Constitution: Why and How?

Class 11 Political Science

It is a tribute to the wisdom and foresight of the makers of the Constitution that they presented to the nation a document that enshrined fundamental values and highest aspirations shared by the people. This is one of the reasons why this most intricately crafted document has not only survived but become a living reality, when so many other constitutions have perished with the paper they were first written on.

India’s Constitution is a unique document which in turn became an exemplar for many other constitutions, most notably South Africa. The main purpose behind the long search that went on for almost three years was to strike the right balance so that institutions created by the Constitution would not be haphazard or tentative arrangements but would be able to accommodate the aspirations of the people of India for a long time to come.

Why Do We Need a Constitution?

The first function of a constitution is to provide a set of basic rules that allow for minimal coordination amongst members of a society.

The second function of a constitution is to specify who has the power to make decisions in a society. It decides how the government will be constituted.

The third function of a constitution is to set some limits on what a government can impose on its citizens. These limits are fundamental in the sense that government may never trespass them.

The fourth function of a constitution is to enable the government to fulfil the aspirations of a society and create conditions for a just society.

How was the Indian Constitution made?

Formally, the Constitution was made by the Constituent Assembly which had been elected for undivided India. It held its first sitting on 9 December1946 and reassembled as Constituent Assembly for divided India on 14 August 1947. Its members were chosen by indirect election by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies that had been established under the Government of India Act, 1935.

The Constituent Assembly was composed roughly along the lines suggested by the plan proposed by the committee of the British cabinet, known as the Cabinet Mission.

Composition of the Constituent Assembly

As a consequence of the Partition under the plan of 3 June 1947 those members who were elected from territories which fell under Pakistan ceased to be members of the Constituent Assembly. The number of members in the Assembly was reduced to 299.

The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949. 284 members were actually present on 24 January 1950 and appended their signature to the Constitution as finally passed. The Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. The Constitution was thus framed against the backdrop of the horrendous violence that the Partition unleashed on the subcontinent. But it is a tribute to the fortitude of the framers that they were not only able to draft a constitution under immense pressure, but also learnt the right lessons from the unimaginable violence that accompanied the Partition. The Constitution was committed to a new conception of citizenship, where not only would minorities be secure, but religious identity would have no bearing on citizenship rights.

Institutional arrangements

The basic principle is that government must be democratic and committed to the welfare of the people. The Constituent Assembly spent a lot of time on evolving the right balance among the various institutions like the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. This led to the adoption of the parliamentary form and the federal arrangement, which would distribute governmental powers between the legislature and the executive on the one hand and between the States and the central government on the other hand.