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Constitution of India (Hindi: , see names in other Indianlanguages) is the supreme law of India. It lays down theframework defining fundamental political principles, establishesthe structure, procedures, powers and duties, of the governmentand spells out the fundamental rights, directive principles and

duties of citizens. It is the longest[1] written constitution of anysovereign country in the world, containing 444 articles in 24

parts, 12 schedules and 94 amendments,[2][3] for a total of117,369 words in the English language version. Besides theEnglish version, there is an official Hindi translation.

Passed by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, it

came into effect on 26 January 1950.[4] The date 26 Januarywas chosen to commemorate the declaration of independence of1930. It declares the Union of India to be a sovereign, socialist,secular, democratic republic, assuring its citizens of justice,equality, and liberty and, endeavors to promote among them all,fraternity. The words "socialist", "secular", and "integrity" were

added to the definition in 1976 by constitutional amendment.[5]

India celebrates the adoption of the constitution on 26 January

each year as Republic Day.[6] After coming into effect, theConstitution replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as thegoverning document of India.

Contents [hide]

1 Background2 Evolution of the Constitution

2.1 Acts of British Parliament before 19352.2 Government of India Act 19352.3 The Cabinet Mission Plan2.4 Indian Independence Act 1947

3 Constituent Assembly3.1 Drafting

4 Structure4.1 Parts4.2 Schedules

5 System of government5.1 Federal Structure5.2 Parliamentary Democracy

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Constitution of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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5.3 Independent Judiciary6 Original Unamended Constitution of India7 Changing the constitution8 Judicial review of laws9 Notes10 See also11 References12 Bibliography13 External links

BackgroundMain article: Indian independence movement

The majority of the Indian subcontinent was under British colonial rule from 1858 to 1947. This periodsaw the gradual rise of the Indian independence movement to gain independence from foreign rule.The movement culminated in the formation of the Dominion of India on 15 August 1947, along withthe Dominion of Pakistan. The constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came intoeffect on 26 January 1950, proclaiming India to be a sovereign, democratic republic. It contained thefounding principles of the law of the land which would govern India after its independence from Britishrule. On the day the constitution came into effect, India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown.

Evolution of the Constitution

Acts of British Parliament before 1935After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Parliament took over the reign of India from the BritishEast India Company, and British India came under the direct rule of the Crown. The BritishParliament passed the Government of India Act of 1858 to this effect, setting up the structure ofgovernment in India. It established in England the office of the Secretary of State for India throughwhom Parliament would exercise its rule, along with a Council of India to aid him. It also establishedthe office of the Governor-General of India along with an Executive Council in India, consisting ofhigh officials of the British Government. The Indian Councils Act of 1861 provided for a LegislativeCouncil consisting of the members of the Executive council and non-official members. The IndianCouncils Act of 1892 established provincial legislatures and increased the powers of the LegislativeCouncil. These acts increased the representation of Indians in the government, however their powerremained limited. The Government of India Acts of 1909 and 1919 further expanded participation ofIndians in the government.

Government of India Act 1935Main article: Government of India Act 1935

The provisions of the Government of India Act of 1935, though never implemented fully, had a greatimpact on the constitution of India. Many key features of the constitution are directly taken from thisAct. The federal structure of government, provincial autonomy, bicameral legislature consisting of afederal assembly and a Council of States, separation of legislative powers between the center andprovinces are some of the provisions of the Act which are present in the Indian constitution.

The Cabinet Mission PlanMain article: 1946 Cabinet Mission to India

In 1946, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee formulated a cabinet mission to India to discuss andfinalize plans for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership as well as provide

India with independence under Dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations.[7][8] The Mission

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discussed the framework of the constitution and laid down in some detail the procedure to befollowed by the constitution drafting body. Elections for the 296 seats assigned to the British Indianprovinces were completed by August 1946. The Constituent Assembly first met and began work on 9December 1946.

Indian Independence Act 1947Main article: Indian Independence Act 1947

The Indian Independence Act, which came into force on 18 July 1947, divided British Indian territoryinto two new states: India and Pakistan, which were to be dominions under the Commonwealth ofNations until their constitutions came into effect. The Constituent Assembly was divided into two forthe separate states. The Act relieved the British Parliament of any further rights or obligationstowards India or Pakistan, and granted sovereignty over the lands to the respective ConstituentAssemblies. When the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950, it repealed theIndian Independence Act. India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown and became asovereign democratic republic. 26 November 1949 is also known as National Law Day.

