Constitution
- Constitution is a legally sanctified document,
considering of the basic governing principles
of the State and sets out the framework and
the principal functions of the organs of the
Government of a State.
- There are various forms of Government
prevalent across the world. Constitution of a
country gives idea about the basic structure of
the political system under which its people are
to be governed.
- The idea of Constitutionalism suggests way and
means to work out a governmental form, which
exercises power and ensures, at the same time,
individual freedom and liberty.
- Constitutionalism suggests a way for
reconciling the power of the State with
individual liberty, by prescribing the principles
of organizing the State
- It defines the powers of the main organ of the
State, demarcates their responsibilities and
regular their relationships with each other and
with the people.
- Constitution serves as the “Fundamental Law”
of a country; any other laws made must be in
conformity with it, in order to be legally
endorsed.
Significance of the Constitution
- The philosophy embodied in a nation’s
Constitution determines the kind of
Government present there
- A Constitution outlines the vision of the State
and is its most important document
- A Constitution ensure certain rights to its
citizens as well as defines their duties.
- A Constitution is an expression of faith and
hopes, that people have from the State, and the
promises that they wish to make for the future
Is the Constitution static?
- A Constitution is an extension of the
philosophical and organizational frameworks
into the future.
- But a State has to face the challenges of
changing social, economic and political
conditions in the society
- All living constitutions provide for procedures
for introducing changes in the them by means
of amendments. So, the constitution is not
static.
Written and unwritten constitutions
- Constitutions of most countries came into
existence as a result of a conscious decision
to have such a document. These are the
‘written’ Constitution, which provide
institutional arrangements and procedures.
- But, the laws and institutions of British
Constitution have gradually evolved over the
centuries. The British Constitution is an
‘unwritten’ Constitution. It comprises the
constitutional conventions that act as
precedents for the working of institutions and
other documents such as the statutes and Acts
of Parliament. Here the Parliament is
supreme, unlike the ‘written’ Constitution
where, the Constitution is supreme.
- In Britain, any change in the Constitution is
possible by means of laws passed by the
Parliament. There is no distinction between
an ordinary law and a constitutional law. This
is an example of the most flexible form of
Constitution.
Constitutional Developments
The Indian administrative structure is largely a
legacy of the British rule. The various functional
aspects such as public services, education system,
political set-up, recruitment, training, office
procedures, districts administration, local administration, police system, revenue
administration, budgeting, auditing, and so on,
have their roots in the British rule
The British rule in India can be divided into two
phases- the Company rule till 1858 and the Crown’s
rule from1858 to 1947.
Landmarks
The landmarks in the development of the
Constitution are:
Milestones
- 1687: The first Municipal Corporation in India
was set up in Madras
- 1772: Lord Warren Hastings created the office
of District Collector.
- 1829: The office of the Divisional
Commissioner was created by Lord
William Bentick.
- 1859: The portfolio system was introduced by
Lord Canning.
- 1860: A system of Budget was introduced.
- 1870: Lord Mayo’s resolution on financial
decentralization visualized the
development of local self-government
institutions in India.
- 1872: First census in India was conducted
during Lord Mayo's period.
- 1881: First regular census was conducted
during the period of Lord Ripon.
- 1882: Lord Ripon’s resolution was hailed as
the ‘Magna Carta’ of local self government.
He is regarded as the
‘Father of local self-government in
India’.
- 1905: The tenure system was introduced by
Lord Curzen.
- 1905: The Railway Board was set up by a
resolution of the Government of India.
- 1921: Public Accounts Committee was created
at the Centre
- 1921: Railway Budget was separated from the
General Budget.
- 1935: Reserve Bank of India was established
by an Act of the Central Legislature
Regulating Act of 1773
This was the first step taken by the British
Government to control and regulate the affairs of
the East India Company in India.
- It designated the Governor of Bengal as the
Governor-General of Bengal
- The first Governor-General was Lord Warren
Hastings
- It subordinated the Governors of Bombay and
Madras to the Governor-General of Bengal
- The Supreme Court was established at Fort
William (Calcutta) as the Apex Court in 1774
Pitt’s India Act of 1784
- It was introduced to remove the drawbacks of
the Regulating Act.
