Polity Class 02

A brief overview of the previous class

Constitutional Development, Constitution, and constitutionalism 

• Democracy v/s Dictatorship 
• In a Dictatorship, the king is sovereign, has absolute power, and no one can limit the power. People are only subjects and they do not have rights
• In a Democracy, the government is accountable to the people through the process of election. They enjoy power till they enjoy the confidence of the people
• The essence of Democracy is the 'rule of law' 
• J L Nehru- A constitution does not mean only a rule book, it also defines the soul of a nation. It defines what the nation stands for [Right for citizens, protecting the freedom of citizens, Sovereignty, rule-based governance]
• What is a constitution?-Dictation 
• India has opted for a written constitution 
• A constitution may be defined as the 'Soul of a Nation'. As rightly pointed out by J L Nehru, our first PM. Constitution reflects the desires, wishes, dreams, needs, and demands of the people of a country. It is not a mere rule book, it defines the rights of citizens and the responsibilities of the state. It defines the relationship between the citizens and the state. The state is made responsible to protect the freedoms and rights of citizens
• Constitution also defines the relationship between the three organs of the state including the legislature, executive, and judiciary
• India has opted for a written constitution for the following reasons
• 1) India is an ancient nation but a very young country
• 2) In its 5000-year-old history, India never had experience with the functioning of democracy
• 3) Without a written constitution, it would be almost impossible to protect democratic systems. 
• 4) Strict implementation of Rule of law is possible only with a written constitution
• 5) A written constitution can also help in resolving any disputes or conflicts that may come up in the future
• 6) Since at the time of independence maximum no. of people in our country were poor and illiterate, the country could easily go into the hands of a dictator without a written constitution. 
• 7) A written constitution is also necessary to protect democratic systems

Constitutional Development 

• Constitutional development in India can be traced back to East India Company rule. From 1773 onwards the British parliament passed regulating Acts after every 20 years till 1853. After the war of independence in 1857, the political boundary in India was transferred from EIC to British Crown. 
• From 1858 to, 1947 many legislations were passed to bring constitutional governance
• 1861- Indian Council Act introduced the concept of separation of powers in Indian administration. It has separated the powers of the legislature from the executive. 
• 1892- Indian council Act, increased the number of non-official members in the central legislature
• 1909- Indian councils Act expanded the powers of the legislature wherein the members were allowed to ask supplementary questions. It also provided opportunities for Indians to become part of the Viceroy's executive council 
• 1919- The government of India Act gradually introduced a responsible government in India. It introduced Dyarchy in provinces, but this experiment was not successful. 
• 1935- The government of India Act can be considered a very significant development in the evolution of constitutional democracy in India. It has ultimately become the basis of our constitution. 

Making of the constitution 

• For the first time, it was M N Roy who had brought up this idea of a Constituent Assembly. Finally, the constituent assembly was constituted in November 1946 under the cabinet Mission plan. The total strength of the constituent assembly was 389. Out of this 296 seats were allocated to British India and 93 seats to the Princely states. Princely states would nominate their members 
• Constituent assembly had both elected members as well as nominated members and it had representatives from all the sections of the society. The first meeting of the constituent assembly was held on the 9th of December 1946. Muslim league boycotted the meeting as it was demanding a separate state of Pakistan. 
• Dr Sacchidand Sinha, the oldest member of the constituent assembly was elected as the temporary president of the assembly. Later, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected as the president of the assembly. 
• Apart from framing the constitution it also performed other functions.
• It ratified India's membership of the commonwealth in May 1949.
• It adopted the National flag, National anthem, National song 
• It elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as the first president of India
• With the partition of India, Muslim League members had withdrawn themselves from the constituent assembly. The strength of the assembly had come down from 389 to 299.
• It had met for 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days and had conducted 11 sessions. It analyzed the constitutions of around 60 countries
• It also has appointed a no. of committees to deal with different aspects of constitution-making
• Major committees include
• 1) Drafting committee headed by Dr B R Ambedkar
• 2) Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution committee were headed by J L Nehru. The state committee was also headed by J L Nehru 
• 3) Provincial constitution committee was headed by Sardar Patel
• 4) Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, and Tribal areas was headed by Sardar Patel 
• 5) Rules of procedure committee was headed by Dr Rajendra Prasad
• The constitution was adopted on 26th November 1949 and it contained a preamble, 395 Articles, and 8 schedules

Criticism against Constituent assembly 

• Critics have argued that the constituent assembly was not a representative body as its members were not directly elected by the people. They have also criticized it was dominated by the congress party
• It was also criticized for the amount of time they have taken to frame the constitution,
• But these criticisms may not be valid because, at a point in time, there were no elections based on universal adult franchise 

Important features of the Indian constitution

• Written constitution
• Parliamentary democracy
• Federalism
• Independence of judiciary
• Fundamental Rights
• Directive principles of states policy
• Judicial review 
• Separation of power
• Rule of law
• Secularism 

Democracy 

• For a long period, countries around the world had only witnessed dictatorship in the form of Monarchy. In a dictatorship, the ruler had absolute sovereign powers i.e. he could frame laws, implement them, and also pronounce judgments. People did not enjoy any rights or freedoms
• With the Industrial revolution, the dictatorship was replaced by Democracy. 
• Democracy is a political system wherein people are sovereign 
• Important features of democracy include 
• a) It is based on the concept of the Rule of Law
• b) Equality before the law
• c) Sovereignty of citizens
• d) Accountability of elected governments to citizens
• e) Clear-cut separation of powers between the three organs of the state
• f) Freedom of citizens to exercise their choices 

Constitutionalism

• The essence of democracy= Accountability
• Relationship between state and citizen is a Zero-sum game
• The loss of one is the gain of another. One person can win only at the cost of other persons
• The state can acquire more power only by taking away the rights of the citizens.
• Example- Government can declare any person a criminal under the UAPA. The onus lies on the citizen to prove his/her innocence. 
• Examples- Preventive detention, land reforms, taxation, etc. 

The Topic for the next class:- Protection of rights of people, Dimensions of Constitutionalism, constitutionalism in India.