71st Constitution Day on Nov 26th 2020
1.
Constitution Day also known as 'Samvidhan Divas', is
celebrated in our country on 26th November every year to commemorate the
adoption of the Constitution of India. The day is also known as National Law Day.
2.
The Day is also celebrated as a mark of tribute to India's first Law Minister Dr. B R Ambedkar, who
played a pivotal role in drafting the Constitution.
3.
On 26th November 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted
the Constitution of India,
4.
which came into effect from 26th January 1950.
5.
The constitution replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the
country's fundamental governing document, and the Dominion of India became the
Republic of India.
6.
To ensure constitutional autochthony, its framers repealed prior acts of
the British parliament in Article 395.
7.
India celebrates its constitution on 26
January as Republic Day.
8.
The constitution declares India a sovereign,
socialist, secular, democratic republic, assuring its citizens justice,
equality and liberty, and endeavours to promote fraternity.
9.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 19th November 2015 notified
the decision of Government of India to celebrate the 26th day of November
every year as 'Constitution Day' to promote
Constitution values among citizens.
10.The Constitution of India (भारतीय संविधान) is the supreme law of India.
11.It is the longest written constitution of any
country.
12.The original 1950
constitution is
preserved in a helium-filled
case at the Parliament House in New Delhi.
13. The Preamble
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA,
having solemnly resolved to constitute India
into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and
worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and
the unity and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this 26th day of
November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND
GIVE
TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION
14.The words "secular" and "socialist"
were added to the preamble in 1976 during the Emergency.
15.In 1928, the All Parties Conference convened a
committee in Lucknow to prepare
the Constitution of India, which was known as the Nehru Report.
16.Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379,
380, 388, 391, 392, 393, and 394 of the constitution came into force on 26
November 1949, and the remaining articles became effective on 26
January 1950.
17.B. R. Ambedkar was a wise constitutional expert, he
had studied the constitutions of about 60 countries. Ambedkar is recognised as
the "Father of the Constitution of
India".
18.Timeline of formation of the Constitution of India
Ø 6 December 1946: Formation of the
Constitution Assembly.
Ø 9 December 1946: The first meeting
was held in the constitution hall (now the Central Hall of Parliament House).
The 1st person to address was J. B. Kripalani, Sachchidananda Sinha became
temporary president. (Demanding a separate state, the Muslim League
boycotted the meeting.)
Ø 11 December 1946: The Assembly
appointed Rajendra Prasad as its president, H. C. Mukherjee as its
vice-chairman and B. N. Rau as constitutional legal adviser. (There were
initially 389 members in total, which declined to 299 after partition. Out of
the 389 members, 292 were from government provinces, 4 from chief commissioner
provinces and 93 from princely states.)
Ø 13 December 1946: An 'Objective
Resolution' was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru, laying down the underlying
principles of the constitution. This later became the Preamble of the
Constitution.
Ø 22 January 1947: Objective resolution
unanimously adopted.
Ø 22 July 1947: National flag adopted.
Ø 15 August 1947: Achieved
independence. India split into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of
Pakistan.
Ø 29 August 1947: Drafting Committee
appointed with B. R. Ambedkar as its Chairman. The other 6 members of
committee were Munshi, Muhammed Sadulla, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, N.
Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Khaitan and Mitter.
Ø 16 July 1948: Along with Harendra
Coomar Mookerjee, V. T. Krishnamachari
was also elected as second vice-president of Constituent Assembly.
Ø
26 November 1949: The Constitution of India was passed and
adopted by the assembly.
Ø
24
January 1950: Last meeting of Constituent Assembly. The Constitution was signed and
accepted. (with 395 Articles, 8 Schedules, 22 Parts)
Ø
26 January 1950: The Constitution came into force. (The process took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days - at a
total expenditure of ₹6.4 million to finish.)
19.G. V. Mavlankar was the
first Speaker of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) after India turned into a
republic.
