M Gupte and Brajeshwar Prasad. Gopalaswami Ayyangar and B. Ambedkar stood at the top with people like K. Panikkar, S. Mookerjee and B. Mitter following closely. Santhanam and T. Krishnamachari who were not associated with the Congress Party for long but whose voices were carefully heard because of their intellectual brilliance.
Other than Pattabhi Sitaramayya who was a doctor, A. Thakkar who was a social reformer and T. Krishnamachari who was a businessman, the rest have law as their educational background. It can be easily established from such deductions that the socio-economic composition of the Constituent Assembly was largely constrained or facilitated by the provisions regarding franchise in the Government of India Act, As is shown in the section below, the Constituent Assembly represented diverse view points of voters and non-voters.
Such diversity was made possible only because the Congress was a catch-all party with a mass base. This created spaces for dissent within the Congress Party itself. The Constituent Assembly stood on the shoulders of nationalist struggle that had constantly harped on the principle of self determination and it had to formulate a constitutional design which could bring about equality in a highly unequal society.
Steered by individuals of impeccable integrity, the Constitution held out a vision for the future, which was couched in a liberal world view tweaked to suit the peculiar conditionality of the country. The Constituent Assembly despite being a product of the circumstances of that time had a futuristic mission and envisaged an institutional structure that was expected to withstand the test of time.
It is noteworthy that none of the three goals could be achieved in isolation from each other. The Constitution makers laid down that unity as a goal could be achieved and sustained only through a highly centralized federalism. The structure of federalism envisaged included a central government distribution of revenue, national development planning, central civil services, governors as presidential appointees, emergency provisions and several centre-state coordinating mechanisms.
The goal of a social revolution was to be driven by the provisions of the Directive Principles of State Policy, present in Part IV of the Constitution. These provisions, even though non-justiciable, lay down the ways in which the Indian State was to become a Welfare State by bringing about economic and social democracy. Finally, the democratic aspect of the seamless web is buttressed by representative government under adult suffrage; Fundamental Rights under Part III which allows inter alia equality under law and personal liberty; and an independent Judiciary.
Additionally, safeguards to minorities, assistance to under privileged groups and eradication of oppression of Scheduled Castes and Tribes were also reinforced to strengthen democracy. The vision of the Constituent Assembly is restricted by the approach one adopts in studying the Constitution. Though the aforementioned approaches are valuable, these are insufficient and therefore a political-theoretical approach towards the reading of the Indian Constitution should be adopted.
Through a political-theoretical approach, it is apparent that the vision laid down by the Constituent Assembly for the future polity is undergirded by both substantive and procedural measures. The procedural measures that define the vision of the Constituent Assembly for the country are dealt below: First, the Constituent Assembly established Universal Adult Franchise under Article , without any qualification of sex, property or taxation.
The concept of popular sovereignty had been gaining ground with the surge of nationalism. But the half- hearted colonial Acts never legitimized this popular sentiment. Infact, the Government of India Act, was opposed by Nehru for restricting franchise on grounds of property, taxation and education qualifications.
By entrenching Universal Adult Franchise the Constitution makers were fulfilling a long standing demand of equal participation in the decision making process. The grant of equal franchise rights to all entrenches ideas of equality and 20 Rajeev Bhargava Introduction: Outline of a Political Theory of the Indian Constitution in Rajeev Bhargava ed.
And in a society marked by significant caste and class hierarchies, the vision of one man-one vote-one value was revolutionary. Secondly, the Constituent Assembly laid down a set of civil liberties which are treated as sacrosanct and inviolable for all citizens.
By inserting the Fundamental Rights in the Constitution itself, the members of the Constituent Assembly foreclosed the option of discretionary curtailment of civil rights of citizens, either by the legislature or the executive. The Constituent Assembly laid down a vision of a free and fearless society through such an institutional mechanism.
The protection of group rights through the insertion of Cultural and Educational Rights in Part III Articles was the result of several request petitions that came from several minority groups who wanted that there interests be protected. In other words, the Constituent Assembly laid down a delicate balance between the notions of universal and differentiated citizenship Fourthly, the Constitution makers provided a statutory commitment to caste-based affirmative action.
The Constituent Assembly was aware of the limitations procedural equality produced in an unequal social set up and therefore laid down Article and which provides reservations for seats in legislatures and public services to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The members of the Constituent Assembly realised that a policy of radical redistribution leading to equality of outcome had to be conceptualized because of the structural inequalities that work to the disadvantage of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
When making a case for compensation for disadvantaged groups we bridge the important divide that separates equality of opportunity from equality of results. Through the constitutional provisions for affirmative action, Bhargava iterates that a concern for liberal justice becomes evident. Fifth, the Constituent Assembly introduced asymmetrical federalism as a unique concept to accommodate differences that exists between groups of citizens.
These federal arrangements are an acknowledgement that the relations between the Indian Union and the states are not uniform and such a differentiated treatment is aimed at the preservation of the distinct identity and culture of the natives of such regions. While the above mentioned five measures are the substantive visions laid down by the Constituent Assembly, the procedural measures are equally important and are as follows.
