UNIT 1.pptx

Unit I
Introduction
Historical background – Government of India act – Indian councils act –
Making of the constitution -Philosophy of the Indian constitution –
Preamble.

• Before 1947, India was divided into two main entities – The British
India which consisted of 11 provinces and the Princely states ruled by
Indian princes under subsidiary alliance policy.
• The two entities merged together to form the Indian Union, but many
of the legacy systems in British India is followed even now.
Historical Background of Indian Constitution

Indian System of Administration

Parliament
RAJIYA SABHA
(245[233(E)]+12Nominated)
LOK SABHA
552Members (530 State, 20 UT, 2 Nominated)

• Indian democracy is a Parliamentary form of democracy where the
executive is responsible to the Parliament.
• The Parliament has two houses –
• Loksabha and Rajyasabha
Indian System of Administration

• The first step was taken by the British Parliament to control and
regulate the affairs of the East India Company in India.
• It designated the Governor of Bengal (Fort William) as the Governor-
General (of Bengal).
• Warren Hastings became the first Governor-General of Bengal.
• Executive Council of the Governor-General was established (Four
members). There was no separate legislative council.
Regulating Act of 1773

• The Supreme Court was established at Fort William (Calcutta) as the
Apex Court in 1774.
• It prohibited servants of the company from engaging in any private
trade or accepting bribes from the natives.
Regulating Act of 1773

• Distinguished between commercial and political functions of the company.
• Court of Directors - Commercial functions
• Board of Control - Political affairs.
• Reduced the strength of the Governor General’s council to three members.
• Placed the Indian affairs under the direct control of the British Government.
• The companies territories in India were called “the British possession in India”.
• Governor’s councils were established in Madras and Bombay.
Pitt’s India Act of 1784

• Charter Act of 1813 was an Act of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom which renewed the charter issued to the British East India
Company, and continued the Company's rule in India
• The Company’s monopoly over Indian trade terminated; Trade with
India open to all British subjects.
Charter Act of 1813 or East India Company Act 1813

• Governor-General (of Bengal) became the Governor-General of India.
• First Governor-General of India was Lord William Bentick.
• Beginning of a Central legislature for India as the act also took away
legislative powers of Bombay and Madras provinces.
• The Act ended the activities of the East India Company as a
commercial body and it became a purely administrative body.
Charter Act of 1833

• The legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s
Council were separated.
• 6 members in Central legislative council. Four out of six members
were appointed by the provisional governments of Madras, Bombay,
Bengal and Agra.
• It introduced a system of open competition as the basis for the
recruitment of civil servants of the Company (Indian Civil Service
opened for all).
Charter Act of 1853

• The rule of Company was replaced by the rule of the Crown in India.
• The powers of the British Crown were to be exercised by the Secretary of State
for India
• He was assisted by the Council of India, having 15 members
• The Governor-General was made the Viceroy of India.
• Lord Canning was the first Viceroy of India.
• Abolished Board of Control and Court of Directors.
Government of India Act of 1858

INDIAN COUNCILS ACT
Indian Councils Act of 1861
Indian Independence Act of 1947

• It introduced for the first time Indian representation in the
institutions like Viceroy’s executive + legislative council (non-official).
3 Indians entered the Legislative council.
• Legislative councils were established in Center and provinces.
• It provided that the Viceroy’s Executive Council should have some
Indians as the non-official members while transacting the legislative
businesses.

• Introduced Indirect Elections (nomination).
• Increased the size of the legislative councils.
• Enlarged the functions of the Legislative Councils and gave them the
power of discussing the Budget and addressing questions to the
Executive.
India Council Act of 1892

1. This Act is also known as the Morley- Minto Reforms.
2. Direct elections to legislative councils
3. Central Legislative Council  Imperial Legislative Council.
4. Central Legislative Council was increased to 60 from 16members.
5. Introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by
accepting the concept of ‘separate electorate’.
6. Indians for the first time in Viceroys executive council. (Satyendra
Prasanna Sinha, as the law member)

• This Act is also known as the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms.
• The scheme of dual governance, ‘Dyarchy’, was introduced in the
Provincial subjects.
• Under the dyarchy system, the provincial subjects were divided into
two parts – transferred and reserved. On reserved subjects, Governor
was not responsible to the Legislative council.
• The Act introduced, for the first time, bicameralism at the center.

