The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles and the duties of citizens. It is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world. The nation is governed by it. B. R. Ambedkar is regarded as its chief architect.

It imparts constitutional supremacy and not parliamentary supremacy, as it is not created by the Parliament but, by a constituent assembly, and adopted by its people, with a declaration in its preamble. Parliament cannot override the constitution. It was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, and came into effect on 26 January 1950. With its adoption, the Union of India became the modern and contemporary Republic of India replacing the Government of India Act, 1935 as the country’s fundamental governing document. To ensure constitutional autochthony, the framers of the constitution repealed the prior Acts of the British Parliament via Article 395 of the constitution. India celebrates its coming into force on 26 January each year, as Republic Day.

It declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic, assuring its citizens of justice, equality, and liberty, and endeavors to promote fraternity among them.

Background

The major portion of the Indian subcontinent was under British rule from 1857 to 1947. When the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950, it repealed the Indian Independence Act. India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown and became a sovereign democratic republic. The date of 26 January was chosen to commemorate the Purna Swaraj declaration of independence of 1930.

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 Nov 1949 and the remaining articles on 26 Jan 1950.

Previous legislation

used as sources

It is drawn from many sources. Keeping in mind the needs and conditions of India its framers borrowed different features freely from previous legislation viz. Government of India Act 1858, Indian Councils Act 1861, Indian Councils Act 1892, Indian Councils Act 1909, Government of India Act 1919, Government of India Act 1935 and the Indian Independence Act 1947. The last legislation which led to the creation of the two independent nations of India and Pakistan provided for the division of the erstwhile Constituent Assembly into two, with each new assembly having sovereign powers transferred to it, to enable each to draft and enact a new constitution, for the separate states.

Constituent assembly

It was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by elected members of the provincial assemblies. The 389 member Constituent Assembly took almost three years (two years, eleven months and eighteen days to be precise) to complete its historic task of drafting the Constitution for independent India, during which, it held eleven sessions over 165 days. Of these, 114 days were spent on the consideration of the draft Constitution. On 29 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly set up a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to prepare a draft Constitution for India. While deliberating upon the draft Constitution, the assembly moved, discussed and disposed of as many as 2,473 amendments out of a total of 7,635 tabled. Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Sanjay Phakey, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Kanaiyalal Munshi, Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, Sandipkumar Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Nalini Ranjan Ghosh, and Balwantrai Mehta were some important figures in the assembly. There were more than 30 members of the scheduled classes. Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi. The Chairman of the Minorities Committee was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a distinguished Christian who represented all Christians other than Anglo-Indians. Ari Bahadur Gurung represented the Gorkha Community. Prominent jurists like Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, Benegal Narsing Rau and K. M. Munshi, Ganesh Mavlankar were also members of the Assembly. Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Vijayalakshmi Pandit were important women members

The first temporary 2-day president of the Constituent Assembly was Dr Sachchidananda Sinha. Later, Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent Assembly.The members of the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946.

Drafting

On the 14 August 1947 meeting of the Assembly, a proposal for forming various committees was presented. Such committees included a Committee on Fundamental Rights, the Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution Committee. On 29 August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed, with Dr B. R. Ambedkar as the Chairman along with six other members assisted by a constitutional advisor. These members were Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (K M Munshi, Ex- Home Minister, Bombay), Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer (Ex- Advocate General, Madras State), N Gopalaswami Ayengar (Ex-Prime Minister, J&K and later member of Nehru Cabinet), B L Mitter (Ex-Advocate General, India), Md. Saadullah (Ex- Chief Minister of Assam, Muslim League member) and D P Khaitan (Scion of Khaitan Business family and a renowned lawyer). The constitutional advisor was Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (who became First Indian Judge in International Court of Justice, 1950-54). Later B L Mitter resigned and was replaced by Madhav Rao (Legal Advisor of Maharaja of Vadodara). On D P Khaitan’s death, T T Krishnamachari was included in the drafting committee. A draft Constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 4 November 1947, which was debated and over 2000 amendments were moved over a period of two years. Finally on 26 November 1949, the process was completed and the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution. 284 members signed the document and the process of constitution making was complete. This day is celebrated as National Law Day or Constitution Day.

