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■ MINOR COMMITTEE #Constituentassembly ◇ Finance and Staff Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad. ◇ Credentials Committee - Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar. ◇ House Committee - B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya. ◇ Order of Business Committee - Dr. K.M. Munshi. ◇ Ad-hoc Committee on the National Flag - Dr. Rajendra Prasad. ◇ Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly - G.V. Mavalankar. ◇ Ad-hoc Committee on the Supreme Court - S. Varadachari (Not an Assembly Member). ◇ Committee on Chief Commissioners’ Provinces - B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya. ◇ Expert Committee on the Financial Provisions of the Union Constitution -Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (Not an Assembly Member). ◇ Linguistic Provinces Commission - S.K. Dar (Not an Assembly Member). ◇ Special Committee to Examine the Draft Constitution - Jawaharlal Nehru. ◇ Press Gallery Committee - Usha Nath Sen. ◇ Ad-hoc Committee on Citizenship - S. Varadachari (Not an Assembly Member).

■ MAJOR COMMITTEES OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY #Constituentassembly ◇ Union Powers Committee - Jawaharlal Nehru ◇ Union Constitution Committee -Jawaharlal Nehru ◇ Provincial Constitution Committee -Sardar Patel ◇ Drafting Committee - Dr. B.R. Ambedkar ◇ Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas - Sardar Patel. □ This committee had the following five sub- committees :- • Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee - J.B. Kripalani • Minorities Sub-Committee - H.C. Mukherjee • North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee - Gopinath Bardoloi • Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee - A.V. Thakkar • North-West Frontier Tribal Areas Sub-Committee. ◇ Rules of Procedure Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad ◇ States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) - Jawaharlal Nehru ◇ Steering Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad

■ CHANGES BY THE INDEPENDENT ACT #Constituentassembly ◇ On April 28, 1947, representatives of the six states were part of the Assembly. After the acceptance of the Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947, for the partition of the country, the representatives of most of the other princely states took their seats in the Assembly. ◇ The Indian Independence Act of 1947 made the following three changes in the position of the Assembly: • The Assembly was made a fully sovereign body, which could frame any Constitution it pleased. The act empowered the Assembly to abrogate or alter any law made by the British Parliament in relation to India. • The Assembly also became a legislative body. In other words, two separate functions were assigned to the Assembly, that is, making of the Constitution for free India and enacting of ordinary laws for the country. • The Muslim League members (hailing from the areas 7 included in the Pakistan) withdrew from the Constituent Assembly for India.

■ OBJECTIVE RESOLUTION #Constituentassembly ◇ On December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic ‘Objective Resolution’ in the Assembly. It laid down fundamentals and philosophy of the constitutional structure. □ It read:- ◇ “This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to proclaim India as an Independent, Sovereign, Republic and to draw up for her future governance a Constitution: ◇ Wherein the territories that now comprise British India, the territories that now form the Indian States and such other parts of India as are outside India and the States as well as other territories as are willing to be constitut -ed into the independent sovereign India, shall be a Union of them all . ◇ Wherein all power and authority of the sovereign independent India, its constituent parts and organs of Government are derived from the people.

■ WORKING OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY #Constituentassembly ◇ The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on December 9, 1946. ◇ The Muslim League boycotted the meeting and insisted on a separate state of Pakistan.The meeting was,thus attended by only 211 members. ◇ Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, was elected as the temporary President of the Assembly, following the French practice. ◇ Later, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of the Assembly. Similarly, both H.C. Mukherjee and V.T. Krishnamachari were elected as the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly.

■ COMPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY #Constituentassembly ◇ The Constituent Assembly was cons-tituted in November 1946 under the scheme formulated by the Cabinet Mission Plan. □ The features of the scheme were:- ◇ The total strength of the Constituent Assembly was to be 389. Of these, 296 seats were to be allotted to British India and 93 seats to the princely states. ◇ Out of 296 seats allotted to the British India, 292 members were to be drawn from the 11 governors’ provinces and four from the four Chief Commissioners’ provinces one from each. ◇ Each province and princely state (or group of states in case of small states) were to be allotted seats in proportion to their respective population. Roughly, one seat was to be allotted for every million population. ◇ Seats allocated to each British province were to be divided among the three principal communities–Muslims, Sikhs and General (all except Muslims and Sikhs), in proportion to their pop -ulation.

