THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN

A constitution is not merely a statement of values and philosophy. As we noted above, a constitution I smainly about embodying these values into institutional arrangements. Much of the document called Constittion of India is about these arrangements. It is a very long and detailed document. Therefore it needs to be amended quite regularly to keep it updated. Those who crafted the Indian Constitution felf that it has to be in accordance with people’s aspirations and changes in society. They did not see it as it as a sacred, static and unalterable law. So, they made provisions to incorporate changes from time to time. These changes are called constitutional amendments.

The Constitution describes the institutional arrangements in a very legal Lnaguage. If yor read the Constitution for the firsat time, it can be quite difficult to understand. Yet the basic institutional design is not very difficult to understand. Like any Constitution, the Indian Constitution lays down a procedure for choosing persons to govern the country. It defines who will have how much power to tak ewhcih decision. And it puts limits to what the government can do by providing some rights to the citizaen that cannot be violated. The remaining three chapters in this book are about these three aspects of the working on Indian constitution. We shall look at some key constitutional provisions in each chapter and understand how they work in democratic politics. But this textbook will not cover all the salient  features of the institutional design in the Indian Constitution. Some other aspects will be covered in your textbook nexy year.

APARTHEID: The official policy of racial separation and ill treatment of blacks followed by the government of South Africa between 1948 and 1989.

CLAUSE: A distinct section of a document.

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY: An assembly of people’s representatives that writes a constitution for  a country.

CONSTITUTION: Supreme law of a country, containing fundamental rules governing the politics and society in a country.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: A Change in the constitution made by the supreme legislative body in a country.

DRAFT: A preliminary version of a legal document .

PHILOSOPHY: The most fundamental principles underlying one’s thoughts and actions.

Preamble: An introductory statement in a constitution which states the reasons and guiding values of the constitution.

TREASON: The offence of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance.

TRYST: A meeting or meeting place that has been agreed upon.