The assembly met in sessions open to the public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution, the 308 members of the assembly signed two copies of the document (one each in Hindi and English) on 24 January 1950. The original Constitution of India is hand-written with beautiful calligraphy, each page beautified and decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Nandalal Bose. The illustrations on the cover and pages represent styles from the different civilisations of the subcontinent, ranging from the prehistoric Mohenjodaro civilisation, in the Indus Valley, to the present. The calligraphy in the book was done by Prem Behari Narain Raizda. It was published in Dehra Dun, and photolithographed at the offices of Survey of India. The entire exercise to produce the original took nearly five years. Two days later, on 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India became the law of all the States and territories of India. Rs.1,00,00,000 was official estimate of expenditure on constituent assembly. It has undergone many amendments since its enactment.

The original 1950 Constitution of India is preserved in helium cases in the Parliament house, New Delhi. There are two original versions of this – one in Hindi and the other in English.

Dr Ambedkar: Architect of Indian Constitution

Due to his seminal role in the framing of the Indian Constitution, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar is popularly known all over India as the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. His efforts to eradicate social evils were remarkable and that is why he is called the “messiah” of the Dalits and downtrodden in India. Dr Ambedkar was appointed the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. The text prepared by Ambedkar provided constitutional guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and outlawing all forms of discrimination. Ambedkar argued for extensive economic and social rights for women, and also won the Constituent Assembly’s support for introducing a system of reservations of jobs for members of the SC and ST. Ambedkar kept the clauses of the Constitution flexible so that amendments could be made as and when the situation demanded. He provided an inspiring Preamble to the Constitution ensuring justice, social, economic and political, liberty, equality and fraternity. The creation of an egalitarian social order, however, remains an unfulfilled wishful thinking to this day.

Dr Ambedkar was not only a learned scholar and an eminent jurist but also a revolutionary who fought against social evils like untouch-ability and caste restrictions. Throughout his life, he battled social discrimination while upholding the rights of the Dalits and other socially backward classes. He was not only a great national leader but also a distinguished scholar of international repute. He not only led various social movements for the upliftment of the depressed sections of the Indian society but also contributed to the understanding of the socio-economic and political problems of India through his scholarly works on caste, religion, culture, constitutional law and economic development. As a matter of fact he was an economist and his various scholarly works and speeches indicate his deep understanding of the problems faced by the Indian society. He was appointed as the nation’s first Law Minister and was posthu-mously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990.1

On August 29, 1947 Dr. Ambedkar was appointed the Chairman of the Drafting Committee that was constituted by Constituent Assembly to draft a Constitution for independent India. The draft Constitution was the result of the collective efforts of a galaxy of great leaders and legal scholars in the Constituent Assembly such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, B.R. Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, B.N. Rao, Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar etc. The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of Dr Ambedkar only to the Indian Constitution.

Dr Ambedkar played a seminal role in the framing of the Indian Constitution. He used all his experience and knowledge in drafting the Constitution. In his capacity as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, he hammered out a comprehensive workable Constitution into which he incorporated his valuable views. He gave free India its legal framework, and the people, the basis of their freedom. To this end, his contribution was significant, substantial, and spectacular.2 Dr Ambedkar’s contribution to the evolution of free India lies in his striving for ensuring justice—social, economic and political—for one and all.

Fundamental Rights

Ambedkar was a champion of fundamental rights, and Part III of the Indian Constitution guarantees the fundamental rights to the citizens against the state. Some of the fundamental rights contained in Articles 15(2), 17, 23, and 24 are also enforceable against individuals as they are very significant rights relating to the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth etc.3 The text prepared by Ambedkar provided constitutional guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and outlawing all forms of discrimination. Ambedkar argued for extensive economic and social rights for women.

According to Ambedkar, the most significant feature of the fundamental rights is that these rights are made justiciable. The right to move to the Supreme Court for enforcement of fundamental rights under Article 32 is itself a fundamental right. Article 32 authorises the Supreme Court to issue directions, orders or writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, certioraris etc. or any other appropriate remedy, as the case may be, for the enforcement of funda-mental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Parliamentary Democracy

Dr Ambedkar was a strong advocate of the parliamentary form of government right from the inception of the Government of India Act of 1935. He firmly believed that the parliamentary system of government alone can usher in an egalitarian society through the application of the principles of social democracy. Dr Ambedkar’s social democracy comprised politicians, political parties with high standards of political morality, honesty and integrity and strong and highly responsible Opposition party or parties committed to the cause of the downtrodden and depressed classes. The Preamble of the Indian Constitution echoes the principles of parliamentary democracy. It reads:

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 Individual and the Unity of the Nation, in our Constituent Assembly this 26th day of November, 1949 do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution.

