Making of the Constitution – NDA Polity Notes

The Indian Constitution did not appear overnight. It was the product of a long constitutional journey, one that stretched over more than two centuries of colonial rule, through a series of British legislative experiments, and finally through nearly three years of intensive debate inside the Constituent Assembly. Understanding this journey is the purpose of this chapter.

This chapter is about how the Constitution came into existence. It is not about what it contains. You are studying the making of a document, not its provisions. Every event you learn here is part of one continuous chain: each colonial Act created the conditions for the next; each British proposal built on the one before; and finally, the Constituent Assembly and its Drafting Committee brought the entire process to completion.

For NDA, this chapter has a distinctive testing pattern. Questions focus on who was (and who was NOT) part of the Drafting Committee, what the Cabinet Mission Plan actually proposed, which document first conceded Indian constitutional responsibility, and what the Government of India Act 1935 introduced. Negation-type questions are especially common here. Pay attention throughout to what each proposal did NOT do, and who did NOT hold each role.

1. Pre-1935 Constitutional Milestones

To understand why the Government of India Act 1935 was so significant, you need to understand what came before it. British India did not suddenly acquire a comprehensive constitutional framework. It arrived there slowly, through a series of Acts, each one a cautious, incremental step toward self-governance.

The process began in 1773 with the Regulating Act, the first attempt by the British Parliament to bring some governmental order to the East India Company’s activities in India. From there, each major Act responded to the limitations of the one before it. By 1935, this accumulated legislative experience produced the most comprehensive colonial constitutional instrument India had ever seen.

Act / Year	Key Provision
Regulating Act, 1773	First Parliamentary control over East India Company; created the Governor-General of Bengal; established the Supreme Court at Calcutta
Pitt’s India Act, 1784	Dual control: Board of Control (British government) + Court of Directors (Company); distinguished political from commercial functions
Charter Act, 1833	Governor-General of Bengal became Governor-General of India; began centralisation; first step toward an all-India administration
Government of India Act, 1858	Crown’s direct rule replaced Company rule after 1857 revolt; Secretary of State for India created; Viceroy replaced Governor-General
Indian Councils Act, 1861	Legislative councils expanded; Indians nominally included; foundation of legislative devolution
Indian Councils Act, 1909 (Morley-Minto Reforms)	Separate communal electorates for Muslims introduced; enlarged legislative councils; element of association for Indians in governance
Government of India Act, 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms)	Introduced dyarchy in provinces; divided provincial subjects into transferred (Indian ministers) and reserved (British control); bicameral central legislature created
Government of India Act, 1935	Most comprehensive colonial constitutional instrument; provincial autonomy; proposed All-India Federation; Federal Court; became primary source of the Indian Constitution

The most important of these milestones for NDA purposes is the 1919 Act. It introduced dyarchy, a system of dual governance in the provinces. Under dyarchy, certain provincial subjects were transferred to elected Indian ministers (education, health, agriculture), while others remained reserved under British-controlled officials (finance, law and order). Dyarchy was an important but limited experiment in Indian self-rule. It was important enough to be tested as a named concept, yet limited enough that it failed and was replaced by the far more significant 1935 Act.

★ IMPORTANT: The 1919 Act introduced dyarchy, meaning limited Indian self-governance at the provincial level. The 1935 Act superseded it with full provincial autonomy and became the primary source of the Indian Constitution.

2. Government of India Act 1935

The Government of India Act 1935 was the culmination of more than 150 years of British constitutional experimentation in India. It was the most comprehensive, most detailed, and most consequential piece of legislation Britain ever applied to India. And it was directly and heavily borrowed by the framers of the Indian Constitution of 1950, making it the single most important source of the Indian Constitution.

