YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → School of Law Dr Jaydevan S Nair2023 24 intro

School of Law Dr Jaydevan S Nair2023 24 intro — Transcript

by Centre for Concept Design · 3,567 words · 596 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:09[Music]
0:11dear students the story of the
0:13Constitution of India begins much
0:15earlier to the actual meeting of the
0:17constituent assembly in
0:191946 and its adoption by the constituent
0:22assembly on 26th November
0:251949 and its eventual handing over of
0:28the Sacred document to the Indian State
0:30on the 26th of January
0:331950 the rudimentary beginnings of the
0:36current framework can be traced firstly
0:38to the Colonial British settlements and
0:41the political and administrative habits
0:43that came up in India since the first
0:45ship landed on the shores of India in
0:47the early 17th century the mugal era
0:51that preceded the British period was a
0:53monarchic period and did not reflect the
0:56value systems nor the governance
0:58structure that the British sought to so
1:00when they became serious with the
1:02resolve to govern the country in 1858
1:06after the Mutiny of
1:081857 the English who came to India for
1:11trade through the East India Company a
1:14trading entity that operated under a
1:16charter granted by The Sovereign began
1:19to build a legal and administrative
1:21system for the territories held by them
1:24this could be the earliest attempt to
1:26initiate in a ncent manner systems and
1:30constitutional values into the Indian
1:32Territory that were indispensably woven
1:35into the political and legal system of
1:38England these were executed through the
1:41charter acts promulgated by the crown
1:43from time to time in favor of the East
1:46India Company having laid their
1:49foundations initially at Surat in the
1:51year 16008 the East India Company
1:54expanded their operations territorially
1:57and in course of time held subst fincial
2:00settlements in the
2:01subcontinent it is noteworthy that in
2:04each of these British positions there
2:06was an identity and harmony with respect
2:09to their legal administrative and
2:12Judicial Systems it was in the aftermath
2:15of the first war of independence in the
2:18year 1857 that political sovereignty of
2:21Britain came out of the Shadows of the
2:23East India Company to rule over British
2:26India the administrative dispensation in
2:29India came to be increasingly
2:31scrutinized by the governing missionary
2:33in England through the several periodic
2:36enactments the British sought to
2:38administer their territories in India
2:40beginning from the Indian council's Act
2:42in
2:441861 they were greatly affected and
2:46impelled by the sense of alienation and
2:49intrigued by the causes for the Mutiny
2:52in
2:531857 however the participation of
2:56Indians in the administrative missionary
2:58was still negligible and there was
3:01enormous discontent and a brewing sense
3:03of alienation among the Indian people in
3:06fact a senior and influential figure
3:09Sayed Ahmed Khan went into the cuses of
3:12the 1857 ailion in the course of the
3:15Indian revolt and suly concluded that it
3:18was a lack of participation of the
3:20Indians in the governing missionary that
3:23is a legislative councils for them
3:25having a reason to take up arms against
3:28the British government
3:30the old aristocratic and autocratic form
3:32of the state had to change the 1861 act
3:36introduced the cabinet system of
3:38administration with distributed
3:40portfolios among the legislative council
3:43members however the Indians were still
3:46not there in the higher echelons of
3:49administration Indians were for the
3:51first time associated with the work of
3:53legislation as non-official members of
3:56the council the provinces Bombay and
3:59medras were wested with legislative
4:01powers marking the beginning of
4:03legislative Devolution there was since
4:07the late 19th century a growing national
4:10movement under the banner of Indian
4:12National Congress this was greatly
4:14heralded by the Western educated
4:16intelligentia who wanted the secondary
4:18treatment of Indian citizens to end and
4:22greater participation of the Indians in
4:24the agencies of government it is in this
4:27context that one has to see the nature
4:29of the acts passed by the British the
4:32next important change came with the
4:34passage of the Indian Council act 1892
4:37by the British Parliament it affected
4:39changes to the composition and
4:41functioning of the councils
4:43representation was given to those who
4:45were not in civil and military service
4:48it is noteworthy that it was in the
4:50context of increasing nationalist
4:52sentiments and a nationalist movement
4:55that was brewing across the country that
4:57this Act was passed it has often been
5:00said that the foundation of
5:02Representative governments was laid down
5:04by this act it increased the number of
