Attempt any ONE Question.

Word Limit is 1500-2000.

Plagiarised answer will be marked ZERO. Total Marks 20.

Do submit your answers to class CR by 11:00 pm April 05, 2021. CR will submit responses in
one folder to me by 11:15 pm today.

Q # 1: Indian constitution is the lengthiest constitution of the world.

Discuss its sources, constitution making process and distinctive
features.
A) Introduction:
The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the
framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties
of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of
citizens. It is the longest written constitution of any country on earth.
It imparts constitutional supremacy (not parliamentary supremacy, since it was created by
a constituent assembly rather than Parliament) and was adopted by its people with a declaration
in its preamble. Parliament cannot override the constitution. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and
Constitution of India on a 2015 postage stamp of India. It was adopted by the Constituent
Assembly of India on 26 November 1949 and became effective on 26 January 1950. The
constitution replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country's fundamental governing
document, and the Dominion of India became the Republic of India. To ensure constitutional
autochthony, its framers repealed prior acts of the British parliament in Article 395. India
celebrates its constitution on 26 January as Republic Day.
The constitution declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic, assures
its citizens justice, equality and liberty, and endeavours to promote fraternity. The original 1950
constitution is preserved in a helium-filled case at the Parliament House in New Delhi. The
words "secular" and "socialist" were added to the preamble in 1976 during the Emergency.

1) Sources:
i. Government of India Act 1935
The Constitution of 1950 was a by-product of the legacy started by the Government of India Act
1935. This was the longest act passed by the British government with 321 sections and 10
schedules. This act had drawn its content from four sources – Report of the Simon Commission,
discussions and deliberations at the Third Round Table Conference, the White Paper of 1933 and
the reports of the Joint select committees.
This act abolished the system of provincial diarchy and suggested the establishment of diarchy at
the centre and a ‘Federation of India’ consisting of the provinces of British India and most of the
princely states.
Most importantly, the act established the office of the Governor; all the executive powers and
authority of the centre was vested in the Governor.
Some features of the Government of India Act 1935 were:
 Federal Legislature
 Provincial Autonomy

ii. The United Kingdom

A lot of concepts and features of the Indian Constitution have its roots in Great Britain. Some
of those are:
 Parliamentary form of government
 Rule of Law
iii. The United States of America
Some of the features borrowed from the USA are:
o Fundamental Rights: Articles 12 to 32 of the Indian Constitution contains all
the fundamental rights.
o Judicial Review: The provision of Judicial Review gives the judiciary an upper
hand in interpreting the Constitution. The judiciary can thus nullify any order by
the legislature or executive if that order is in conflict with the Constitution of the
country.
iv. Ireland:
The main feature borrowed from the Irish Constitution is the provision of the Directive
Principles of State Policy (DPSP). The DPSP are listed in the Part IV of the Indian Constitution
and it clearly states that it is the duty of the State to apply these principles in the process of law
making. There are mainly three categories of these principles – Socialist Directives, Gandhian
Directives and Liberal Intellectual Directives. The procedure for the nomination of members to
the Rajya Sabha is also borrowed from Ireland.
v) Canada
The provisions of a Federation with a strong centre, Residuary powers of the Centre,
appointment of State governors by the Centre and the advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court, have all been borrowed from the Canadian constitution. Article 248 of the Indian
Constitution states that the Parliament has the sole power to make laws regarding any item not
mentioned in the Union and State lists respectively. Article 143 provides for an advisory
jurisdiction for the Supreme Court. Under this provision, the President may seek opinion of the
Supreme Court on public matters and the Supreme Court may then further give its opinion after
studying the case properly.
vi) France
The Indian Preamble borrowed its ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity from the
French Constitution. The Indian state came to be recognized as the ‘Republic of India’ in the
lineage of the Constitution of France.
vii) Australia
The Constitution of Australia lent us the provisions of Freedom of Trade and Commerce
within the country and between the states. The provisions of the same are laid down in the
Articles 301-307 of the Indian Constitution. We also received the provisions of the Concurrent
list and the joint sitting of both the houses of Parliament from Australia.

viii) South Africa and Germany

While the Constitution of South Africa gave us the provisions of the procedure of the
amendment and the Election of the Rajya Sabha members, the German Constitution, gave us the
provision of suspension of fundamental rights during emergency.
These were the major sources of the Indian Constitution. As the father of our Constitution
and the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said, “As to the accusation that
the Draft Constitution has [re]produced a good part of the provisions of the Government of India
Act, 1935, I make no apologies. There is nothing to be ashamed of in borrowing. It involves no
plagiarism. Nobody holds any patent rights in the fundamental ideas of a Constitution….”

2) Constitution making process:

Sir Benegal Narsing Rau, a civil servant who became the first Indian judge in
the International Court of Justice and was president of the United Nations Security Council, was
appointed as the assembly's constitutional adviser in 1946. Responsible for the constitution's
general structure, Rau prepared its initial draft in February 1948. The draft of B.N. Rau consisted
of 243 articles and 13 schedules which came to 395 articles and 8 schedules after discussions,
debates and amendments.
On 14 August 1947, meeting of the assembly, committees were proposed. Rau's draft was
considered, debated and amended by the eight-person drafting committee, which was appointed
on 29 August 1947 with B. R. Ambedkar as chair. A revised draft constitution was prepared by
the committee and submitted to the assembly on 4 November 1947. Dr B. R. Ambedkar in his
concluding speech in constituent assembly on 25 November 1949 stated that:
“The credit that is given to me does not really belong to me. It belongs partly to Sir B.N.
Rau the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly who prepared a rough draft of the
Constitution for the consideration of Drafting Committee.”
While deliberating the revised draft constitution, the assembly moved, discussed and disposed
off 2,473 amendments out of a total of 7,635. Before adopting the constitution, the assembly held
eleven sessions in 165 days. On 26 November 1949, it adopted the constitution, which was
signed by 284 members. The day is celebrated as National Law Day, or Constitution Day. The
day was chosen to spread the importance of the constitution and to spread thoughts and ideas of
Ambedkar.

Jawaharlal Nehru signing the constitution

The assembly's final session convened on 24 January 1950. Each member signed two copies of
the constitution, one in Hindi and the other in English. The original constitution is hand-written,
with each page decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Beohar Rammanohar
Sinha and Nandalal Bose. Its calligrapher was Prem Behari Narain Raizada. The constitution was
published in Dehradun and photolithographed by the Survey of India. Production of the original
constitution took nearly five years. Two days later, on 26 January 1950, it became the law
of India. The estimated cost of the Constituent Assembly was ₹6.3 crore (million). The
constitution has had more than 100 amendments since it was enacted.

3) Distinctive features:
i) India’s Secularism:
The constitution makes India a secular state by detaching from religious dogmas (Forty-
second Amendment).
ii) Judicial Autonomy:
 The constitution provides an independent judiciary (Article 76) which ensures that the
government is carried on in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and acts as a
guardian of the liberties and fundamental rights of the citizens.

iii) Flexibility:
The Indian constitution is combination of rigidity and flexibility, which means some
parts of it can be amended by the Parliament by a simple majority, whereas some parts require
a two-third majority as well as not less than one-half of the state legislatures.
iv) Lengthiest Constitution in the world:
The Indian constitution is one of the bulkiest constitution of the world, comprising
of 395 articles, 22 parts and 12 schedules.
v) Bicameral legislatures
The Indian constitution provides a bicameral legislatures at centre consisting of Rajya
Sabha (Council of States) and Lok Sabha (House of the People) (Article 79).