NCERT
Every NCERT book that matters for UPSC — open a book, then a chapter. Learn each chapter's concepts, then how UPSC tests them — with diagrams, flowcharts and the past questions to attempt.
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← Indian Constitution at Work — all chaptersConstitution: Why and How
Start here: why this chapter matters
In simple wordsBefore a cricket match starts, everyone must already agree on the rules: how many overs, who the umpire is, what counts as out, and that even the captain cannot change the rules mid-match. A constitution is that rulebook for a whole country — except that it also says what kind of country the players want to build together.
This is the first chapter of Indian Constitution at Work. Every later chapter — rights, elections, the executive, Parliament, courts, federalism, local government — describes an institution that exists only because the Constitution created it. This chapter asks the two questions behind all of them: why does a society need a constitution, and how was India's made?
- Leads into every chapter of this book; it previews Chapter 9 (the Constitution as a living document) and Chapter 10 (its philosophy).
- Pairs with the companion book Political Theory: Freedom, Equality, Rights, Citizenship and Nationalism explain the values that this chapter says a constitution protects.
- UPSC: GS2 (‘historical underpinnings, evolution, features … and basic structure’ of the Constitution; comparison with other constitutions), GS1 (the making of the Constitution as part of post-independence consolidation) and a long run of Prelims questions on the Constituent Assembly, the dates, borrowed features and ‘constitutional government’.
| Word | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Constitution | A body of fundamental principles by which a state is constituted and governed — usually one document, sometimes (UK) a set of documents and decisions |
| Constituent Assembly | A body of representatives that frames a constitution |
| Promulgation | The way a constitution is brought into being and proclaimed |
| Constitutional government | Government whose power is limited by a constitution (Beyond NCERT term; UPSC uses it) |
| Fundamental Rights | Rights that no government may violate — the main way of limiting power |
| Directive Principles | Goals the state must try to achieve; not enforceable in courts |
| Public reason | Giving principled reasons that others can accept, not just pushing your own interest |
| Checks and balances | Each institution can restrain the others, so none can subvert the constitution |
| Universal adult suffrage | Every adult citizen votes, whatever religion, caste, education, gender or income |
| Proportional representation (single transferable vote) | Voters rank candidates; seats go roughly in proportion to support |
| Residual powers | Subjects not listed anywhere — in India they go to the Union |
| Referendum | A direct vote of all the people on a question, such as a new constitution |
Reading the chapter opening (page 1)The opening page has no picture — only the title, a QR code to NCERT's e-resources and a four-point list of what you will learn: what a constitution means, what it does to society, how it allocates power, and how India's was made. Those four points are exactly the order of this page's sections.
At a glance — the six ideas to carry away
- Five functions: coordination and assurance, who decides, limits on government, aspirations of society, identity of a people.
- A constitution is effective because of its mode of promulgation, its substantive provisions and a balanced institutional design.
- Constituent Assembly: indirectly elected by Provincial Assemblies under the Cabinet Mission plan — 292 provincial + at least 93 princely-state seats, ~1 per 10 lakh people, PR by single transferable vote.
- First sitting 9 December 1946; reassembled 14 August 1947 with 299 members; adopted 26 November 1949; 284 signed on 24 January 1950; in force 26 January 1950.
- It worked by deliberation and public reason: 8 major committees, 166 days of sittings over 2 years 11 months; universal suffrage was passed almost without debate.
- Values came from the national movement via Nehru's Objectives Resolution (1946); ideas were borrowed — UK, USA, Ireland, France, Canada — but adapted, not copied.
1. Why have basic rules? Coordination and assurance
In simple wordsTraffic works only if everyone knows we drive on the left and trusts that others will too — because there is a fine if they don't. Knowing the rule is coordination; trusting that others will obey it is assurance.
NCERT starts with a thought experiment: a large group whose members differ in religion, profession, ability, taste, wealth and age, and who will disagree about property, schooling, security spending or whether some members may be discriminated against. They still depend on each other and must live together. Without basic rules, each person would be insecure, not knowing what others might do or who could claim what.
Two things are needed. The rules must be publicly promulgated and known to all — that gives a minimal degree of coordination. And they must be enforceable: if you have no assurance that others will follow the rules, you have no reason to follow them either. Legal enforcement (punishment for breaking them) gives everyone that assurance.
⤵ Why rules must be known and enforceable
A diverse group must live togetherdifferent beliefs, interests, wealth — and disputes
Basic rules, publicly knowneveryone can predict what others may do — coordination
Rules legally enforceablebreakers are punished — so each person is assured others will comply
Function 1 of a constitutiona set of basic rules that allow minimal coordination among members
Reading the side cartoons on page 2Two of the book's recurring student characters stand beside the thought experiment: a boy says the imagined group is very much like the people of his village, and a girl with a notebook says it could be her colony too, and asks whether it applies to yours. The point: the ‘diverse group’ is not imaginary — it is every Indian neighbourhood, and India as a whole.
Reading the Activity box (pages 3–4)Marked by a hand icon, the box asks the class to act out the thought experiment: decide how class representatives are chosen, what they may decide alone, what needs the whole class, any other common matters (a class kitty, picnics, shared resources) — especially ones that caused quarrels before — and how to revise these decisions. Then pin the rules on the notice board and reflect on the differences. In miniature, the class writes a constitution: representation, powers, limits and an amendment procedure.
2. Who gets to decide? The constitution constitutes government
In simple wordsIn a housing society, before arguing about whether to build a gym or a garden, you must settle who decides — the secretary, the committee, or all the members voting. A constitution settles that first question for a country.
A constitution is a body of fundamental principles according to which a state is constituted or governed. Before deciding which rules should govern, a society must decide who gets to decide. The answer varies: a monarch in a monarchical constitution; one single party in some constitutions such as the old Soviet Union; and, broadly, the people in democratic constitutions. Even ‘the people’ raises further questions: must everyone agree? should people vote directly on each matter, as the ancient Greeks did, or elect representatives — and then how, and how many?
