.T. Krishnamachari replaced D.P. Khaitan, who expired.
  
  Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who was initially represented Bengal province lost his membership due to division Bengal, part of which went to Pakistan. However, he was elected from Bombay province subsequently.

Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas

It is the largest Committee of the Constituent Assembly of India, consisting of 54 members headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. This Committee had 4 Sub-Committees.

• Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee, which was headed by J.B. Kripalani
  
  
• North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee, which was headed by Gopinath Bardoloi
  
  
• Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee, which was headed by A.V. Thakkar
  
  
• Minorities Sub-Committee, which was headed by H.C. Mookherjee