Indian Polity: Framing the Constitution (1946-1950)

The Constitution of India was drawn up by a Constituent Assembly. The Assembly met for the first time on December 9, 1946. The Assembly constituted a Drafting Committee, under the chairmanship of Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, to frame a constitution for India. Indian Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949 and it came into effect on January 26, 1950. It is the longest written Constitution in the world containing 395 Articles, 22 Parts and 12 Schedules.

• Rajendra Prasad was elected its Permanent Chairman on 11.12.1946.
• The Draft Constitution was published in January, 1948. The people of India were given 8 months to discuss the draft and propose amendments. As many as 7,635 amendments were proposed and 2,473 were actually discussed.
• The Constituent Assembly held 11 sessions.
• The Draft Constitution was considered for 114 days. In all the Constitutional Assembly sat for 2 years, 11 months and 18 days.
• The New Constitution of India was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November, 1949 and signed by the President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. 15 Articles (5,6,7,8,9,60,324,366,367,372, 380, 388, 391,392 and 393) came into force at once.
• The remaining provisions of the Constitution came into force on 26th January, 1950 which is the date of the commencement of the Constitution.
• On January 26, 1950, the Indian Government also adopted Sarnath, the Lion Capital of Ashoka with the wheel, bull, and horse as the national emblem of India.
• The design of the National Flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 22 July 1947.
• The national calendar based on the Saka Era, with Chaitra as its first month and a normal year of 365 days was adopted from 22 March 1957
• National anthem Jana-gana-mana, composed originally in Bengali byRabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version by theConstituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on 24January 1950. It was first sung on 27 December 1911 at theCalcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.

Schedules and Articles

• There are 395 articles in Indian Constitution with 22 parts and 12 Schedules.