The 1935 Act introduced three transformative provisions. All three were confirmed by NDA: [NDA 2011-II]

Provision	What It Meant	What Happened To It
Provincial Autonomy	Provinces could govern themselves in defined areas without central interference; elected provincial governments formed	Fully operationalised from 1937; provinces ran their own governments
All-India Federation	Proposed a union of British Indian provinces and Princely States under a federal structure	Never came into force : the Princely States did not accede to the proposed federation
Federal Court	An apex judicial authority for the proposed federation, to hear constitutional disputes	Established and operational; became the precursor to the Supreme Court of India in 1950

A critical point that NDA has tested: all three provisions were contained in the 1935 Act. However, they were not all implemented. Provincial autonomy was operationalised from 1937, and the Federal Court was established. But the proposed All-India Federation never came into force, because the Princely States refused to accede to it. The federation remained a proposal on paper. [NDA 2011-II]

The Indian Constitution of 1950 drew heavily from the 1935 Act, particularly its federal structure, emergency provisions, distribution of legislative powers, system of all-India services, and the office of Governor. Ambedkar himself acknowledged this debt. The 1935 Act was not just a piece of colonial legislation; it was a constitutional blueprint that India adapted and expanded for its own democratic purposes.

★ IMPORTANT:  GOI Act 1935: Provincial autonomy (implemented) | All-India Federation (proposed, never came into force) | Federal Court (established). All three were in the Act, but not all three were realised.  [NDA 2011-II]

3. British Proposals: The Progressive Sequence

The Government of India Act 1935 gave India a constitutional framework, but it still kept ultimate constitutional authority with the British government. The question of who would actually frame a new Constitution for independent India remained unanswered. Between 1940 and 1946, the British made three formal proposals on this question, each one more specific and more consequential than the last.

These three proposals are not separate historical facts to memorise in isolation. They form a progressive sequence. Each one became necessary because the one before it fell short. Understanding why each proposal was made (and why it succeeded or failed) is exactly what NDA tests when it asks chronological-priority questions.

The August Offer, 1940

By 1940, India was drawn into the Second World War without its own consent. Indian political leaders demanded a clear British commitment on India’s constitutional future in exchange for wartime cooperation. Viceroy Lord Linlithgow responded with the August Offer of 1940.

The August Offer made a landmark concession: the principle that Indians themselves should be primarily (though not solely) responsible for framing the Constitution of independent India. [NDA 2020-I & II]

This was the first time the British government formally acknowledged that Indians, not the British Parliament, should be the primary authors of their own Constitution. The Cripps Proposals (1942) and the Cabinet Mission Plan (1946) would later elaborate on this principle with greater specificity and institutional detail. But the historical credit for the first concession belongs to the August Offer of 1940. Students who know the Cabinet Mission’s institutional importance often mistakenly credit it as the origin of this principle. That is incorrect. [NDA 2020-I & II]

The Cripps Proposals, 1942

The August Offer was a vague concession of principle without specifying constitutional machinery. By 1942, the war situation had worsened. Japan had entered the conflict and was advancing toward India’s borders. Britain needed active Indian cooperation and sent Sir Stafford Cripps to negotiate.

The Cripps Proposals went further than the August Offer. They offered India Dominion Status after the war, proposed a constituent assembly to frame the new Constitution, and included the right of provinces and Princely States to opt out of the new union, the right of non-accession.

But the Cripps Proposals failed. The Indian National Congress rejected them primarily because they did not offer immediate self-governance and because the right of non-accession threatened national unity. The Muslim League rejected them for different reasons. With both major political parties opposed, Cripps left India without agreement.

The Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946

By 1946, Britain had emerged from the war exhausted and had elected a Labour government committed to granting India independence. Three Cabinet ministers, namely Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps, and A.V. Alexander were sent to India. This mission became the most consequential constitutional initiative in the final phase of British India.

The Cabinet Mission Plan directly established the framework under which the Constituent Assembly would be formed. Unlike the August Offer’s vague principle or the Cripps Proposals’ conditional offer, the Cabinet Mission produced a concrete mechanism for constitution-making , one that was actually implemented.

