Constitution of India: Study Material for IPO Exam

The Constitution of India is the world's lengthiest written constitution with 395
articles and 8 schedules. It contains the good points taken from the constitution's
of many countries in the world. It was passed on 26 Nov 1949 by the 'The
Constituent Assembly' and is fully applicable since 26 Jan 1950. The Constituent
Assembly had been elected for undivided India and held its first sitting on 9th
Dec.1946, re-assembled on the 14th August 1947, as The Sovereign Constituent
Assembly for the dominion of India. In regard to its composition the members
were elected by indirect election by the members of The Provisional Legislative
Assemblies (lower house only). At the time of signing 284 out of 299 members of
the Assembly were present.
The constitution of India draws extensively from Western legal traditions in its
outline of the principles of liberal democracy. It follows a British parliamentary
pattern with a lower and upper house. It embodies some Fundamental Rights
which are similar to the Bill of Rights declared by the United States constitution.
It also borrows the concept of a Supreme Court from the US.
India is a federal system in which residual powers of legislation remain with the
central government, similar to that in Canada. The constitution provides detailed
lists dividing up powers between central and state governments as in Australia,
and it elaborates a set of Directive Principles of State Policy as does the Irish
constitution.
The constitution has provision for Schedules to be added to the constitution by
amendment. The ten schedules in force cover the designations of the states and
union territories; the emoluments for high-level officials; forms of oaths;
allocation of the number of seats in the Rajya Sabha. A review of the constitution
needs at least two-thirds of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to pass it.
The Indian constitution is one of the most frequently amended constitutions in
the world. Infact the first amendment to it was passed after only a year of the
adoption of the constitution and instituted numerous minor changes. Many more
amendments followed, a rate of almost two amendments per year since 1950.
Most of the constitution can be amended after a quorum of more than half of the
members of each house in Parliament passes an amendment with a two-thirds
majority vote. Articles pertaining to the distribution of legislative authority
between the central and state governments must also be approved by 50 percent
of the state legislatures.

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 The

Constituent Assembly consisted of 385 members, of which 292 were elected

by he elected members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies while 93
members were nominated by the Princely States. To these were to be added a
representative each from the four Chief Commissioners Provinces of Delhi,
Ajmer-Marwar, Coorg and British Baluchistan.
Each Province and each Indian State or group of States were allotted the total
number of seas proportional to their respective population roughly in the ration
of one to a million.
B N Rao was appointed the Constitutional Advisor of the Assembly.
The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place of Dec 9, 1946 with
Dr. Sachidanand Sinha as its interim President. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected
as its President n Dec 11, 1947.
The Assembly framing the Constitution.had 13 Committees.
The all-important Drafting Committee, which bore the responsibility of
drafting the Constitutional document during the recess of the Constitutent
Assembly, from July 1947 to September 1948, was formed on August 29, 1947.
Its members were:
1. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Ayyangar
2. N. Gopalaswami Ayyar
3. K.M. Munshi
4. Syyed Mohd. Saadulla
5. N.Madhav Rao
6. D.P.Khaitan (T Krishnamachari, after Kahitans Death in 1948)
It was finally passed and accepted on Nov 26, 1949. The session of the Assembly
was held on Jan 24, 1950, which unanimously elected Dr, Rajendra Prasad as the
President of India. In all the 284 members of the Assembly signed the official
copies of the Indian Constitution which came into effect on Jan 26, 1950, known
and celebrated as the Republic Day of India.

PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION:

The Indian Constitution starts with the preamble which outlines the main
objectives of the Constitution. It reads:
" WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India
into a SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLIC
and to secure all its citizens."
JUSTICE, social economic and political.
LIBERTY, of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.
EQUALITY, of status and of opportunity, and to promote among them all.

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FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and unity and integrity of
the nation.
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, this twenty sixth day of November,
1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, "ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES HIS
CONSTITUTION ".
Idea of preamble borrowed from Constitution of US.
The words SOCIALIST, SECULAR and UNITY & INTEGRITY were
added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976.
Preamble is not justifiable.

BORROWED FEATURES OF CONSTITUTION:

Nominal Head President (like Queen)
Cabinet System of Ministers
Post of PM
From U.K.

Parliamentary Type of Govt.

Bicameral Parliament
Lower House more powerful
Council of Ministers responsible to Lowe House
Speaker in Lok Sabha
Written Constitution
Executive head of state known as President and his being the Supreme
Commander of the Armed Forces
Vice- President as the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha
Fundamental Rights

From U.S.