20.Membership: - B. R. Ambedkar, Sanjay Phakey,
Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel,
Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi, Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, Sandipkumar Patel, Abul
Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Nalini Ranjan Ghosh, and Balwantrai Mehta
were key figures in the assembly,
which had over 30 representatives of the scheduled classes.
Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community,
and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi.
Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a Christian assembly vice-president, chaired
the minorities committee and represented non-Anglo-Indian Christians.
Ari Bahadur Gurung represented the Gorkha community.
Judges, such as Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer,
Benegal Narsing Rau, K. M. Munshi and Ganesh Mavlankar were members of the
assembly.
Female members included Sarojini
Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh, Amrit Kaur and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.
21.The first, two-day president of the assembly was
Sachchidananda Sinha; Rajendra Prasad was later elected president. It
met for the first time on 9 December 1946.
22.Influence
of other constitutions
|
Government |
Influence |
|
|
·
Concept of single
citizenship ·
The legislative
speaker and their role ·
Legislative procedure |
|
·
Federal structure of government ·
Electoral College ·
Independent judiciary and
separation of powers ·
Judicial review ·
President as
commander-in-chief of the armed forces ·
Equal protection under law |
|
|
·
Freedom of trade between
states ·
National legislative power
to implement treaties, even on matters outside normal federal jurisdiction ·
Preamble terminology |
|
|
Notions of liberté,
égalité, fraternité |
|
|
·
Quasi-federal government—a
federal system with a strong central government ·
Distribution of powers
between the central and state governments ·
Residual powers, retained by
the central government |
|
|
·
Fundamental Duties under
article 51-A ·
Mandated planning commission
to oversee economic development |
|
|
The emergency provision under article 356 |
|
|
Amending the constitution |
|
|
Due process |
23. The Indian constitution is the world's
longest for a sovereign nation. At its enactment, it had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules. At about 1,45,000 words, it is the second-longest active constitution—after the
Constitution of Alabama—in the world.
24. The constitution has a preamble and 470 articles, which are
grouped into 25 parts. With 12 schedules and five appendices, it has been
amended 104 times; the latest amendment became effective on 14 January 2019.
- The constitution's articles are grouped into
the following parts:
Preamble, with the words "socialist", "secular" and
'integrity' added in 1976 by the 42nd amendment
Part I– States
and union territories
Part IV – Directive Principles of State Policy
Part IVA – Fundamental Duties
Part V– The union
Part VI– The states
Part VII – States in the B part of the first
schedule (repealed)
Part VIII – Union territories
Part IX – Panchayats
Part IXA – Municipalities
Part IXB – Co-operative societies
Part X – Scheduled and tribal areas
Part
XI – Relations between the union and the states
Part
XII – Finance, property, contracts and suits
Part
XIII – Trade and commerce within India
Part
XIV – Services under the union and states
Part XIVA – Tribunals
Part
XV – Elections
Part
XVI – Special provisions relating to certain
classes
Part
XVII – Languages
Part
XVIII – Emergency provisions
Part
XIX – Miscellaneous
Part
XX – Amending the constitution
Part
XXI – Temporary, transitional and special
provisions
Part
XXII – Short title, date of commencement,
authoritative text in Hindi and repeals
26.Schedules
Schedules
are lists in the constitution which categorise and tabulate bureaucratic
activity and government policy.
|
Schedule |
Article(s) |
Description |
|
First |
1 and 4 |
Lists India's
states and territories, changes in their borders and the laws used to make
that change. |
|
Second |
59(3), 65(3),
75(6), 97, 125, 148(3), 158(3), 164(5), 186 and 221 |
Lists the
salaries of public officials, judges, and the comptroller
and auditor general. |
|
Third |
75(4), 99,
124(6), 148(2), 164(3), 188 and 219 |
Forms of
oaths – Lists the oaths of office for elected officials and judges |
|
Fourth |
4(1) and 80(2) |
Details the
allocation of seats in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament)
by state or union territory. |
|
Fifth |
244(1) |
Provides for
the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled
Tribes (areas and tribes requiring special protection). |
|
Sixth |
244(2) and
275(1) |
Provisions
made for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and
Mizoram. |
|
246 |
Central
government, state, and concurrent lists of responsibilities |
|
|
344(1) and 351 |
Official
languages |
|
|
Ninth |
31-B |
Validation of
certain acts and regulations. |
|
Tenth |
102(2) and
191(2) |
Anti-defection provisions
for members of Parliament and state legislatures. |
|
Eleventh |
243-G |
Panchayat Raj (rural
local government) |
|
Twelfth |
243-W |
Municipalities (urban
local government) |
27. The executive, legislative, and judicial branches of
government receive their power from the constitution and are bound by it.
