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9 Dec 1946 - Started writing​

26 Nov 1949 - Adoption​

26 Jan 1950 - Enacted​

Why Constitution of India is called Bag of Borrowing?​

The constitution has many borrowed features. The country's founding fathers were wise enough to borrow good features from different nations and mould a constitution that best suits India. The influences from other constitutions are listed below.

Irish (Ireland)​

Ele's DP is No. 1

  • Election of the president
  • Directive Principles of State Policy
  • Method of nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha

British / UK​

PaRLe Bi-SCuit / Sin Bi is a Complex Law

  • Pa - Parliamentary system
  • R - Prevalence of the rule of law
  • Le - Legislative procedure
  • Bi - Bicameralism
  • Si - Single Citizenship
  • Comp - Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
  • Writs

US​

President Needs Fund for Removal of Present Vice-President & Judges in USA

  • President
  • Fund - Fundamental Rights
  • Removal - Impeachment of the president, removal of supreme court and high court judges
  • PREsent - PREamble
  • Vice-president
  • Judges - Independence of the judiciary, Judicial review
  • Amendment of constitution

Canada​

Can I Know Feds Address

  • CAN - Canada
  • Feds - Federation with a strong centre
  • Add - Advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
  • Ress - Residuary powers to the centre
  • Name of the Union of India

Australian​

  • List of concurrent powers
  • Procedure for solving deadlock over concurrent subjects between the Centre and the States

Weimer Constitution of Germany​

  • Powers of the President

South African​

  • Procedure of amendment with a two-thirds majority in Parliament (To read abut thetypes of amendments, follow the linked article.)
  • Election of the members of the Rajya Sabha on the basis of proportional representation by the State Legislatures

Features of Indian Constitution​

Federal System with Unitary Bias​

The constitution establishes a federal government system in India. All the expected features of a federal state such as two government levels, division of power, supremacy and rigidity of the constitution, written constitution and bicameralism are present. But, the constitution also contains many features of a unitary form of government such as single citizenship, strong centre, single constitution, flexibility of constitution, all-India services, integrated judiciary, appointment of state governor by the Centre, emergency provisions, and so on. In addition, the term 'federation' is not mentioned in the constitution. Article 1 says India is a 'Union of States', implying --

  • The Indian federation is not the result of an agreement by the states.
  • States do not have the right to secede from the federation.

Parliamentary Form of Government​

The parliamentary form, borrowed from the British system, is based on the principle of cooperation and coordination between the legislative and executive. This form of government is alternatively known as the Westminster model of government. It is also called responsible government and cabinet government. According to the constitution, not only the centre, the parliamentary form is followed even in the states.

In India, the features of the parliamentary form of government are as follows:

  • Nominal and real executives
  • Rule of the majority party
  • Collective responsibility of the executive to the legislature
  • Membership of the ministers in the legislature
  • Leadership of the prime minister or the chief minister
  • Dissolution of the lower House

There are some basic differences between the Indian and the British models, even though both follow the parliamentary form of government. The Indian parliament is not a sovereign body; the British Parliament is. Also, the Indian State has an elected head (since it is a republic) while the British head is hereditary (since Britain is a constitutional monarchy).

Parliament: Structural and Functional Dimensions​

  • According to Article 79, there is a Parliament and 2 Houses or chambers -- the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and the Council of States (Rajya Sabha).
  • The President is the head of the executive and also a constituent part of the legislature. He performs many functions with regard to the Parliament.
  • However, the president cannot sit in or take part in the discussions in the houses.
  • The president summons and prorogues the houses whenever required.
  • He is also a vital part of the process of legislation in India as he has to give his assent to every bill passed before it can become a law.
  • He has the power to dissolve the Lok Sabha.
  • At the start of the first session after each general election to the Lok Sabha and at the commencement of the first session each year, the President addresses both the chambers which is known as the special address.
  • Article 123 also gives the president the power to promulgate ordinances. (Read about President in the linked article.)

https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/constitution-of-india-an-overview