- Was named after the then British Prime
Minister.
- Placed the Indian affairs under the direct
control of the British Government
- Established a Board of Control over the Court
of Directors.
Charter Act of 1833
- It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the
Governor-General of India.
- First Governor-General of India was Lord
William Bentick
- All civil and military powers were vested in him
- Governments of Bombay and Madras were
deprived of their legislative powers
- This was the final step towards centralization
in the British India.
- The Act ended the activities of the East India
Company as a commercial body.
Charter Act of 1853
- The legislative and executive functions of the
Governor-General’s Council were separated.
- It introduced a system of open competition as
the basis for the recruitment of civil servants
of the Company.
Government of India Act of 1858
- This Act transferred the Government,
territories and revenues of India from the East
India Company to the British Crown.
- In other words, the rule of Company was
replaced by the rule of the Crown in India.
- The powers of the British Crown were to be
exercised by the Secretary of State for India
- The Secretary of State was a member of the
British Cabinet
- He was assisted by the Council of India, having
15 members
- He was vested with complete authority and
control over the Indian administration through
the Governor-General as his agent
- He was responsible ultimately to the British
Parliament.
- The Governor-General was made the Viceroy
of India.
- Lord Canning was the first Viceroy of India.
Indian Council Act of 1861
- It introduced for the first time the repetitive
institutions of India
- It provided that the Governor-General’s
Executive Council should have some Indians
as the non-official members while transacting
the legislative businesses.
- Initiated the process of decentralisation by
restoring the legislative powers to the Bombay
and the Madras President
- It accorded statutory recognition to the portfolio
system.
India Council Act of 1892
- Introduced the principle of elections but in an
indirect manner
- Enlarge the functions of the Legislative
Councils and gave them the power of
discussing the Budget and addressing
questions to the Executive.
Indian Councils Act of 1909
- This Act is also known as the Morley- Minto
Reforms (Lord Morley was the then Secretary
of State for India and Lord Minto was the then
Governor-General of India).
- It changed the name of the Central Legislative
Council to the Imperial Legislative Council
- Introduced a system of communal
representation for Muslims by accepting the
concept of ‘separate electorate’.
- Lord Minto came to be known as the ‘Father of
Communal Electorate’.
Government of India Act of 1909
- This Act is also known as the Montague-
Chelmsford Reforms.
- Montague was the then Secretary of State and
lord Chelmsfordwas the then Governor-General
of India.
- The Central subjects were demarcated and
separated fromthose of the Provincial subjects
- The scheme of dual governance, ‘Dyarchy’, was
introduced in the Provincial subjects
- The Act introduced, for the first time,
bicameralism and direct elections in the
country
- The Act also required that the three of the six
members of the Governor-General’s Council
(other than Commander-in-Chief) were to be
Indians.
Government of India Act of 1935
- The Act provided for the establishment of an
All-India Federation consisting of the Provinces
and the Princely States as units
- The Act divided the powers between the Centre
and the units in items of three lists, namely
the Federal List, the Provincial List and the
Concurrent List.
- The Federal List for the Centre consisted of
59items, the Provincial List for the provinces
consisted of 54 items and the Concurrent List
for both consisted of 36 items
- The residuary powers were vested with the
Governor-General.
- The Act abolished the Dyarchy in the Provinces
and introduced ‘Provincial Autonomy’.
- It provided for the adoption of Dyarchy at the
Centre.
- Introduced bicameralism in 6 out of 11
Provinces.
- These six Provinces were Assam, Bengal,
Bombay, Bihar, Madras and the United
Province
Indian Independence Act of 1947
- Till 1947, the Government of India functioned
under the provinces of the 1919 Act only. The
provisions of 1935 Act relating to Federation
and Dyarchy were never implemented.
- The Executive Council provided by the 1919 Act
continued to advice the Governor-General till
1947.
- It declared India as an Independent and
Sovereign State.
- Established responsible Governments at both
the Centre and the Provinces.
