Question

Several committees were established for the effective functioning of the Constituent Assembly. Find out more information about them and discuss the role of different committees.

Answer 1

The Constituent Assembly appointed a total of 22 committees to carry out various tasks related to drafting the Constitution. Among them, only 8 were the most important committees, while the remaining were smaller and auxiliary committees. Ten committees handled procedural matters, while 12 committees dealt with fundamental issues. Since the responsibility of drafting the Constitution was crucial, the Drafting Committee is undoubtedly one of the most significant in the history of Indian politics.

The drafting committee was one of the eight most important committees of the Constituent Assembly. It was set up on 29th August 1947 by the constituent assembly. At the first meeting of the Drafting Committee on 30th August 1947, the chairman of the committee was elected as Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

It was the most important committee, as it was entrusted with the responsibility of drafting a new constitution for India based on the reports submitted by the other committees of the constituent assembly. 

The drafting committee published the first draft of the would-be constitution on 21st February 1948. It was then scrutinised by the citizens of India for about eight months. Further amendments were also proposed by the citizens. 

After hearing the feedback from the public, the necessary amendments were made, and the following draft of the constitution was published in October 1948. 

Since its inception in 1947, the drafting committee took 2 years, 11 months, and 17 days to frame the full Constitution of India. 

The constituent Assembly had held a total of 11 sessions over the course of 165 days. Out of these, 114 days were spent on the deliberations of the drafting committee and the draft(s) of the Constitution. 

Major Committees:

Sr. No.		Committee name	President	Picture
1.		Drafting Committee	Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
2.		Central Energy Committee	Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
3.		Central Constituent Assembly	Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
4.		Provincial Constituent Assembly	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
5.		Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribals and Excluded Areas	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
	1.	Fundamental Rights Subcommittee	J.B. Kripalani
	2.	Minorities Subcommittee	Harendra Kumar Mukherjee
	3.	North-Eastern Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded and Partially Excluded Sub-Committee	Gopinath Bordoloi
	4.	Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than Assam) Sub-Committee	A.V. Thakkar
6.		Rules of Procedure Committee	Rajendra Prasad
7.		States Committee (Committee for Negotiations with States)	Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
8.		Steering Committee	Rajendra Prasad
9.		National Flag Ad Hoc Committee	Rajendra Prasad
10.		Meeting of the organization's working committee	Ganesh Vasudev Mavlankar
11.		Meeting Committee	B.P. Sita Rammay
12.		Language Committee	Moturi Satyanarayana
13.		Business Committee Order	K.M. Munshi