Constitution of India

 

The Constitution of India was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, and came into effect on 26 January 1950.  It signified a moment of change in modern India and replaced the Government of India Act, 1935 as the country’s fundamental governing document. India celebrates the Constitution of India coming into force on 26 January each year, as Republic Day.  B. R. Ambedkar is regarded as the Constitutions chief architect.

The Indian Constitution is essentially federal in nature and has many of the traditional characteristics of a federal system.

Characteristics such as

• Supremacy of the Constitution,
• The division of power between the Union and State
• The existence of an independent judiciary in the Indian Constitution.

The three organs of the State – State, Legislature and Judiciary – function separately and are demarcated under the Constitution. So in the manner of many other developed nation states the doctrine of Separation of Powers has been implicitly recognized by the Indian Constitution.  Written in to the essential structure of the Indian Constitution is its unchangeable nature. Amendments to the Constitution are only allowed if they do not affect its basic structure or rob it of its essential character.

Recognised in The Constitution of India are certain basic fundamental rights for every citizen including:

• The right to Equality,
• The right to Freedom,
• The right against exploitation,
• The right to Freedom of Religion,
• Cultural and Educational rights,
• The right to Constitutional Remedies.

Any citizen of India can challenge in the court of law any infringement of fundamental rights.  Equally the Constitution of India prescribes in turn some fundamental duties on each citizen in India.