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International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0974-2832, (Print), E-ISSN- 2320-5474, July, 2013 VOL-V * ISSUE -54
Introduction:
The Constitution is the basic lawfor the gov-
ernance of a country. According to Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar, Constitution is a mechanism for the pur-
pose of functioning of various organs of the State. It
is a vehicle of the nation's progress. He was appointed
as Law Minister in the Nehru Cabinet on the 3rd Au-
gust, 1947. Dr.Ambedkar was elected to the Constitu-
ent Assembly by the Bombay Legislature Congress
Party. He was the first Law Minister in the Nehru's
Cabinet.HewasamemberoftheConstituentAssembly
in 1946-51. On 29, 1947, the Constituent Assembly
announcedthenamesoftheCommitteefordraftingthe
Constitution of independence India. He was the mem-
beroftheMinoritiesCommitteeandFederalStructure.
It was at his suggestion that the Ashoka Chakra was
included in the National Flag. The first meeting of the
Constituent Assembly was held on 11th December,
1946,andatthismeetingDr.RajendraPrasadwaselected
as whole time Chairman of the committee. The second
sessionoftheConstituentAssemblywasheld from20-
26 January, 1946. Next session of the Committee was
heldfromJuly14-31andanothersessionwasheldfrom
20-29August,1947.On29thAugust,Dr.Ambedkarwas
appointed asthe Chairman oftheDrafting Committee.
The Committee presented a Draft Constitution on 21st
February1948,forconsiderationoftheAssembly.The
Draft Constitution finally adopted by the Constituent
Assembly on November 26, 1949 and came into force
on 26thJanuary, 1950.
AmbedkarasanarchitectofIndianConstitution:
Dr.Ambedkar in his article entitled on "Constitu-
tion and Constitutionalism" has quoted Bolingbrook's
definitionofConstitutionwhodefined thetermConsti-
tution as "By Constitution, we mean, whenever we
speak with propriety exactness, that assemblage of
laws, institutions and customs, derived from certain
fixed principles of reason, directed to certain fixed
Research Paper -Political Science
July, 2013
Dr. B.R.Ambedkar:AnArchitect of
IndianConstitution
* Dr. Badal Sarkar
*Assistant Professor of Political Science University of Gour Banga, Malda (W.B)
An attempt is made on Ambedkar's contributions in framing the Indian Constitution. This Constitution has provided us
a Sovereign, Democratic, Republic and committed to the concept of welfare state based on egalitarian values where the
people are sovereign through their representation in the Parliament. Ultimate goal of Indian Constitution is achieve to social,
political and economic justice consonance with liberty, equal status and opportunity to all, dignity of person, fraternity,
unity and integrity of Bharat.
A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Constituent, Assembly, Constitution, Article, Rights, Parliamentary, Democracy, States, Union.
objects of public good, that compose the general sys-
tem, according to which the community hath agreed to
be governed".1 The memorandum entitled on "States
and Minorities: What are Their Rights and How to
SecureThemintheConstitutionofFreeIndia" submit-
ted byAmbedkarto theConstituentAssemblyin1947.
He proposed the preamble for the Constitution of the
United States of India with mentioned that the Indian
States(Provinces,CentrallyAdministeredAreas)shall
be joined together into a body politics for Legislative,
ExecutiveandAdministrativepurposesunderthestyle
the United States of India.
Tomaintaintherighttolife,freedomofspeech,
liberty,freeexerciseofreligion,removesocial,political,
economic inequality etc. were the views of the pro-
posed preamble of the United States of India.2Article
II -section I of the memorandum on the Safeguards for
the Scheduled Castes submitted to the Constituent
Assembly on behalf of theAll India Scheduled Castes
Federation pointed out that the Constitution of the
United States of India shall recognise the fundamental
rights of citizens.3
The Supreme Court shall have the
judicial power and it is the duty ofthe Court to use writ
such as Habeas Corpus, Quo Warranto, Prohibition,
Certiorari and Mandamus by which the court can pre-
serve the fundamental rights.4 ACommon Civil Code
is necessary for all communities inhabiting India like
the Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis etc.5
Dr. Ambedkar explained Article 32 as the
"very heart and soul" of the Constitution. Draft Con-
stitution adopted a single judiciary, uniformity in fun-
damental laws, civil and criminal and a common all-
India civil service. Indian Federation is a dual polity
withabsenceofdualjudiciary.InIndia,HighCourtand
Supreme Court formed one single integrated judiciary
havingjurisdiction and providedthecivil and criminal
lawsuch as Civil Procedure Code, the Penal Code, the
Criminal Code, the Evidence Act, and the Transfer of

2. 23SHODH, SAMIKSHA AUR MULYANKAN
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0974-2832, (Print), E-ISSN- 2320-5474, July, 2013 VOL-V * ISSUE -54
PropertyAct,lawsofmarriage,divorceandinheritance
under the Constitutional law. These are placed in the
Concurrent List. He stated that the Indian Federation
will have a dual service both in Union and States.