Firstly, the Constituent Assembly Debates demonstrate that outcomes can be justified with reference to reason and not necessarily self- interest. More than the outcome, here the emphasis is laid on the procedure that ultimately leads to acceptable outcomes. The deliberative vision laid down by the Constituent Assembly as the viable way of reaching outcomes is as important as the outcome itself. Secondly, extending the principle of compromise and accommodation, Bhargava argues that trade-offs done in the course of the Assembly Debates need not be decried in toto.
Finally, the emphasis laid down by the Constituent Assembly on consensus generation rather than majority opinion is also a morally commendable position. Though this position has to be carefully supported, for Bhargava the merit of the Constituent Assembly lies in its ability to provide a platform for different voices to engage in a deliberation.
It is noteworthy that the debates disclose a wide spectrum of ideological variations, even when the presence of the Congress was overwhelming in the Assembly.
According to Rajeev Bhargava, there are at least five competing ideological positions in the Constituent Assembly: the non- modernist, quasi communitarian vision of Gandhi; the liberal-democratic vision of Ambedkar; the social-democratic vision of Nehru; the radical egalitarian vision of K. Shah; and the Hindutva ideology. For V. Fifty leaders would elect a second- grade leader, who would co-ordinate their efforts and who would also be available for national service.
The village is to be a self-contained, self- reliant unit which has the ability to defend itself against the whole world. Within the Constituent Assembly, the broad consensus on the desirability and feasibility of a Parliamentary form of government placed the Gandhian model on the peripheries.
Though Article 40 laid down Panchayati Raj to be established by the State, it remained within t he non- justiciable part of the Constitution. In contrast to the Gandhian vision, it is the liberal democratic Ambedkarite vision and social democratic vision of Nehru which laid down the ideological contours of the Indian Constitution.
For Ambedkar, representative parliamentary democracy based on Universal Adult Franchise was the desirable structure to organize the future polity of independent India. Unlike Gandhi, Ambedkar was skeptical of the idea that villages can be rid of its evils.
Within the Ambedkarite paradigm, a rights based approach —both for protection as well as development of the individual- is advocated and therefore calls for the establishment of a interventionist state. Provisions of Part III and the governmental structure imbibed in the Constitution mirrors the liberal outlook of Ambedkar. The developmental model of the state as well as the emphasis on constitutionalism is not peculiar to Ambedkar alone. What distinguishes Nehru from Ambedkar, however, is his emphasis on socialism.
His position in the Congress ensured that his ideas would influence not just the party but also the Constituent Assembly. As a social democrat he called for control and nationalization of industries, land reforms a nd co-operative farming, heavy industry and distributive justice within the parameters of a planned economy. In the words of V. For Nehru, India was to be a federal state with a strong centre where the Parliament had a decisive role to play. The Objectives Resolution, adopted by the Constituent Assembly and framed by Nehru, is a reminder of the emphasis that he had laid towards the goals of democracy, national unity and secularism.
He favoured not only state ownership and control of all natural resources, important large scale industries and all other aspects of the economy but also advocated a programme of progressive nationalization of existing industries.
Within the ideological framework laid down by Shah, the state had an extremely interventionist role to play in re-structuring the economy and society. Critical, as he was of vested class interest subverting the project of equality, Shah demanded that within a specified time period all the Directive Principles of State Policy be made justiciable. Words like secular were used more than dharma or morality.
Women was invoked more than adivasis. Although the count of a single word does not say about the nature and direction of words, but the co-occurrence of words in speech reflects the importance of that topic. For eg: The prohibition of alcohol was hotly debated in Assembly by 51 members and was used times. Previous post. Next post. Enter your email address to subscribe to the blog followed by several Rankholders and ensure success in IAS. Email Address. Though it had expanded the number of electorates substantially- from seven million to thirty-five million- majority of Indians were still placed outside the electoral roll.
Because the members of the Legislative Assemblies of elected the members of the Constituent Assembly, one cannot loose sight of the fact that socio-economic composition of the members of the Assembly would be largely determined by the framework laid down by the Government of India Act, Infact, it can be stated that possession of property, payment of income tax and educational criteria clearly laid down a bias against the common Indian and lend a kind of class homogeneity to the Constituent Assembly of India.
As stated in the foregoing section, after the partition the strength of the Assembly British India came down from to For Chaube, the membership of the Assembly fell into four groups: 1. The representatives of the Congress. A few independent members elected with Congress tickets 3.
Independents representing non-Congress provincial legislators 4. The Muslim League who had chosen to stay in India. It had returned its senior most leaders to the Assembly including its past Presidents, Provincial Congress Committee Presidents, members of the Working Committee. Ambedkar, A. Ayyar, N. Ayyangar and M. Jayakar were amongst the outsiders who were offered Congress tickets.
This enabled a broader representation of interests within the Constituent Assembly as well as the benefit of legal expertise that most of them possessed. Though there was no separate seats reserved for women, 15 were returned to the Constituent Assembly prominent amongst them were G.
