Constituent Assembly of India

The Constituent Assembly of India, consisting of indirectly elected representatives, was established to draft a constitution for India (including the now-separate countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh). It existed for approx. three years, the first parliament of India after independence in 1947. The Assembly was not elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage, and Muslims and Sikhs received special representation as minorities. The Muslim League boycotted the Assembly after failing to prevent its creation. Although a large part of the Constituent Assembly was drawn from the Congress Party in a one-party environment, the Congress Party included a wide diversity of opinions—from conservative industrialists to radical Marxists, to Hindu revivalists.

The Assembly met for the first time in New Delhi on 9 December 1946, and its last session was held on 24 January 1950.[3] The hope of the Assembly was expressed by Jawaharlal Nehru:

The first task of this Assembly is to free India through a new constitution, to feed the starving people, and to clothe the naked masses, and to give every Indian the fullest opportunity to develop himself according to his capacity. This is certainly a great task. Look at India today. We, are sitting here and there in despair in many places, and unrest in many cities. The atmosphere is surcharged with these quarrels and feuds which are called communal disturbances, and unfortunately we sometimes cannot avoid them. But at present the greatest and most important question in India is how to solve the problem of the poor and the starving. Wherever we turn, we are confronted with this problem. If we cannot solve this problem soon, all our paper constitutions will become useless and purposeless. Keeping this aspect in view, who could suggest to us to postpone and wait?

— Jawaharlal Nehru, Constituent Assembly Debates (Proceedings), Vol. II

India was still under British rule when the Constituent Assembly was established following negotiations between Indian leaders and members of the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India from the United Kingdom. Provincial assembly elections were held in early 1946. Constituent Assembly members were elected indirectly by members of the newly elected provincial assemblies, and initially included representatives for those provinces that formed part of Pakistan (some of which are now in Bangladesh). The Constituent Assembly had 299 representatives, including fifteen[4] women.

The Interim Government of India was formed on 2 September 1946 from the newly elected Constituent Assembly. The Congress Party held a large majority in the Assembly (69 percent of the seats), and the Muslim League held nearly all the seats reserved in the Assembly for Muslims. There were also members of smaller parties, such as the Scheduled Caste Federation, the Communist Party of India and the Unionist Party.

In June 1947 delegations from Sindh, East Bengal, Baluchistan, West Punjab and the North West Frontier Province withdrew to form the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, meeting in Karachi. On 15 August 1947 the Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan became independent nations, and members of the Constituent Assembly who had not withdrawn to Karachi became India's Parliament. Twenty-eight members of the Muslim League joined the Indian Assembly, and 93 members were later nominated from the princely states; the Congress Party secured a majority of 82 percent.

At 11 am on 9 December 1946 the Assembly began its first session, with 207 members attending. By early 1947, representatives of the Muslim League and princely states joined, and the Assembly approved the draft constitution on 26 November 1949. On 26 January 1950 the constitution took effect (commemorated as Republic Day), and the Constituent Assembly became the Provisional Parliament of India (continuing until after the first elections under the new constitution in 1952).

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the president and Its vice-president was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a Christian from Bengal and former vice-chancellor of Calcutta University. Also chairing the assembly's Minorities Committee, Mookerjee was appointed governor of West Bengal after India became a republic. Jurist B. N. Rau was appointed constitutional adviser to the assembly; Rau prepared the original draft of the constitution, and was later appointed a judge in the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague.

The assembly's work had five stages:

• Committees presented reports on issues.
• B.N. Rau prepared an initial draft based on the reports and his research into the constitutions of other nations.
• The drafting committee, chaired by B. R. Ambedkar, presented a detailed draft constitution which was published for public discussion.
• The draft constitution was discussed, and amendments proposed and enacted.
• The constitution was adopted, with a committee of experts led by the Congress Party (known as the Congress Assembly Party) played a pivotal role.[5]