■ DEMAND FOR A CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY #Constituentassembly ◇ It was in 1934 that the idea of a Constituent Assembly for India was put forward for the first time by M.N. Roy, a pioneer of communist movement in India. ◇ In 1935, the Indian National Congress (INC), for the first time, officially demanded a Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India. ◇ In 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru, on behalf the INC declared that ‘the Constitution of free India must be framed, without outside interference, by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise’. ◇ The demand was finally accepted in principle by the British Government in what is known as the ‘August Offer’ of 1940.

■ FIRST CABINET OF FREE INDIA. #Historicalbackground ◇ Jawaharlal Nehru - Prime Minister; External Affairs & Commonwealth Relations; Scientific Research. ◇ Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel - Home, Information & Broadcasting; States. ◇ Dr. Rajendra Prasad - Food & Agriculture. ◇ Maulana Abul Kalam Azad - Education. ◇ Dr. John Mathai - Railways & Transport. ◇ R.K. Shanmugham Chetty - Finance. ◇ Dr. B.R. Ambedkar - Law. ◇ Jagjivan Ram - Labour. ◇ Sardar Baldev Singh - Defence. ◇ Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur - Health. ◇ C.H. Bhabha - Commerce. ◇ Rafi Ahmed Kidwai - Communication. ◇ Dr. Shayama Prasad Mukherji - Industries & Supplies. ◇ V.N. Gadgil - Works, Mines & Power.

■ INTERIM GOVERNMENT (1946) #Historicalbackground Members and portfolio they held. ◇ Jawaharlal Nehru - Vice-President of the Council; External Affairs & Commonwealth Relations. ◇ Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel - Home, Information & Broadcasting. ◇ Dr. Rajendra Prasad - Food & Agriculture. ◇ Dr. John Mathai - Industries & Supplies. ◇ Jagjivan Ram - Labour. ◇ Sardar Baldev Singh - Defence. ◇ C.H. Bhabha - Works, Mines & Power. ◇ Liaquat Ali Khan - Finance. ◇ Abdur Rab Nishtar - Posts & Air. ◇ Asaf Ali - Railways & Transport. ◇ C. Rajagopalachari - Education & Arts. ◇ I.I. Chundrigar - Commerce. ◇ Ghaznafar Ali Khan - Health ◇ Joginder Nath Mandal - Law

■ INDIA INDEPENDENCE ACT, 1947 [ PART 3 ] #Historicalbackground ◇ It deprived the British Monarch of his right to veto bills or ask for reservation of certain bills for his approval. But, this right was reserved for the Governor General. ◇ The Governor General would have full power to assent to any bill in the name of His Majesty. ◇ It designated the Governor-General of India and the provincial governors as constitutional (nominal) heads of the states. They were made to act on the advice of the respective council of ministers in all matters. ◇ It dropped the title of Emperor of India from the royal titles of the King of England. ◇ It discontinued the appointment to civil services and reservation of posts by the secretary of state for India. ◇ The members of the civil services appointed before August 15, 1947 would continue to enjoy all benefits that they were entitled to till that time.

■ INDIA INDEPENDENCE ACT, 1947 [ PART 2 ] #Historicalbackground ◇ It empowered the Constituent Assemblies of both the dominions to legislate for their respective territories till the new constitutions were drafted and enforced. ◇ It abolished the office of the Secretary of State for India and transferred his functions to the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs. ◇ It proclaimed the lapse of British paramountcy over the Indian princely states and treaty relations with tribal areas from August 15, 1947. ◇ It granted freedom to the Indian princely states either to join the Dominion of India or Dominion of Pakistan or to remain independent. ◇ It provided for the governance of each of the dominions and the provinces by the Government of India Act of 1935, till the new Constitutions were framed. ◇ The dominions were however authorised to make modifications in the Act.

■ INDIA INDEPENDENCE ACT, 1947 [ PART 1] #Historicalbackground ◇ It ended the British rule in India and declared India as an independent and sovereign state from August 15, 1947. ◇ It provided for the partition of India and creation of two independent dominions of India and Pakistan with the right to secede from the British Commonwealth. ◇ It abolished the office of Viceroy and provided, for each dominion, a governor general, who was to be appointed by the British King on the advice of the dominion cabinet. ◇ His Majesty’s Government in Britain was to have no responsibility with respect to the Government of India or Pakistan. ◇ It empowered the Constituent Assemblies of the two dominions to frame and adopt any constitution for their respective nations and to repeal any act of the British Parliament, including the Independence act itself.

■ GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT, 1935 #Historicalbackground ◇ It provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation consisting of provinces and princely states as units. ◇ The Act divided the powers between the Centre and units in terms of three lists–Federal List (for Centre, with 59 items), Provincial List (for provinces, with 54 items) and the Concurrent List (for both, with 36 items). ◇ Residuary powers were given to the Viceroy. ◇ However, the federation never came into being as the princely states did not join it. ◇ It abolished dyarchy in the provinces and introduced ‘provincial autonomy’ in its place. ◇ The provinces were allowed to act as autonomous units of administration in their defined spheres. ◇ Moreover, the Act introduced responsible Governments in provinces, that is, the Governor was required to act with the advice of ministers responsible to the provincial legislature. ◇ This came into effect in 1937 and was discontinued in 1939.

■ COMMUNAL AWARD #Historicalbackground ◇ In August 1932, Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister, announced a scheme of representation of the minorities, which came to be known as the Communal Award. ◇ The award not only continued separate electorates for the Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans but also extended it to the depressed classes (Scheduled Castes). ◇ Gandhiji was distressed over this extension of the principle of communal representation to the depressed classes and undertook fast unto death in Yerwada jail (Poona) to get the award modified. At last, there was an agreement between the leaders of the Congress and the depressed classes. ◇ The agreement, known as Poona Pact, retained the Hindu joint electorate and gave reserved seats to the depressed classes.

■ SIMON COMMISSION #Historicalbackground ◇ In November 1927 - the British Government announced the appointment a seven-member statutory commission under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon to report on the condition of India under its new Constitution. ◇ All members of the commission were British and hence, all parties boycotted commission. ◇ The commission submitted its report in 1930 and recommended the abolition of dyarchy, extension of responsible Government in the provinces, establishment of a federation of British India and princely states, continuation of communal electorate and so on. ◇ To consider the proposals of the commission, the British Government convened three round table conferences of the representatives of the British Government, British India and Indian princely states. ◇ On the basis of these discussions, a ‘White Paper on Consitutional Reforms’ was prepared and submitted for the consideration of the Joint Select Committee of the British Parliament.

■ GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT, 1919 [PART 3] #Historicalbackground ◇ It created a new office of the High Commissioner for India in London and transferred to him some of the functions hitherto performed by the Secretary of State for India. ◇ It provided for the establishment of a public service commission. Hence, a Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926 for recruiting civil servants. ◇ It separated, for the first time, provincial budgets from the Central budget and authorised the provincial legislatures to enact their budgets. ◇ It provided for the appointment of a statutory commission to inquire into and report on its working after ten years of its coming into force.

■ GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT 1919 [PART 2] #Historicalbackground ◇ It introduced, for the first time, bicameralism and direct elections in the country. The majority of members of both the Houses were chosen by direct election. ◇ It required that the three of the six members of the Viceroy’s executive Council (other than the Commander-in-Chief) were to be Indian. ◇ It extended the principle of communal representation by providing separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans. ◇ It granted franchise to a limited number of people on the basis of property, tax or education.

■ GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT 1919 #Historicalbackground ◇ It relaxed the central control over the provinces by demarcating and separating the central and provincial subjects. ◇ The central and provincial legislatures were authorised to make laws on their respective list of subjects. However, the structure of government continued to be centralised and unitary. ◇ It further divided the provincial subjects into two parts– transferred and reserved. ◇ The transferred subjects were to be administered by the Governor with the aid of Ministers responsible to the legislative council. The reserved subjects, were to be administered by the Governor and his executive council without being responsible to the legislative council. This dual scheme of governance was known as ‘dyarchy'.

■ INDIAN COUNCIL ACT 1909 [PART 2] #Historicalbackground ◇ It provided (for the first time) for the association of Indians with the executive councils of the Viceroy and Governors. ◇ Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy’s executive council. He was appointed as the Law Member. ◇ It introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by accepting the concept of ‘separate electorate’. ◇ Under this, the Muslim members were to be elected only by Muslim voters. Thus, the Act ‘legalised communalism’ and Lord Minto came to be known as the Father of Communal Electorate. ◇ It also provided for the separate representation of presidency corporations, chambers of commerce, universities and zamindars.

■ INDIAN COUNCIL ACT 1909 [PART 1] #Historicalbackground This Act is also known as Morley-Minto Reforms (Lord Morley was the then Secretary of State for India and Lord Minto was the then Viceroy of India). □ The features of this Act were as follows :- ◇ It considerably increased the size of the legislative councils, both Central and provincial. The number of members in the Central legislative council was raised from 16 to 60. The number of members in the provincial legislative councils was not uniform. ◇ It retained official majority in the Central legislative council, but allowed the provincial legislative councils to have non official majority. ◇ It enlarged the deliberative functions of the legislative councils at both the levels. For example, members were allowed to ask supplementary questions, move resolutions on the budget and so on.