Constitution of India

                       Constitution of India and borrowings

The present constitution of India was framed by the Constitution Assembly of India setup under Cabinet Mission Plan of May 16, 1946.

Composition of Constituent Assembly:-

• The Constituent Assembly consisted of 385 members, of which 292 were elected by he elected members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies while 93 members were nominated by the Princely States. To these were to be added a representative each from the four Chief Commissioners Provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Marwar, Coorg and British Baluchistan.
• Each Province and each Indian State or group of States were allotted the total number of seas proportional to their respective population roughly in the ration of one to a million.
• B N Rao was appointed the Constitutional Advisor of the Assembly.
• The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place of Dec 9, 1946 with Dr. Sachidanand Sinha as its interim President. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as its President n Dec 11, 1947.
• The Assembly framing the Constitution.had 13 Committees.
• The all-important Drafting Committee, which bore the responsibility of drafting the Constitutional document during the recess of the Constitutent Assembly, from July 1947 to September 1948, was formed on August 29, 1947. Its members were:

1.    Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

2.    N. Gopalaswami Ayyar

3.    K.M. Munshi

4.    Syyed Mohd. Saadulla

5.    N.Madhav Rao

6.    D.P.Khaitan (T Krishnamachari, after Kahitan’s Death in 1948)

• It was finally passed and accepted on Nov 26, 1949. The session of the Assembly was held on Jan 24, 1950, which unanimously elected Dr, Rajendra Prasad as the President of India. In all the 284 members of the Assembly signed the official copies of the Indian Constitution which came into effect on Jan 26, 1950, known and celebrated as the Republic Day of India.

Following are the borrowed features of constitution from different countries

From U.K.

• Nominal Head – President (like Queen)
• Cabinet System of Ministers
• Post of PM
• Parliamentary Type of Govt.
• Bicameral Parliament
• Lower House more powerful
• Council of Ministers responsible to Lowe House
• Speaker in Lok Sabha

From U.S.

• Written Constitution
• Executive head of state known as President and his being the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
• Vice- President as the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha
• Fundamental Rights
• Supreme Court
• Provision of States
• Independence of Judiciary and judicial review
• Preamble
• Removal of Supreme court and High court Judges

From USSR

• Fundamental Duties
• Five year Plan

From AUSTRALIA

• Concurrent list
• Language of the preamble
• Provision regarding trade, commerce and intercourse

From JAPAN

• Law on which the Supreme Court function

From WEIMAR CONSTITUION OF GERMANY

• Suspension of Fundamental Rights during the emergency

From CANADA

• Scheme of federation with a strong centre
• Distribution of powers between centre and the states and placing. Residuary Powers with the centre

From IRELAND

• Concept of Directive Principles of States Policy(Ireland borrowed it from SPAIN)
• Method of election of President
• Nomination of members in the Rajya Sabha by the President