Formation of Indian Constitution

• The Constitution of India was drafted by the Constituent Assembly which was elected and partly nominated for undivided India
• It convened for the first time on December 9, 1946, and reconvened on August 14, 1947, as the Constituent Assembly for divided India
• Members of Assembly: Members of the Assembly to frame the constitution of India. The Provincial assembly elects the constitutional assembly following India’s Independence in 1947
• The Constituent Assembly was made generally along the lines recommended by the arrangement proposed by the panel of the British bureau, known as the Cabinet Mission. Every Province and each Princely State or gathering of States were distributed seats corresponding to their particular populace generally in the proportion of 1:10,00,000. Therefore, the Provinces (that were under direct British guidelines) were to choose 292 individuals while the Princely States were assigned at least 93 seats
• The seats in each province were distributed among the three principal networks, Muslims, Sikhs, and general, based on their respective populations. Individuals from every district in the Provincial Legislative Assembly chose their representatives using the relative representation technique and a single customizable vote. The conference did not establish a strategy for determining the status of agents of Princely States.

Composition of the Constituent Assembly

• It was a consequence of the Partition under the plan of 3 June 1947
• Members elected from territories that fell under Pakistan ceased to be members of the Constituent Assembly and the number of members in the Assembly was reduced to 299
• The Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949, and 284 members were present on January 24, 1950, to sign the Constitution as it was officially passed
• The Constitution went into effect on January 26, 1950
• The Constitution was committed to a new conception of citizenship where minorities would be secure and religious identity would have no bearing on citizenship rights
• Representative constituent assembly:
  • Members of all religions were given representation under the scheme which implies that members of any religion can be part of the representative constituent assembly
  • In addition, the Assembly had twenty-eight members from the Scheduled Castes. 
  • As far as ideological groups: The Congress overwhelmed the Assembly involving upwards of 82% of the seats in the Assembly. After the Partition, however, it was a different party that figured out how to oblige practically all shades of assessment inside it.

The Principle of Deliberation

• Authority of the Constituent Assembly: The first principle of deliberation is the authority of the constituent assembly, and it comes from the procedures it adopted to frame the Constitution and the values its members brought to their deliberations
• The Interest of the whole nation: Diverse sections of society should have participated not only as representatives of their own identity or community
• Each member deliberated upon the Constitution with the interests of the whole nation in mind
• Healthy Debate:
  • Testament to democratic commitment: Almost every issue that lies at the foundation of a modern state was discussed with great sophistication
  • The exception to this would be the provision of ‘The Introduction of Universal suffrage’ which was passed without virtually any debate.
• Members were engaged in public reasons:
  • Emphasis on discussion and a reasoned argument: They did not simply advance their interests but gave principled reasons to other members for their positions
  • The voluminous debates in the Constituent Assembly debating and scrutinizing each clause of the Constitution is a tribute to public reason at its best
  • These debates deserved to be memorialized as one of the most significant chapters in the history of the constitution.

Procedures

• Mundane procedures of the Assembly:
  • The Constituent Assembly had eight major Committees on different subjects
  • Usually, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel or B.R. Ambedkar chaired these Committees. 
• Working together despite differences:
  • Ambedkar was a severe pundit of the Congress and Gandhi and blamed them for not doing what’s necessary for the upliftment of Scheduled Castes. Patel and Nehru differ on many issues. Every Committee ordinarily drafted specific arrangements of the Constitution which were then exposed to banter by the whole Assembly
• Attempts to reach a consensus:
  • Belief: Provisions agreed to by all would not be detrimental to any particular interests
  • Some provisions were subject to the vote
  • Every single argument, query or concern was responded to with great care and writing
  • The Assembly met for a total of 166 days over two years and eleven months
  • Its meetings were open to both the press and the public.

Features of Indian Constitution

The two fundamental features of the Indian Constitution are mentioned as follows –

Federal System with Unitary Bias

In India, the constitution establishes a federal government system. All the expected characteristics of a federal state are present, including two government levels, a division of power, supremacy and rigidity of the constitution, a written constitution, and bicameralism.

Furthermore, the phrase “federation” does not appear in the constitution. Article 1 declares India to be a ‘Union of States,’ indicating:

• The Indian federation is not the outcome of a state accord.
• The right of states to secede from the federation does not exist.

Parliamentary Government

The following are the characteristics of India’s parliamentary form of government:

• Nominal and real executives
• The majority party’s rule
• Prime Ministerial or Chief Ministerial Leadership
• The lower House is being dissolved.
• The executive’s collective obligation to the legislative
• Ministerial representation in the legislature.

Conclusion

The Indian constitution is a complex mould of different components derived from constitutions of different countries. It is designed to suit the citizens of India. The Indian Constitution has been revised every few years to update depending on the global as well as Indian issues.