{"id":51422,"date":"2019-08-20T18:36:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T13:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?page_id=51422"},"modified":"2019-08-20T18:36:26","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T13:06:26","slug":"answered-why-indian-constitution-is-called-as-a-borrowed-document-do-you-think-it-is-a-copy-of-constitution-of-various-countries","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-why-indian-constitution-is-called-as-a-borrowed-document-do-you-think-it-is-a-copy-of-constitution-of-various-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] Why Indian Constitution is called as a \u2018borrowed document\u2019? Do you think it is a copy of constitution of various countries?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Demand of the question<\/strong>
Introduction.<\/strong> Contextual Introduction.
Body.<\/strong> Various borrowed parts. Why not a copy-paste work?
Conclusion. <\/strong>Way forward. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Indian Constitution is the longest written constitution in the world. It has borrowed many provisions from the constitutions of various other countries. However, calling the Constitution a copy of other constitutions is unfair as it is not a result of blind copy and paste but a result of continuous hard work and study of over 2 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indian constitution a borrowed\ndocument:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Import of Government of India Act,\n1935: <\/strong>The\nconstitution have included a large number of the provisions of the Government\nof India Act of 1935 into the Constitution of India. It include federal Scheme,\nOffice of governor, Judiciary, Public Service Commissions, Emergency provisions\netc. <\/li>
  2. Borrowed from Britain: <\/strong>Britain ruled for India over 200\nyears. Thus major part of polity is shaped according to Britain\u2019s polity. E.g. Parliamentary\ngovernment, Rule of Law, Legislative procedure, Single citizenship, Cabinet\nsystem are from Britain unwritten constitution.<\/li>
  3. Ireland: <\/strong>Many important parts are borrowed\nfrom Ireland. These are Directive Principles of State Policy, Nomination of\nmembers to Rajya Sabha and Method of election of president.<\/li>
  4. Unites States of America: <\/strong>United States of America is\ndemocracy like India. India borrowed many parts like Impeachment of the\npresident, Functions of president and vice-president, Removal of Supreme Court\nand High court judges, Fundamental Right, Judicial review, Independence of\njudiciary and Preamble of the constitution form USA which has helped India to\nthrive as largest democracy in the world.<\/li>
  5. Canada: <\/strong>From Canada we inspired and modelled our polity\nas a union. Borrowed provisions from Canada are Federation with a strong Centre,\nVesting of residuary powers in the Centre , Appointment of state governors by\nthe Centre and Advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.<\/li>
  6. Australia: <\/strong>From Australia Concurrent List, Freedom\nof trade, Commerce and inter-course and Joint sitting of the two Houses of\nParliament were borrowed.<\/li>
  7. Soviet Constitution (USSR, now\nRussia): <\/strong>Indian\nconstitution borrowed Fundamental duties and ideal of justice (social, economic\nand political) in the Preamble From USSR.<\/li>
  8. Many other ideas were borrowed from\nJapan, France and South Africa. Thereby Indian constitution borrowed\nsignificant portion from all over the world but it was not a copy-paste, rather\nwas a conscious adoption of strong provisions across the world for Indian\nsociety.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Not a copy-paste work:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. The framers of the constitution made\nnecessary modifications in the features borrowed from other constitutions for\ntheir suitability to the Indian conditions, at the same time avoiding their\nfaults. <\/li>
    2. It was codification if many existing\nlaws and values into one document.<\/li>
    3. Concepts of equality, Fraternity and\nLiberty, federalism, republic, democracy etc. all were to be found in ancient\nIndian history and scriptures. <\/li>
    4. It was never a blind borrowing. It\nwas innovative borrowing.<\/li>
    5. When western modernity began to\ninteract with local cultural systems, something like a hybrid culture began to\nemerge, possibly by creative adaptation. Thus, when we were drafting our\nConstitution, efforts were made to amalgamate western and traditional Indian\nvalues. It was a process of selective adaptation and not borrowing.<\/li>
    6. Its a result of strong brainstorming\nfor 2years, 11 months and 18 days. They studies many many different\nconstitutions of various nations but did not copy paste it. They improvised\nevery and every means any article you read as per the basis of Indian\ncircumstances.<\/li>
    7. Our Constitution has indeed taken\nreferences from existing constitutions of the world, but it has not borrowed\nthe constitution as it exists. For example, US constitution envisages Bill of\nRights, while our Constitution envisages rights, as well as Fundamental Duties\nof all citizens of India.<\/li>
    8. We have also taken a strong\nreference from British Constitution to constitute a sovereign and\nparliamentarian system in India. However, there is no supreme king\/queen in\nIndia, and our President is the Head of State. He is also the supreme commander\nof armed forces. There is no such provision in British Constitution.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Thus Indian constitution is not just a copy-paste work.Instead Indian constitution is a result of dedicated learning of those makers. What we need to understand is that Indian constitution is not a carbon copy of existing constitutions of the world. During India\u2019s independence era, we needed a quick constitution to start our united and free India. India has taken great strides in making constitution, and it was the duty of our constitutional forefathers to draft a constitution to fit a country so culturally diverse, and economically wide. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Demand of the question Introduction. Contextual Introduction. Body. Various borrowed parts. Why not a copy-paste work? Conclusion. Way forward. Indian Constitution is the longest written constitution in the world. It has borrowed many provisions from the constitutions of various other countries. However, calling the Constitution a copy of other constitutions is unfair as it is… Continue reading [Answered] Why Indian Constitution is called as a \u2018borrowed document\u2019? Do you think it is a copy of constitution of various countries?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49132,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-51422","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}