How Many Constitutions Have Inspired The Final Draft Of The Indian Constitution

Ideas aren¡¯t conceived in a vacuum. They have certain archetypes upon which they are based. These may be symbolic or literal.

The Constitution of India is a physical, palpable document that is based upon the constitutions of different countries - Germany, the UK, the USA, Ireland, France, South Africa, Japan, the USSR and Canada. Some of the elements borrowed from these countries are not structured and definitive such as Directive Principles of State Policy from Ireland, and Federalism from Canada, but they espouse universal human values such as liberty, equality and fraternity as the values begotten by the French revolution in 1789 in France.

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The present Constitution of India, though inspired by foreign countries, had a structure in place before these ideas were borrowed and a final document that was to govern Independent India ¡®was drafted by the constituent assembly from 1946-1950.¡¯ writes the Constitution of India.net. The website further mentions,¡¯ the selected documents may be broadly categorized by their creators: British documents and Indian documents. The British Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935 left a significant trace on the Constitution of India 1950. The Swaraj Bill of 1895 and the Nehru Report of 1928 had a similar effect in shaping Indian constitutional design.¡¯

The Government of India Act of 1919

¡®The Government of India Act 1919 was the codified version of the Montag-Chelmsford reforms¡¯ and had 47 sections and 5 schedules. The Act was responsible for introducing diarchy in the Indian subcontinent. The Act created 11 provinces and allowed a limited form of Indian representation by letting the Indians have the public health and education portfolio. It also had a provision for review after 10 years.

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The first world war had ended in 1918 and Britain suffered heavily. In India, radical nationalists were growing assertive and violent and the British government wanted to favour the moderate section of the Indians over the radicals and so, the Government of India Act was passed. The Act would give some modicum of authority to Indians by allowing them some portfolios in the government functioning.

The Act began by stating that.¡®It is the declared policy of Parliament to provide for the increasing, association of Indians in every branch of Indian administration, and for the gradual development of self-governing institutions, with a view to the progressive realization.

The Government of India Act 1935

¡®The Government of India Act was passed by the British parliament in 1935 and came into effect in 1937. It was based on a report by a Joint Select Committee, led by Lord Linlithgow, set up the two houses of the British parliament. The report, in turn, was the result of the Joint Committee¡¯s scrutiny of the ¡®White Paper¡¯ ¨C a scheme of constitutional proposals - prepared by the British government close on the heels of the Round Table conferences.

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The Act was written in a legal style, organised around 11 'Parts' and 10 'Schedules'. Each part was further divided into chapters. It is considered to be one of the longest pieces of legislation passed by the British parliament - parliamentary debates around the Act involved 2000 speeches.¡¯ Constitution.net writes.

The Swaraj Bill of 1895

¡®The Constitution of India Bill 1895, also referred to as Swaraj Bill, was written during the emergence of Indian nationalism and (amidst) increasingly vocal demands by Indians for self-government - albeit within the British Empire. The author of the document remains a mystery; Annie Besant seems to suggest that the document was influenced was Bal Gangadhar Tilak ¨C who was the force behind calls for ¡®Swaraj¡¯.

It was the first modern Indian document that attempted to govern the Indian subcontinent and contained 110 articles and covered basic fundamental rights such as the rights to free speech and property, and equality before the law.

The Nehru Report 1928

The Simon Commission was appointed by the British government in 1927 to look into the Government of India Act of 1919. The Commission would look into the matter that concerned the fate of the Indian people, without having a single Indian member. And this did not sit well with the nationalist discourse raging at the time. The British, while acknowledging the discontentment among the nationalist leadership did not change the composition of members and instead asked the leadership to draft a constitution. The Indian response to this challenge was the Nehru Report of 1928.

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Constitution of India.net reads, ¡®¡¯The Report read like what it claimed to be ¨C a constitutional document. written in a legal style containing 22 chapters and 87 articles. The very first article of the Report unequivocally claimed dominion status for India.

Other notable features included a section on fundamental rights: the right to free expression and opinion, equality before the law, right to bear arms, freedom of conscience, free profession and propagation of religion. The most remarkable provision was the right to free and elementary education.

The Report introduced a parliamentary system of government along with universal adult suffrage. On the communal question, the Report proposed reservation for Muslims in legislatures, however, these were restricted to only those constituencies where Muslims were in a minority. Also, there was no mention of separate electorates for Muslims.¡¯¡¯ of responsible government in British India as an integral part of the empire¡¯.