In the post-partition India, the Muslim League had 29 members. The non-Congress opposition the Akali and the Muslim League mainly demanded greater provincial autonomy within the new constitutional structure but it was not conceded. Infact, S. Chaube says that though the opposition was vocal it remained ineffective due to the lack of a common perspective.
The Assembly was the Congress and the Congress was India. The position of the Congress was not just determined by its numerical strength but also because of the stature enjoyed by its senior members-the ilk of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad, C. Rajagopalachari, G. Pant- who were also made part of the Constituent Assembly. Infact, the role of the Congress Party in ensuring a sense of discipline and order in the Constituent Assembly as well as its role in enabling a smooth sail of the Draft Constitution was also attributed by Dr.
The Congress Party also played another crucial role: on 4 July it had formed a Committee of Experts to prepare material and proposals for the Constitution.
In effect, each proposal that was raised in the Constituent Assembly was already scrutinized by the Committee of Experts and this process continued till the Constitution was adopted. While members like Dr. Ambedkar was appreciative of such a committee, severe criticisms came from others like Shibban Lal Saxena. Alladi K. Ayyar Hindu, No Advocate Brahmin 8. Ayyangar Hindu, No Civil servant Brahmin 9. Ambedkar Hindu, Dalit No Advocate Krishnamachari Hindu, Yes, member.
Businessman Brahmin Mookherjee Christian Yes, member Educator As is evident from the table, advocates constituted a clear cut majority over any other occupational group and steered the process of constitution making.
Chaube divides the leadership present in the Constituent Assembly into three segments: a Those within the Congress Party: Here Nehru-Patel-Prasad-Azad leadership assumes the first rung closely followed by the cabinet ministers like K.
Munshi, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, J. Kripalani, C. On the fringes were another group of leadership provided by Thakurdas Bhargava, A. Thakkar, Sri Prakasa, B. M Gupte and Brajeshwar Prasad. Gopalaswami Ayyangar and B. Ambedkar stood at the top with people like K.
Panikkar, S. Mookerjee and B. Mitter following closely. Santhanam and T. Krishnamachari who were not associated with the Congress Party for long but whose voices were carefully heard because of their intellectual brilliance. Other than Pattabhi Sitaramayya who was a doctor, A. Thakkar who was a social reformer and T.
Krishnamachari who was a businessman, the rest have law as their educational background. It can be easily established from such deductions that the socio-economic composition of the Constituent Assembly was largely constrained or facilitated by the provisions regarding franchise in the Government of India Act, As is shown in the section below, the Constituent Assembly represented diverse view points of voters and non-voters. Such diversity was made possible only because the Congress was a catch-all party with a mass base.
This created spaces for dissent within the Congress Party itself. The Constituent Assembly stood on the shoulders of nationalist struggle that had constantly harped on the principle of self determination and it had to formulate a constitutional design which could bring about equality in a highly unequal society. Steered by individuals of impeccable integrity, the Constitution held out a vision for the future, which was couched in a liberal world view tweaked to suit the peculiar conditionality of the country.
The Constituent Assembly despite being a product of the circumstances of that time had a futuristic mission and envisaged an institutional structure that was expected to withstand the test of time. It is noteworthy that none of the three goals could be achieved in isolation from each other. The Constitution makers laid down that unity as a goal could be achieved and sustained only through a highly centralized federalism.
The structure of federalism envisaged included a central government distribution of revenue, national development planning, central civil services, governors as presidential appointees, emergency provisions and several centre-state coordinating mechanisms.
The goal of a social revolution was to be driven by the provisions of the Directive Principles of State Policy, present in Part IV of the Constitution. These provisions, even though non-justiciable, lay down the ways in which the Indian State was to become a Welfare State by bringing about economic and social democracy.
Finally, the democratic aspect of the seamless web is buttressed by representative government under adult suffrage; Fundamental Rights under Part III which allows inter alia equality under law and personal liberty; and an independent Judiciary. Additionally, safeguards to minorities, assistance to under privileged groups and eradication of oppression of Scheduled Castes and Tribes were also reinforced to strengthen democracy.
The vision of the Constituent Assembly is restricted by the approach one adopts in studying the Constitution. Though the aforementioned approaches are valuable, these are insufficient and therefore a political-theoretical approach towards the reading of the Indian Constitution should be adopted. Through a political-theoretical approach, it is apparent that the vision laid down by the Constituent Assembly for the future polity is undergirded by both substantive and procedural measures.
The procedural measures that define the vision of the Constituent Assembly for the country are dealt below: First, the Constituent Assembly established Universal Adult Franchise under Article , without any qualification of sex, property or taxation. The concept of popular sovereignty had been gaining ground with the surge of nationalism. But the half- hearted colonial Acts never legitimized this popular sentiment.
Infact, the Government of India Act, was opposed by Nehru for restricting franchise on grounds of property, taxation and education qualifications. By entrenching Universal Adult Franchise the Constitution makers were fulfilling a long standing demand of equal participation in the decision making process. The grant of equal franchise rights to all entrenches ideas of equality and 20 Rajeev Bhargava Introduction: Outline of a Political Theory of the Indian Constitution in Rajeev Bhargava ed.
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