The sources of the Constitution of India are diverse and many. These are both indigenous and foreign. The founding fathers made it very clear that they were not writing on a clean slate. They look a conscious decision not to make a complete departure from the past, but to built on the existing structure and experience of institutions already established. Even otherwise, the Constitution of India had had an organic growth. It evolved through the interaction between various demands for representative-responsible governmental institutions during the nationalist struggles for independence and the small doses of constitutional reforms grudgingly granted by the British rulers from time to time. However rudimentary in form in the early stages, the process of political institution building-particularly the legislatures-in the modern sense of the term can be gauged from as early as the late nineteen-twenties onwards. In fact, the sources of some of the provisions of the Constitution can be traced back to the beginnings of the East India Company and the British rule in India.
Reference to organisation of village Panchayats under the Directive Principles was clearly inspired by the ancient Indian institutions of self-government. The 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment Acts have since tried to give greater meaning and content to them.
Demand for some of the fundamental rights was made as early as in 1918 at the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress. The Commonwealth of India Bill, finalized by the National Convention in 1925 embodied "specific declaration of rights" like equality before law, freedom of speech, assemble and religion etc. A resolution passed at the Madras session of the Congress in 1927 reiterated the demand for fundamental rights. The Motilal Nehru Committee appointed in 1928 by the All Parties Conference in its report declared that the first concern of the people of India was to secure justiceable fundamental human rights. Interestingly, ten of the nineteen fundamental rights incorporated in the Nehru Committee Report appear in the Constitution of India substantially unchanged. The Karachi Congress Resolution of 1931 contained a specific enumeration not only of fundamental rights but also of fundamental duties. Several of the social and economic rights mentioned in the 1931 resolution found expression in the Directive Principles of the Constitution of India and a chapter on fundamental duties which did not find a place in the original Constitution got included later by the Constitution (Forty-second) Amendment Act in 1976.
A parliamentary system with a government responsible to Parliament, safeguards for minorities and a federal polity contained in the Constitution could also be said to have had their sources in the 1928 Nehru Committee Report.
Finally, nearly 75 per cent of the Constitution can be said to be a reproduction of the Government of India Act, 1935 with suitable adaptations and modifications. The basic structure of the polity and provisions regulating Union-State relations, declaration of Emergency etc. were largely based on the 1935 Act. Besides the indigenous sources, the Constituent Assembly had before it several models of foreign constitutions. Thus, the concept of Directive Principles was borrowed from the Irish Constitution. Parliamentary system with ministerial responsibility to the legislature came from the British and provisions making the President the executive head of the State and the Supreme Commander of the armed forces and the Vice-President the ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States were based on the U.S. model. The Bill of Rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution could also be said to have inspired our fundamental rights.
The Canadian Constitution inter alia influenced the federal structure and the provisions relating to Union-State relations and the distribution of powers between the Union and the States. The concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule, provisions regarding Trade, Commerce and Intercourse and parliamentary privileges were modelled presumably on the Australian Constitution. The Emergency provisions were influenced inter alia by the Constitution of the German Reich. For the understanding the ambit and scope of provisions like those pertaining to the issue of writs and parliamentary privileges one has to go to the British Constitution.
Reference to organisation of village Panchayats under the Directive Principles was clearly inspired by the ancient Indian institutions of self-government. The 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment Acts have since tried to give greater meaning and content to them.
Demand for some of the fundamental rights was made as early as in 1918 at the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress. The Commonwealth of India Bill, finalized by the National Convention in 1925 embodied "specific declaration of rights" like equality before law, freedom of speech, assemble and religion etc. A resolution passed at the Madras session of the Congress in 1927 reiterated the demand for fundamental rights. The Motilal Nehru Committee appointed in 1928 by the All Parties Conference in its report declared that the first concern of the people of India was to secure justiceable fundamental human rights. Interestingly, ten of the nineteen fundamental rights incorporated in the Nehru Committee Report appear in the Constitution of India substantially unchanged. The Karachi Congress Resolution of 1931 contained a specific enumeration not only of fundamental rights but also of fundamental duties. Several of the social and economic rights mentioned in the 1931 resolution found expression in the Directive Principles of the Constitution of India and a chapter on fundamental duties which did not find a place in the original Constitution got included later by the Constitution (Forty-second) Amendment Act in 1976.
A parliamentary system with a government responsible to Parliament, safeguards for minorities and a federal polity contained in the Constitution could also be said to have had their sources in the 1928 Nehru Committee Report.
Finally, nearly 75 per cent of the Constitution can be said to be a reproduction of the Government of India Act, 1935 with suitable adaptations and modifications. The basic structure of the polity and provisions regulating Union-State relations, declaration of Emergency etc. were largely based on the 1935 Act. Besides the indigenous sources, the Constituent Assembly had before it several models of foreign constitutions. Thus, the concept of Directive Principles was borrowed from the Irish Constitution. Parliamentary system with ministerial responsibility to the legislature came from the British and provisions making the President the executive head of the State and the Supreme Commander of the armed forces and the Vice-President the ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States were based on the U.S. model. The Bill of Rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution could also be said to have inspired our fundamental rights.
The Canadian Constitution inter alia influenced the federal structure and the provisions relating to Union-State relations and the distribution of powers between the Union and the States. The concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule, provisions regarding Trade, Commerce and Intercourse and parliamentary privileges were modelled presumably on the Australian Constitution. The Emergency provisions were influenced inter alia by the Constitution of the German Reich. For the understanding the ambit and scope of provisions like those pertaining to the issue of writs and parliamentary privileges one has to go to the British Constitution.
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