Being a lawyer is not merely a vocation. It is a public trust, and each of us has an obligation to give back to our communities
The Indian Constitution is the world’s lengthiest written constitution which contains 449 articles in 25 parts and 12 schedules and has been amended a total 101 times. It is the supreme law of the country and it lays down the framework demarcating fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions while also setting out fundamental rights, directive principles, and fundamental duties of citizens.
A constitution is a written document that contains a set of rules for a government. It defines the fundamental political principles establishing the structure, procedures, powers, and duties of a government. It limits the power of the government to prevent exploitation and guarantees certain rights to the people. The term constitution can be applied to any overall law that defines the functioning of a government.
Historical Background
A Drafting Committee was set up by the Constituent Assembly on 29th August 1947 to frame the Indian Constitution under the chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. It took almost three years to draft the Constitution holding eleven sessions over a 165 day period. The Constitution of India draws extensively from Western legal traditions in its outline of the principles of liberal democracy. It follows a British parliamentary pattern with a lower and upper house. It embodies some Fundamental Rights which are similar to the Bill of Rights declared by the United States Constitution. It also borrows the concept of a Supreme Court from the United States.
The Indian Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 26 November 1949 and was made effective on 26 January 1950 which is celebrated as the Republic Day. The Constitution replaced the Government of India Act, 1935 as the country's fundamental governing document, and the Dominion of India became the Republic of India. To ensure constitutional autochthony (the process of asserting constitutional nationalism from an external legal or political power), its framers repealed prior acts of the British parliament by enacting Article 395 of the Indian Constitution.