28. Under Articles 52 and 53: the president of India is
head of the executive branch
29.Under Article 60: the duty of preserving, protecting,
and defending the constitution and the law.
30.Under Article 74: the prime minister is the head of
the Council of Ministers, which aids and advises the president in the
performance of their constitutional duties.
31.Under Article 75(3): The Council of Ministers is
answerable to the lower house.
32.The constitution is considered federal in
nature, and unitary in spirit. It has features of a
federation, including a codified, supreme constitution; a three-tier
governmental structure (central, state and local); division of powers; bicameralism;
and an independent judiciary. It also possesses unitary features
such as a single constitution, single citizenship, an integrated judiciary, a
flexible constitution, a strong central government, appointment of state governors by the central
government, All India Services (the IAS, IFS and IPS), and emergency provisions.
This unique combination makes it quasi-federal in form.
33.Each state and union
territory has its own government. Analogous to the president and prime
minister, each has a governor or (in union territories)
a lieutenant governor and a chief minister. Article 356 permits the
president to dismiss a state government and assume direct authority if a
situation arises in which state government cannot be conducted in accordance
with constitution. This power, known as president's
rule, was abused as state governments came to be dismissed on flimsy
grounds for political reasons. After the S. R. Bommai v. Union of India decision, such
a course of action is more difficult since the courts have asserted their right
of review.
34.The 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts introduced the system
of panchayati raj in rural areas and Nagar
Palikas in urban areas.
35.Article 368 dictates the procedure
for constitutional amendments. Amendments are
additions, variations or repeal of any part of the constitution by Parliament. An
amendment bill must be passed by each house of Parliament by a two-thirds
majority of its total membership when at least two-thirds are present and vote.
Certain amendments pertaining to the constitution's federal nature must also be
ratified by a majority of state legislatures.
36.Unlike ordinary bills in accordance with Article 245 (except for money bills),
there is no provision for a joint session of the Lok Sabha and Rajya
Sabha to pass a constitutional amendment. During a parliamentary
recess, the president cannot promulgate ordinances under
his legislative powers under Article 123, Chapter III. Deemed amendments to the
constitution which can be passed under the legislative powers of
parliament were invalidated by Article 368(1) in
the 24th Amendment.
37.By July 2018, 124 amendment bills had been presented
in Parliament; of these, 103 became Amendment Acts. Despite
the supermajority requirement for amendments to pass,
the Indian constitution is the world's most frequently-amended national
governing document. The constitution is so specific in spelling out
government powers that many amendments address issues dealt with by statute in
other democracies.
38.In 2000, the Justice
Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah Commission was formed to examine
a constitutional update. The government of India establishes
term-based law commissions to recommend legal
reforms, facilitating the rule of law.
39.Limitations
In Kesavananda Bharati v. State of
Kerala, the Supreme Court ruled that an amendment
cannot destroy what it seeks to modify; it cannot tinker with the
constitution's basic structure or framework, which are immutable. Such an
amendment will be declared invalid, although no part of the constitution is
protected from amendment; the basic structure doctrine does not protect any one
provision of the constitution. According to the doctrine, the constitution's
basic features (when "read as a whole") cannot be abridged or
abolished. These "basic features" have not been fully defined, and
whether a particular provision of the constitution is a "basic
feature" is decided by the courts.
The Kesavananda Bharati v. State of
Kerala decision laid down the constitution's basic structure:
1.
Supremacy
of the constitution
2.
Republican,
democratic form of government
3.
Its
secular nature
4.
Separation
of powers