Constituent AssemblyMain article: Constituent Assembly of India

The Constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by the elected

members of the provincial assemblies.[9] Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad,Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr Ambedkar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee andNalini Ranjan Ghosh were some important figures in the Assembly. There were more than 30members of scheduled classes. Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and theParsis were represented by H. P. Modi. The Chairman of the Minorities Committee was HarendraCoomar Mookerjee, a distinguished Christian who represented all Christians other than Anglo-Indians. Ari Bahadur Gururng represented the Gorkha Community. Prominent jurists like AlladiKrishnaswamy Iyer, B. R. Ambedkar, Benegal Narsing Rau and K. M. Munshi, Ganesh Mavlankarwere also members of the Assembly. Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh andRajkumari Amrit Kaur were important women members. The first president of the ConstituentAssembly was Sachidanand Sinha later, Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent

Assembly.[9] The members of the Constituent Assembly met for the first time in 1946 on 9

December.[9]

DraftingIn the 14 August 1947 meeting of the Assembly, a proposal for forming various committees waspresented. Such committees included a Committee on Fundamental Rights, the Union PowersCommittee and Union Constitution Committee. On 29 August 1947, the Drafting Committee wasappointed, with Dr Ambedkar as the Chairman along with six other members. A Draft Constitutionwas prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 4 November 1947.

The architects of India’s constitution, though drawing on many external sources, were most heavilyinfluenced by the British model of parliamentary democracy. In addition, a number of principles wereadopted from the Constitution of the United States of America, including the separation of powersamong the major branches of government, the establishment of a supreme court, and the adoption,albeit in modified form, of a federal structure (a constitutional division of power between the union[central] and state governments)

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.[6] After many deliberations and somemodifications, the 308 members of the Assembly signed two hand-written copies of the document

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(one each in Hindi and English) on 24 January 1950. Two days later, the Constitution of Indiabecame the law of all the Indian lands.

The Constitution has undergone 94 amendments in the 60 years since its enactment.[3]

StructureThe Constitution, in its current form, consists of a preamble, 22 parts containing 395 articles, 12

schedules, 2 appendices[10] and 94 amendments to date.[3] Although it is federal in nature withstrong unitary bias, in case of emergencies it takes unitary structure.

PartsParts are the individual chapters in the Constitution, focusing on specific issues of law.

Preamble

Part I [11] - Union and its Territory

Part II[12] - Citizenship.Part III - Fundamental Rights

Part IV[13] - Directive Principles andFundamental Duties.

Part V[14] - The Union.

Part VI[15] - The States.

Part VII[16] - States in the B part of theFirst schedule(Repealed).

Part VIII[17] - The Union Territories

Part IX[18] - Panchayat system andMunicipalities.Part X - The scheduled and Tribal AreasPart XI - Relations between the Union andthe States.

Part XII - Finance, Property, Contractsand SuitsPart XIII - Trade and Commerce withinthe territory of IndiaPart XIV - Services Under the Union, theStates and TribunalsPart XV - ElectionsPart XVI - Special Provisions Relating tocertain Classes.Part XVII - LanguagesPart XVIII - Emergency ProvisionsPart XIX - MiscellaneousPart XX - Amendment of the ConstitutionPart XXI - Temporary, Transitional andSpecial ProvisionsPart XXII - Short title, date ofcommencement, Authoritative text inHindiand Repeals

SchedulesSchedules are lists in the Constitution that categorize and tabulate bureaucratic activity and policy ofthe Government.

First Schedule (Articles 1 and 4) — States and Union Territories – This lists the states andterritories on of India, lists any changes to their borders and the laws used to make that change.Second Schedule (Articles 59, 65, 75, 97, 125, 148, 158, 164, 186 and 221) — Emolumentsfor High-Level Officials – This lists the salaries of officials holding public office, judges, andController and Auditor-General of India.Third Schedule (Articles 75, 99, 124, 148, 164, 188 and 219) — Forms of Oaths – This liststhe oaths of offices for elected officials and judges.Fourth Schedule (Articles 4 and 80) – This details the allocation of seats in the Rajya Sabha(the upper house of Parliament) per State or Union Territory.Fifth Schedule (Article 244) – This provides for the administration and control of Scheduled

Areas[Note 1] and Scheduled Tribes[Note 2] (areas and tribes needing special protection due todisadvantageous conditions).Sixth Schedule (Articles 244 and 275)— Provisions for the administration of tribal areas inAssam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.Seventh Schedule (Article 246) — The union (central government), state, and concurrent lists

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of responsibilities.Eighth Schedule (Articles 344 and 351) — The official languages.Ninth Schedule (Article 31-B) - Articles mentione here are immune from judicial review.Tenth Schedule (Articles 102 and 191) — "Anti-defection" provisions for Members ofParliament and Members of the State Legislatures.Eleventh Schedule (Article 243-G) — Panchayat Raj (rural local government).Twelfth Schedule (Article 243-W) — Municipalities (urban local government).