Dr Ambedkar was a strong advocate of the federal structure of the Union and States based on the principles of a strong Centre and independent States. Dr Ambedkar also did great service to the nation by proposing the institution of a unified judicial system and common All India Services with a view to strengthen national unity and integrity.

Protective Discrimination/Reservation

The real contribution of Ambedkar is reflected in the protective discrimination scheme or the reservation policy of the government envisaged under some provisions of Part III and many of Part IV dealing with the constitutional mandate to ameliorate the condition of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the other backward classes. Provisions like Article 17 prohibiting untouchability, Article 30 dealing with the protection of minorities are some of the notable examples.

Articles 15(4) and16(4) of Part III and Part XI, and Schedule V and VI dealing with the upliftment of the Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes speak clearly about the substantial and significant contribution of Ambedkar for the development of untouchables.5 Ambedkar made it his life’s mission to uplift the untouchables and other downtrodden masses from the unequal position of inferiority to that of equal position of parity in socio-economic status with high-caste Hindus. For achieving this goal the reservation policy or the scheme of protective discrimination was advocated and implemented by him for ten years at least to ameliorate the conditions of the various depressed and down-trodden sections of Hindu society.

State Socialism

Dr Ambedkar advocated his economic doctrine of “state socialism” in the draft Constitution. He proposed state ownership of agriculture with a collectivised method of cultivation and a modified form of state socialism in the field of industry. But due to strong opposition in the Constitution Assembly, he could not incorporate his scheme of state socialism under the fundamental rights as a part of the Constitution.

In 1948, Dr Ambedkar presented the draft Constitution before the people of India; it was adopted on November 26, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly in the name of the people of India and came into force on January 26, 1950 marking the beginning of a new era in the history of India. Speaking after the completion of his work, Ambedkar said: “I feel the Constitution is workable; it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peace time and in war time.”6 It has been in effect since January 26, 1950, which is celebrated as the Republic Day in India.

The first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, praised the services rendered by Dr Ambedkar in the making of the Constitution and said:

I have carefully watched the day-to-day activities from the presidential seat. Therefore, I appreciate more than others with how much dedication and vitality this task has been carried out by the Drafting Committee and by its chairman Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar in particular. We never did a better thing than having Dr Ambedkar on the Drafting Committee and selecting him as its chairman.

The Columbia University at its Special convocation on June 5, 1952 conferred the LL.D. degree (Honoris Causa) on Dr Ambedkar in recognition of his drafting the Constitution of India. The citation read:

The degree is being conferred in recognition of the work done by him in connection with the drafting of India’s Constitution.

The University hailed him as “one of India’s leading citizens, a great social reformer and valiant upholder of human rights”.

To conclude, Dr Ambedkar’s drafting of the Indian Constitution has enabled the abolition of untouchability and the outlawing of all forms of discriminations. Due to all these outstanding contributions Dr Ambedkar can be rightly called the architect of the Indian Constitution. None-theless, it is an undeniable fact that Dr Ambedkar’s dream of the creation of an egalitarian social order still remains unfulfilled despite the extended period of reservation for SCs and STs.

Important amendments in the Indian Constitution

The Constitution of India is neither flexible nor rigid enough but it is a synthesis of both. Constitution of India (under article 368 of Part XX) provided the powers to Parliament to amend the Constitution and its procedures but cannot amend those provisions which form the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution (As ruled by the Supreme Court in the Keshashavananda Bharti Case, 1973).

The Constitution can be amended in three ways:

–              Amendment by simple majority of the Parliament.

–              Amendment by special majority of the Parliament.

–              Amendment by special majority of the Parliament and the ratification of half of the state legislature.

First Amendment Act, 1951

–              Empowered the state to make the advancement of socially and economically backward classes.

–              Provided for the saving of laws providing for the acquisition of estates etc.

