History: Framing of the Constitution of India
The Constitution of India was framed and adopted by the Constitution Assembly of India. The Constituent Assembly was set up in November 1946 as per the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946. The members were elected indirectly by the Provincial Assemblies in the ratio of one member per one million population. There were a total of 389 members in the Constituent Assembly of which 296 were elected by the members of the Provincial Assemblies and the rest were nominated by the Princely States. Its first meeting was held on 9 th December 1946, with Sachindanadh Sinha as the interim President. On 11th December 1946, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Constituent Assembly .
The historic "Objective Resolution " was moved in the Constituent Assembly by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, on 13 th December 1946. The Constituent Assembly formed 13 important committees for framing the Constitution. The Drafting Committee was appointed on 29 August 1947, with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as the Chairman. The first draft of the Constitution was prepared in October 1947. The Draft Constitution of India prepared by the Drafting Committee was submitted to the President of the Assembly on 21 February 1948. The Clause-by-clause consideration of the Draft Constitution was taken up between 15 November 1948 and 17 October 1949.
On 26 November 1949, the people of India through the Constituent Assembly adopted, enacted and gave to themselves the Constitution of India. The Constitution was finally signed in by the members of the Constituent Assembly on 24 January 1950, which was the last day of the Assembly. The Constitution came into full operation with effect from 26 January 1950. During the period the Constituent Assembly acted as a "temporary Parliament". The Constitution was approved by the members and was signed in by 284 members of the Constituent Assembly .
It is considered to be the second lengthiest Constitution in the World after the Constitution of the Yugoslavia. Originally, it had 22 parts, 395 articles and 8 schedules. The Constituent Assembly took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to frame the Constitution. The design of the National Flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on July 22, 1947. The National Anthem was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950. The Constituent Assembly of India was converted into the provisional Parliament of India on November 26, 1949. The Only state having Constitution of its own is Jammu & Kashmir.
The B.N. Rao was appointed as the Legal Advisor of the Constitution Assembly.
The members of the Drafting Committee were:
- N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar
- Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar
- K.M. Munshi
- Mohammed Sadullah
- B.L. Mittar (Replaced by N. Madhav Rao later)
- D.P. Khaitan (Who died in 1948 and was replaced by T. Krishnamachari)
Dr. B.R. Ambetkar is rightly regarded as the "Father of the Constitution of India" According to Article 395, the Government of India Act of 1935 and the Indian Independence Act of 1947 got replaced with the commencement of the Constitution of India. January 26 was selected as the date of commencement of the Constitution of India because on this date in 1930, Indian people observed "Independence day" following the resolution of "Purna Swaraj" of the Congress session held in the midnight of December 31, 1929 at Lahore.
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