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, Anglo-Indians and Minority Community. Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, being the 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:- 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
The Parliamentary form of Government of India was first introduced by the Constitution of the nation. Consisting of the President the Parliament of India has two Houses namely Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The President leads the Executive of the Union as the Constitutional head. The Prime Minister heads the Council of Ministers as per the Article 74(1) of the Indian Constitution. The 7th Schedule of the Constitution of India indicates that the legislative powers are shared by both the State Legislatures and the Parliament of India.
Schedules to Indian Constitution
Schedules to the Constitution of India can be added through the amendments to it. There are twelve schedules to Constitution of India, which are effective at present, are given below:- First Schedule: This schedule is about the States and Union Territories of India.
- Second Schedule: In this Schedule, provisions made to the President and the Governors of States, Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the House of the People, the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Council of States, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council of a State, the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts and the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India
- Third Schedule: Forms of Oaths or Affirmations are mentioned in this Schedule.
- Fourth Schedule: This Schedule specifies the allocation of seats in the Council of States.
- Fifth Schedule: Provisions as to the Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes are mentioned in this Schedule. The amendment of the schedule is also included in the Part D of the Schedule.
- Sixth Schedule: This Schedule deals with the provisions as to the Administration of Tribal Areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
- Seventh Schedule: The List I or the Union List, List II or the State List and List III or the Concurrent List are included in this Schedule.
- Eighth Schedule: The 22 languages selected as the official languages of India are mentioned in this Schedule.
- Ninth Schedule: Validation of certain Acts and Regulations is dealt with in this Schedule
- Tenth Schedule: Provisions as to disqualification on ground of defection for the Members of Parliament and Members of the State Legislatures are mentioned in this Schedule.
- Eleventh Schedule: This Schedule talks about the powers, authority and responsibilities of Panchayats
- Twelfth Schedule: Powers, authority and responsibilities of Municipalities are defined in this Schedule.
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