Necessity of the Constitution
A Constitution is necessary because of the following reasons:
• It is an important law of the land. It determines the relationship of the citizens with the
governments
It lays down principles and guidelines which are required for people belonging to
different ethnic and religious groups to live in harmony.
• It specifies on how the Government would be elected and who will have the power and
the responsibility to take important decisions.
• It outlines the limits on the power of the Government and tells us about the rights of the
citizens.
•It expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society
Making of the Constitution of India
It was not easy for the framers of our Constitution to draw a constitution because of the
following reasons:
• India was a large country which was inhabited by various diversified communities.
• India had just become independent from the colonial rule and Indians had experienced the
pain and trauma which was related to the partition of the country.
• The British had drafted the instrument of accession according to which the princely states
were free to decide if they wanted to remain as a part of India or join Pakistan or to remain
independent. This was a threat to the unity of our country.
• The framers of the Constitution also had anxieties about the present and the future of the
country.
The Constituent Assembly
• The Constituent Assembly was a body of elected representatives which drafted and framed
the Constitution of our country. The elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July
1946, and the first meeting was held in December 1946.
• The Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949, but it came into
effect on 26 January 1950. Thus, we celebrate 26 January as Republic Day every year.
Why should we accept a constitution framed fifty years ago?
• Our Constitution has granted basic rights and freedoms to all [Link] is the reason why until now,
no group or political party has questioned the legitimacy of the Constitution.
• The Constituent Assembly which drafted the Constitution had representatives of the people
of India. Although no elections were held at that time, the members of the Constituent
Assembly were elected by the members of Provincial Legislatures. The assembly
represented people from various regions and religious
• The Constituent Assembly worked in a systematic, open and consensual manner while
drafting the Constitution of the country. Discussions took place on each clause of the
Constitution. Every document was debated. The Constituent Assembly took three years to
prepare the Constitution of the country. These are called the „Constituent Assembly
Debates‟.
Some Members of the Constituent Assembly
a. Vallabhbhai Patel: He was the first Home Minister of India and played a prominent role in
Bardoli Satyagraha.
b. Abul Kalam Azad: He was the first Education Minister of India and opposed Muslim separatist
politics.
c. T. T. Krishnamachari: He was the finance minister and an entrepreneur.
d. Rajendra Prasad: He was the first President of India and a lawyer by profession.
e. Jaipal Singh: He was a sportsman and an educationist. He was the captain of the Indian
hockey team. He was also the founder of Adivasi Mahasabha.
f. H. C. Mookerjee: He was the Vice Chairman of the Constituent Assembly and later became
the Governor of Bengal.
g. G. Durgabai Deshmukh: She was the founder of Andhra Mahila Sabha and advocated women
emancipation.
h. Baldev Singh: He was an entrepreneur and was the defense minister in the union cabinet.
i. B. R. Ambedkar: He was the Chairman of the drafting assembly. He denounced the caste
system and was the first Law Minister of independent India. Some other members were SarojiniNaidu, S.
P. Mukherjee, Jawaharlal Nehru, Somnath Lahiri and K. M. Munshi.
.South Africa – Drawing of the Constitution
The whites, blacks and coloured population of the country together formulated the
Constitution of the country. They decided that every section of society should be part of the
Constitution and should get equal rights. Some negotiations among the South Africans which
became the basis of the South African Constitution are
• The whites agreed to the principle of majority rule and the concept of one person having
one vote.
• The blacks agreed that the majority rule would not be absolute, and the rights of the
minority will not be taken away.
• The Constitution further defined the way the Government was to be elected and its
functions.
• The rights and the freedoms of the citizens were laid down.
The Policy of Apartheid
The Constitution can be defined as the set of rules and laws which the citizens and the
Government have to follow. It is the supreme law of the country. It lays down the rights and the
freedoms of the citizens and the power and the responsibilities of the Government.
• Apartheid refers to the racial discrimination on the basis of the colour of skin. Many
Europeans had settled in South Africa during the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries.
• These white Europeans began to rule the country. They followed the policy of apartheid in
which the natives called „blacks‟ and the coloured (people of mixed
• races and Indians) were treated as inferiors.
• The blacks and the coloured people could not live in the areas inhabited by the whites. They
could work in these areas only if they had the permit to work in the white areas.
• Swimming pools, libraries, cinema halls, beaches and colleges were all separate for the
whites and the blacks. The coloured and the blacks could not even enter into churches
• which were reserved for the whites. Non-whites also did not have the right to vote.
• The blacks and the Indians began to raise their voice against the oppressive apartheid policy.
The African National Congress led the struggle against the apartheid policy. Many whites
who opposed the policy of apartheid also joined this organisation and protested against the
policies of the white Government. Nelson Mandela led the struggle of the non-whites
against the South African Government.
• The South African Government detained, tortured and killed many protestors and continued
to rule. Nelson Mandela was detained and sent to prison for a period of 28 years by the
Government.
• By 1994, the Government realised that it will not be possible to rule South Africa, and
thus, the white Government changed its policies.