21 September 2026 Current Affairs: Asian Games 2026

The Cabinet Mission came to India in 1946 to work out how power would be handed over, and its plan laid down how a Constituent Assembly would be formed: 389 seats in all, 296 for British India and 93 for the princely states, with the members from the provinces elected…

The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946. The Muslim League boycotted the sitting and pressed its demand for a separate Pakistan, and Dr Sachchidananda Sinha, the oldest member, presided as temporary President.

When the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946, Sinha, its oldest member, was made the temporary President, following the French practice of letting the senior-most member preside until a regular head is chosen.

Dr Sachchidananda Sinha presided over the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1946 only as its temporary President.

Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1946, and the Assembly adopted it on 22 January 1947.

Ambedkar. The Drafting Committee was set up on 29 August 1947 with seven members, and Dr B.R.

Rau. Sir Benegal Narsing Rau was appointed the constitutional (legal) adviser to the Constituent Assembly.

On that day the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution, and the date is now observed every year as Constitution Day.

The Assembly first met on 9 December 1946 and completed its work when the Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949.

The Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV of the Constitution were modelled on the Irish Constitution. India also took two other features from Ireland: the nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha and the method of electing the President.

The provision for suspending Fundamental Rights during an Emergency was taken from the Weimar Constitution of Germany. It is the only feature of the Indian Constitution usually traced to that source.

Roy. Manabendra Nath Roy, a pioneer of the communist movement in India, was the first to put forward the idea of a Constituent Assembly, in 1934.

The Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 fixed the total strength of the Constituent Assembly at 389 seats: 296 for British India and 93 for the princely states.

The Preamble opens with the words "We, the people of India", which name the people as the source from which the Constitution draws its authority.

This is the order in which the Preamble describes India: "a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC". Socialist and secular were inserted between sovereign and democratic by the 42nd Amendment in 1976; before that the phrase read "sovereign democratic republic".

The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 added three words to the Preamble: "Socialist" and "Secular" to the description of India, and "Integrity" to the phrase "unity and integrity of the Nation".

These are the exact words the Preamble uses for liberty, and they appear in it just as written here. Each of the other options changes one word of the real text, which is exactly how this question catches people.

The idea of beginning a constitution with a preamble was borrowed from the Constitution of the USA, whose own text opens with the words "We the People".

The ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble were taken from France, where they were the watchwords of the French Revolution.

The ideal of justice in the Preamble, described as social, economic and political, was inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917, which is why books often list the former USSR as its source.

In the Berubari Union case of 1960 the Supreme Court had said that the Preamble is not a part of the Constitution, though it is a key to the minds of its makers.

The Preamble is not enforceable in a court of law: it is neither a source of power for the legislature nor a limit on its powers.

Palkhivala. Nani Ardeshir Palkhivala, one of India's most eminent jurists and constitutional lawyers, called the Preamble the "identity card of the Constitution", because it tells us in one sentence what the Constitution is, where its authority comes from and what it sets out to achieve.

The Preamble has been amended only one time, by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976. That amendment added three words: "Socialist" and "Secular" to the description of India, and "Integrity" to the phrase "unity and integrity of the Nation".

The Bill of Rights is the name given to the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States, adopted in 1791, which protect freedoms such as speech and religion against the government.

When the Constitution came into force, property was protected as a Fundamental Right in two places: Article 19(1)(f), the freedom to acquire, hold and dispose of property, and Article 31, protection against being deprived of property.

Most Fundamental Rights are claims against the State, so whoever counts as the "State" is bound by them.

Article 17 abolishes untouchability, forbids its practice in any form, and makes the enforcement of any disability arising out of untouchability an offence punishable in accordance with law.

Article 19(1) gives every citizen six freedoms: speech and expression; to assemble peaceably and without arms; to form associations, unions or co-operative societies; to move freely throughout India; to reside and settle in any part of India; and to practise any profession or carry on any occupation, trade or business.

The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002 made education a Fundamental Right by inserting Article 21A, under which the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children aged six to fourteen years, in the manner it determines by law.

Article 24 says that no child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.

The Right to Freedom of Religion has four Articles: Article 25 gives freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion; Article 26 lets every religious denomination manage its own religious affairs; Article 27 says no one can be compelled to pay taxes for the promotion…

Article 30(1) gives all minorities, whether based on religion or on language, the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

Speaking in the Constituent Assembly, Dr B.R. Ambedkar said that if he were asked to name the most important Article, one without which the Constitution would be a nullity, he could not refer to any other; it was "the very soul of the Constitution and the very heart of it".

Through this writ a court orders whoever is holding a person to produce that person before it and show the legal grounds for the detention.

Quo Warranto means "by what authority or warrant". Through it, a court asks a person holding a public office to show by what right they hold it, and if the claim is not valid, the court can remove them.

Article 19 opens with the words "All citizens shall have the right", so its freedoms of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession belong only to citizens of India.

Article 21 says that no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to "procedure established by law".

During a National Emergency, Article 359 lets the President suspend the right to move the courts for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights.

Part IV of the Constitution, Articles 36 to 51, contains the Directive Principles: the goals the State should pursue in making laws and policies, such as a living wage, free legal aid, village panchayats and a Uniform Civil Code.

It says two things at once: the provisions of Part IV "shall not be enforceable by any court", but the principles laid down in it are "nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws".

Article 39 lists several principles the State should direct its policy towards, and clause (d) asks it to secure equal pay for equal work for both men and women.

Article 39A asks the State to ensure that the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity, and in particular to provide free legal aid, so that no citizen is denied justice because of economic or other disabilities.

Article 40 asks the State to take steps to organise village panchayats and to give them the powers and authority they need to function as units of self-government.

The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 inserted Article 43A, which asks the State to take steps, by suitable legislation or in any other way, to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings and industrial establishments.

The 97th Amendment Act, 2011 was about co-operative societies, and it touched three Parts of the Constitution.

It says: "The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India." A uniform civil code would replace the separate personal laws of different religious communities on marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption with one common law for all citizens.

Originally Article 45 asked the State to provide free and compulsory education for all children until they reached fourteen, within ten years.

The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 added clause (2) to Article 38, which asks the State in particular to strive to minimise inequalities in income, and to endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only among individuals but also among groups of people living in different areas or…

Added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, it says the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.