Proposal / Act	What It Offered	Constitutional Significance
GOI Act, 1935	Provincial autonomy; proposed federation; Federal Court	Most comprehensive colonial legislation; primary source of the Indian Constitution; federation never realised
August Offer, 1940 (Linlithgow)	Expanded Executive Council; promise of constitutional body after war; Indians primarily responsible for own Constitution	FIRST concession that Indians should primarily frame their own Constitution: the key NDA-tested fact [NDA 2020-I & II]
Cripps Proposals, 1942	Dominion Status after WWII; constituent assembly; right of non-accession	Specified constitutional machinery more clearly; rejected by both Congress and League; no lasting institutional result
Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946	Union of States; three-tier structure; Constituent Assembly framework	Most consequential proposal; directly established the Constituent Assembly; led to constitution-making

★ IMPORTANT:  The four proposals form a progression: each one built on the one before. The August Offer was first. The Cabinet Mission was most consequential.

4. Cabinet Mission Plan 1946: Structural Detail

The Cabinet Mission Plan deserves closer attention than the other proposals. Not just because it was the most consequential, but because NDA has directly tested its structural concept. The question “what did the Cabinet Mission plan envisage?” has one very specific answer, and it is not the answer most students give.

The Cabinet Mission Plan envisaged a Union of States for India, not a federation, not a confederation, and not a unitary form of government. [NDA 2017-II]

Understanding what “Union of States” means (and why it was distinct from a federation) requires a brief definition of all three structural concepts. The Cabinet Mission designed this concept specifically to accommodate both British Indian provinces and the Princely States under one structure, while keeping the central government deliberately limited.

Structural Form	Defining Characteristic	Relevance to India
Federation	Strong central government; States surrender sovereignty; Constitution divides powers between Centre and States; States cannot secede	What the Indian Constitution of 1950 ultimately created: but NOT what the Cabinet Mission proposed
Confederation	Loose association; States retain full sovereignty; Centre derives power from States; States can secede freely	What the Cabinet Mission explicitly wanted to avoid
Union of States (Cabinet Mission)	Intermediate concept; Centre handles only defence, foreign affairs, and communications; Princely States and British Indian provinces both accommodated; deliberately less centralised than a federation	What the Cabinet Mission actually proposed: [NDA 2017-II]
Union of India (Constitution, Article 1)	India described as a Union of States; indestructible union; States cannot secede; Centre has strong powers	The eventual constitutional arrangement: distinct from the Cabinet Mission’s Union concept

The distinction matters for NDA because the question in NDA 2017-II offered “Federation,” “Confederation,” “Unitary form of Government,” and “Union of States” as options. Students who have not studied this distinction specifically will likely choose “Federation,” the most familiar term. The correct answer is “Union of States.” A Federation implies a strong central government. The Cabinet Mission’s concept was deliberately weaker at the Centre, limited to defence, foreign affairs, and communications only.

★ IMPORTANT:  Cabinet Mission 1946 = Union of States. Not a federation. Not a confederation. Not a unitary government. The Centre was limited to defence, foreign affairs, and communications under this proposal.  [NDA 2017-II]

5. The Constituent Assembly

The Cabinet Mission Plan did more than define a constitutional structure. It also provided the framework for forming the body that would actually write the Constitution. That body was the Constituent Assembly. Understanding its composition, its key figures, and what it produced is essential for NDA.

Composition

The Constituent Assembly was not directly elected by the people of India. Members were chosen by the Provincial Legislative Assemblies through indirect election. This was a practical necessity, as direct elections across the country were not yet feasible. The Assembly initially had 389 members: 296 from British Indian provinces and 93 from the Princely States. After the partition of India and Pakistan in August 1947, the membership was reduced to 299.

Key Institutional Roles: Temporary vs Permanent

The Constituent Assembly had its first sitting in December 1946. At that first session, the Assembly needed someone to preside while a permanent President was elected. By convention, the oldest member present was asked to chair the first session. That honour fell to Sachidananda Sinha, who served as the temporary or provisional chairman of that first session only.

Shortly thereafter, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the permanent President of the Constituent Assembly. He presided over the Assembly throughout its work until the Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949. Sinha’s role was temporary, ceremonial, and limited to a single session. Rajendra Prasad’s role was ongoing, elected, and substantive. These two roles must never be confused.

