Making of the Constitution

Why this matters for CAPF

The making of the Constitution is the single most predictable source of static one-liners in CAPF polity. Every cycle throws up a question on a date (first sitting, adoption, commencement), a chairman (Drafting Committee, the various sub-committees), a personality (who moved the Objectives Resolution, who was the Constitutional Adviser), or a borrowed feature matched to a country. These are pure recall items with no reasoning required, so a candidate who has the table cold simply collects the mark. This note gives the full evolution from the demand for a Constituent Assembly to the commencement on 1950-01-26, calibrated to the clean-fact, objective-test bar that CAPF sets. The standard textbook treatment is NCERT Class XI "Indian Constitution at Work" (Chapter 1, "Constitution: Why and How") and Laxmikanth's chapters on the historical background and the making of the Constitution.

Evolution of the demand

The Constituent Assembly was thus the product of the Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946, and not of any single earlier demand. CAPF likes the contrast: M N Roy gave the idea (1934), the Congress adopted the demand (1935), and the Cabinet Mission Plan operationalised it (1946).

Composition of the Assembly

Under the Cabinet Mission Plan the total strength was fixed at 389: 296 seats for British India and 93 for the princely States. The 296 British-India seats were allotted to the provinces and to the chief commissioners' provinces in proportion to population, broadly one seat per million people. Members were chosen by indirect election by the members of the provincial legislative assemblies, who themselves had been elected on a limited franchise. The provincial seats were divided among the three communities, General, Muslim and Sikh, in proportion to their populations.

After Partition the seats of the areas that became Pakistan fell away, and the strength of the Assembly for the Dominion of India was reduced. The effective strength came down to 299. Of these, 229 were from the provinces and 70 from the princely States. The Assembly was therefore a partly nominated body for the princely-States seats and an indirectly elected body for the provincial seats, never a directly elected one. This indirect-election point is a recurring CAPF trap.

The committees and their chairmen (very high-yield)

Pattern to lock in: Nehru chaired the three Union-side committees (Union Powers, Union Constitution, States), Patel chaired the two province and rights committees (Provincial Constitution, Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights), and Rajendra Prasad chaired the procedural committees (Rules, Steering, Flag). Ambedkar chaired only the Drafting Committee.

The Drafting Committee

The Drafting Committee was set up on 1947-08-29 with seven members and was chaired by Dr B R Ambedkar. It prepared the draft Constitution on the basis of the constitutional adviser's draft.

Sir B N Rau was the Constitutional Adviser to the Assembly. He prepared the initial draft of the Constitution, but he was not a member of the Drafting Committee. The committee then scrutinised and refined his draft. This distinction (Rau drafted as adviser, Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee) is a classic CAPF discriminator.

The Objectives Resolution and the Preamble

Jawaharlal Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution on 1946-12-13. It set out the ideals and philosophy that should guide the constitution-making, including the resolve to constitute India into an independent sovereign republic, to secure justice, equality and freedom, and to safeguard minorities and depressed classes. The Assembly adopted it on 1947-01-22. The Objectives Resolution, in modified form, later became the Preamble to the Constitution. See preamble and features of the constitution.

Key static facts table

National symbols adopted by the Assembly

The Constituent Assembly held its last sitting on 1950-01-24, when it signed the document and elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India; the Constitution then came into force on 1950-01-26.

Important members and their roles

Why two dates, 26 November and 26 January

The Constitution was adopted on 1949-11-26 but commenced only on 1950-01-26. The gap was deliberate. The Congress had declared Purna Swaraj (complete independence) on 1930-01-26 at the Lahore session under Nehru's presidency, and 26 January had been observed as Independence Day from 1930 to 1947. To honour that anniversary, the framers timed the commencement of the Constitution to 26 January. This is the standard assertion-reason item: the Constitution commenced on 1950-01-26 (assertion) because that date was the Purna Swaraj day of 1930 (correct reason). A handful of provisions dealing with citizenship, elections and provisional Parliament came into force on 1949-11-26 itself, but the bulk commenced on 1950-01-26. The day of commencement is celebrated as Republic Day, and 26 November is observed as Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) since 2015.

Borrowed features (high-yield matching)

A few discriminators worth holding: residuary powers with the Centre and a strong-Centre federation come from Canada (not the United States, whose residuary powers lie with the states); the Concurrent List and joint sitting come from Australia; and the suspension of Fundamental Rights in an emergency comes from the Weimar Constitution of Germany.

Security and human-rights angle

Two of the borrowed features sit exactly where CAPF probes internal-security knowledge. The emergency provisions came from the Government of India Act, 1935, and the power to suspend Fundamental Rights during an emergency was drawn from the Weimar Constitution of Germany. The Assembly debated whether to provide for preventive detention in peacetime and consciously retained it in Art 22, an unusual choice tied to the security concerns of a newly partitioned State. The decision to vest residuary powers and a strong centralising tilt in the Union (from the Canadian model) is the structural reason the Centre can deploy its forces and direct the States in a security crisis. See citizenship and emergency provisions, fundamental rights and human rights and internal security.