- Designated the Governor-General of India and
the provincial Governors as the Constitutional
Heads(normal heads).
- It assigned dual functions (Constituent and
Legislative) to the Constituent Assembly and
declared this dominion legislature as a
sovereign body.
National Symbols
National Flag
- The National Flag is a horizontal tricolour ofc deep saffron (kesaria)
at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal
proportion
- The ratio of width of the flag to its length is two to three.
- In the centre of the white band is a navy-blue wheel which represents
the charka.
- Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the
Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.
- Its diameter approximates to the width of the white band and it has 24
spokes.
- The design of the National Flag was adopted by the Constitution Assembly
of India on 22 July 1947.
- Apart from non-statutory instructions issued by the Government from time
to time, display of the National Flag is governed by the provisions of the
Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and the prevention
of Insults of National Honour Act, 1971.
- The Flag Code of India, 2002 is an attempt to bring together all such
laws, conventions, practices and instructions for the guidance and benefit
of all concerned.
- The Flag Code of India, 2002, took effect from 26 January 2002 and
suspected the ‘Flag Code- Indias’ as it existed.
- As per the provisions of the Flag Code of India, 2002, there are no
restriction on the display of the National Flag bymembers of general public,
private organisations, educational institutions, etc., except to the extent
provided in the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and
Prevention of Insults of National Honour Act, 1971 and any other law enacted
on the subject.
National Emblem
- The state emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of
Ashoka.
- In the original, there are four lions, standing back to back, mounted on
an abacus with a frieze carrying sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a
galloping horse, a bull and a lion separated by intervening wheels over a
bell shaped lotus.
- Carved out of a single block of polished sandstone, the Capital is
crowned by the Wheel of the Law (Dharma Chakra).
- In the state emblem, adopted by the Government of India on 26 January
1950, only three lions are visible, the fourth being hidden
from view.
- The wheel appears in relief in the centre of the abacus with a bull on
right and a horse on left and the outlines of other wheels on extreme right
and left.
- The bell-shaped lotus has been omitted.
- The words Satyameva Jayate from Mundaka Upanishad, meaning ‘Truth Alone
Triumphs’, are inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script.
National Anthem
- The song “Jana-gana-mana”, composed originally in Bengali by Ravindra
Nath Tagore,was adopted in Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the
National Anthem of India on 24th January 1950.
- It was first sung on 27th December 1911 at the Calcutta session of the
Indian National Congress.
National Song
- The song Vande Mataram, composed in Sanskrit by Bankim Chandra Chatterji,
was a source of inspiration to the people in their struggle for freedom.
- It has an equal status with ‘Jana-gana-mana’.
- The first political occasion when it was sung was the 1896 session of
the Indian National Congress.
National Calendar
- The national calendar based on the Saka Era, with Chaitra as its first
month and a normal year of 365 days was adopted from 22 March 1957 along
with the Gregorian calendar for the following official purposes:
i) Gazette of India,
ii) news broadcast by All India Radio,
iii) calendars issued by the Government of India and
iv) Government communications addressed to the members of the
public.
- Dates of the national calendar have a permanent correspondence with
dates of the Gregorian calendar, 1 Chaitra falling on 22 March normally and
on 21 March in leap year.
Flag Code of India, 2002
‘Flag Code-India’ is neither a statute nor a statutory rule or regulation. It
is, in reality, a mere consolidation of executive instructions issued by the
Government of India from time to time and contains detailed instruction in
regard to the shape, size and colour of the National Flag, the correct display,
instances of misuse and display on National Days or special occasions.
And now, Flag Code of India, 2002 s an attempt to bring together all such
laws, conventions, practices and instructions for the guidance and benefit of
all concerned.
For the sake of convenience, Flag Code of India, 2002 has been divided into
three parts. Part I of the code contains general description of the National
Flag. Part II by members of public, private organizations and educational
institutions. Part III of the Code relates to display of the National Flag by
Central and State governments and organizations and agencies.
Flag Code of India, 2002 has taken effect from January 26, 2002 by
superseding the ‘Flag Code – India’ as it existed.