–              Added 9th Schedule to protect the land reform and other laws included in it from the judicial review.

–              Added three more grounds of restrictions on freedom of speech and expression, viz., public order, friendly relations with foreign states and incitement to an offense. It also made the restrictions ‘reasonable’ and thus, justifiable in nature.

–              Provided that state trading and nationalisation of any trade or business by the state is not to be invalid on the ground of violation of the right to trade or business.

(8th Amendment) Act, 1960

–              It Extended the period of reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies till 1970.

–              It Amended article 334 of the constitution.

36th Amendment

36th amendment occurred in 1975 whereby it was chosen to incorporate Sikkim as a state in the Indian association. The extraordinary thing about Sikkim is, it was the first province of Indian Union. There was no such ideology before 1974 in our constitution. So 35th amendment was made to include Article 2A, making Sikkim a partner territory of India on September 1974. Furthermore, Article 371F was added to secure the laws of Sikkim, alongside other little revisions.

37th Amendment

37th amendment of articles 239A and 240 of the constitution in 1975 prompted the arrangement of Arunachal Pradesh as a legislative assembly.

38th Amendment

38th amendment of articles 123, 352, 356, 359 and 360 under the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi enhanced the powers of the President and Governors to pass various mandates. Article 123 enables the President to proclaim ordinances when both the Houses of Parliament are not in session. Article 352 engages the President to announce emergency on the off chance that the security of India is at stake or is debilitated by war. Article 356 engages the President to assume the elements of the Government of a State if the sacred apparatus in any State falls flat and the Government in the State can’t be continued. In like manner article 360 engages the President to pronounce Financial Emergency on the off chance that he is fulfilled that the budgetary strength of the country is weakened.

61st Amendment-

Voting Rights

61st amendment of Article 326 under the Prime Ministership of Rajiv Gandhi brought down the age of voting in elections to the Lok Sabha and to the Legislative Assemblies of States from 21 years to 18 years. This was finished by revising Article 326 of the Constitution, which is concerned with the elections.

Article 326 of the Constitution, after the 61st Amendment states-

“Article 326 of the Constitution provides that the elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assembly of every State… The present-day youth are very much politically conscious. It is, therefore, proposed to reduce the voting age from 21 years to 18 years.”

86th Amendment

86th Amendment of the Indian Constitution in December 2002 Provides Right to Education until the age of fourteen

This amendment talks about the right to education until the age of fourteen. Prior, there wasn’t any change to help perceive the requirement for the right to education of children. With the 86th Amendment to the Constitution of India, free and obligatory education for the children between 6 to 14 was made as a fundamental right. Another article 21A was embedded underneath the Article 21 of the 86th Amendment in the year 2002 to make this a right. Under this change, no student is subject to pay any sort of expense for education below 14 years of age.

95th amendment- Reservation of seats for SC/ST

95th amendment of Article 334 in January 2010 under the Prime Ministership of Dr. Manmohan Singh. stretched the time of reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies for an additional period of ten years. The time period is now extended up to 26 January 2020. It was presented by the Minister of Law and Justice. He looked forward to altering the article 334 of the Constitution identifying with reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled in the Legislative Assemblies of the States. The 95th Amendment finally happened on 25 January 2010.

100th Amendment

100th amendment of the first schedule of the Indian Constitution under Prime Minister Narendra Modi sanctioned the land limit agreement between India and Bangladesh. The amendment corrected the first schedule of the constitution to trade the domains of debate of both the countries. India got 51 Bangladeshi enclaves) in the Indian territory, while Bangladesh got 111 Indian enclaves in the Bangladeshi terrain.

The India Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement was marked between the two nations in 1974. Nonetheless, this assertion required approval from the parliaments of the two countries as it included the trade of the lands. While Bangladesh had sanctioned it as back as 1974, it was not approved by Indian parliament till 2015.

101st Amendment (2016)- Introduction of GST

The 101st amendment, the Goods and Service Tax was presented in India on July 1, 2017. This amendment contains the arrangements which are vital for the usage of GST administration. All other taxes were expelled.

All taxes which are now levied while buying products will incorporate both the central government’s expenses and the state government’s charges. The presentation of GST has prevented the state governments from arbitrarily increasing the charges.