Role	Person	Nature of Role
Temporary / Provisional Chairman (first session only)	Sachidananda Sinha	Oldest member; presided only until permanent election; ceremonial and time-limited
Permanent President	Dr. Rajendra Prasad	Elected; presided over all subsequent sessions; most senior leadership role
Vice Presidents	Dr. H.C. Mookherjee; V.T. Krishnamachari	Assisted the President; presided when Rajendra Prasad was absent
Chairman, Drafting Committee	Dr. B.R. Ambedkar	Led the committee that prepared the actual text of the Constitution; principal architect

The Objectives Resolution

The Constituent Assembly did not begin drafting the Constitution immediately. It first needed to agree on what kind of India the Constitution would create. On 13 December 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution, a statement of the constitutional vision that would guide the drafting process.

The Objectives Resolution declared India to be a sovereign independent republic, guaranteed fundamental rights to all citizens, secured adequate safeguards for minorities, and committed the new nation to principles of social, economic, and political justice. The Assembly adopted the Objectives Resolution on 22 January 1947. It became the philosophical precursor to the Preamble of the Constitution. The Preamble is covered in full detail in Chapter 3.

Committees of the Constituent Assembly

The Constituent Assembly did not work as a single body. It formed specialised committees, each responsible for different aspects of the Constitution. The most important of these was the Drafting Committee (covered in the next section). Other key committees:

Committee	Chairperson	Function
Union Powers Committee	Jawaharlal Nehru	Determined the powers of the Union government
Union Constitution Committee	Jawaharlal Nehru	Framed the structure of the Union government
Provincial Constitution Committee	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel	Framed the structure of provincial/state governments
Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel	Prepared the list of Fundamental Rights and provisions for minorities
Steering Committee	Dr. Rajendra Prasad	Coordinated the overall work of the Constituent Assembly
Drafting Committee	Dr. B.R. Ambedkar	Prepared the draft text of the entire Constitution: the most consequential committee

★ IMPORTANT:  Constituent Assembly: 389 members initially → 299 after partition. Sachidananda Sinha = temporary first-session chairman. Rajendra Prasad = permanent President. Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution on 13 December 1946.

6. The Drafting Committee

The Constituent Assembly had nearly 300 members, all with views about what the Constitution should contain. But constitutions cannot be written by committees of 300. A smaller, specialised body was needed to take all the debates, all the proposals, and all the expert knowledge and shape them into a coherent constitutional text.

That body was the Drafting Committee, the most important committee of the Constituent Assembly, entrusted with preparing the actual draft of the Constitution. The Drafting Committee was a seven-member body, chaired by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. His intellectual leadership in organising, synthesising, and drafting the constitutional text earned him the title Father of the Indian Constitution.

Membership: The Complete List

NDA has tested Drafting Committee membership twice: once to identify the adviser [NDA 2009-I] and once to identify who was not a member [NDA 2014-II]. Both require knowing the complete membership precisely. The table below includes all seven members, the Constitutional Adviser, and the two most important non-members.

Person	Role	Key Notes
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar	Chairman, Drafting Committee	Principal architect of the Constitution; led the entire drafting process
K.M. Munshi	Member	Member, Drafting Committee [NDA 2014-II]
Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar	Member	Member, Drafting Committee. Note: “Krishnaswamy Iyer” (used in NDA 2014-II as a distractor) does not correspond to any actual member. The correct name is Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar.
N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar	Member	Member, Drafting Committee; former Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir
B.L. Mitter	Member	Member, Drafting Committee; later replaced by T.T. Krishnamachari due to ill health
Md. Saadulla	Member	Member, Drafting Committee
D.P. Khaitan	Member (replaced by T.T. Krishnamachari)	Original seventh member; replaced by T.T. Krishnamachari after his death
B.N. Rau (Sir Benegal Narsing Rau)	★ Constitutional Adviser: NOT a member of the Drafting Committee	Produced the initial constitutional draft that the Committee used as its working document; indispensable technical role; but held an advisory position: not a seat on the Committee [NDA 2009-I]
Mahatma Gandhi	No institutional role: not elected to the Constituent Assembly	Gandhi was neither elected to the Constituent Assembly nor appointed to the Drafting Committee or any other committee. His influence was philosophical and moral, particularly on the Directive Principles. He held no formal position in the constitution-making process.  [NDA 2014-II]
Jawaharlal Nehru	Not on the Drafting Committee	Moved the Objectives Resolution; chaired the Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution Committee; but was not a member of the Drafting Committee