Article 1 ofthe Draft Constitution described India as a
UnionofStates.TheIndianpeoplemaybedividedinto
different states for administration and governance but
India must be an integrated country. Dr. Ambedkar
stated that the residuary powers are given to the centre
not to the States.
To establish a casteless, classless homogenous
society he incorporated chapter III on Fundamental
Rights. He did not accept the absolute rights of the
people; the rights are under reasonable restriction. He
incorporatedtheDirectivePrinciplesofStatePolicyin
chapterIVoftheDraftingConstitution.Article37to51
containedtheactiveobligationoftheState.TheDirec-
tive Principles implies social, economic and political
justice. According to him, our object in framing this
Constitution is really three-fold, namely, (i) to form a
political democracy, (ii) to form an economic democ-
racy,(iii)toformasocialdemocracy.Hehasmentioned
the four types of relations between the Union and the
States, namely, Legislative Relations, Administrative
Relations,FinancialRelationsandEmergencyRelations.
His opinion was that the President of India
would be vested the same position as the King under
theUKConstitution.ThePresidentofIndiaisnominal
head of the State and the Cabinet is real head of the
institution (state). He represents the nation but does
not rule the nation.Dr.Ambedkar truly realised that no
person should be nominated in the Cabinet except on
theadviceofthePrimeMinisterfortheeffectiveimple-
mentation ofthe rule of collective responsibility ofthe
CouncilofMinister.ThePrimeMinisterisreallythekey
one of the arch of the cabinet. He emphasised political
democracy and social democracy to create casteless
society. In politics, he recognised "one man, one vote,
and one value".6
Dr. Ambedkar delivered on 'Federation Versus
Freedom'beforetheGokhaleInstituteofEconomicson
29thJanuary,1939inPoona.Hewasastrongsupporter
ofparliamentarydemocracyandfederalstructurebased
on the principles of strong centre and independent
states.Tohim,federalismmeansanidealpolitywiththe
union at the Centre level and states at the periphery
level. To him, 'Indian Union' means that the Indian
Federation is not a result of an agreement by the units,
and the states have no rights to secede from the 'Indian
Union'. In normal times, India is a federation but turns
into unitarytypeinemergency.7
PartXVIoftheIndian
Constitution described the special provision for SCs,
STs,Anglo-IndiansandeducationalBackwardClasses.
It was frankly admitted byDr.Ambedkar, "I came into
the Constituent Assembly with no greater aspiration
thantosafeguardtheinterestoftheScheduledCaste".8
Conclusion:
FromtheabovecontributionsofAmbedkar,it
has rightly been observed that he was the chief archi-
tect of Indian Constitution. He has given the basic
structureoftheConstitution.HisParliamentaryformof
government denotes the egalitarian society based on
socio-economicandpoliticaljustice.Hewantedtocreate
an ideal society through constitutional method. The
trinityprinciples(liberty,equalityandfraternity)oflife
imply the unity of diversity. The main object of our
Constitution was to establish an egalitarian society
which is based on the dignity of man as a human being
and creation of a casteless and classless homogenous
society. Jawaharlal Nehru had remarked that "Dr.
Ambedkar had played a most important part in the
framing of India's Constitution. No one took greater
trouble and care over Constitution-making than Dr.
Ambedkar".
1. BAWS, Vol.17, Part Two, Government of Maharashtra, 2003, P.376.
2. Ambedkar, (Dr.) B.R.; "State and Minorities", Vol. 1, 1979, P. 387.
3. Ibid. PP. 392-394.
4. Ibid. P. 398.
5. BAWS, Government of Maharashtra, Vol.17, Part Two, 2003, P.378-380.
6. BAWS, Government of Maharashtra, Vol.17, Part Three, 2003, P.478.
7. Ambedkar, (Dr.) B.R.; "Federation Versus Freedom", BAWS, compiled Vasant Moon, Vol. 1, 1979, P.300.
8. Ambedkar, (Dr.) B.R.; "State and Minorities", BAWS, Government of Maharashtra,Compiled by Vasant Moon, Vol. 1, 1979,
P. 243.
R E F E R E N C E