THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY & FRAMING OF THE CONSTITUTION - IMPORTANT POINTS FOR SSC

1. It was M.N Roy who proposed the idea of an independent constituent assembly for India in 1934.
2. The constituent assembly was formed as per the guidelines suggested by the Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946. The mission was headed by Pethick Lawrence and included two other members apart from him – Stafford Cripps and A.V Alexander.
3. The total strength of the assembly was 389. However, after partition only 299 remained. It was partly elected and partly nominated body.
4. The elections to form the assembly took place in July-August 1946 and the process was completed by November 1946. The first meeting of the assembly took place on 9th December, 1946 and was attended by 211 members.
5. Dr. Sachhidanand Sinha became the temporary President of the assembly following the French practice.
6. On 11th December, 1946 Dr. Rajendra Prasad and H.C Mukherji were elected as President and Vice-President respectively.
7. Sir B.N Rau was appointed as the constitutional advisor to the assembly.
8. On 13th December, 1946, Pt. Nehru moved the Objectives resolution which later went on to become the Preamble of the constitution in slightly modified form. The resolution was unanimously adopted on 22nd January, 1947.
9. The Constituent Assembly ratified India’s membership of the commonwealth in May, 1949. Also, it adopted National Song and National Anthem on 24th January 1950. Adopted the National Flag on 22nd July, 1947. (Imp for SSC).
10. The assembly met for 11 sessions, took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to frame up the final draft, sat for 141 days in total and draft constitution was considered for 114 days. Total amount incurred was around rupees 64 lakhs.
11. The assembly had 15 women members which were reduced to 9 after partition.
12. Some important committees of the constituent assembly along with their respective chairpersons are as follows:
    1. Union Powers Committee - Jawahar Lal Nehru
    2. Union Constitution Committee - Jawahar Lal Nehru
    3. Provincial Constitution Committee - Sardar Patel
    4. Drafting Committee - B.R Ambedkar
    5. Rules of Procedure Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad 
    6. Steering Committee - Dr. Rajendra Prasad

13. The following were the members of the Drafting Committee
    1. Dr. B.R Ambedkar (Chairman)
    2. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
    3. Dr. K.M Munshi
    4. N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
    5. Syed Mohammad Saadullah
    6. N Madhava Rau
    7. TT Krishnamachari
14. The final draft of the constitution was adopted on 26th November,1949 and it contained 8 schedules, 22 parts and 395 articles.