Different Sources of the Indian Constitution

Rules and frameworks go a long way in making sure that an organisation, country or entity remains under a watchful set of rules and norms. If the rules to run a country were not penned down, then the country could have been in a state of anarchy or monarchy. 

Therefore, building a framework of rules to swear by was necessary and thus came into existence India’s constitution and the Republic Day, which marks the date of the constitution coming into force. 

26th January 1950 is when India got its constitution working. Executive, Legislative and Judiciary norms came into existence, and we had a written and formal set of instructions in place to govern and dictate situations. Before jumping into the Different sources of the Indian constitution, 

Different sources of the Indian constitution and their contributions

• The Impact of Great Britain

Since they ruled us for more than two decades, it’s only natural that we learnt and implemented a few things from their constitution. The Parliamentary system that we witness today in India is a feature that we borrowed from Great Britain. 

We also took the rule of Law from them, under which we must treat all the citizens equally in front of the law, and no discrimination should take place. The functioning of Parliament, that is, Legislative procedure, is again their giving to our constitution, as is Single Citizenship. 

The breaking down and the existence of Cabinets and Cabinet ministers is another feature that we got from the British. Prerogative Writs, Parliamentary privileges and Bicameral legislature, that is, dividing the Parliament into a lower and an upper-level system, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, are also taken from the English constitution. 

• The Impact of the United States of America

The United States’s constitution gave India the concept of Fundamental Rights, Independence of Judiciary or no unjust influence of government in the matter of court was also the gift of the US constitution. 

Judicial review and Impeachment of the President are also two features that have been taken from the US constitution.Other contributions of theirs are giving the powers of Removal of Supreme and High Court Judges and for enabling the existence of having a Vice-President.

• USSR/Modern-day Russia

Fundamental Duties along with Social, Economic and Political Justice mentioned in Preamble are the giving of the Russian constitution to the Indian constitution. 

• Australia

The existence of the Concurrent List, the list that holds the matter of concern shared by State and Union governments, is derived from the Australian constitution. Other than that, they also gave the Indian constitution the freedom of trade, commerce and intercourse as well as the joint sitting of both houses of the Parliament. 

• France

France pioneered the term ‘Republic’, and so India being a republic comes from their court. The presence of the terms liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble is also a giving of the French constitution. 

• Ireland

The Irish constitution contributes to the Indian constitution by establishing Directive Principles of State Policy. It doesn’t stop there; they’ve also included the ability to nominate members to the Rajya Sabha and the mechanism for electing the President.

• Canada

India is a Quasi-federal government, that is, where a state government enjoys less power than the central government, and it’s all thanks to the Canadian constitution. Thus, we also have a federal system with a strong central government. 

Distribution of the powers between Central and State governments also naturally comes from them. Residual powers, the advisory function of the Supreme court and the central government’s power to appoint a Governor of the state are all a part of the Canadian constitution.

• Japan

From the Japanese constitution, India got the feature of ‘Procedure established by Law’. This means that any law applied to a person is only valid if it has been followed exactly as the written word says.

• Germany

A country that had seen wars like no others knows how the times can be, and so their constitution had ‘Emergency’ and Suspension of Fundamental Rights in the time of Emergency as a protocol in their constitution which was borrowed by the Indian constitution. 

• South Africa

India and South Africa shared a great relationship back in the day and still continue to do it to day, and so it was only natural that they too contributed to our constitution. And so, their constitution gave us the feature of power to amend the constitution and process of electing members of Rajya Sabha. 

Conclusion

The diverse and distinctive Indian constitution has been opened and looked at under the magnifying glass as we just learned that all nations were instrumental in the making of the Indian constitution. Different sources of the Indian constitution are responsible for giving it the different rules and laws that we benefit from today.

Seventy-two years on from Republic Day, we still learn something new every day about our constitution. Indian constitution that makes it more unique than any other constitution in the world.