4. The Constitution of India was framed by the Constituent Assembly. The Assembly was constituted in 1946.
5. The Constituent Assembly, following the partition of the country in 1947, consisted of 299 members as on 31st December 1947. Of these 229 members were elected by the provincial assemblies and the rest were nominated by the rulers of the princely states.
6. The Constituent Assembly was chaired by the President of the Assembly Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Assembly. The committees were of two types : (a) relating to matters concerning with procedures, and (b) concerning important issues.
7. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee. The task of the Committee was to prepare the draft of the Constitution. The Constituent Assembly met for 166 days spread over a period of 2 years 11months and 18 days.
8. The consensus came in the form of the ‘Objectives Resolution’ moved by Jawahar Lal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly on December 17, 1946 which was almost unanimously adopted on January 22, 1947. In the light of these ‘Objectives’ the Assembly completed its task by November 26, 1949. The constitution was enforced with effect from January 26, 1950. From that day India became a Republic.
9. Exactly twenty years before the first independence day was celebrated on Jan. 26, 1930 as decided by the Lahore session of the Congress on Dec. 31, 1929. Hence, January 26, 1950 was decided as the day to enforce the constitution.
10. Preamble, are: Description of Indian State as Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic. (Socialist, Secular added by 42nd Amendment, 1976).
11. Socialist The word socialist was not there in the Preamble of the Constitution in its original form. In 1976, the 42ndAmendment to the Constitution incorporated ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’, in the Preamble. The word ‘Socialism’ had been used in the context of economic planning.
Salient Features of The Constitution
12. The Indian Constitution is mainly a written constitution. As you have already read that our constitution was framed over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days, it was adopted on 26th November, 1949 and enforced on January 26, 1950.
13. In Indian context one can mention the Planning Commission. It is very important body for country’s planning and development. But, the planning commission was set up in March 1950, not by an Act of Parliament, nor as a Part of the Constitution of India. It was set up by a cabinet resolution. The Indian constitution is the lengthiest in the world.
14. The original constitution had 395 Articles and 8 Schedules, while, the constitution of USA has only 7 Articles.