5:06members in the legislative councils and
5:09also enlarg the functions of the council
5:12most significantly it partially
5:15introduced a system of
5:18Elections this legislation would soon be
5:21overruled by the Indian Council Act of
5:241909 that was promulgated under the ages
5:27of mle MTO reforms
5:30a semblance of democratic representative
5:32Norms could be seen in the
5:34administration of the country with the
5:36introduction of indirect elections the
5:39size of legislative councils were
5:41increased both at the center and the
5:43states importantly the limitations were
5:46removed and the councils were allowed to
5:49discuss any matter ask questions and
5:51supplementary questions on financial
5:54matters the councils could move
5:56resolutions but no voting Powers were
5:58granted the next critical reform happens
6:02through the government of India act 1919
6:05based on monu chsw
6:09reforms The Motto was for increasing the
6:12association of Indians in the
6:13administration and gradual development
6:15of self-governing
6:17Institutions this was for the
6:19realization of responsible government as
6:22an integral part of British Empire it
6:25introduced the concept of diaki in the
6:27provinces the idea of responsible
6:30government was not introduced at the
6:32center however the governor general had
6:35overriding powers as prior sanction was
6:38required for bills to be introduced and
6:41he was also wested with the power of
6:43veto he was bestowed with the power of
6:46legislation even if the legislature was
6:48opposed to it the structure of
6:51governance was unitary with the center
6:53having overarching powers working
6:55through the governor general in Council
6:58the next important critical reform took
7:01place in 1935 through the government of
7:04India act
7:051935 this act was a revolutionary as it
7:08contained several features that have
7:11been carried into the present
7:12constitution of India
7:141950 the ACT provided for an all- India
7:17Federation comprising British India and
7:20such Indian States as want to come into
7:22the
7:23Federation however this never came to be
7:26realized as none of the rulers of Indian
7:28States sign signed the instrument of
7:31accession the Ary was abolished in the
7:33States but was introduced in the center
7:36it saw the beginning of provincial
7:38autonomy power was divided between the
7:41center and provincial legislatures based
7:44on federal list and a provincial list
7:47the federal legislature was composed of
7:50two houses the Council of states and the
7:52Legislative Assembly announcing the
7:55arrival of the idea of federalism the
7:58act very significant ly established the
8:01Federal Court it was wested with
8:03original jurisdiction of hearing
8:05disputes between the states or between
8:07the center and the States it also had an
8:10appellate and advisory
8:14jurisdiction now let us go
8:16into understanding some of the early
8:19attempts at Constitution making the
8:22first bill was the unknown author Bill
8:26we do not know the name of the author of
8:27this bill and it was the first attempt
8:30at drafting a constitution in India and
8:32it can be traced to the constitution of
8:34India Bill
8:361895 the document contained 110 articles
8:40though we do not know the identity of
8:42the author of the bill nevertheless it
8:44has been attributed to Bal gangadhar
8:46tilak who was synonymous with the call
8:49for
8:50swaraj the bill was also called the
8:52swaraj bill however the bill wanted to
8:55be within the confines of the idea of
8:58self-government while being part of the
9:00British Empire the bill went on to
9:03influence other constitutional
9:05prototypes as well it is noteworthy that
9:08some of the Constitutional propositions
9:10in the bill have found acceptance even
9:12today for instance article 16 of the
9:16bill laid down a variety of Rights
9:18including Free Speech imprisonment by
9:21competent Authority and significantly
9:23promised free education as well the next
9:27important stage in constitutional
9:29development ment was in the Annie
9:31bessent Bill the next major attempt can
9:34be seen in the Commonwealth of India
9:35Bill 1925 drafted under the chairmanship
9:39of Annie bessent that contained 127
9:43articles the draft found the inscription
9:46of seven fundamental rights that
9:48included expression of opinion free
9:51assembly and equality before law there
9:54was to be no disqualification or
9:56disability on the ground of sex free and
10:00Elementary education was guaranteed and
10:02all persons were to have equal rights to
10:05the use of Roads Courts of justice and
10:08all other places of business or Resort
10:11dedicated to the public these Provisions
10:14find an echo in the constitution of
10:16India 1950 as well either as a
10:19fundamental right or a director
10:21principle of State policy the next
10:24important stage came with the medras