• 6 December 1946: Formation of the Constitution Assembly. (in accordance with French practice.)
• 9 December 1946: The first meeting was held in the constitution hall (now the Central Hall of Parliament House). 1st person to address - J. B. Kripalani. Temporary president Appointed - Sachchidananda Sinha. (Demanding a separate state, the Muslim League boycotted the meeting.)
• 11 December 1946: President Appointed - Rajendra Prasad, vice-Chairman Harendra Coomar Mookerjee and constitutional legal adviser B. N. Rau (initially 389 members in total, which declined to 299 after partition. out of 389 - 292 were from govt. province, 4 from chief commissioner province and 93 from princely states)
• 13 December 1946: An 'Objective Resolution' was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru, laying down the underlying principles of the constitution. which later became the Preamble of the constitution.
• 22 January 1947: Objective resolution unanimously adopted.
• 22 July 1947: National flag adopted.
• 15 August 1947: Achieved independence. India Split into Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan.
• 29 August 1947: Drafting Committee appointed with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar as the Chairman.other 6 members of committee was : K.M.Munshi, Muhammed Saadulah, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, Gopala Swami Ayyangar, N. Madhava Rao(He replaced B.L. Mitter who resigned due to ill-health), T. T. Krishnamachari(He replaced D.P. Khaitan who died in 1948),
• 16 July 1948: Along with Harendra Coomar Mookerjee V. T. Krishnamachari was also elected as second vice-president of Constituent Assembly.
• 26 November 1949: 'Constitution of India' passed and adopted by the assembly.
• 24 January 1950: Last meeting of Constituent Assembly. 'constitution of India' all signed and accepted. (with 395 Articles, 8 Schedules, 22 Parts)
• 26 January 1950: 'Constitution of India' came in to force. (It Took 2 Years, 11 Months, 18 Days - at a total expenditure of ₹6.4 million to finish)
• Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar was the first speaker when meeting the assembly of Lok Sabha, after turning republic.

The Constituent Assembly appointed a total of 22 committees to deal with different tasks of constitution-making. Out of these, eight were major committees and the others were minor committees.

Major Committees

1. Drafting Committee – B. R. Ambedkar
2. Union Power Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
3. Union Constitution Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
4. Provincial Constitution Committee – Vallabhbhai Patel
5. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas – Vallabhbhai Patel. This committee had the following subcommittees:
   1. Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee – J. B. Kripalani
   2. Minorities Sub-Committee – Harendra Coomar Mookerjee,
   3. North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee – Gopinath Bordoloi
   4. Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee – A V Thakkar
6. Rules of Procedure Committee – Rajendra Prasad
7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
8. States Committee - Jawaharlal Nehru
9. Steering Committee – Rajendra Prasad
10. National Flag and HOC Committee – Rajendra Prasad
11. Committee for the function of the Constitution Assembley - G V Mavlankar
12. House Committee - B Pattabhi Sitaramayya
13. Language Committee - Moturi Satyanarayana
14. Order of Business Committee - K M Munshi

The constitution has been, in more recent times, critiqued on the basis of the fact that the members of the Constituent Assembly were chosen not by universal suffrage, but rather, they were predominantly members of the Congress party. It has been argued that the Congress party aimed not to overthrow British power, but rather transfer its power into Indian hands. In his book The Constitution of India: Miracle, Surrender, Hope, Rajeev Dhavan has argued that the Indian people did not have much say in the making of the Constitution which was they had no choice but to accept. [6]

• 
  Jawaharlal Nehru and other members taking pledge during the midnight session of the Constituent Assembly of India held on 14 and 15 August 1947.
• 
  Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, chairman, with other members of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly of India, on 29 August 1947.
• 
  Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, chairman of the Drafting Committee, presenting the final draft of the Indian Constitution to Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 25 November 1949.
• 
  Constituent Assembly of India.
• 
  Jawaharlal Nehru addressing the constituent assembly in 1946.

• Austin, Granville. The Indian Constitution, Cornerstone of a Nation. New Delhi: OUP India, 1999. ISBN 0-19-564959-1.
• Bipan Chandra, Mridula Mukherjee and Aditya Mukherjee. India Since Independence: Revised Edition. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2008.
• An Indian 10-episode TV series made by Rajya sabha TV called "SAMVIDHAN" described in detail how the Indian Constitution was made.