• Legislative Assembly with 140 members and Legislative council with
60 members.
• Direct elections.
• The Act also required that the three of the six members of the
Viceroy’s Executive Council were to be Indians.
• Provided for the establishment of the Public Service Commission

Government of India Act of 1935 1/2
• The Act provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation
consisting of the Provinces and the Princely States as units, though
the envisaged federation never came into being.
• Three Lists: The Act divided the powers between the Centre and the
units into items of three lists.
• The Federal List consisted of 59 items,
• the Provincial List 54 items
• the Concurrent List consists of 36 items.
Government of India Act of 1935 (1/2)

• The residuary powers were vested with the Governor-General.
• The Act abolished the Dyarchy in the Provinces and introduced ‘Provincial
Autonomy’.
• Introduced bicameralism in 6 out of 11 Provinces.
• These six Provinces were Assam, Bengal, Bombay, Bihar, Madras and the
United Province.
• Provided for the establishment of Federal Court.
• Abolished the Council of India.
Government of India Act of 1935 (2/2)

• It declared India as an Independent and Sovereign State.
• Established responsible Governments at both the Centre and the
Provinces.
• Designated the Viceroy India and the provincial Governors as the
Constitutional (normal heads).
• It assigned dual functions (Constituent and Legislative) to the
Constituent Assembly and declared this dominion legislature as a
sovereign body.
Indian Independence Act of 1947

1.What Is Constitution?
Almost everything we do is governed by some set of rules. There are also
rules imposed by morality and custom that play an important role in telling us
what we should and should not do.
should Should not Red-card

• December is a remarkable time in the journey of India to become an
independent country because it was exactly 70 years back on
December 9th (1946) that the Constituent assembly of India sat
together for the first time to draft the constitution.
• And not just the constitution but India also acquired its National flag,
Anthem and a lot more which accelerated the journey of attaining
independence.
Making of the Indian Constitution

• It is a well-established fact that the Constitution of India is the most
supreme law of the country and the torchbearer of fundamental
political code, powers, and duties of government, procedure,
directive principles, and duties of the citizen.
• Even the Parliament is not allowed to overpower the Constitution
because of its constitutional supremacy over parliamentary
supremacy and the fact that it was framed through constituent
assembly which was headed by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and not
Parliament and its members.
• Sovereignty, sociality, secularity is the three claims of the
Constitution and it also assures justice, equity, and liberty to people
residing in his country.
Constitution of India

• The beginning of the idea to draft a constitution came up in the year
1928 when the All Parties Conference summoned a committee in
order to draft the Constitution and that report came to be known as
the Nehru Report.
• In the year 1934, the idea to form a constituent assembly was
proposed by Mahendra Nath. Since the majority of colonial India
functioned under British rule from 1857 to 1947, as a result, the same
legislation continued from 1947 to 1950 because the states were the
dominion of Britain for these many years.
Initiation of making of the Constitution

• Before the commencement of the Constitution, there were
legislations which governed the functioning of Indian provinces like
the Indian Independence Act 1947 and Government of India Act 1935
but these legislations were repealed by the Constitution after its
commencement i.e., from 26 January 1950.
• On 14th of August 1947 a meeting of the assembly was held which
proposed committees that started working on the draft and finally
the committee was appointed and a revised constitution was
prepared by the committee and it submitted to the assembly on 4th
November 1947.

• Some major committees contributing were- the
• Drafting committee headed by B.R. Ambedkar,
• Union powers committee headed by Jawaharlal Nehru,
• Union Constitution committee headed by Sardar Vallabh Patel
• Advisory committee on Fundamental rights headed by Sardar Patel, and
other sub-committees.

• The final session of the assembly which was convened on the 4th of
January 1950 was the day when each member of the assembly signed
two copies of the constitution, one was in Hindi and the other was in
English.
• Also, a fact, our constitution is the only constitution which was hand
written and was pretty much filled with designs by artists.
• The constitution was published at Dehradun and the final
constitution took almost 5 years to publish.
• The cost estimated for the making of the constitution was 6.3 crores.

• The 26th of January 1930 was declared as Independence Day by the
Congress but India did not get Independence until 1947 and did not
become a republic until 1950 .
• The reason it was considered to become a republic in 1950 was due
to the enactment of the Constitution.
• Even when the country was free from the British Raj still, we used to
follow the British monarch which was replaced by India’s newly
adapted constitution and so, India became a Republic.

• When the constitution was commenced, it had
• 395 articles
• 22 portions
• 8 schedules and consisted of almost 80,000 words.

• The constitution of India is the supreme law of India; it lays down the
frame work defining fundamental political principles, establishes
the structure, procedure, powers and duties of government
institutions and sets our fundamental rights, directive principles and
the duties of citizens.
• It is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the
world.
• Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was the chairperson of the Drafting
Committee, adopted by Constituent Assembly on Nov 26th, 1949,
and came into effect on Jan 26th, 1950.
Philosophy and Ideals of Indian Constitution

• Today, there is great deterioration in our ethical standards, loss of
moral and social values resulting in great problems and dilemmas of
families.
• The constitution of India is the great source of human values and it
emphasizes on promoting humanism through its legislative,
executive and judiciary institutions.
• Education as supposed to be a powerful instrument of social
change, has to be restructured and reoriented to promote the
human values as enunciated in the constitution of India.
National Values As Enshrined In Constitution Of India And Its Importance

• Values enshrined in the Constitution of India points towards the
principles of equality and social justice and appreciation of cultural
values of each other, dignity of all individuals etc.