Supreme Court
Provision of States
Independence of Judiciary and judicial review
Preamble
Removal of Supreme court and High court Judges

From USSR

Fundamental Duties
Five year Plan
Concurrent list

From AUSTRALIA

Language of the preamble

Provision regarding trade, commerce and intercourse

From JAPAN
From WEIMAR
CONSTITUION OF
GERMANY
From CANADA

Law on which the Supreme Court function

Suspension of Fundamental Rights during the emergency
Scheme of federation with a strong centre

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 Distribution of powers between centre and the states and placing. Residuary
Powers with the centre

From IRELAND

Concept of Directive Principles of States Policy(Ireland borrowed it from SPAIN)

Method of election of PresidentNomination of members in the Rajya Sabha by the
President

The Constitution of India HIGHLIGHTS:

The Constitution of India was enacted on 26th of January, 1950. The Constituent
Assembly of India drafted the nation's Constitution. Being drafted on 26th of
November, 1949, the Indian Constitution laid the foundations for establishment
of the Democratic Republic of India.
Drafting of the Constitution

The Constitution of India was drafted over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18
days. The members of Constituent Assembly of India met for the first time in the
year 1946 on December 9. The next meeting of the Assembly took place on
August 14th, 1947 for the dominion of India in which the proposal of forming
various committees was presented. Such committees include Committee on
Fundamental Rights, the Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution
Committee. One of the unique factors of this meeting was that the Assembly
gathered as the Sovereign Constituent Assembly of India.
On 29th August, 1947 a Drafting Committee, with Dr. Ambedkar as the
Chairman, was formed on the basis of the various reports submitted by the
previous committees. It was in the year 1948 that a Draft Constitution including
a range of proposals was formed by the concerned committee. The Constituent
Assembly of India held two meetings in February 1948 and October 1949 to go
through the clauses of the Draft. Finally, from 14th to 26th of November, 1949
the Constituent Assembly analyzed each and every provision of the Draft. The
then President of the Constituent Assembly of India signed the Draft on
November 26th, 1949.
Today, there are 12 Schedules and 395 Articles in the Constitution of India.
Amendments have been made to the Constitution time and again as per the need
of the hour. Till 2006, there have been 94 Amendments made to the constitution.
Constituent Assembly

The Constituent Assembly of India was formed by the elected members of the
provincial assemblies of the country. Presided over by Dr. Sachidanand Sinha
for the first time, the Indian Constituent Assembly played the most important
role in creating the Constitution of India. After Dr. Sinha, Dr. Rajendra Prasad
became the President of the Assembly. Comprising over 30 schedule class
members, the Constituent Assembly also included sections of Christians, AngloIndians and Minority Community. Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, being the
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Minority Community Chairman, also successfully worked for the Christians.

While H P Modi was the representative of the Parsi community, Frank Anthony
headed the Anglo-Indian section of the country in the Constituent Assembly.
Some of the prominent female personalities of the Constituent Assembly were
Vijaylakshmi Pandit and Sarojini Naidu. From Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, B N
Rau and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad to K M Munshi, Sardar Patel and Alladi
Krishnaswami Aiyer, each one had a major contribution towards the present
form of the Constituent Assembly.
Preamble

The Preamble is one of the most significant parts of the Constitution of India.
Focusing on the core objective of the Indian Constitution, the Preamble includes
the following:

Equality

- which connotes equal opportunity for one and all

Justice - which means fair judgment in the fields of politics, society and
economy
Fraternity - which works towards keeping the integrity and strength of the
country intact along with special stress on individual dignity
Liberty - which assures every citizen of India the freedom of speech and
expression, religious independence and choice of going by one's own belief
The Preamble, as it is presented in the Constitution of India, is mentioned below:
"WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India
into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and
to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY
of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of
opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the
dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949,
do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS
CONSTITUTION."
Parts of the Constitution

The Constitution of India covers a total of 395 Articles in 22 parts. The parts of
the Indian Constitution are mentioned below:

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 Part

I - The Union and its Territory

Part II - Citizenship
Part III - Fundamental Rights
Part IV - Directive Principles of State Policy
Part IVA - Fundamental Duties
Part V - The Union
Part VI - The States
Part VII - The States in Part B of the First Schedule
Part VIII - The Union Territories
Part IX - Panchayats
Part IXA - Municipalities
Part X - The Scheduled and Tribal Areas
Part XI - Relations Between The Union and The States
Part XII - Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits
Part XIII - Trade, Commerce and Intercourse within The Territory of India
Part XIV - Services Under The Union and The States
Part XIVA - Tribunals
Part XV- Elections
Part XVI - Special Provisions Relating to Certain Classes
Part XVII - Official Language
Part XVIII - Emergency Provisions
Part XIX - Miscellaneous
Part XX - Amendment of the Constitution
Part XXI - Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions
Part XXII - Short Title, Commencement, Authoritative Text in Hindi and
Repeals

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