System of governmentThe basic form of the Union Government envisaged in theConstitution is as follows,

“ A democratic executive must satisfy threeconditions:

1. It must be a stable executive, and2. It must be a responsible executive.3. It must be impartial to all religion, casteand community. Unfortunately, it has notbeen possible so far to devise a systemwhich can ensure both conditions in equaldegree. ..... The daily assessment ofresponsibility, which is not available in theAmerican system is, it is felt, far moreeffective than the periodic assessmentand far more necessary in a country likeIndia. The Draft Constitution inrecommending the parliamentary systemof Executive has preferred more

responsibility to stability.[19] ”Federal StructureThe constitution provides for distribution of powers between the Union and the States.

It enumerates the powers of the Parliament and State Legislatures in three lists, namely Union list,State list and Concurrent list. Subjects like national defense, foreign policy, issuance of currency arereserved to the Union list. Public order, local governments, certain taxes are examples of subjects ofthe State List, on which the Parliament has no power to enact laws in those regards, barringexceptional conditions. Education, transportation, criminal law are a few subjects of the Concurrentlist, where both the State Legislature as well as the Parliament have powers to enact laws. Theresiduary powers are vested with the Union.

The upper house of the Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, which consists of representatives of States, isalso an example of the federal nature of the government.

Parliamentary DemocracyThe President of India is elected by the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies, and not directlyby the people. The President is the Head of the State, and all the business of the Executive andLaws enacted by the Parliament are in his/her name. However, these powers are only nominal, andthe President must act only according to the advice of the Prime Minister and the Council ofMinisters.

The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers exercise their offices only as long as they enjoy a

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was thechairman of the Constitution DraftingCommittee.

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majority support in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, which consists of membersdirectly elected by the people. The ministers are answerable to both the houses of the Parliament.Also, the Ministers must themselves be elected members of either house of the Parliament. Thus, theParliament exercises control over the Executive.

A similar structure is present in States, where the directly elected Legislative Assembly enjoys controlover the Chief Minister and the State Council of Ministers.

Independent JudiciaryThe Judiciary of India is free of control from either the executive or the Parliament. The judiciary actsas an interpreter of the constitution, and an intermediary in case of disputes between two States, orbetween a State and the Union. An act passed by the Parliament or a Legislative Assembly issubject to judicial review, and can be declared unconstitutional by the judiciary if it feels that the actviolates some provision of the Constitution.

Constitutional remedy against any action of the government is available in a High Court or theSupreme Court, if the action violates any of the fundamental rights of an individual as enumerated inthe Constitution.

Original Unamended Constitution of IndiaThe original constitution of India without any amendments can be found here: Original Unamendedversion of the Constitution of India

Changing the constitutionMain article: Amendment of the Constitution of India

Amendments to the constitution are made by the Parliament, the procedure for which is laid out inArticle 368. An amendment bill must be passed by both the Houses of the Parliament by a super-majority consisting of 2/3rd of the members present and voting, and half of the total membership ofthe House. In addition to this, certain amendments which pertain to the federal nature of theConstitution must be ratified by a majority of state legislatures.

As of September 2010, there have been 108 amendment bills presented in the Parliament, out of

which 94 have been passed to become Amendment Acts.[3] Most of these amendments addressissues dealt with by statute in other democracies. However, the constitution is so specific in spellingout government powers that many of these issues must be addressed by constitutional amendment.As a result, the document is amended roughly twice a year.

The Supreme Court has ruled that not every constitutional amendment is permissible. An amendmentmust respect the "basic structure" of the constitution, which is immutable.

In 2000 the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC)[20] was setupto look into updating the constitution.

Judicial review of laws

This section requires expansion.

Judicial review is adopted in the Indian constitution from the constitution of the United States ofAmerica. In the Indian constitution, Judicial Review is dealt with under Article 13. Judicial Reviewrefers that the Constitution is the supreme power of the nation and all laws are under its supremacy.Article 13 states that

1. All pre-constitutional laws, after the coming into force of constitution, if in conflict with it in all orsome of its provisions then the provisions of constitution will prevail and the provisions of that pre-

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constitutional law will not be in force until an amendment of the constitution relating to the samematter. In such situation the provision of that law will again come into force, if it is compatible with the

constitution as amended. This is called the Theory of Eclipse[citation needed].

2. In a similar manner, laws made after adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assemblymust be compatible with the constitution, otherwise the laws and amendments will be deemed to bevoid-ab-initio.