In India the Constitution specifies that in most matters Parliament makes laws and policies, and how Parliament itself is organised. The key idea: if Parliament has authority to make laws, some higher law must have given it that authority — that is the constitution. So the second function is to specify who has the power to make decisions and how government will be constituted.
Why this answers NCERT's MCQ 2The constitution's authority is higher than Parliament's because the constitution specifies how Parliament is formed and what its powers are — not because it is older, or its makers more eminent, or because it cannot be amended (Parliament can amend it, within limits).
Beyond NCERT — where the Constitution says this
- Article 79: Parliament consists of the President and two Houses; Article 245: Parliament and State legislatures make laws ‘subject to the provisions of this Constitution’ — the higher law in action.
- Article 75(1): the Prime Minister is appointed by the President — an allocation of decision-making power (see ‘Check your progress’).
3. Limits on the power of government
In simple wordsYou hire a security guard to protect your building. But you also write down what the guard may never do — enter your flat, read your letters, lock you out. Government is the guard; fundamental rights are the written limits.
Deciding who rules is not enough. A properly chosen government could still pass patently unjust laws — banning your religion, forbidding clothes of a colour or certain songs, forcing a caste or religious group to serve others and own no property, arresting people arbitrarily, or letting only one skin colour draw water from wells. So the third function is to set limits on what government may impose on citizens — limits it may never trespass.
The most common way is a list of fundamental rights. Their content varies, but most constitutions protect a basic cluster: protection from arbitrary arrest, and basic liberties — freedom of speech, conscience, association, and to conduct a trade or business. These rights can be limited in a national emergency, and the constitution itself specifies when.
Reading the cartoon ‘European Constitution’ by Patrick Chappatte (page 5)A cartoon framed like a formal group portrait, captioned with a pun on ‘founding fathers’ — ‘The Feuding Fathers’. Several European leaders crowd around a document marked ‘European Constitution’, scowling and glaring at one another instead of signing. NCERT notes that EU countries tried to create a European constitution and failed, and asks whether this always happens in constitution-making. The point: when the parties have sharply different interests and no shared sense of being one people, agreeing on basic rules is very hard.
Beyond NCERT: the treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was signed in 2004 but rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005; its substance was later carried into the Lisbon Treaty (in force from December 2009).
Beyond NCERT: the treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was signed in 2004 but rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005; its substance was later carried into the Lisbon Treaty (in force from December 2009).
Reading the side cartoon on page 6A schoolboy with a backpack and a ruler grumbles: so you first create a monster and then worry about saving yourself from it — why create the ‘monster’ called government at all? The chapter's answer runs through sections 1–3: without government there is no coordination or assurance; with government, rights and checks keep the ‘monster’ on a leash.
Beyond NCERT — constitutional government (UPSC 2014, 2020, 2021)
- A constitutional government is by definition a limited government: it places effective restrictions on the authority of the State in the interest of individual liberty — not the other way round. This idea is called constitutionalism.
- The rule of law (A.V. Dicey) — which NCERT lists among ideas taken from Britain — means limitation of powers, equality before law, and protection of liberty and civil rights (UPSC 2018). ‘People's responsibility to the government’ is not one of its features.
- In India, Article 13 makes laws inconsistent with Fundamental Rights void; Articles 358 and 359 govern the suspension of rights during a national emergency — the ‘circumstances’ NCERT mentions.
Exam trapA constitution that limits government is not anti-government. The same constitution also empowers government (sections 2 and 4). UPSC's ‘constitutional government’ questions test only the limiting side: the correct answer is always the one that restricts the State, not the individual.
4. Aspirations of a society and the identity of a people
In simple wordsA family's house rules say not only ‘don't’ (no shouting at elders) but also ‘do’ (every child goes to school; we look after grandmother). Older constitutions were mostly ‘don'ts’; India's also says ‘do’.
Older constitutions mostly allocated power and limited it. Many twentieth-century constitutions — the Indian Constitution is ‘the finest example’, says NCERT — also provide an enabling framework for government to do positive things. A society with deeply entrenched inequalities must not only restrain government but also empower it to overcome inequality and deprivation: India aspires to be free of caste discrimination; post-apartheid South Africa had to enable its government to end racial discrimination. India's framers wanted every individual to have what is needed for a life of minimal dignity and social self-respect — minimum material well-being, education and so on.
Such enabling provisions draw support from the Preamble, are found in Fundamental Rights (some welfare measures are legally enforceable), and in the Directive Principles of State Policy. So the fourth function is to enable government to fulfil the aspirations of society and create conditions for a just society.
Reading Shankar's cartoon of 4 December 1949 (page 7)Nehru stands in the middle as a conductor, arms spread, trying to lead two very different ensembles at once. On one side sit men in Western suits with Western instruments — a double bass, trumpets; on the other, men in dhotis and caps sit on the floor singing in the Indian style. Each side seems to have its own tune, labelled with the two national songs then being debated, ‘Jana Gana Mana’ and ‘Vande Mataram’. NCERT asks what the groups stand for and who prevailed. The point: constitution-makers had to harmonise modernising and traditional visions of the new nation; Nehru tried to blend rather than silence either.
Beyond NCERT: on 24 January 1950 the Assembly adopted ‘Jana Gana Mana’ as the National Anthem and declared that ‘Vande Mataram’ would be honoured equally — a compromise, not a victory for one side.
Beyond NCERT: on 24 January 1950 the Assembly adopted ‘Jana Gana Mana’ as the National Anthem and declared that ‘Vande Mataram’ would be honoured equally — a compromise, not a victory for one side.
Reading the ‘Enabling provisions’ box and the side cartoon (page 8)
- The box says constitutions also give powers for the collective good: South Africa's requires government to promote nature conservation, protect people facing unfair discrimination and progressively ensure adequate housing and health care; Indonesia's requires a national education system and care of poor and destitute children.
