DRAFTING THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA—WAS IT DONE SOLELY BY DR.B.R.AMBEDKAR?

It is generally believed by many people that the constitution of India was drafted by Dr B.R.Ambedkar alone. Although Dr Ambedkar was the chairman of the drafting committee, and was a very highly educated and erudite person, it was just not he alone who drafted the constitution.

In August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed, with Dr B. R. Ambedkar as the Chairman along with six other members assisted by a constitutional advisor. These members were:

1. Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (K M Munshi, Advocate and Ex- Home Minister, Bombay).

2. Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer (Ex- Advocate General, Madras State).

3. N Gopalaswami Ayengar (Advocate-Civil Servant of the Madras State--Ex-Prime Minister, J&K and later member of Nehru Cabinet).

4. B L Mitter (Ex-Advocate General, India)---Replaced by Madhav Rao (Legal advisor to the Maharaja of Baroda)

5. Md. Saadullah (Ex- Chief Minister of Assam, Muslim League member)

6. D P Khaitan (Scion of Khaitan Business family and a renowned lawyer)—Replaced by T.T.Krishnamachari..

It can be seen from the committee that all its members were eminent jurists except for Md Saadullah.

The constitutional advisor was Sir Benegal Narsing Rau. A very eminent jurist of his time, Rau not only played a key role in drafting the Constitution of India but also that of Burma. Though he was not part of the Committee itself, he was next to Amedkar in his role. Rau, who was knighted in 1938 for revising the entire Indian statutory code, was responsible for the democratic structure of the Constitution and prepared the final draft. He went on to represent India at the UN Security Council and was a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

A Draft Constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 4 November 1947. Draft constitution was debated and over 2000 amendments were moved over a period of two years. Finally the process was completed IN Nov 1949 and Constituent assembly adopted the constitution.

FOREIGN CONSTITUTIONS THAT INFLUENCED THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION:

1. The architects of Indian constitution were most heavily influenced by the British model of parliamentary democracy.

2. A number of principles were adopted from the Constitution of the United States of America, including the separation of powers among the major branches of government, and the establishment of a supreme court.

3. The principles adopted from Canada were Unitary government with strong centre and also distribution of powers between central government and provinces along with placing residuary powers with central government.

4. From Ireland, directive principle of state policy was adopted.

5. From Germany the principle of suspension of fundamental rights during emergency was adopted.

6. From Australia the principle of Concurrent list and Language of preamble was adopted.

At various stages all the committee members were involved in the making of the draft constitution, but there is no doubt that Dr B.R.Ambedkar along with Benegal Narsing Rau has been the guiding force behind it.