A Brief History of Constitution of India

A Brief History of Constitution of India
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Establishment of a Constituent Assembly
The demand for the establishment of a Constituent Assembly was first embodied in a resolution of the INS (Indian National Congress) passed at its Faizpur session on December 8, 1936. The same demand was further raised by the provincial legislatures where the Congress had a majority. But this was all one-sided. The British rulers were not yet prepared to entertain the demand. It was during World War II and under stress of international conditions that Sir Stafford Cripps was sent over to India to win over the support of Indian political leaders.
The proposals of Sir Cripps contained provisions for setting up a body for preparing the Constitution of India after the termination of the War. The proposals of Sir Cripps were not accepted by the Indian political parties. Later in 1946, the Cabinet Mission came to India and put across a proposal for the setting up of a Constituent Assembly. The proposal was accepted by the major political parties in India. Members of the Constituent Assembly were elected on communal basis indirectly by members of the provincial legislatures through the method of proportional representation and single transferable vote. Seats were allotted to the various provinces and communities. The Constituent Assembly thus created had 389 members in all, including 93 representatives of the Indian States.
Meeting of the Constituent Assembly
The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held on December 9, 1946 under the chairmanship of Dr. Sachchidanand Sinha, the oldest member of the Assembly. On December 11, 1946, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected its permanent Chairman. The Muslim League boycotted it. The words of the Constituent Assembly was handicapped. It held several sittings, but the work of constitution-making made little headway. The situation in the country deteriorated seriously. Communal riots broke out throughout the country and the whole situation culminated in the sad partitioning of the country in accordance with Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947.
The Constituent Assembly minus the Muslim League members restarted the work. The Constituent Assembly of India then consisted of about 300 members, including the representatives of the states acceding to India.
The Constitutions Assembly, as established in 1946 according to the Cabinet Mission Plan, was not a sovereign body. Its authority was limited both in respect of basic principles and procedure. According to the Indian Independence Act of 1947, the Constituent Assembly became a sovereign body and all other limitations impose upon it under the Cabinet Mission Plan were lifted.
The method which the Constituent Assembly adopted was to formulate first its objectives. This was done in the form of an "Objective Resolution", moved by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on December 13, 1946. The resolution was, however, adopted by the Assembly on January 22, 1947. The objectives of the Constituent Assembly were:-
India was to be an independent Sovereign Republic in which both British India and princely states were to be included.
Each unit was to be given a certain amount of autonomy as well as residuary powers.
All authority and powers of the States were to be derived from the people who were to be guaranteed freedom of economic and political justice, equality of status and equality before law.
They were to be guaranteed freedom of thought, vocation, association, expression, belief, faith, worship and action subject to law and morality.
The minorties, the backward and tribal were to be provided adequate safeguards.
Between December 9, 1946 and August 14, 1947, five sessions of the Constituent Assembly were held. In accordance with Indian Independence Act of 1947, the Constituent Assembly became a sovereign body. It was no longer to confine itself to the limitation laid down by the Cabinet Mission. On August 29, 1947, the Assembly set up a Drafting Committee to prepare a draft constitution. The committee consisted of eminent constitutionalists like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (Chairman), Sir Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, N. Gopalswamy Ayyangar, Syed Mohammad Saadullah, T.T. Krishnamachari, Dr. K.M. Munshi etc. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected President of the Assembly.
Promulgation of The Constitution
The Constituent Assembly took two years, 11 months and 11 days to complete its work. It concluded its work on November 26, 1949 when the Constitution was signed at an impressive ceremony. Some provisions of the Constitution like citizenship, elections, etc. were brought into operation at once but the rest of the Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950. The original Constitution is a voluminous document containing 395 Articles and eight Schedules. A number of other Articles and Schedules were added by some constitutional amendments made thereto after its promulgation.