• Values such as
• equality,
• fraternity and justice can promote inclusively where all members of the
society feel included irrespective of their
• color,
• culture,
• economic or social background,
• caste,
• religion,
• gender or community.

• Preamble is like a mini constitution. It reminds us the noble and
grand vision of our constitution makers. The preamble is also known
as the soul, spirit and backbone of the Indian Constitution.
Theme of a Constitution

• The word Sovereign emphasized that
there is no authority outside India on
which the country is in any way
dependent.
• By the word Socialist, the constitution
means that the achievement of
Socialistic pattern of society through
democratic means.
• India is a Secular country and follows
age old Indian philosophy Sarva
Dharma Sambhav.

• The preamble basically gives idea of the following things/objects:
• Source of the Constitution
• Nature of Indian State
• Statement of its objectives
• Date of its adoption

• The ideals behind the Preamble to India’s Constitution were laid
down by Jawaharlal Nehru’s Objectives Resolution, adopted by the
Constituent Assembly on January 22, 1947.
• Although not enforceable in court, the Preamble states the objectives
of the Constitution, and acts as an aid during the interpretation of
Articles when language is found ambiguous.
History of the Preamble to Indian Constitution

• Justice: It is necessary to maintain order in society that is promised
through various provisions of Fundamental Rights and Directive
Principles of State Policy provided by the Constitution of India. It
comprises three elements, which is social, economic, and political.
• Social Justice –to create a society without discrimination on any grounds like
caste, creed, gender, religion, etc.
• Economic Justice –no discrimination can be caused by people on the basis of
their wealth, income, and economic status.
• Political Justice – Political Justice means all the people have an equal, free
and fair right without any discrimination to participate in political
opportunities.
Objectives of the Indian Constitution

• Equality: The term ‘Equality’ means no section of society has any
special privileges and all the people have given equal opportunities
for everything without any discriminations.
• Everyone is equal before the law.
• Fraternity: The term ‘Fraternity’ means a feeling of brotherhood and
an emotional attachment with the country and all the people.
Fraternity helps to promote dignity and unity in the nation.
Objectives of the Indian Constitution

• The preamble being part of the Constitution is discussed several times in
the Supreme Court. It can be understood by reading the following two
cases.
• BERUBARI CASE – “Preamble is the key to open the mind of the makers”
• KESAVANANDA BHARATI CASE – “The Preamble of the Constitution will
now be considered as part of the Constitution”
• The Preamble is not the supreme power or source of any restriction or prohibition
but it plays an important role in the interpretation of statutes and provisions of the
Constitution
Status of Preamble

• Indian constitution is federal in nature and also has a strong unitary
bias.
• 22 PARTS
• 395 ARTICLES
• 12 SCHEDULES
• 2 APPENDICES
• 92 AMENDMENTS
STRUCTURE

• Part I – Union and its Territory
• Part II – Citizenship.
• Part III – Fundamental Rights.
• Part IV – Directive Principles of State Policy.
• Part IVA – Fundamental Duties.
• Part V– The Union.
• Part VI– The States.
• Part VII – States in the B part of the First schedule(Repealed).
• Part VIII – The Union Territories
• Part IX– The Panchayats.
PREAMBLE - PARTS

• Part IXA – The Municipalities.
• Part IXB – The Cooperative Societies
• Part X – The scheduled and Tribal
Areas
• Part XI – Relations between the Union
and the States.
• Part XII – Finance, Property, Contracts
and Suits
• Part XIII – Trade and Commerce
within the territory of India
• Part XIV – Services Under the Union,
the States.
• Part XIVA – Tribunals.
• Part XV – Elections
• Part XVI – Special Provisions Relating
to certain Classes.
• Part XVII – Languages
• Part XVIII – Emergency Provisions
• Part XIX – Miscellaneous
• Part XX– Amendment of the
Constitution
• Part XXI– Temporary, Transitional and
Special Provisions
• Part XXII – Short title, date of
commencement, Authoritative text in
Hindi and Repeals
PREAMBLE – PARTS CONT.

Current Updates.
• The Constitution, in its current form (September 2012), consists of a
preamble, 25 parts containing 463 articles, 12 schedules, 2
appendices and 97 amendments to date (latest being related to co-
operative societies added in part IX(B) in 2012).

• 42nd Amendment Act, 1976: After the judgment of the Kesavanand
Bharati case, it was accepted that the preamble is part of the
Constitution.
• The term ‘Socialist’, ‘Secular’, and ‘Integrity’ were added to the
preamble through 42nd Amendment Act, 1976.
• ‘Unity of the Nation’ was changed to ‘Unity and Integrity of the
Nation’.
Amendment of the Preamble

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