- Beside it a girl peeps from behind a curtain and asks what the point is of writing lofty goals if they cannot change people's lives. Fair question: Directive Principles are not enforceable in courts, but they guide laws and policies, and later chapters show many have been turned into enforceable law (Beyond NCERT: Article 37 says they are not court-enforceable yet ‘fundamental in the governance of the country’).
Finally — ‘perhaps most importantly’ — a constitution expresses the fundamental identity of a people. By agreeing on basic norms of how and by whom they will be governed, people form a collective political identity; the constitution's limits on what anyone may do give them a moral identity; and many basic values are now shared across constitutional traditions. Constitutions also differ in how they imagine the nation: NCERT's example is that German identity was constituted by being ethnically German, while the Indian Constitution does not make ethnic identity a criterion of citizenship. The relationship between regions and the central government is also part of national identity.
Reading the cartoon ‘Iraqi Constitution’ by John Trever (page 9)At a podium marked ‘Baghdad’, a confident official announces that now the groups have agreed to join hands, a constitution is expected very soon. Behind him, figures labelled Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds fight over the materials — one has the paper, one the pen, one the ink, each insisting he should write it. NCERT asks what these people stand for and how this compares with the EU and Indian cartoons. The point: in Iraq after Saddam Hussein, each community wanted to author the constitution for itself; in the Shankar cartoon, by contrast, one respected leader was trying to harmonise everyone within a shared national movement.
Beyond NCERT: Iraq's constitution was approved in a referendum in October 2005.
Beyond NCERT: Iraq's constitution was approved in a referendum in October 2005.
Reading ‘Check your progress’ (page 10)A two-column table lists five provisions and asks which function each performs; the first is filled in (the government cannot order anyone to follow or not follow a religion → limitation on government). The answers to the rest are in the in-text section below. The exercise trains you to see every Article as doing one of the five jobs.
| Provision (NCERT's table) | Function | Where in the Constitution (Beyond NCERT) |
|---|---|---|
| Government cannot order any citizen to follow or not follow any religion | Limits on government | Freedom of religion, Article 25 |
| Government must try to reduce inequalities in income and wealth | Aspirations / just society | Directive Principle, Article 38(2) (added by the 44th Amendment, 1978) |
| The President has the power to appoint the Prime Minister | Who decides (allocation of power) | Article 75(1) |
| The Constitution is the supreme law that everyone has to obey | Coordination and assurance | Supremacy runs through the text, e.g. Articles 13 and 245 |
| Indian citizenship is not limited to people of any race, caste or religion | Identity of a people | Part II (Articles 5–11) has no such test; Article 15 bars discrimination |
5. The authority of a constitution: what makes it effective?
In simple wordsTwo schools can have the same printed rulebook. In one, students follow it because they helped write it, it is fair to all, and no single teacher can bend it. In the other, the principal wrote it alone, it favours a few, and everyone ignores it. Same paper — very different authority.
NCERT asks three more questions: what is a constitution, how effective is it, and is it just? Most countries have a compact document of articles; some, like the United Kingdom, have no single document but a series of documents and decisions taken together. So a constitution is the document or set of documents that performs the functions above. But many constitutions are ‘mere words on a parchment’. What makes one effective?
| Factor | NCERT's argument | How India fares |
|---|---|---|
| Mode of promulgation | Constitutions crafted by military leaders or unpopular leaders who cannot carry the people often stay defunct; the most successful (India, South Africa, the USA) came after popular national movements | Framed December 1946–November 1949 by leaders of immense credibility; no referendum, but people adopted it by abiding by it |
| Substantive provisions | A successful constitution gives everyone a reason to go along; one that lets permanent majorities oppress minorities, privileges some or entrenches small groups loses allegiance | The more it preserves freedom and equality of all, the likelier it succeeds — the rest of the book tests this |
| Balanced institutional design | Constitutions are usually subverted by small power-hungry groups, not the people; so power is fragmented, and the text balances fixed values with flexibility | Power split among legislature, executive, judiciary and bodies like the Election Commission; amendable within limits — a ‘living’ document |
Reading the side cartoon on page 11A worried boy, chin in hand, asks what people do if they find their constitution unjust, and what happens to them when it exists only on paper. The page answers: a constitution that does not command allegiance becomes defunct; people may demand a new one — exactly what the Nepal box on the next page shows.
Reading the box ‘Debate over Constitution making in Nepal’ (page 12)
- Nepal had five constitutions — 1948, 1951, 1959, 1962 and 1990 — all ‘granted’ by the King. The 1990 one allowed multi-party competition but left the King final powers in many respects.
- Militant agitations followed over the monarchy's role: some wanted a republic, others a limited monarchy. The King seized all powers in October 2002.
- Parties led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) demanded a popularly elected constituent assembly; under pressure the King installed an acceptable government, which stripped him of almost all powers.
- Nepal became a democratic republic in 2008 and adopted a new constitution in 2015 (Beyond NCERT: promulgated on 20 September 2015 by an elected Constituent Assembly).
- The lesson: constitutions handed down from above lack the authority that comes from a popular, deliberative process.
NCERT slip — the Election CommissionNCERT (page 13) calls the Election Commission an ‘independent statutory body’. It is a constitutional body, created by Article 324 of the Constitution. A statutory body is created by an ordinary law of Parliament. Use ‘constitutional body’ in any exam answer.
Reading the cartoon ‘Castle of Cards’ by Ares (page 14)A thick book labelled ‘Iraq Constitution’ sits on top of an elaborate house of playing cards. NCERT asks why the cartoonist calls it a castle of cards and whether the description fits India. The point: a constitution resting on no real consensus, legitimacy or balanced institutions looks impressive but can collapse at a touch. India's is the opposite: built on a national movement's consensus and on institutions that check one another.
