Historical Background of Indian Constitution

India is the largest democracy in the world, living and breathing in the
air of sovereignty has been gifted with the lengthiest constitution of the
world that consists of 448 Articles (395 originally), 25 Parts (22
originally), 12 Schedules (8 originally), 105 constitutional amendments
(first was enacted in 1950). The Story behind the making of the Indian
Constitution receives a significant position in the history of India.

Government of India Act 1919: It announced that in 10 years from

1919, a royal commission will be set up to report on the working of the
particular act, though the commission was appointed in 1928, even
though it was to be appointed in 1929 as per the 1919 Act.

Indian Statutory Commission: Also came to known as Simon

Commission’, was a group of seven Members of the British Parliament
under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon. The commission arrived in
India in 1928 to study constitutional reform in Britain’s largest and most
important dominion. The purpose of this commission was to report on
the working of the Indian established under the Government of India
Act 1919 and to decide the political future of India.

Indians Response: The Indian National Congress along with the Muslim
League boycotted the commission as a result of the protest Lord
Birkenhead, the Secretary of State of India challenged Indian leaders to
draft a Constitution for India which was accepted by the Indian leaders.
First Major Attempt: A committee was appointed with the task to draft
Indian Constitution. The committee was under the leadership of Motilal
Nehru with Jawaharlal Nehru as Secretary, Ali Imam, Tej Bahadur Sapru,
Mangal Singh, M S Aney, Subhas Chandra Bose, Shuaib Qureshi and G R
Pradhan where the other members. The draft of the constitution
prepared by the committee was called the Nehru Committee Report or
Nehru Report. The report was submitted in the Lucknow session of the
all-party conference on August 28, 1928. This was the first major
attempt by Indians to draft a constitution for India.

Demand of Constituent Assembly: The seed for the formation of the

constituent assembly was sown initially in 1934 by the Pioneer of the
Indian Communist Leader Mahendra Nath Roy (M.N Roy). Later, in
1935, the Indian National Congress (INC) officially demanded the
setting up of a for framing the Constitution of India.

British Response: In early 1940, the British responded to the above

demand and proposed August Offer this proposal included the
establishment of an advisory war council, the inclusion of more Indians
in administration, and recognized the right of Indians to frame their
own Constitution after the end of the Second World War. The offer
was, rejected by both Congress Working Committee and the Muslim
League.
Cripps Mission: The Cripps Mission, headed by Sir Stafford Cripps, was
sent in March 1942. It was entrusted with drafting a draft proposal on
the framing of an independent constitution after the end of World War
II. However, it also failed in its objective.

Cabinet Mission: In 1946, the Cabinet Mission came to India with the
aim to discuss the transfer of power from the British Government to
the Indian leadership, with the aim of preserving India’s unity and
granting it independence.

It held discussions with representatives of British India and the Indian

States to set up a Constituent body. And, also put forth a scheme for
the formation of the Constituent Assembly. Based on the
recommendation the Constituent Assembly was formed on December
1946.

Indian Constitution Timeline

Here is the Timeline of the formation of the Indian Constitution:

Indian Constitution Time Taken

Before the Constitution was formed, the legislations that governed the
functioning of Indian provinces were the Indian Independence Act of
1947 and the Government of India Act of 1935 which were repealed
after the commencement of the Constitution on 26 January 1950.

The constituent assembly was constituted on November 1946 and the

first meeting of the constituent assembly was held on December 1946.
Under the chairmanship of Dr. BR Ambedkar, the constituent assembly
established a drafting committee to come up with a draft of the
Constitution for India

It took around 11 sessions and 167 days, precisely 2 years 11 months

and 18 days to prepare the final draft of the constitution with a total of
2000 amendments (approx.)

Constitution Makers of India

India under British rule had two types of territories, the British
Provinces & the Princely States. The constituent assembly was formed
on the basis of the population of a region, hence there was one
representative for 10 lakh people.

So, there were 398 representatives from the entire country of which
296 were from the British Province and 93 were from the Princely
states. Although the Princely states dint took part in the constituent
assembly which left 296 members from the British provinces in the
constituent assembly.

The drafting committee of the Constitution had seven members

namely Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar, N. Gopalaswami, B.R. Ambedkar
(Chairman of the drafting committee.), K.M Munshi, Mohammad
Saadulla, B.L. Mitter, D.P. Khaitan.