Related full reading click here :- Constituent Assembly of India
Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected as the president and Its vice-president was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a Christian from Bengal and former vice-chancellor of Calcutta University. Also chairing the assembly’s Minorities Committee, Mookerjee was appointed governor of West Bengal after India became a republic. Jurist B. N. Rau was appointed constitutional adviser to the assembly; Rau prepared the original draft of the constitution and was later appointed a judge in the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague.
The assembly’s work had five stages:
- Committees presented reports on issues.
- B.N. Rau prepared an initial draft based on the reports and his research into the constitutions of other nations.
- The drafting committee, chaired by B. R. Ambedkar, presented a detailed draft constitution which was published for public discussion.
- The draft constitution was discussed, and amendments proposed and enacted.
- The constitution was adopted, with a committee of experts led by the Congress Party (known as the Congress Assembly Party) played a pivotal role
Constituent Assembly of India. Jawaharlal Nehru addressing the constituent assembly in 1946. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, chairman, with other members of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly of India, on 29 August 1947.
Committees of the Constituent Assembly
The Constituent Assembly appointed a total of 22 committees to deal with different tasks of constitution-making. Out of these, eight were major committees and the others were minor committees.
Major Committees
- Drafting Committee – B. R. Ambedkar
- Union Power Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
- Union Constitution Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
- Provincial Constitution Committee – Vallabhbhai Patel
- Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas – Vallabhbhai Patel. This committee had the following subcommittees:
- Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee – J. B. Kripalani
- Minorities Sub-Committee – Harendra Coomar Mookerjee,
- North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee – Gopinath Bordoloi
- Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee – A V Thakkar
- Rules of Procedure Committee – Rajendra Prasad
- States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
- States Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
- Steering Committee – Rajendra Prasad
- National Flag and HOC Committee – Rajendra Prasad
- Committee for the function of the Constitution Assembly – G V Mavlankar
- House Committee – B Pattabhi Sitaramayya
- Language Committee – Moturi Satyanarayana
- Order of Business Committee – K M Munshi
Time Line of Formation of “The Constitution of India”
- 6 December 1946: Formation of the Constitution Assembly. (in accordance with French practice.)
- 9 December 1946: The first meeting was held in the constitution hall (now the Central Hall of Parliament House). 1st person to address – J. B. Kripalani. Temporary president Appointed – Sachchidananda Sinha. (Demanding a separate state, the Muslim League boycotted the meeting.)
- 11 December 1946: President Appointed – Rajendra Prasad, vice-Chairman Harendra Coomar Mookerjee and constitutional legal adviser B. N. Rau (initially 389 members in total, which declined to 299 after partition. out of 389 – 292 were from govt. province, 4 from chief commissioner province and 93 from princely states)
- 13 December 1946: An ‘Objective Resolution’ was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru, laying down the underlying principles of the constitution. which later became the Preamble of the constitution.
- 22 January 1947: Objective resolution unanimously adopted.
- 22 July 1947: National flag adopted.
- 15 August 1947: Achieved independence. India Split into Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan.
- 29 August 1947: Drafting Committee appointed with Dr B. R. Ambedkar as the Chairman. other 6 members of the committee were: K.M.Munshi, Muhammed Saadulah, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, Gopala Swami Ayyangar, N. Madhava Rao(He replaced B.L. Mitter who resigned due to ill-health), T. T. Krishnamachari(He replaced D.P. Khaitan who died in 1948),
- 16 July 1948: Along with Harendra Coomar Mookerjee V. T. Krishnamachari was also elected as second vice-president of Constituent Assembly.
- 26 November 1949: ‘Constitution of India’ passed and adopted by the assembly.
- 24 January 1950: Last meeting of Constituent Assembly. ‘constitution of India’ all signed and accepted. (with 395 Articles, 8 Schedules, 22 Parts)
- 26 January 1950: ‘Constitution of India’ came in to force. (It Took 2 Years, 11 Months, 18 Days – at a total expenditure of ₹6.4 million to finish)
- Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar was the first speaker when meeting the assembly of Lok Sabha, after turning republic.
Add Comment