NCERT turns the factors into three questions you can ask of any constitution: Were its makers credible? (answered in the rest of this chapter). Is power intelligently organised, and does it give everyone a reason to go along? (most of the book). Is it the locus of people's hopes — is it just? (the last chapter).
⤵ How a constitution loses its authority
Made from aboveby a military ruler, an unpopular leader or an outside power
Unfair contenta permanent majority or a small group is favoured; others see no reason to obey
Concentrated powerone institution or group can bend the rules without being checked
Too rigidbreaks under the weight of change
Too flexibleno security, predictability or identity
Result‘words on a parchment’ — ignored, suspended or replaced
6. How the Constituent Assembly was formed
In simple wordsInstead of every voter choosing the drafters, the elected members of each provincial assembly chose them — like a school council electing a smaller committee to write the school's rules.
Formally, the Constitution was made by the Constituent Assembly, elected for undivided India. It held its first sitting on 9 December 1946 and reassembled as the Constituent Assembly for divided India on 14 August 1947. Its members were chosen by indirect election by members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies set up under the Government of India Act, 1935, roughly along the lines of the plan proposed by a committee of the British cabinet — the Cabinet Mission.
⤵ How members were chosen (Cabinet Mission scheme)
Seats by populationeach Province and each Princely State (or group of States) — roughly 1 seat per 10,00,000 people
Provinces: 292 seatsshared among three communities — Muslims, Sikhs and General — by population
Elected by communityeach community's members in the Provincial Assembly elect their own representatives by proportional representation with single transferable vote
Princely States: at least 93 seatsmethod of selection to be decided by consultation
After Partition (3 June 1947 plan)members from areas going to Pakistan cease to be members — 299 remain
After the Partition under the 3 June 1947 plan, members from territories that went to Pakistan ceased to be members, leaving 299. The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949; 284 members were present on 24 January 1950 and signed it; it came into force on 26 January 1950. It was framed amid the horrific violence of Partition, yet its makers drew the right lesson: a new idea of citizenship in which minorities are secure and religious identity has no bearing on citizenship rights.
The Assembly was not elected by universal suffrage, but there was a serious attempt to make it representative: members of all religions, 28 members from the Scheduled Castes, and although the Congress held about 82% of the seats after Partition, the Congress itself was so diverse that it accommodated almost every shade of opinion.
Reading the Ambedkar quotation box (page 15)A shaded box quotes Dr B.R. Ambedkar's speech of 25 November 1949 (Constituent Assembly Debates, Vol. XI): political democracy must become social democracy — a way of life recognising liberty, equality and fraternity as a ‘union of trinity’, not separate items. In his argument, liberty without equality lets the few dominate the many; equality without liberty kills initiative; without fraternity neither can become natural. The box asks whether these three are practised in your classroom. The point for this chapter: the Assembly saw the Constitution as a social, not merely political, project.
Beyond NCERT: in the same speech Ambedkar warned that on 26 January 1950 India would enter ‘a life of contradictions’ — equality in politics, inequality in social and economic life — and urged abandoning unconstitutional methods, calling them the ‘grammar of anarchy’.
Beyond NCERT: in the same speech Ambedkar warned that on 26 January 1950 India would enter ‘a life of contradictions’ — equality in politics, inequality in social and economic life — and urged abandoning unconstitutional methods, calling them the ‘grammar of anarchy’.
Reading the side cartoon on page 16A girl on roller skates asks what would have happened if the Assembly had been elected by all the people, and whether it would have been very different. Two sides: a directly elected body would have had stronger formal legitimacy; but in 1946 a nationwide election was not practical, and the Congress-dominated, broadly representative Assembly still produced universal suffrage and minority safeguards — so the content might not have differed much.
Beyond NCERT — facts UPSC asks
- Planned strength 389: 296 for British India (292 Governors' provinces + 4 Chief Commissioners' provinces) and 93 for the Princely States. Elections to the British Indian seats were held in July–August 1946.
- The Muslim League boycotted the Assembly; M.A. Jinnah never sat in it (UPSC 2004).
- Dr Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, was the temporary (provisional) President at the first sitting; Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected President on 11 December 1946 (UPSC 2024). B.N. Rau was the constitutional adviser.
- The idea of a constituent assembly was first put forward by M.N. Roy in 1934; the Swarajists took it up, and the Congress formally demanded one in 1935 (UPSC 1996 — key: Swaraj Party, 1934).
- The Indian Independence Act, 1947 made the Assembly fully sovereign and also India's first Parliament (Dominion legislature); when it sat as a legislature it was chaired by G.V. Mavalankar.
- It also adopted the National Flag (22 July 1947), adopted the National Anthem and National Song and elected Rajendra Prasad the first President (24 January 1950).
- Some provisions — on citizenship, elections, the provisional Parliament and temporary and transitional matters — took effect on 26 November 1949 itself (Article 394). 26 January was chosen because it had been celebrated as Purna Swaraj Day since 1930.
- Since 2015, 26 November is observed as Constitution Day (UPSC 2023).
Exam traps
- Members were indirectly elected by Provincial Assemblies — never directly by the people, never nominated by the British or the Governor-General (UPSC 1979, 2002, 2013).
- The Assembly was set up under the Cabinet Mission plan, not the Cripps proposals or the Mountbatten plan (UPSC 1989, 1991).
- First session: December 1946, not January 1947; adopted 26 November 1949, not 26 January 1950 (UPSC 1981, 2004).
- The Drafting Committee was set up on 29 August 1947, not on 26 November 1949 (UPSC 2023).
7. How the Assembly worked: deliberation and procedure
In simple wordsIn a good group project, you don't just say ‘do it my way’; you explain why your way helps the whole group. Having to give reasons others can accept pulls you away from pure self-interest. NCERT calls this public reason.
The Assembly's authority came not only from being broadly — though not perfectly — representative but from how it worked. Members deliberated with the interests of the whole nation in mind; disagreements were of principle, rarely of self-interest. And they were many: centralised or decentralised government? Centre–State relations? the powers of the judiciary? should property rights be protected? Almost every foundational issue was debated with great sophistication.
