WORKING OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
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◇ The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on December 9, 1946.
◇ The Muslim League boycotted the meeting and insisted on a separate state of Pakistan.The meeting was,thus attended by only 211 members.
◇ Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, was elected as the temporary President of the Assembly, following the French practice.
◇ Later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Assembly. Similarly, both H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were elected as the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly.
■ OBJECTIVE RESOLUTION
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◇ On December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic ‘Objective Resolution’ in the Assembly. It laid down fundamentals and philosophy of the constitutional structure.
□ It read:-
◇ “This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to proclaim India as an Independent, Sovereign, Republic and to draw up for her future governance a Constitution:
◇ Wherein the territories that now comprise British India, the territories that now form the Indian States and such other parts of India as are outside India and the States as well as other territories as are willing to be constitut -ed into the independent sovereign India, shall be a Union of them all .
◇ Wherein all power and authority of the sovereign independent India, its constituent parts and organs of Government are derived from the people.
■ CHANGES BY THE INDEPENDENT ACT
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◇ On April 28, 1947, representatives of the six states were part of the Assembly. After the acceptance of the Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947, for the partition of the country, the
representatives of most of the other princely states took their seats in the Assembly.
◇ The Indian Independence Act of 1947 made the following three changes in the position of the Assembly:
• The Assembly was made a fully sovereign body, which could frame any Constitution it pleased. The act empowered the Assembly to abrogate or alter any law made by the British Parliament in relation to India.
• The Assembly also became a legislative body. In other words, two separate functions were assigned to the Assembly, that is, making of the Constitution for free India and enacting of ordinary laws for the country.
• The Muslim League members (hailing from the areas 7 included in the Pakistan) withdrew from the Constituent Assembly for India.
■ MAJOR COMMITTEES OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
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◇ Union Powers Committee - Jawaharlal Nehru
◇ Union Constitution Committee -Jawaharlal Nehru
◇ Provincial Constitution Committee -Sardar Patel
◇ Drafting Committee - Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
◇ Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas - Sardar Patel.
□ This committee had the following five sub- committees :-
• Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee - J.B. Kripalani
• Minorities Sub-Committee - H.C. Mukherjee
• North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee - Gopinath Bardoloi
• Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee - A.V. Thakkar
• North-West Frontier Tribal Areas Sub-Committee.
◇ Rules of Procedure Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad
◇ States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) - Jawaharlal Nehru
◇ Steering Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
■ MINOR COMMITTEE
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◇ Finance and Staff Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
◇ Credentials Committee - Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar.
◇ House Committee - B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
◇ Order of Business Committee - Dr. K.M. Munshi.
◇ Ad-hoc Committee on the National Flag - Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
◇ Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly - G.V. Mavalankar.
◇ Ad-hoc Committee on the Supreme Court - S. Varadachari (Not an Assembly Member).
◇ Committee on Chief Commissioners’ Provinces - B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
◇ Expert Committee on the Financial Provisions of the Union Constitution -Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (Not an Assembly Member).
◇ Linguistic Provinces Commission - S.K. Dar (Not an Assembly Member).
◇ Special Committee to Examine the Draft Constitution - Jawaharlal Nehru.
◇ Press Gallery Committee - Usha Nath Sen.
◇ Ad-hoc Committee on Citizenship - S. Varadachari (Not an Assembly Member).
■ DRAFTING COMMITTEE
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Among all the committees of the Constituent Assembly, the most important committee was the Drafting Committee set up on August 29, 1947.
This consisted of seven members. They were:
◇ Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (Chairman)
◇ N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
◇ Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
◇ Dr. K.M. Munshi
◇ Syed Mohammad Saadullah
◇ N. Madhava Rau (He replaced B.L. Mitter who resigned due to ill-health)
◇ T.T. Krishnamachari (He replaced D.P. Khaitan who died in 1948).
ENACTMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
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◇ Dr. B.R. Ambedkar introduced the final draft of the Constitution in the Assembly on November 4, 1948 (first reading).
◇ The Assembly had general discussion on it for five days (till November9, 1948).The second reading (clause by clause consideration) started on November 15, 1948, and ended on October 17, 1949.
◇ During this stage, as many as 7653 amendments were proposed and 2473 were actually discussed in the Assembly. The third reading of the draft started on November 14, 1949.
◇ Dr. B.R. Ambedkar moved motion -the Constitution as settled by the Assembly be passed’.
📝The Evolution of Democratic Process in Nepal
🔶 In 1951, the Nepali Monarch, King Tribhuwan, ended the century-old system of rule by hereditary Prime Ministers (the Ranas) and instituted a cabinet system that brought political parties into the government.
🔶 In December 1960, the then King Mahendra suspended the constitution, dissolved the elected parliament and dismissed the cabinet. He instituted a Panchayat system- hierarchical system of village, district and national councils.
🔶 In 1990 pro-democracy agitation co-ordinated by Nepali Congress Party(NCP) and leftist groups erupted. Street protests were suppressed by security forces resulting in deaths and mass arrests. King Birendra eventually bows to pressure and agrees to new democratic constitution.
🔶 1991 - NCP won first democratic elections. Girija Prasad Koirala becomes prime minister.