Flag Conrtoversy- Naveen Jindal case
Prior to 2004, the Flag code of India did not permit flying of the Flag of
India on non government institutions. In 2001, a case was filed against Naveen
Jindal for flying the Flag of India atop his company building. He said that he
was inspired by his American friends displaying their flag during his college
days in USA and he believed flying the national flag should be the right of
every Indian. He took the case to the Delhi High Court and theSupreme Court of
India and won both cases. The Supreme Court ordered the Government of India to
set aside a committee to look into this matter. Finally on January 26, 2004
(India’s Republic Day), private citizens were allowed to fly India’s flag inside
and atop their buildings and institutions.
The New Flag Code
- One can hoist the flag only from sunrise to sunset
- The ratio of width to length of the flag should be 2:3.
- Don’t print it on a costume, cushion or napkin either.
- Don’t drape the flag on vehicles.
- Don’t hoist it upside down. Must not touch the ground.
- must fly higher than all other flags except that of the UN or other
nations.
- Don’t fly a damaged flag.
- The amended code came into effect from January 26, 2003.
National animal.
- The magnificent tiger, Panthera tigiris, is the National Animal
- The combination of grace, strength, agility and enormous power has
earned the tiger its pride of place as the national animal of India.
- To check the dwindling population of tigers in India, ‘Project Tiger’
was launched in April 1973.
- So far, 29 tiger reserves have been established in the country under
this project.
National Bird
- The Indian peacock, Pavo cristatus, the national bird of India, is a
colourful, swan-sized bird, with a fan-shaped crest of feathers, a white
patch under the eye and a long, slender neck.
- The male of the species is more colourful than the female, with a
glistening blue breast and neck and spectacular bronze-green train of around
200 elongated feathers.
- The female is brownish, slightly smaller than the male and lacks the
train.
- The peacock is widely found in the Indian subcontinent from the south
and the east of the Indus river, Jammu and Kashmir, east Assam, south
Mizoram and the whole of the Indian peninsula.
- The peacock is fully protected under the Indian Wildlife (Protection)
Act, 1972.
National Flower
- Lotus (Nelumbo Nucifera Gaertn) is the national flower of India.
- It is a sacred flower and occupies a unique position in the art and
mythology of ancient India and has been an auspicious symbol of Indian
culture since time immemorial.
National Tree
- Indian fig tree, Ficus bengalensis, whose branches root themselves like
new trees over a large area.
- The roots then give rise to more trunks and branches.
- Because of this characteristic and its longevity, this tree is
considered immortal and is an integral part of the myths and legends of
India.
- Even today, the banyan tree is the focal point of village life and the
village council meets under the shade of this tree.
National River
- The Ganga or Ganges is the longest river of India flowing over 2,510 kms
of mountains, valleys and plains.
- It originates in the snowfields of the Gangotri Glacier in the Himalayas
as the Bhagirathi River.
- It is later joined by other rivers such as the Alaknanda, Yamuna, Son,
Sumti, Kosi and Ghagra.
- The Ganga river basin is one of the most fertile and densely populated
areas of the world and covers an area of 1,000,000 sq. km.
There are two dams on the river – one at Haridwar and the other at Farakka.- Dolphin is an endangered animal that specifically habitats this rivers.
- The Ganga is revered by Hindus as the most sacred river on earth.
- Key religious ceremonies are held on the banks of the river at cities
such as Varanasi, Haridwar and Allahabad.
- The Ganga widens out into the Ganges Delta in the Sunderbans swamp of
Bangladesh, before it ends its journey by emptying into the Bay of Bengal.
National Fruit
- A fleshy fruit of the tree Mongifera indica, the mango is one of the
important and widely cultivated fruits of the tropical world.
- Mangoes have been cultivated in India from time immemorial.
- The poet Kalidasa sang its praises.
- Alexander savored its taste, as did the Chinese pilgrim Hieun Tsang.
- Mughal emperor Akbar planted 100,000mango trees in Darbanga, Bihar at a
place now known as Lakhi Bagh.
National Game
- Hockey is the National Game of India.
- Unmatched excellence and incomparable virtuosity brought India a string
of Olympic gold medals.
