- A constitution is a written set of laws and fundamental principles to develop a relationship between the people and the government which comprises a number of articles about the state.
- We need a constitution:
- To provide a set of basic rules to allow minimal coordination amongst the members of a society.
- To specify how the government would be constituted and who has power to make decisions in the society.
- To lay some limitations on government’s power by guaranteeing rights to the citizens.
- To enable the government to fulfill aspirations of a society and create conditions for a just society.
- To express the fundamental identity of people.
- The Constitution of India was framed by the Constituent Assembly in 1946 under the Cabinet Mission Plan.
- The Constituent Assembly spent 2 years 11 months and 18 days to prepare the constitution to be adopted on November 26, 1949 and came into force on 26 January, 1950.
- The Constitution of India is the Supreme Law to be accepted and respected by all the citizens as well as institutions of the country.
- The Constitution of India is a blend of flexibility and rigidity as it is federal in form but unitary in spirit.
- The main federal features of the Indian Constitution are written and flexible constitution, distribution of powers between the center and the states, supremacy of judiciary and existence of bicameral legislature.
- The framers of Indian Constitution have borrowed a number of provisions as per the suitability of the nation from different countries, i.e. the British Constitution, the American Constitution, the Constitution of Canada, the Constitution of Ireland, the French Constitution, etc. along with the Government of India Act, 1935.
Important terms:
- Promulgation: To announce publicly at the starting of a law.
- Deliberation: Considerations during the framing of Constitution.
- Disparity: A lack of equality and similarity in a war that is not fair.
- Suppressed: To prevent to express the feelings of someone.
- Sects: Different groups within a community.
- Laws: A set of rules governing the administration of country to be enforced by political authority.
- Integration: A harmonious relation with the feelings of brotherhood.
- Objective Resolution: Resolution to define aims of Assembly.
