Constitution of any country is the fundamental law of land. It develops common national, political, constitutional identity of the people of the country. It is important that the constitution remains relevant with the changing time. Therefore, constitution of almost all the country originates or gets influenced by its public law.
To prepare a draft of the Constitution of India the Constituent Assembly established a drafting committee on 29th August, 1947 under the chairmanship of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Constituent assembly consisting of 299 members prepared the draft of the Indian Constitution. Constitution of India came into existence on 24th Nov.1949. The Indian constitution was then finally implemented on 26th January, 1950.
Several features of the Indian constitution were borrowed from the constitution of other countries and many features were taken from Government of India Act, 1935. Constitution being the supreme law of land plays a really important role in the administration of the entire country. Keeping this in mind the constitution of India was prepared by framers in such a manner that it remains relevant, for all at every point of time. Also because of the diversity in India and to make constitution evolve with time, a unique blend of rigidity and flexibility was added to the Indian constitution.
Several things were left on the discretion of the courts to decide and give the relevant interpretation as per time. The Noble idea of the constitution framers behind this was to provide best possible administrative and social setup in India and that is the reason why the constituent assembly framed the Indian constitution in such a manner that, it became a compilation of those features of the constitution of other countries’ that suited Indian problems and situations. The Indian constitution consists of all good features from the constitution of other countries and as a result, it is the lengthiest and bulkiest constitution of the world.
Indian constitution was a by – product of the Government of India Act, 1935. It was the longest act passed by the British government with 321 sections and 10 schedules. Federalism, which is one of the basic features of the Indian constitution was incorporated and added from Government of India Act, 1935. As a result of which we have a division of power between the centre and the state and have Union Government at the central and State Government at the state level. Also, the concept of Provincial autonomy was taken from this Act.
Apart from the Government of India Act, 1935 Indian constitution has also borrowed several Provisions from the constitution of different countries. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said “Nobody holds any patent rights in the fundamental idea of the constitution”. Borrowing provisions from the constitution of other countries was a collective decision of the entire constituent assembly. Borrowing provisions from other countries helped the Indian constitution in being wide, accurate, universal and more beneficial for the mankind. Establishing unity, peace, and providing good administration with giving maximum importance to the rights of every individual was the main objective of the drafting committee.
The Indian constitution has borrowed several features from many constitutions from different countries and that is the reason behind its uniqueness in Content and Spirit. Amendment is a very basic characteristic of our constitution and this feature was taken by the South African constitution. Amendment is a process in which Changes and modifications are made in the law and which gives a chance to mould the constitution according to the current need and aspiration of the citizens. It is a process which makes our constitution flexible and also helps the Centre and State to practice their authority. As of January 2020, there have been 104 amendments of the Constitution of India since it was first enacted in 1950.
Now let’s talk about another feature of constitution and that is idea of Liberty, equality and Fraternity and that was taken by the French Constitution. Liberty means individuals having freedom of choice. It means that every individual person of our country has right to choose what he or she will do and how they will do it. The meaning of Equality is that all people in this country will be treated equally and have similar rights irrespective of their Caste, religion, Sex etc. It plays a very important role in binding up the nation and also to maintain Unity among all the citizens. Now the last one is Fraternity; it refers to the brotherhood among all the citizens of the country. It embraces psychological as well as territorial dimensions of national integration.
These three characteristics play a very crucial role in balancing such a vast nation and also to run the overall working and mechanism of government.
The third feature that is Directive Principle of State Policy (DPSP) which is included in the Part IV of the constitution was taken by the Irish constitution. It is a declaration of comprehensive Social, political and economic programme of the state aimed at creating a society based on equality and justice. The directive principles enshrined in the constitution derive its inspiration from Gandhian Socialist and liberal principles aimed at creating a welfare state. It acts as a guide post of the government. Some of the directive Principles included in the Indian Constitution are: abolition of liquor, abolition of cow slaughter, equal Pay for equal work, uniform civil code, separation of executive from judiciary etc. They are non-binding in nature which means they are not enforceable by the court for their violation.
There are total 8 features which are taken by the U.S. Constitution and they are Preamble, Fundamental rights, Federal structure of government, Electoral college, independence of the judiciary, Judicial review, President as the supreme commander of armed forces and at last Equal protection Under law. I will discuss about all the features in brief and let’s start with the preamble, so Preamble is the introductory page of the Indian constitution which highlights the fundamental values and guiding principles of the constitution.
The two most important purposes which are served by the Preamble are: It indicates the source from which constitution gets its authority and the second one is it also states the objective which the constitution seeks to establish and promote. Fundamental rights are inseparable part of civilised society without which no person can develop their character and personality. The fundamental rights are vital in the sense they are head and shoulder above ordinary law of the country, although they are not absolute.
There are six fundamental rights ranging from Article 14 to Article 32 under Part III of the constitution. They are Right to Equality, Right to freedom of thoughts and expression, Right against exploitation. Cultural and Educational rights, Right to religion and Right to constitutional remedies.
Federal structure of government means the existence of two governments. One at centre and one at the State. The power and authority are divided between the two by the constitution based on administrative convenience as we can say that both are mutually exclusive yet independent. Unity and Diversity is the key theme in Indian federalism.
The fourth feature is the independence of the Judiciary. Indian Constitution has deliberately kept Judiciary at an equal distance from legislature and executive in order to ensure judicial independence. The purpose behind the independent judiciary was to instil public confidence as there was some kind of scope that the law implementation might manipulate judiciary to its advantage and also to ensure impartiality of decisions, judiciary is maintained independent of the legislative and the executive influences.
The fifth feature that is judicial review is set to establish the supremacy of Indian judiciary. The Judiciary can declare any law passed by the legislature or actions taken by the executive as ‘null and Void’ or’ Unconstitutional’ if they are violative of the written provisions of the constitution. Hence, Judiciary acts as the balance wheel of the constitution.
The Sixth feature is that President is the supreme commander of armed forces. The president can declare war or conclude peace on the advice of the Union council of ministers headed by the Prime Minister. All the important treaties and contracts are made on the president’s name. He appoints chief of all branches of armed forces.
The Seventh feature is the Equal protection under law which means that State guarantees the same rights, privileges and protection to all its citizens. It is clear and transparent representation of equality made by the government. There is no such discrimination or categorisation between the citizens across the country. Whatever law is made by authority is universal and will be applicable to all the citizen of the country without any discrimination. Also, the concept of Electoral College was taken from the US Constitution.
Some major features of the Indian Constitution were also taken from the British Constitution. The idea of parliamentary form of government, single citizenship, rule of law, institution of speaker and his role, law making procedure, procedure established by law, were all taken from the British Constitution.
The concept of freedom of trade and commerce within the country and between the states, power of the national legislature to make laws for implementing treaties, even on matter outside normal federal jurisdiction were taken from the Australian constitution. Also the concept of concurrent list was taken from the Australian constitution.
Canadian constitution gave the distribution of power between the central and the state government, residual powers retained by the central government.
The concept of Fundamental Duties, Planning commission to oversee the development of the country was taken from the Constitution of the Soviet Union.
Emergency provisions under the Indian constitution were taken from Weimar Constitution (Germany).
In this manner the best features from the constitution of different countries were gathered together to form the Constitution of India. Indian constitution is the lengthiest written constitution of the world because of which it is different from all the other constitution, although it has borrowed several provisions from the constitution of other countries.
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