10:26Congress and the neheru report within 2
10:29years of the Commonwealth of India Bill
10:311925 that failed to be passed by the
10:34British Parliament the British
10:35government constituted the Simon
10:38commission to work on constitutional
10:40reforms in India in response to this
10:43decision the medras Congress in 1927
10:46decided to set up a drafting committee
10:48to draft a swaraj constitution on the
10:51basis of Declaration of Rights one of
10:54the important agenda was to have a
10:57written Declaration of Rights
10:58particularly
10:59as India was a land of minorities in
11:041928 the Congress set up a committee
11:06under the chairmanship of motilal Neu
11:09which eventually resulted in Neu
11:11committee report on the draft
11:13Constitution conable emphasis was placed
11:17on the need for written fundamental
11:19rights particularly in the context of
11:21simmering communal differences in India
11:25it is not worthy that several of the
11:27causes in the Constitution today are
11:30echo of the provisions proposed in the
11:32Naru report the next important committee
11:36recommendation came from T bahadur SAU
11:39the SAU committee report published in
11:42the year 1945 contained Provisions for
11:45constitutional reform with particular
11:47impetus on the incorporation of
11:49fundamental rights mollifying the fears
11:52of minority communities was high on the
11:55agenda the subu committee report brought
11:58forth a distinction between justiciable
12:00rights and non-justiciable rights which
12:02was later on reflected in the
12:04demarcation on into fundamental rights
12:07and direct principles of State policy
12:10equality between communities and
12:13Assurance of civil and political rights
12:15Liberty and Security in the enjoyment of
12:18freedom of religion pursuit of worship
12:20and other ordinary applications of Life
12:23were the highlights of this
12:25report now let us go over to how the
12:29constituent assembly was organized and
12:31its Inception it was in
12:331934 that the Indian National Congress
12:36put forth the demand for a constituent
12:38assembly while denying the acceptability
12:42of the white paper of 1933 put forward
12:45by the British
12:47dispensation as it did not express the
12:50will of the people of India in fact the
12:53strength of this demand can be traced
12:55back to Gandhi in 1922 when he said that
12:59saraj cannot become the gift of British
13:01but that it should spring from the
13:03wishes of the people of India this was
13:06reiterated in several sessions that it
13:09would be a constitution drawn from the
13:12people and framed without any
13:14interference from any foreign Authority
13:17this buoyant mood further hardened with
13:20the onset of the second world war
13:23sensing the mood in India the British
13:26government sent the CPS mission in 194 2
13:29named after sir Stafford Crips who led
13:32the mission it proposed the setting up
13:34of an elected body for framing a new
13:37constitution for India the Indian States
13:40would also be a participant in this
13:42process the composition of this body
13:45shall be of persons elected by
13:46provincial legislatures and others
13:49nominated by the Indian princely States
13:52the proposals were however rejected by
13:55the Indians by the time of the
13:57functioning of the constituent assembly
13:59there was a general sense of national
14:02character among the people of the
14:03country rather than a political entity
14:06identified either as British India or as
14:09Indian states it is important to note
14:12that the labor government which came to
14:14power in Britain in September 1945
14:17ordered that national elections be held
14:20so that the newly created provincial
14:22legislatures could act as electoral
14:25bodies for a constituent assembly to
14:28pave the way for for this the cabinet
14:30Mission 1946 came to India with a
14:34resolve to set up a missionary through
14:36which Indians could set a constitution
14:39of their own however there was a
14:41widening split between the Indian
14:43National Congress and the Muslim League
14:46while the former called for a constient
14:48assembly and self-determination Jina LED
14:52Muslim League preferred British presence
14:54in India and by 1945 called for the
14:58creation of two constituent assemblies
15:00one for Hindustan and the other for
15:03Pakistan as the idea of constitution
15:07assembly was the creation of a foreign
15:09government and accountable to it Gandhi
15:12was not accepting its Sovereign status
15:15though other members of the constituent
15:16assembly did think to be it to be of a
15:19sovereign character to put it Beyond The
15:22Pale of contention later the constituent
15:24assembly made rules which made the
15:27matter quite clear the rules clearly
15:30articulated that the assembly shall not
15:32be dissolved except by a resolution
15:35ascented to by 2/3 of the whole number
15:38of members of the assembly with the
