Class 9 Civics


Constitutional Design

We need to have some rules to govern a country or an institution. Such rules are made after reaching a consensus. The aggregate of such rules is called constitution.

A political party, club, RWA (Residents Welfare Association), cricket team, etc. generally has a constitution. Similarly, every country has a constitution which gives guidelines on how to form and run a government and which kinds of rights are given to citizens.

It is not necessary that a country with a constitution is a democratic country. But a democratic country always has a constitution.

In this lesson, you will learn about the making of the Constitution of India and about certain values described in the constitution.

Making of the Indian Constitution

The struggle for freedom had helped in creating a consensus about the shape a democratic India would take after independence. There were differences of opinions among various leaders of the freedom struggle, but they were unanimous in making India into a democratic country.

History

Motilal Nehru and eight other leaders drafted a constitution as far back as in 1928. In 1931 at Lahore session of Congress, a resolution was passed about the overall objective of the constitution. Both these attempts had certain things in common, like inclusion of universal adult franchise, right to freedom and equality, and protection of minority rights.

The leaders of the Congress had worked closely with the British institutions which helped them in understanding the role of various institutions in governing a country. Elections to the Provincial Assemblies were held in 1937 in which the political parties of India got an opportunity to participate in popular elections. Although it was not a fully democratic process, yet the nationalist leaders got a chance to learn the art of running a government. They learnt to set up institutions and manage them.

The nationalist leaders also learnt to take the positives from the constitutions of different countries to incorporate them in the Indian constitution by modifying them as per the local need. So, the Indian constitution has influences from democracy in France, parliamentary system in Britain, Fundamental rights in the US and socialism in Russia.