Only one provision was passed virtually without debate: universal suffrage — every citizen of a certain age votes, irrespective of religion, caste, education, gender or income. That the members felt no need to argue over who should vote is, says NCERT, the best testament to their democratic commitment.
The Assembly placed great emphasis on discussion and reasoned argument — public reason. Its voluminous debates, in which each clause was scrutinised, deserve to be remembered as a chapter of constitution-making as important as the French and American revolutions.
Procedures carried the same spirit. There were eight major committees, usually chaired by Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel or B.R. Ambedkar — men who disagreed often (Ambedkar had been a bitter critic of the Congress and Gandhi on the upliftment of Scheduled Castes; Patel and Nehru differed on many issues) yet worked together. The Assembly met for 166 days spread over two years and eleven months, and its sessions were open to the press and the public.
⤵ How a provision was made
Committee draftsone of the committees prepares particular provisions
Whole Assembly debateseach clause scrutinised; every argument, query and concern answered carefully, in writing
Consensus soughtprovisions agreed by all would not harm any particular interest
Vote if neededsome provisions were put to the vote
Adoptedthe final text reflected a broad national consensus
| Major committee (Beyond NCERT) | Chair |
|---|---|
| Union Powers Committee | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Union Constitution Committee | Jawaharlal Nehru (UPSC 2005) |
| States Committee (negotiating with the States) | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Provincial Constitution Committee | Sardar Patel |
| Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas | Sardar Patel |
| Rules of Procedure Committee | Rajendra Prasad |
| Steering Committee | Rajendra Prasad |
| Drafting Committee (set up 29 August 1947; 7 members) | B.R. Ambedkar |
Reading the photograph and Rajendra Prasad's tribute (page 18)A black-and-white photograph shows Dr Rajendra Prasad, President of the Assembly, at the presiding desk, greeting Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee, with other members looking on. Below it Prasad's remarks of 26 November 1949 praise the zeal and devotion of the Drafting Committee and especially its Chairman, who worked despite poor health; Prasad says choosing Ambedkar was one of the Assembly's best decisions, while thanking all members equally. The point: leaders who had been political opponents worked together and credited each other — deliberation over rivalry.
Who chaired whatRajendra Prasad was President of the Constituent Assembly. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee — not the Assembly. Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution and chaired the Union Powers and Union Constitution Committees. Nehru never presided over the Assembly (UPSC 1996).
8. Inheritance of the national movement: the Objectives Resolution
In simple wordsA wedding is one day, but the couple's promises grew out of years together. The Constitution was written in three years, but its values grew out of decades of the freedom struggle.
No constitution is simply the product of the assembly that writes it. So diverse an Assembly could not have worked without a background consensus on main principles, forged during the long freedom struggle, which had debated the form of government, the values to uphold and the inequalities to overcome. The Assembly gave those answers concrete shape.
The best summary is the Objectives Resolution, moved by Nehru in 1946, which defined the Assembly's aims. The ‘substantive provisions’ of section 5 are inspired by it. On its basis the Constitution gave institutional expression to equality, liberty, democracy, sovereignty and a cosmopolitan identity — so it is not a maze of rules but a moral commitment to keep the national movement's promises.
Reading the box ‘Main points of the Objectives Resolution’ (page 20)Eight ticked points:
- India is an independent, sovereign republic.
- A Union of former British Indian territories, Indian States and other willing parts.
- Its territories are autonomous units with all powers except those assigned to the Union.
- All power and authority flow from the people.
- All people are guaranteed social, economic and political justice; equality of status, opportunity and before law; and fundamental freedoms of speech, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action — subject to law and public morality.
- Adequate safeguards for minorities, backward and tribal areas, depressed and other backward classes.
- Territorial integrity and sovereign rights on land, sea and air.
- A full and willing contribution to world peace and the welfare of mankind.
⤵ From the freedom struggle to the Constitution
Decades of national movement debatesform of government, values, inequalities to overcome
Objectives Resolution (Nehru, 1946)the aims of the Assembly
Core commitmentsequality, liberty, democracy, sovereignty, cosmopolitan identity
Institutional expressionrights, directive principles, parliamentary and federal design
Beyond NCERTthe Resolution's spirit is carried into the Preamble
Beyond NCERT — datesNehru moved the Objectives Resolution on 13 December 1946; the Assembly adopted it on 22 January 1947. UPSC repeatedly asks whether the Preamble reflects ‘the mind of the makers’ — those questions belong with the Preamble in Chapter 10.
Reading the side cartoon on page 19A girl, hands on cheeks, wonders what would have happened if India had become independent in 1937, or only in 1957 — would the Constitution be very different? The point: the content depends on the stage the national movement had reached. In 1937 the movement had not yet fully worked out ideas such as universal suffrage and social justice; by 1957 Cold War and post-Partition pressures might have pulled differently (an open question — argue it either way).
9. Institutional arrangements and borrowing from other constitutions
In simple wordsA good cook borrows recipes from everywhere, then changes the spices to suit the family. India's framers took ideas from the best constitutions of the world and adapted each one to Indian problems.
The third effectiveness factor is a balanced arrangement of institutions: government must be democratic and committed to welfare. The Assembly spent much time balancing executive, legislature and judiciary, which led to the parliamentary form and the federal arrangement — distributing power between legislature and executive on one hand, and between the States and the central government on the other.
The framers did not hesitate to borrow from other constitutional traditions — a sign of their wide learning. But it was not slavish imitation: every provision had to be defended as suited to Indian problems and aspirations.