15:40passage of the Indian independence act
15:431947 and with the creation of two states
15:46The Sovereign status of the constituent
15:48assembly was beyond doubt the
15:51constituent assembly worked both as a
15:53national legislature of the newly
15:56Independent India as well as the body
15:59drafting the country's new
16:01constitution it is noteworthy that the
16:04members of the constituent assembly were
16:06not elected on the basis of universal
16:09franchise provincial elections were held
16:12in India in 1945
16:151946 it was the provincial legislatures
16:18that chose the representatives of to the
16:20constituent assembly it is interesting
16:23to note that the elections to the
16:25constituent assembly was through an
16:26indirect electoral process among the
16:29elected members of the provincial
16:31assemblies already in place though
16:34experts point out that it was not truly
16:37representative of the Indian population
16:39it catered to represent the sentiments
16:42of both minorities as well as the
16:44majorities the cabinet Mission plan
16:47rejected the idea of direct elections to
16:49the constituent assembly by adult
16:51suffrage as that would be too cumbersome
16:54and slow now let us go over to the
16:58composition and functioning of the
17:00constient assembly the constituent
17:02assembly was composed of 299 members 229
17:06members elected from the 12 Indian
17:07provinces and 70 members nominated from
17:1129 princely States in order to
17:14facilitate the functioning of the
17:16constituent assembly the services of
17:18experiened tals were called in for
17:21instance B Andra who was from the
17:23judicial segment of the civil services
17:26was given the responsibility of charting
17:29the working of the assembly his
17:32expertise in comparative constitutional
17:34systems was put to good use from the
17:38voting process to the nature of the
17:40sessions he used his prior exposure in
17:42comparative law to good effect the
17:45assembly was constituted into committees
17:47in order to accomplish the goals of the
17:50Constitutional assembly these eight
17:52committees were composed of 36 members a
17:56leader of the downtrodden Dr V edar a
17:59constitutional luminary and an economist
18:02was made the chairman of the drafting
18:04committee it is noteworthy that the
18:07consent assembly had notable women
18:09representation as well 15 women members
18:12including Hansa mea in the fundamental
18:15rights subcommittee and beam Asis rasul
18:18were prominent vocal members the process
18:22of constitution making was deliberated
18:25upon by the wus working committees and
18:27lasted from December 1946 to August
18:311947 these were further reviewed by Dr
18:34BR ambedkar and the final version was
18:37presented to the assembly in November
18:401949 a significant part of deliberations
18:43was on the draft constitutions prepared
18:46by the drafting committee members of the
18:48constituent assembly proposed amendments
18:50which have to be submitted in advance to
18:53the chairman and these were debated at
18:55length at the end of a debate around an
18:58article of the draft Constitution the
19:00constituent assembly either adopted or
19:03rejected the Amendments the drafting
19:06took place through the Committees and
19:08plenary meetings the Committees were
19:11smaller groups of assembly members
19:13responsible to prepare draft articles
19:16reports and notes on specific aspects of
19:20the Constitution the assembly at the
19:22plenary level was convened in full
19:24strength and discussed the reports of
19:27various committees am amendments were
19:29then moved debated dropped or adopted
19:33the constituent assembly took decisions
19:35through a majority vote on 26th November
19:391949 after 166 days of deliberations the
19:43final constitutional document was
19:45adopted by the constituent assembly the
19:47day is observed as Constitution Day in
19:51India now let us move over to some of
19:54the Salient features of the Constitution
19:56of India the lengthiest con in the world
19:59the Indian constitution is the
20:01lengthiest and the most detailed
20:03constitution in the world it originally
20:06contained 395 articles divided into 22
20:10parts and eight schedules can you guess
20:13the number of Articles and amendments
20:15carried out to this constitutional
20:16document till today the Constitution
20:20contains in part three a long list of
20:23fundamental rights and in part four
20:25there to principles of State policy
20:29the Constitution
20:30establishes a sovereign socialist
20:33secular Democratic Republic the term
20:36socialist was inserted in the Preamble
20:38by the 42nd Amendment act
20:411976 however the idea is already in
20:44essence there in the Constitution the
20:46term secularism means the state does not
20:49have any official religion and it treats
20:52all religions equally once again the
20:55spirit of secularism is resonant in the