- The Golden Era of hockey in India was the period from 1928 – 1956 when
India won 6 consecutive gold medals in the Olympics.
- During the Golden Era, India played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24,
scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7
goals.
- The two other gold medals for India came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and
the 1980Moscow Olympics.
National Pledge
General Pledge
- India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters.
- I Love my country. I am proud of its rich and varied culture. I shall
always strive to be worthy of it.
- To my country and my people I pledge my devotion.
National Integration Pledge
I solemnly pledge to work with dedication to preserve and strengthen the
freedom and integrity of the nation.
I further affirm that I shall never resort to violence and that all
differences and disputes relating to religion, language, region or other
political or economic grievances should be settled by peaceful and
constitutional means.
It their well being and prosperity alone lies my happiness.
Farming of the Constitution of India
- The Constitution of India was farmed and adopted by the Constituent
Assembly of India.
- The Constitution Assembly was set up in November 1946 as per the Cabinet
Mission Plan of 1946.
- The demand for the Constitution Assembly to draft the Constitution of
India was, for the first time, raised by the Congress in 1935.
- The British Government accepted this demand, for the first time, in the
‘August Offer’ of 1940.
- The seats were allocated to three communities- Muslims, Sikhs and
General-in proportion to their 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.
- The Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947 announced the partition of the
country and a separate Constituent Assembly for the proposed State of
Pakistan.
- Consequently the members of the Constituent Assembly representing those
areas which were included in Pakistan. East Bengal, North-West Frontier
Province (NWFP),West Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, and Sylhet district of
Assam, were no more members of the Constituent Assembly of India.
Three Phases of the Constituent Assembly
i) 1st Phase: As Constituent Assembly under the limitations of Cabinet
Mission, Plan from 6th December 1946 to 14th August 1947.
ii) 2nd Phase: As Constituent Assembly, a Sovereign body + Provisional
Parliament from 15th August 1947 to 26th November 1949.
iii) 3rd Phase: As a Provisional Parliament from 27th November 1949 to March
1952.
- North-West Frontier Province and Sylher decided through a referendum to
remain with Pakistan.
- Therefore, the membership of the Constituent Assembly for India was
reduced to 299 after partition.
- Its first meeting was held on 9th December 1946, with Sachidanand 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 13th December 1946.
- The first meeting of Constituent Assembly was boycotted by the Muslim
League.
- Shri B. N. Rau was appointed as the Legal Advisor of the Constituent
Assembly.
- Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is rightly regarded as the ‘Father of the Constitution
of India’.
- The Constituent Assembly formed 13 important committees for farming the
Constitution.
- The Drafting Committee of 7 members were appointed on 29 August 1947,
with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as the Chairman.
- The first draft of the Constitution was prepared in October 1947 and was
published in January 1948.
- The Draft Constitution of India prepared by the Drafting Committee was
submitted to the President of the Assembly on 21 February 1948.
- As many as 7,635 amendments were proposed and 2473 were actually
discussed.
- 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 this period, the Constituent Assembly acted as a ‘Temporary
Parliament’ [15 August 1947 – 26 November 1949]
- The Constitution was approved by the members and was signed in by 284
members of the Constituent Assembly.
- It is considered to be the lengthiest Constitution in the world.
- Originally, it had 22 Parts, 395 Articles and 8 Schedules.
- The Constituent Assembly held 11 sessions.
Drafting Committee of Constituent Assembly
Chairman: Dr. BR Ambedkar
Members
1. N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
2. Alladi Krishnaswami lyer
3. KM Munshi
4. Mohammed Sadullah
5. BL Mittar (replaced by N Madhav Rao)
6. DP Khaitan (who died in 1948 and was replaced by TT Krihnamachari)
- The Draft Constitution was considered for 114 days. The Constituent
Assembly took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to frame the Constitution.
- It cost the exchequer Rs. 6.4 crore.
- 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.