Reading the figure ‘Provisions adapted from constitutions of different countries’ (page 22)Five overlapping coloured circles: the biggest, British — first past the post, parliamentary form, the rule of law, the Speaker and her/his role, law-making procedure; United States — a charter of fundamental rights, judicial review and independence of the judiciary; Irish — Directive Principles of State Policy; French — liberty, equality and fraternity; Canadian — a quasi-federal form (a federal system with a strong central government) and the idea of residual powers. The overlapping circles suggest the borrowed parts were blended into one whole. Note: the US calls its list of rights the Bill of Rights; NCERT's ‘charter of fundamental rights’ describes the idea.
Reading Ambedkar's quotation, the photograph and the side cartoon (page 21)
- Ambedkar (4 November 1948, CAD Vol. VII) asks whether anything can be new in a constitution framed so late in history; the only new things, he says, are the variations made to remove faults and suit the country's needs — a reply to the ‘borrowed constitution’ charge.
- The photograph shows Ambedkar presiding over a discussion in the Assembly: seated at a table with papers, members gathered around — drafting as collective work.
- A boy slumped in a chair asks whether it was then a borrowed constitution, and why India could not have one that borrows nothing. Answer: by 1946 the basic tools of constitutional democracy were known; ignoring them would have been foolish. Originality lay in combining and adapting them for India.
| Source (Beyond NCERT — the standard UPSC list) | Features commonly traced to it |
|---|---|
| Government of India Act, 1935 | Federal scheme and division of powers, office of Governor, judiciary, public service commissions, emergency provisions, administrative details (UPSC 2012; Mains 2015) |
| Britain | Parliamentary government, rule of law, legislative procedure, single citizenship, cabinet system, prerogative writs, bicameralism |
| USA | Fundamental Rights, independence of judiciary, judicial review, impeachment of the President, removal of Supreme Court and High Court judges, post of Vice-President |
| Ireland | Directive Principles, nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha, method of election of the President |
| Canada | Federation with a strong Centre, residuary powers with the Centre, appointment of State Governors by the Centre, advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (UPSC 1992) |
| Australia | Concurrent List, freedom of trade and commerce, joint sitting of the two Houses (UPSC 2003) |
| Weimar Germany | Suspension of Fundamental Rights during an emergency (UPSC 1993 keys ‘emergency provisions’ to the German Reich) |
| Soviet Union | Fundamental Duties; ideals of justice (social, economic, political) in the Preamble |
| France | Republic; ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble |
| South Africa | Procedure for amending the Constitution; election of Rajya Sabha members |
| Japan | ‘Procedure established by law’ |
Exam traps on borrowed features
- Residual powers idea: Canada (NCERT). Concurrent List: Australia. The overall Centre–State distribution scheme: Government of India Act, 1935 (UPSC 2012) — three different answers.
- Emergency provisions: UPSC 1993's key matches them to the German Reich (Weimar). Standard books trace the emergency provisions in general to the 1935 Act and only the suspension of rights to Weimar — for that 1993-type question, keep the key.
- Liberty, equality, fraternity: France (NCERT) — not the USA.
- Directive Principles: Ireland, which had itself taken the idea from Spain (Beyond NCERT).
NCERT's conclusion: the makers enshrined fundamental values and the highest shared aspirations, which is why this intricately crafted document has become a living reality while many constitutions ‘perished with the paper they were first written on’. India's Constitution became an exemplar for others, most notably South Africa. The almost three-year search aimed at a balance that would last, not haphazard or tentative arrangements.
Beyond NCERT — the original documentAs adopted, the Constitution had a Preamble, 395 Articles in 22 Parts, and 8 Schedules; it is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country. Part XXII (Articles 393–395) gives its short title (‘the Constitution of India’), its commencement (26 January 1950) and repeals the Indian Independence Act, 1947 and the Government of India Act, 1935 (UPSC 2026). The ‘living document’ story — amendments and basic structure — is Chapter 9.
Reading the closing note (page 25)The book suggests watching the Rajya Sabha TV series Samvidhaan: The Making of the Constitution of India and films such as Gandhi, Sardar and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar to understand the context and the leaders. Useful for Mains essays: the series dramatises the actual debates.
NCERT's in-text questions, cartoons and activities — short answers
Activity: as a class, decide how representatives are chosen, what they may decide, what needs the whole class, and how to revise the decisions (pages 3–4).
Write down: (1) election method for representatives; (2) a list of matters they decide alone; (3) matters needing the whole class (spending the kitty, trips); (4) rights no decision can override (no one excluded from activities); (5) a revision procedure needing, say, a two-thirds vote. Expect disagreement on money and discipline; resolve by discussion and voting. The class gains coordination, assurance and a sense of being one group — the five functions in miniature.
European Constitution cartoon: does this always happen in constitution-making? (page 5)
Not always. Deadlock is likely when sovereign states with separate identities and interests try to agree, as in the EU. Where a national movement has built a shared identity and trusted leaders, as in India and South Africa, consensus is easier — though even there, debate is sharp.
‘You first create a monster and then worry about saving yourself from it. Why create government at all?’ (page 6)
Without government there is no coordination, no assurance that rules are obeyed, and no means to pursue common goals or protect the weak. The answer is not to abolish the ‘monster’ but to tame it: allocate power by rules, limit it through rights, and split it among institutions that check each other.
Shankar's cartoon: what do the groups stand for, and who prevailed? (page 7)
One side stands for a modern, Western-influenced vision; the other for a traditional, indigenous one; the tunes carry the two candidate national songs. Nehru, the conductor, tries to harmonise them. Neither simply won: the Constitution blended both, and (Beyond NCERT) ‘Jana Gana Mana’ became the National Anthem while ‘Vande Mataram’ was given equal honour.
What is the point of writing lofty aspirations if they cannot change people's lives? (page 8)
They set the direction for laws and policies, give citizens a standard to judge governments by, guide courts in interpreting rights, and many have been converted into enforceable laws over time. A constitution that only limited power would leave deep inequalities untouched.