20:58Constitution
20:59which has been later inserted through
21:01the 42nd amendment in the year
21:041976 the term Democratic means that the
21:07constitution establishes a form of
21:09government which gets its Authority from
21:11the people the term republic means that
21:14there shall be an elected Head of the
21:17State as regards the words parliamentary
21:20form of government a parliamentary form
21:22of government is envisaged by the center
21:24and the states they have followed the
21:26British model the government PO is
21:29responsible to the legislature it is
21:31therefore called a responsible
21:35government a significant highlight of
21:38the Constitution of India is that there
21:40is in part three of the Constitution the
21:42fundamental rights which have been
21:44Incorporated these rights act as
21:47prohibitions against the state the state
21:49cannot make laws violating the
21:51fundamental rights if it does so the
21:54courts can strike it down both the
21:56Supreme Courts and the high court courts
21:59have been endured with the power to
22:00strike down legislation as well as
22:02executive action that violates
22:04fundamental rights the fundamental
22:07rights however are not absolute rights
22:10these are exceptions and situations
22:13where the state can act in restraining
22:15the exercise of fundamental rights of
22:17the citizens the idea of fundamental
22:20rights in a written form has been
22:22borrowed from the Constitution of United
22:24States of
22:26America however the same in our con
22:28Constitution has been balanced with the
22:30needs of security of the state the next
22:34important highlight of the Constitution
22:36is the incorporation of what's called as
22:39the dir of principles of State policy
22:42this was incorporated into part four of
22:44the Constitution of India it sets down
22:47the aims and objectives to guide the
22:49governance of the country unlike
22:51fundamental rights the dtive principles
22:54are
22:56non-justiciable however though not
22:58accountable in a court of law the
23:00directive principles of State policy are
23:02important yard sticks to judge the
23:05performance of the government and they
23:06can be measured during the
23:09elections the next important highlight
23:11is the idea of welfare state which is
23:14ingrained in the directive principles of
23:16State
23:18policy another highlight of this
23:21Federation which is India is the strong
23:24centralizing tendency in the Federation
23:27power is distribut Ed between the center
23:29and the states there is a detailed
23:31distribution of powers between the
23:33center and the states through the
23:35seventh schedule of the
23:37Constitution however despite this grant
23:40of lawmaking and administrative powers
23:43to States one can discern a very strong
23:45centralizing tendency in the
23:48Constitution there is a distribution of
23:50financial powers between the center and
23:52the states as well however this state of
23:55affairs acquires a unitary character
23:57with the Declaration of emergency this
24:00is a unique highlight of the federal
24:02system in India another significant
24:05highlight is universal adult suffrage a
24:09uniform adult suffrage system has been
24:11introduced in India every man or woman
24:15above the age of 18 years has been
24:17endured with the right to elect
24:19representatives for the legislatures
24:21this right is unqualified without
24:24reference to sex property taxation or
24:27the like
24:29a significant highlight of the Indian
24:32Federation is that there is an
24:34independent Judiciary an independent and
24:37impartial Judiciary has been established
24:39in India to resolve disputes it is a
24:42custodian of the rights of the people it
24:45also acts as an Arbiter of disputes
24:47between the constituent units of India
24:49in the context of India being Federal in
24:53character another significant highlight
24:56is a single citizenship even though we
24:58are a federal state and the power is
25:00divided between the center and the
25:02States the Constitution provides only
25:04for a single citizenship there is no
25:07concept of dual or state
25:10citizenship another significant
25:12highlight of the Indian constitution is
25:15the incorporation of fundamental duties
25:18we are among a few countries in the
25:20world to incorporate the idea of
25:22fundamental duties into the Constitution
25:25it prescribes the duties that are
25:27expected of the citizens the violation
25:29of which can entail legal consequences
25:32the fundamental Duties are enshrined in
25:34part 4 a article 51a of the Indian
25:39constitution thank
25:49[Music]
25:52you

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of School of Law Dr Jaydevan S Nair2023 24 intro by Centre for Concept Design, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 3,567 words across 596 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.