Answer:
The
Constituent Assembly that wrote the Indian constitution had 299 members. The
Assembly adopted the constitution on 26th November 1949 but it came into effect
on 26th January 1950.
(i) The Constitution does not reflect the views of its members alone, it expresses
a board consensus of its time. The makers of our constitution comprised
illustrious personalities, belonging to different communities, regions and political
parties of India.
(ii) The Constituent Assembly represented all different
social groups irrespective of class, creed, status, gender and occupations.
There was no adult franchise, at that time. Even if the Constituent Assembly
was elected by universal adult franchise, its composition would not have been
very different.
(iii) In some countries, the Constitution exists as a mere
piece of paper, no one follows it. But in our country, no large social group or
political party has ever questioned the legitimacy of the Constitution itself.
This is an unusual achievement for any Constitution.
(iv) The manner in which the Constituent Assembly worked
gives sanctity to the Constitution. They worked in a systemtic, open and
consensual manner.
(v) A Drafting Committee chaired by Dr BR Ambedkar
prepared a draft constitution for discussion. Several rounds of thorough
discussion took place and more than two thousand amendments were considered.
(vi) Every document presented and every word spoken in the
Constituent Assembly has been recorded and preserved.
These are called 'Constituent Assembly Debates' and these
are printed in 12 bulky volumes. These debates provide the rationale behind
every position to the Constitution. There are used to interpret the meaning of
the Constitution.
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