Iraqi Constitution cartoon: what do the people stand for? Compare with the EU and Indian cartoons. (page 9)
Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds — Iraq's main communities — each want to write the constitution themselves, while an outside power expects quick results. Like the EU cartoon, there is no shared identity; unlike India's, there is no unifying leadership or national movement to harmonise views.
Check your progress: which function does each provision perform? (page 10)
Religion — limits on government (given). Reduce inequalities in income and wealth — aspirations and goals (a just society). President appoints the Prime Minister — who decides (allocation of decision-making power). Constitution is the supreme law — coordination and assurance through basic rules all must obey. Citizenship not limited by race, caste or religion — the identity of a people.
What do people do if their constitution is unjust, or exists only on paper? (page 11)
They stop obeying it, protest, or demand a new one — as in Nepal, where agitations ended the monarchy and produced an elected assembly. A paper constitution leaves people at the mercy of whoever holds power: arbitrary arrest, no remedies.
Thought experiment: what basic rules would give everyone a reason to go along? (page 13)
Equal basic rights for all; no permanent majority able to oppress minorities; fair chances to take part in decisions; protection of each group's identity; minimum dignity for the poorest; and a way to change rules fairly.
Castle of Cards: why describe the Iraqi Constitution so? Would it apply to India? (page 14)
Because it rested on no consensus or balanced institutions and could collapse at a touch. It does not fit India: the Constitution came from a credible, deliberative Assembly rooted in the national movement, fragments power, and is amendable within limits.
Are liberty, equality and fraternity practised in your classroom? How can they coexist? (page 15)
Liberty: freedom to speak and ask; equality: same rules and chances for all; fraternity: respect and help for one another. They support each other — equality stops liberty becoming the strong ruling the weak, and fraternity makes both feel natural.
What if the Constituent Assembly had been elected by all the people? (page 16)
Stronger formal legitimacy and perhaps more diverse voices; but in 1946 it was impractical, and the Assembly still adopted universal suffrage and minority safeguards. The outcome might not have been very different because the national movement's consensus shaped it.
What if independence had come in 1937, or 1957? (page 19)
The Constitution would reflect the movement's ideas at that stage. In 1937 consensus on universal suffrage and social justice was less developed; in 1957 the shock of Partition and the Cold War might have produced different priorities. The 1946–49 moment combined mature ideas with a strong leadership.
Was it a borrowed constitution? Why not one that borrows nothing? (page 21)
Partly borrowed, but adapted: each idea was defended as suitable for India and combined with Indian innovations. Refusing to learn from tested models would have been unwise; Ambedkar said the only new things possible were variations to remove faults and fit the country's needs.
NCERT exercise — answer outlines
Try each question yourself first, then open the outline to compare. The two multiple-choice questions (Q1 and Q2) are the first two items in the self-check below.
Q3. True or False: (a) Constitutions are written documents about formation and power of the government. (b) Constitutions exist and are required only in democratic countries. (c) A constitution is a legal document that does not deal with ideals and values. (d) A constitution gives its citizens a new identity.
(a) False — not all are single written documents (the UK), and they do more than form government: they limit it, state aspirations and express identity. (b) False — monarchies and one-party states (the old Soviet Union) also had constitutions; every state needs basic rules. (c) False — constitutions embody ideals (India: liberty, equality, fraternity, justice). (d) True — agreeing on basic norms creates a shared political and moral identity.
Q4. Correct or incorrect, with reasons: (a) The Assembly did not represent the people since it was not elected by all citizens. (b) Constitution-making involved no major decision since leaders agreed on the basic framework. (c) There was little originality since much was borrowed.
(a) Incorrect — not elected by universal suffrage, yet representative: all religions, 28 Scheduled Caste members, a Congress holding every shade of opinion, and deliberation in the national interest. (b) Incorrect — there was background consensus on principles, but major decisions were debated: centralisation vs decentralisation, Centre–State relations, judicial powers, property rights. (c) Incorrect — borrowing was adapted, not copied; each provision was defended for Indian conditions; the enabling, welfare-oriented design and the new idea of citizenship were Indian contributions.
Q5. Give two examples each: (a) made by credible leaders; (b) power distributed so it is hard to subvert; (c) the locus of people's hopes and aspirations.
(a) Leaders of the national movement — Nehru, Patel, Prasad — and Ambedkar, a long-time critic of the Congress, chairing the Drafting Committee; open sessions and reasons given for every decision. (b) Horizontal division among legislature, executive, judiciary and the Election Commission; federal division between Union and States; amendment possible but within limits. (c) Directive Principles (e.g. reducing inequalities); abolition of untouchability and safeguards for minorities and backward classes; universal adult suffrage.
Q6. Why must a constitution clearly demarcate powers and responsibilities? What happens without it?
Why: to say who decides what (function 2); prevent overlap and conflict; make accountability clear; stop any one body concentrating power; give citizens predictability. Without it: institutions would clash (legislature vs courts, Centre vs States), decisions would be contested, the strongest would grab power and subvert the constitution, and citizens would not know whom to hold responsible. Example: the federal lists and the separation of judiciary from executive.
Q7. Why must a constitution place limits on rulers? Can there be a constitution that gives no power at all to citizens?
Limits protect citizens from arbitrary or unjust laws even by a properly chosen government — arbitrary arrest, religious bans, caste servitude; they are the core of constitutional government. Rights are the main tool; emergencies allow limits only as the constitution specifies. Second part: yes, formally — a monarch's or military ruler's constitution can deny citizens any say. But such constitutions lack legitimacy, command no allegiance and tend to become defunct (Nepal's granted constitutions).
Q8. Japan's Constitution was made under US occupation and could contain nothing the US disliked. Any problem? How was India's experience different?
Problem: the mode of promulgation — an occupying power shaped it, so it risked looking imposed, weakening legitimacy and ownership; Japanese values and choices could be overridden. India: framed by Indians in an Assembly drawn from elected provincial legislatures, after a mass national movement; sovereign under the Indian Independence Act (Beyond NCERT); open deliberation, reasons in writing, consensus. Beyond NCERT: Japan's Constitution came into force in 1947 and has endured, so later acceptance can also confer authority.
