CONSTITUTION

WHY AND HOW?

“A constitution is a body of fundamental
principles ,ideals, philosophies and laws
according to which a state is constituted and
governed”.
WHY DO WE NEED A CONSTITUTION?
 Constitution allows coordination and
assurance: The first function of the constitution
is to provide a set of basic rules that allow for
minimal coordination amongst members of a
society.
 Specification of decision making power : The
second function of constitution is to specify who
will do what and to give power to different
organs and institution of the government.
WHY DO WE NEED A CONSTITUTION…
 Limitations on the power of the
government: constitution limits the
power of the government and tells what it
can’t do.
 Aspirations and goals of the society:
Constitution enables the government to do
certain positive things to fulfil aspirations
of society
 Fundamental identity of a people:
Constitution provides political ,moral as
well as national identity to the citizens.
THE AUTHORITY OF THE CONSTITUTION
WHAT MAKES A CONSTITUTION EFFECTIVE?
 MODE OF PROMULGATION:
 This refers to how a constitution comes into
being who crafted the constitution and how
much authority did they have.
 The most successful constitution of the world
like US,India and South Africa were created in
the aftermath of the popular movement.
 Indian constitution was also the result of
nationalist movement.
 The constitution drew enormous legitimacy from
the fact that it was drawn up by people who
enjoyed immense public credibility
CONTINUED…

 And who had the capacity to negotiate and

command the respect of a wide cross –section of
a society and who were able to convince the
people
 The Indian constitution reflected the broad
consensus . The Indian constitution was never
subjected to referendum because it had the
consensus and backing of the leaders who were
themselves popular.
 Therefore the success of the constitution is
determined by the authority of the people who
enacted it
THE SUBSTANTIVE PROVISION OF THE
CONSTITUTION
 The constitution that give everyone in society a
reason to follow it is the most successful
constitution.
 The constitution that gives privilege to one
section of society at the expense of others is not
likely to be successful . If any group feels that
their identity is being stifled ,they will have no
reasons to abide by the constitution.
 The more a constitution preserves the freedom
and equality of all its members ,the more likely
it is to succeed
BALANCED INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN
 The constitution that distribute the powers
among different sections of society and organs of
the government intelligently is more likely to
successful.
 Constitution to be effective must ensure that no
single institution acquire the monopoly of power
 This is often done by fragmenting powers across
different institutions.
 The Indian Constitution horizontally fragments
power across different institution like Legislature
,Executive , Judiciary and Election commission.
CONTINUED….
 There is an effective system of checks and
balance that ensures that if one institution
wants to subvert the constitution , others can
check it .
 This system has facilitated the success of the
Indian constitution.
 The constitution must strike balance between
rigidity and flexibility as well
 It means that the constitution must protect
certain values and norms as permanent and at
the same time should be flexible in its
operations
HOW WAS THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
MADE?
 Indian constitution was made by the Constituent
Assembly that was established as per the Cabinet
Mission Plan.
 Each Province and Princely state were allotted
seats in proportion to their population in the ratio
of 1:10,00,000
 As a result the Provinces were to elect 292
members while the Princely States were to elect 93
seats
 The seats in each Province were distributed among
the three main communities ,Muslims ,Sikhs and
General , in proportion to their respective
population
CONTINUED…
 The members from Provincial States were
elected by the members of Provisional
Legislative Assembly by the method of
proportional representation with single
transferable vote
 Members from Princely States were
selected by consultation
 The Constituent Assembly finally consisted
of 299 members ,229 from province and
70 from Princely states after division of
India
WHAT MAKES THE INDIAN
CONSTITUTION EFFECTIVE?
 COMPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
 Although the members of the Assembly were
not elected by Universal Suffrage ,the attempt
was made to make the Assembly a
representative body.
 Members of all religions were given
representation and in addition Assembly had
twenty six members from Scheduled class
 In terms of political parties there was dominance
of Congress but Congress was itself a diverse
party that it managed to accommodate almost
all shades of opinion within it
CONTINUED…
 THE PRINCIPLE OF DELIBERATIONS:
 Each member in the Assembly deliberated upon
the Constitution with the interests of the whole
nation in the mind rather than their personal or
community identity
 There were many differences of principles
like :what should be the relations between the
states and the centre ?
 should India adopt a centralized or decentralized
system of government?
CONTINUED..
 Each issue was discussed and debated in
detail with reason.
 Only one provision of the constitution
was passed without virtually any debate
that was introduction of Universal Adult
Franchise
CONTINUED..
 PROCEDURE:
 The Constituent Assembly eight major committees on
different subjects.
 These committees were chaired by Nehru , Rajendra
Prasad ,Sardar Patel , Maulana Azad or Ambedkar
etc.And there was considerable disagreement among
these leaders.
 Each committee usually drafted particular provisions of
the constitution which were then subjected to debate by
the entire Assembly
 Some provisions were subject to the vote .But in each
case every single query or concern was responded to
with great care and in writing.The Assembly met for one
hundred and sixty six days
INHERITANCE OF THE NATIONALIST
MOVEMENT
 The basic principles of the constitution are the
inheritance of the national movement and were
forged during the long struggle for freedom .
 The Constituent Assembly was giving concrete
shape to principles and values it inherited from
the national movement.
 Objective Resolution is the best summary of the
principles that the nationalist movement
brought to the Constituent Assembly.
CONTINUED…
 It was moved by Nehru in 1946 and
defined the aims of the Assembly. It
consisted the aspirations and values
behind the constitution .
 So ,Constitution is also a moral
commitment to establish a government
that will fulfil the promises that
nationalist movement held before the
people.
BORROWED PROVISIONS