Committees of the Constituent Assembly
The Constituent Assembly appointed 22 committees to deal with different
task of Constitution-making. Out of these, 10 were on procedural affairs and
12 on substantive affairs. The report of these committees formed the basis
on which the first draft of the Constitution was prepared. These were as
follows:
Committees on Procedural Affairs
1. Steering Committee (Chairman: Dr K M Munshi)
2. Rules of Procedure Committee (Chairman: Dr. Rajendra Prashad)
3. House Committee
4. Hindi Translation Committee
5. Urdu Translation Committee
6. Finance and Staff Committee
7. Press Gallery Committee
8. Committee on the effect of Indian Independence Act of 1947.
9. Orders of Business Committee
10. Credential Committee
Committees of Substantive Affairs
1. Drafting Committee (Chairman: Dr B R Ambedkar)
2. Committee for Negotiating with States (Chairman: Dr Rajendra Prashad)
3. Committee on Chief Commissioners’ Provinces.
4. Union Constitution Committee (Chairman: Jawaharlal Nehru)
5. Provincial Constitution Committee
(Chairman: Sardar Patel).
6. Special Committee to Examine the Draft
Constitution (Chairman: Sir Alladi
Krishnaswamy lyer)
7. Commission on Linguistic Provinces
8. Expert Committee on Financial
Provisions
9. Ad-hoc Committee on National Flag
10. Union Powers Committee (Chairman:
Jawaharlal Nehru)
11. Ad. hoc Committee on the Supreme
Court
12. Committee on Fundamental Rights and
Minorities (Chairman: Sardar Patel)
Important members of the
Constituent Assembly
Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prashad, Sardar
Patel, Maulana Azad, Gopalaswamy
Ayyangar,GobindBallabhPant, AbdurGhaffar
Khan, TT Krishnamachari, Alladi
Krishnaswami Ayyar, H N Kunzru, H S Gour,
K V Shah, Masani, Acharya Kripalani, Dr
Ambedkar, Dr Radha Krishnan, Dr Jaykar,
Liaquat Ali Khan, Khwaja Nazimuddin, Sir
Feroze Khan Noor, Suhrawardy, Sir
Zafurullah Khan and Dr Sachchidananda
Sinha.
- The first elections to the Parliament were held in 1952.
- The first amendment to the Constitution was effected in 1951.
- According to Article 394, provisions relating to the citizenship,
elections, provisional Parliament and temporary and temporary and
transitional provisions contained in Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366,
367, 379, 380, 388, 391, 392 and 393 came into force on the day of adoption
(i.e. c26 November 1949) of the Constitution and the remaining provisions of
the Constitution came into being on the day of the commencement (i.e. 26
January 1950) of the Constitution.
- 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.
- Constituent Assembly could not be called a sovereign body. It was
established by the British government and could be abolished by it. So its
authority was limited, and it workedwithin the framework of the Cabinet
Mission Plan. These limitations were nullified by the passing of the
Indian Independence Act of 1947.
Different sources of our Constitution
- The founding fathers of our Constitution had before them the
accumulated experience from the working of all the known constitutions of
the world, and were aware of the difficulties faced in the working of those
constitutions.
- Hence, besides incorporating some provisions from the other
constitutions, a number of provisions were included to avoid some of the
difficulties experienced in the working of these constitutions.
- This is an important reason for making our Constitution the lengthiest
and the most comprehensive of all written constitutions of the world.
- The most profound influence was exercised by the Government of India Act
of 1935. The federal scheme, office of governor, power of federal judiciary,
emergency powers etc were drawn from this Act.
- The British practice influenced the lawmaking procedures, rule of law,
system of single citizenship besides, of course, the model of a
parliamentary from of government.
- The US Constitution inspired details on the independence of judiciary,
judicial review, fundamental rights, and the removal of Supreme Court and
High Court judges.
- The Irish Constitution was the source of the Directive Principles,
method of Presidential elections, and the nomination of members of Rajya
Sabha by the President.
- From the Canadian Constitution was taken the idea of a federation with a
strong Centre, and placing residuary powers with the Centre.
- The Weimar Constitution of Germany was the source of provisions
concerning the suspension of fundamental rights during emergency.
- The idea of a Concurrent List was taken from the Australian
Constitution.