Q9. Rajat: ‘The Constitution is an old, outdated book; no one took my consent; it is in tough language. Why should I obey it?’ How would you answer?
(1) Not outdated: it is a living document, amendable within limits, and interpreted by courts to meet new needs. (NCERT's ‘fifty years’ is dated — it has been in force since 1950, over 75 years.) (2) Consent: no one alive consented to the rules of a cricket game either; consent is shown by taking part — voting, using rights, being able to change laws and even amend the Constitution through representatives. (3) Language: legal precision prevents misuse; its core ideas — rights, equality, democracy — are simple. (4) Why obey: it protects Rajat's own freedoms and gives everyone assurance that others will obey too.
Q10. Harbans: it gave us a democratic framework. Neha: it promised liberty, equality and fraternity; since that has not happened, it has failed. Nazima: it has not failed us; we have failed it. Your position?
Balanced view: Harbans is right — regular elections, peaceful transfers of power, independent courts, universal suffrage. Neha points to real gaps — poverty, caste and gender discrimination — but a constitution sets a framework; it cannot by itself deliver outcomes. Nazima's view echoes Ambedkar's warning that a good constitution can fail if those who work it are bad. Own position: the Constitution has succeeded as a framework and partly in social change; the remaining gaps call for better implementation by governments and citizens, not a new constitution.
What to remember
Numbers
Functions of a constitution (NCERT)5
Factors of effectiveness (NCERT)3: promulgation, substantive provisions, institutional design
Seats per population (Cabinet Mission)≈ 1 : 10,00,000
Provincial seats / Princely States seats292 / at least 93
Planned total (Beyond NCERT)389 (incl. 4 Chief Commissioners' provinces)
First sitting9 December 1946
Partition plan3 June 1947
Reassembled for divided India14 August 1947
Members after Partition299
Constitution adopted26 November 1949
Signed by284 members on 24 January 1950
In force26 January 1950
Scheduled Caste members28
Congress share after Partition≈ 82% of seats
Major committees8
Sittings166 days over 2 years 11 months
Objectives Resolutionmoved by Nehru 13 Dec 1946, adopted 22 Jan 1947 (dates Beyond NCERT)
Drafting Committee set up (Beyond NCERT)29 August 1947
Nepal5 granted constitutions (1948–1990); republic 2008; new constitution 2015
Original Constitution (Beyond NCERT)395 Articles, 22 Parts, 8 Schedules
One-liners
- A constitution constitutes government — Parliament's power comes from it.
- Constitutional government = limited government.
- Effective constitutions: credible makers, fair content, balanced institutions.
- Constituent Assembly: indirectly elected by Provincial Assemblies (Cabinet Mission plan).
- Universal suffrage was the only provision passed virtually without debate.
- Objectives Resolution: Nehru, 1946 — the Assembly's aims.
- Rajendra Prasad presided; Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee.
- Borrowing was adaptation, not slavish imitation.
Traps to avoid
- Members were indirectly elected, not by universal adult franchise or direct election.
- Adopted 26 November 1949; commenced 26 January 1950 (some provisions on 26 November 1949, Article 394).
- The Drafting Committee was set up on 29 August 1947, not on 26 November 1949.
- Provisional President: Sachchidananda Sinha; President: Rajendra Prasad; not Nehru or Ambedkar.
- The Election Commission is a constitutional body (Article 324), not statutory as NCERT says.
- Residual powers idea from Canada; Concurrent List from Australia; distribution scheme from the 1935 Act.
- Liberty, equality, fraternity: France. Directive Principles: Ireland.
- The UK has no single written constitution — but it does have a constitution.
- Constitutions are not only for democracies; monarchies and one-party states have them too.
How to strategise
Prelims — what UPSC asks
- How the Assembly was chosen is UPSC's most repeated question from this chapter: indirectly by Provincial Assemblies (1979, 2002, 2004, 2013), under the Cabinet Mission plan (1989, 1991), not by adult franchise and working through committees (1993).
- Dates and people: adoption on 26 November 1949 (1981, twice), Constitution Day and the Drafting Committee (2023), the provisional President (2024), the Union Constitution Committee's chair (2005), the first proposal for a constituent assembly (1996).
- Borrowed features as match-the-following: Canada's federation (1992), USA/UK/Germany/Ireland (1993), Ireland/USA/Australia/Canada (2003), the 1935 Act's division of powers (2012).
- Concepts: constitutional government = limited government (2014, 2020, 2021); rule of law (2018); separation of powers as the safeguard of liberty (2021); Part XXII's short title, commencement and repeal (2026).
Mains — where it appears and how to answer
- GS1 2015: the Constituent Assembly could finish in three years because of the experience of the Government of India Act, 1935 — use the borrowing table and the Assembly's procedures.
- GS2 2019: does India follow strict separation of powers or checks and balances? — start from this chapter's ‘balanced institutional design’, then add Chapters 4–6.
- Answer frame: functions of a constitution → test of authority (promulgation, content, design) → how India's was made (Cabinet Mission, deliberation, Objectives Resolution) → borrowing adapted → result: a living, legitimate document; quote Ambedkar's ‘social democracy’ or ‘life of contradictions’.
Self-check
Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.
1. NCERT Q1: Which of these is NOT a function of the constitution?
2. NCERT Q2: A good reason to conclude that the authority of the constitution is higher than that of Parliament is:
3. The members of the Constituent Assembly from the Provinces were:
4. Which was the only provision passed by the Assembly virtually without debate?
5. The Constitution of India was adopted on:
6. A constitutional government by definition is a:
7. According to NCERT, the idea of residual powers was adapted from the constitution of:
8. Who moved the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly?
UPSC questions from this chapter
Open any question to attempt it in the Question bank — your attempt is saved to your progress.