Indian Constituent Assembly Was Established Under: India became a republic on January 26, 1950, which was a big and important change in world history. It marked the end of British rule and the beginning of India as a free and independent country.
At the heart of this change was a group called the Indian Constituent Assembly, which worked very hard to write the country’s most important law – the Constitution. This group wasn’t formed by chance.
It was created with careful planning, after World War II, and because of the long fight for India’s freedom. To truly understand how strong and fair India’s democracy is today, it’s important to know how and why this Assembly was formed.
Indian Constituent Assembly Was Established Under
The Indian Constituent Assembly was created in 1946 through the Cabinet Mission Plan, which was a plan made by the British to help hand over power to Indians smoothly. Indian leaders had been asking for such an assembly for many years.
How India’s Constitution Assembly Was Created and Why It Was Needed
The idea was first suggested by M.N. Roy in 1934 and later supported by the Indian National Congress in 1935. But it was the Cabinet Mission Plan that finally made it happen. This important group, which was given the job of writing India’s Constitution, was formed after talks between the British government and India’s main political parties.
Understanding why the Constituent Assembly was created is very important. After World War II, the British Empire had become weak and could no longer easily control its colonies, including India. At the same time, India’s freedom movement, led by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, had become very strong.
Even though the British tried to stop the Quit India Movement in 1942, it clearly showed that Indians wanted full independence. Realizing that they couldn’t keep ruling India for long, the British Labour government decided to speed up the process of giving power to Indians.
So, in 1946, the Cabinet Mission — made up of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps, and A.V. Alexander — came to India to help form a temporary government and find a way to create a constitution.
The Cabinet Mission Plan: How India’s Constitution Assembly Was Formed
The plan made by the Cabinet Mission was quite complex because it tried to satisfy different political groups and religious communities. It did not agree to give India a completely independent assembly right away. Instead, it suggested a system with three levels of government, where the central government would be weak and the provinces would have more power.
But the most important part of the plan was how the Constituent Assembly would be formed. The members would not be chosen directly by all adults through voting, since that would have taken too much time and effort.
Instead, the members were chosen indirectly by the elected members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies. This method wasn’t perfect, but it was considered the best and fastest option to move forward with handing over power to Indians.
Deciding how many seats each area would get in the Constituent Assembly was very important. Seats were given based on population — about one seat for every 10 lakh (1 million) people. These seats were then divided among three main groups: Muslims, Sikhs, and General (which included Hindus and others), based on how many people from each group lived in the area.
This system was used because of the political situation at that time and the Muslim League’s demand for separate voting for Muslims. The princely states — which were ruled by local kings and covered a large part of India — didn’t have elections.
Instead, their rulers chose who would represent them in the assembly. So, the assembly had both elected members from British-ruled India and nominated members from the princely states.
The First Meeting of India’s Constituent Assembly and Its Challenges
Elections for the 292 seats in British-ruled parts of India were held in July and August 1946. The Indian National Congress won most of the seats (208), and the Muslim League won 73 seats. The rest were taken by smaller parties and independent candidates. However, the Muslim League at first refused to join the Assembly because they wanted a separate country, Pakistan.
This caused some problems in the beginning. Still, the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place on December 9, 1946, in New Delhi. It was a very important step in India’s path to becoming an independent country. Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha was chosen as the temporary President, and later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the permanent President.
The group that was given the job of writing India’s Constitution had to face many big challenges. At the same time, India was being divided (Partition), there was a lot of violence between communities, and the princely states were being joined into the country. Even with all these problems, the assembly kept working hard.
It was made up of some of the best legal experts, leaders, and social reformers. These members came from different backgrounds and had different ideas. They discussed and debated every detail carefully to create a strong and fair Constitution for a democratic, secular, and socialist India.
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Let’s look at some important points about how this important group was formed.
- Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946: This was the main plan that explained how the Constituent Assembly would be set up and how its members would be chosen. The Indian Constituent Assembly was formed by following the rules and ideas given in this plan.
- Indirect Elections: The members of the Constituent Assembly were not chosen by all the people directly. Instead, they were elected by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies. This method was chosen because holding elections for everyone in the country at that time would have been very difficult. This way, the Assembly still had good representation without creating too many problems in managing the process.
- Proportional Representation: Seats in the Assembly were given based on the number of people in each province, so bigger provinces had more seats. Also, seats were divided among different religious and community groups to make sure everyone was represented. This was a tricky but important agreement at that time to keep peace between communities.
- Inclusion of Princely States: Most members of the Assembly were elected from British-ruled India, but some members were chosen by the rulers of the princely states. This was done to include more parts of India, even though these members were not elected by the people.
- Initial Boycott and Later Participation: At first, the Muslim League did not take part in the Assembly because of big political disagreements. But the Assembly kept working. Later, when India was divided and Pakistan was created, the Assembly’s role for governing India became clear.
Conclusion:
The creation of this assembly to write India’s Constitution showed India’s strong desire to govern itself. It also reflected the careful, though complicated, efforts by the British to hand over power in an organized way.
This assembly’s work still guides India’s democracy today, giving the country a strong and lasting system to run itself. The discussions, compromises, and wise leadership in this group helped create a Constitution that has managed India’s diversity well and stands as a shining example of democracy in the world.