Members of Drafting Committee of Constitution of India

Drafting Committee, which bore the responsibility of drafting the Constitutional document during the recess of the Constituent Assembly, from July 1947 to Sept 1948, was formed on Aug 29, 1947.

Working of Constituent Assembly

• December 9, 1946 : The first meeting of Constituent Assembly was held in the constitution hall(now 'Central Hall of Parliament House'). Demanding a separate state, the Muslim League boycotted the meeting. Dr.Sanchidanand Sinha was elected as temporary President of Assembly following the French practice.

Committees under the Constituent Assembly

• Committee on the Rules of procedure - Rajendra Prasad
• Drafting Committee - B.R. Ambedkar
• Steering Committee - Rajendra Prasad

The Constituent Assembly and Making of Indian Constitution

The Constituent Assembly was set up while India was still under British rule, following negotiations between Indian leaders and members of the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India from the United Kingdom. The Assembly members were elected to it indirectly by the members of the individual provincial legislative assemblies, and initially included representatives for those provinces which came to form part of Pakistan, some of which are now within Bangladesh. The Constituent Assembly had 217 representatives, including 15 women.

The Indian Independence Act, 1947

Indian Independence Act was passed in June 1947, which specified the following:

• The British rule of India should be over on the midnight of August 15, 1947.
• An independent dominion of India shall be created out of the United Provinces, Central Provinces, Bombay Presidency, Madras Presidency, the Carnatic, East Punjab, West Bengal, Assam and the Northeast Frontier Agency. The territories of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep Islands are also turned over to the Indian Dominion.

The Mountbatten Plan

Lord Mountbatten worked out a detailed plan for the transfer of power to the Indian people. The salient features of the Mountbatten plan were as follows-

• Muslim-dominated areas may be separated to form a Dominion In that case such domination would be constituted by a partition of Bengal and the Punjab.
• A referendum in North-West Frontier Province would decide whether it should join Pakistan or not.

Cabinet Mission Plan

Main Provisions of the Cabinet Mission Plan:

• The Cabinet Mission proposed two-tiered federal plan which was expected to maintain national unity while conceding the largest measure of regional autonomy:
• There was to be a federation of the provinces and the States, with the federal central controlling only defence, foreign affairs and communications.