How CAPF asks it

The making of the Constitution is tested almost entirely as static recall. Expect these formats.

• Single-correct: who was the Constitutional Adviser to the Constituent Assembly.
• Matching: source country to borrowed feature (the most common single framing in this topic).
• How-many-statements-correct: a cluster about the Assembly's strength, mode of election and first sitting.
• Assertion-reason: the commencement date keyed to the Purna Swaraj anniversary.

Authored practice

1. The Constituent Assembly of India was constituted under which plan or scheme. (a) Cripps Mission (b) Cabinet Mission Plan (c) Mountbatten Plan (d) Wavell Plan. Answer (b). The Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 gave the Assembly its practical shape; the idea was first given by M N Roy in 1934.

2. Consider the following statements about the Constituent Assembly. (1) It was directly elected on universal adult franchise. (2) Dr Sachchidananda Sinha was its first permanent President. (3) Sir B N Rau was the Constitutional Adviser. How many are correct. (a) one (b) two (c) three (d) none. Answer (a). Only statement 3 is correct; the Assembly was indirectly elected, and Sinha was the temporary President of the first sitting, with Rajendra Prasad as permanent President.

3. Match the feature with its source. (1) Directive Principles (2) Concurrent List (3) Residuary powers with the Centre (4) Suspension of rights in emergency, with sources Ireland, Australia, Canada and Germany. Answer 1-Ireland, 2-Australia, 3-Canada, 4-Germany. The Concurrent List and joint sitting are Australian, residuary powers with the Centre are Canadian.

4. The Constitution was adopted on 1949-11-26 but came into force on 1950-01-26. The reason for choosing 26 January was: (a) it was the date of Gandhi's birth (b) it marked the Purna Swaraj declaration of 1930 (c) it was the date of Independence (d) it was Ambedkar's birthday. Answer (b). The Lahore session of 1930 declared Purna Swaraj on 26 January, observed as Independence Day until 1947.

5. Who among the following chaired the Union Powers Committee of the Constituent Assembly. (a) B R Ambedkar (b) Sardar Patel (c) Jawaharlal Nehru (d) Rajendra Prasad. Answer (c). Nehru chaired the Union-side committees; Patel chaired the provincial and fundamental-rights committees; Ambedkar chaired only the Drafting Committee.

Common confusion

Memory hook

• Committee chairmen: "Nehru Unites, Patel Provinces and Rights, Prasad Procedures, Ambedkar Drafts." Nehru took the Union committees, Patel the provincial and rights committees, Prasad the procedural ones, Ambedkar the Drafting Committee.
• Dates: "9-12-46 in, 26-11-49 adopt, 26-1-50 force." Nine, twenty-six, twenty-six.
• Duration "2-11-18" reads like a clock: 2 years, 11 months, 18 days.

Night before

• First sitting 1946-12-09; temporary President Sachchidananda Sinha; permanent President Rajendra Prasad (elected 1946-12-11).
• Adopted 1949-11-26 (Constitution Day); commenced 1950-01-26 (Republic Day); took 2 years 11 months 18 days.
• Drafting Committee: 7 members, set up 1947-08-29, chaired by Ambedkar; B N Rau was the Constitutional Adviser, not a committee member.
• Objectives Resolution moved by Nehru on 1946-12-13, adopted 1947-01-22, became the Preamble.
• Constituted under the Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946; indirect election; total 389, effective 299 after Partition.
• Original Constitution: 395 Articles, 22 Parts, 8 Schedules.

Glossary

• Constituent Assembly: the body that framed the Constitution of India.
• Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946: the British proposal under which the Assembly was constituted.
• Objectives Resolution: Nehru's 1946-12-13 statement of ideals that became the Preamble.
• Drafting Committee: the seven-member body chaired by Ambedkar that prepared the draft.
• Constitutional Adviser: Sir B N Rau, who prepared the initial draft.
• Purna Swaraj: the demand for complete independence, declared at Lahore on 1930-01-26.
• Provisional Parliament: the role the Assembly played from 1950 until the first general elections.
• Indirect election: selection by an electoral body (here, the provincial assemblies) rather than directly by voters.
• Residuary powers: the power to legislate on matters not in any List; vested in the Union (Canadian model).
• Concurrent List: subjects on which both the Union and the States can legislate (Australian model).
• Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas): 26 November, the anniversary of adoption.
• Republic Day: 26 January, the anniversary of commencement.

Related notes

• preamble and features of the constitution
• amendments and basic structure
• citizenship and emergency provisions
• fundamental rights
• human rights and internal security
• syllabus index