In such situations, the Supreme Court or High Court interprets the laws as if they are in conformitywith the constitution. If such an interpretation is not possible because of inconsistency, and where aseparation is possible, the provision that is inconsistent with constitution is considered to be void. Inaddition to article 13, articles 32, 124, 131, 219, 228 and 246 provide a constitutional basis to the

Judicial review in India.[citation needed]

Notes1. ^ Scheduled Areas are autonomous areas within a state, administered federally, usually

populated by a predominant Scheduled Tribe.2. ^ Scheduled Tribes are groups of indigenous people, identified in the Constitution, struggling

socio-economically

See alsoHistory of democracyList of national constitutionsConstitution of India at wiki sourceMagna CartaDr. B.R. AmbedkarUniform civil code of IndiaConstitutional economicsConstitutionalismRule according to higher law

References1. ^ Pylee, M.V. (1997). India's Constitution.

S. Chand & Co.. pp. 3. ISBN 812190403X.2. ^ "Constitution of India" . Ministry of Law

and Justice of India. July, 2008.http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html. Retrieved 2008-12-17.

3. ^ a b c d "THE CONSTITUTION(AMENDMENT) ACTS" . India CodeInformation System. Ministry of Law,Government of India.http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/coifiles/amend. Retrieved 14 July 2010.

4. ^ "Introduction to Constitution of India" .Ministry of Law and Justice of India. 29July 2008.http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/introd.htm .Retrieved 2008-10-14.

5. ^ "Forty-Second Amendment to the

London . ISBN 9780115800825.8. ^ "Parliamentary Archives:

HL/PO/1/595/11" . Parliament and India,1858-1947. British Parliamentary Archives.http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_pub. Retrieved 2008-10-15.

9. ^ a b c "The Constituent AssemblyDebates (Proceedings):(9thDecember,1946 to 24 January 1950)" .The Parliament of India Archive.http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/deb. Retrieved 2008-02-22.

10. ^ "CONSTITUTION OF INDIA" . Ministryof Law and Justice, Govt. of India.http://lawmin.nic.in/coi/contents.htm .

11. ^ Part I12. ^ Part II13. ^ Part IV

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Constitution" . Ministry of Law andJustice of fishys. 28 August 1976.http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend. Retrieved 2008-10-14.

6. ^ a b Das, Hari (2002). Political System ofIndia. Anmol Publications. pp. 120.ISBN 8174886907.

7. ^ Mansergh, Nicholas; Moon, Penderel(1977). The Transfer of Power 1942-7 ..Vol VII. Her Majesty's Stationery Office,

14. ^ Part V15. ^ Part VI16. ^ Part VII17. ^ Part VIII18. ^ Part IX19. ^ Ahir, D.C. (1990). The legacy of Dr

Ambedkar (10th ed.). South Asia Books.pp. 75–76. ISBN 978-8170186038.

20. ^ http://ncrwc.nic.in/

BibliographyBaruah, Aparajita (2007). Preamble of the Constitution of India : An Insight & Comparison.Eastern Book Co. ISBN 9788176299960.Basu, Durga Das (1965). Commentary on the constitution of India : (being a comparative treatiseon the universal principles of justice and constitutional government with special reference to theorganic instrument of India). 1 - 2. S. C. Sarkar & Sons (Private) Ltd.

Basu, Durga Das (1984). Introduction to the Constitution of India (10th ed.). South Asia Books.ISBN 0836410971.Basu, Durga Das (1981). Shorter Constitution of India. Prentice-Hall of India.ISBN 9780876922002.Das, Hari Hara (2002). Political System of India. Anmol Publications. ISBN 8174886907.Dash, Shreeram Chandra (1968). The Constitution of India; a Comparative Study. Chaitanya Pub.House.Ghosh, Pratap Kumar (1966). The Constitution of India: How it Has Been Framed. World Press.Jayapalan, N. (1998). Constitutional History of India. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.ISBN 8171567614.Khanna, Hans Raj (1981). Making of India's Constitution. Eastern Book Co.ISBN 9788170121084.

Basu, Durga Das (1984). Introduction to the Constitution of India (10th ed.). South Asia Books.ISBN 0836410971.Pylee, M.V. (1997). India's Constitution. S. Chand & Co.. ISBN 812190403X.Pylee, M.V. (2004). Constitutional Government in India. S. Chand & Co.. ISBN 8121922038.Sen, Sarbani (2007). The Constitution of India: Popular Sovereignty and DemocraticTransformations. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195686494.Sharma, Dinesh; Singh, Jaya; Maganathan, R.; et al. (2002). Indian Constitution at Work. PoliticalScience, Class XI. NCERT."The Constituent Assembly Debates (Proceedings):(9th December,1946 to 24 January 1950)" .The Parliament of India Archive. http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/debates.htm . Retrieved2008-02-22.

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