Making of Indian Constitution

Demand of Constituent Assembly
1934: by MN Roy
1935: Congress
1936: JLN in Lucknow Session
1940: August Offer by Linlithgow- Demand for CA accepted- rejected by Congress and Muslim League (separate nation)
1942: Cripps Mission - failed- dominion status was offered
1946: Cabinet Mission- grouping of provinces
Members: Pathic Lawrence (chairman). Stafford Cripps, AV Alexander

Provisions
Total seats: 389: 296- elected from British India + 93- nominated princely states
296: 292 (Governor provinces) + 4 (chief commissioner provinces)
Indirect elections: 3 communities- General, Muslim and Sikh
10lkh = 1 seat

Elections held in July-August 1946
Results
Majority: Congress: 208 seats
ML: 73 seats
Independent: 15

After boycott of Muslim League and partition: 299 seats- in 1947

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
President: Dr Rajendra Prasad (permanent)
Vice President: HC Mukherjee, VT Krishnamacharya
9 Dec 1946: 1st meeting: 211 members participated- Temp President: Sachidanand Sinha
13 Dec 1946: Objective Resolution by JLN
22 Jan 1946: Objective Resolution was accepted- 8 major and 13 minor committees

MAJOR COMMITTEES
Jawaharlal Nehru: Union Power Committee, Union Constitution Comm, States Comm
Dr. Rajendra Prasad: Rules of Procedure Committee, Steering Committee
Dr. BR Ambedkar: Drafting Com
Sardar Patel: Provincial Constitution Commission, Advisory Comm on FR, Minorities and Excluded Areas

Drafting Committee: formed on 29 August 1947
Members: 7- BR Ambedkar, Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar, N Gopalaswamy Aiyengar, Mohd Saadullah, KM Munshi, BL Mitter replaced by N Madhav Rao, DP Khaitann replaced by TT Krishnamachari

MINOR COMMITTEES
Committee on the Functions of Constituent Assembly: GV Mavlankar
Credentials Comm: Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar
Order of Business Comm: KM Munshi
Finance and Staff Committee: Rajendra Prasad
House Committee: B Pattabi Sitaramayya
Ad Hoc Comm on Supreme Court: S Varadachari
Comm on Linguistic Provinces: SK Dhar
Ad Hoc Committee on National Flag: Rajendra Prasad

Important Sessions
1st session: 9-23 Dec 1946
10th session: 6-17 Oct 1949
11th session: 14-26 Nov 1949

First Draft: 21 Feb 1948
Final Draft: 4 Nov 1948- by BR Ambedkar from Bengal Constituency

Readings
1st: 4 Nov- 9 Nov 1948
2nd:15Nov- 17 Oct 1949
3rd: completed on 26 Nov 1949

CONSTITUTION
Completed in 2yr 11 months 17 days
Rs. 64 lakhs
Included: 395 articles, 22 parts + Preamble
Adopted on 26 Nov 1949- Citizenship, Elections and Provisional Parliament were enforced
Enforced on 26 Jan 1950
Symbol: Elephant
Decoration: Nand Lal Bose, Beohar Rammanohar Sinha
Calligraphy: English: Prem Bihari Narain Raizada Hindi: Vasant Kumar Vaidya

Functions
Constitution Maker: President: Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Secretary: HVR Iyengar
Law Maker: President: GV Mavlankar VP: TT Krishnamachari, HC Mukherjee
Legal Advisor: BN Rao
Chief Draftsman: SN Mukherjee

Important Dates
22 July 1947: National Flag was adopted
May 1949: Commonwealth Membership ratified
24 Jan 1950: adopted National Anthem by Rabindranath Tagore, National song by Bakim Chandra Chatterjee, 284 people signed the constitution (15 females), last sitting, 1st President of independent India Dr Rajendra Prasad elected

Interim government: 2nd September 1946