B.N. Rau: The Constitutional Adviser

B.N. Rau’s role deserves a dedicated explanation because it is the most frequently confused concept in this section. NDA 2009-I directly tested it. [NDA 2009-I]

Sir Benegal Narsing Rau was appointed as the Constitutional Adviser to the Constituent Assembly. His role was to provide technical and comparative constitutional expertise. He studied constitutions from around the world, particularly those of Ireland, the United States, Canada, and Australia, and produced an initial draft of the Constitution that the Drafting Committee then used as its working document.

B.N. Rau was not a member of the Drafting Committee. He did not sit on the Committee, did not vote in its deliberations, and did not share the Committee’s formal constitutional responsibilities. He was an adviser, external to the Committee, providing technical support to it. The distinction between Constitutional Adviser (B.N. Rau) and Chairman of the Drafting Committee (B.R. Ambedkar) must be kept absolutely clear.

The Distractor: “Krishnaswamy Iyer”

NDA 2014-II asked which of four people was NOT a member of the Drafting Committee. The four options were: B.R. Ambedkar, K.M. Munshi, Krishnaswamy Iyer, and M.K. Gandhi. The answer was both Krishnaswamy Iyer and M.K. Gandhi, but the question required selecting one answer, and both were non-members. [NDA 2014-II]

The name “Krishnaswamy Iyer” does not correspond to any verified member of the Drafting Committee. It is a plausible variant of “Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar”, who was an actual member. A student who knows the names shallowly might assume “Krishnaswamy Iyer” refers to the real member, and might therefore choose Gandhi as the only non-member. The NDA question exploits exactly this confusion. Know the correct name: Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar, not “Iyer.”

★ IMPORTANT: Drafting Committee Chairman = B.R. Ambedkar. Constitutional Adviser (NOT a member) = B.N. Rau. Gandhi had no institutional role. “Krishnaswamy Iyer” is a distractor: the actual member is Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar.

7. Duration and Quantitative Facts

After the Drafting Committee produced its draft, the Constituent Assembly debated it clause by clause. This was a painstaking process of amendment, argument, and revision. The numbers reflect the scale of the effort:

Metric	Value
Total time taken to draft the Constitution	2 years, 11 months, and 17 days
Number of sessions held	11 sessions
Total sitting days of the Constituent Assembly	165 days
Initial membership of the Constituent Assembly	389 members (296 from British India + 93 from Princely States)
Membership after partition	299 members
Date of adoption	26 November 1949
Date of full commencement	26 January 1950
Original number of Articles	395
Original number of Schedules	8
Status at adoption	Longest written constitution in the world

★ IMPORTANT : 2 years, 11 months, 17 days | 11 sessions | 165 sitting days | 395 Articles | 8 Schedules | Adopted 26 November 1949 | Commenced 26 January 1950.

8. Adoption and Commencement

The constitutional journey that began in 1935 (or arguably in 1773) reached its conclusion in two stages.

On 26 November 1949, the Constituent Assembly formally adopted the Constitution. On that date, three clusters of provisions came into immediate force: those relating to citizenship, elections, and the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts. The remaining provisions came into force on 26 January 1950; the date India became a sovereign democratic republic. 26 January is celebrated as Republic Day; 26 November is observed as Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) since 2015.

The full two-date framework, including what came into force on each date and the most commonly asked question (Emergency provisions came on 26 January, not 26 November), is covered in complete detail in Chapter P1. Cross-reference P1 for revision of this topic.

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