BR.

AMBEDKAR AND HIS CONTRIBUTION IN

MAKING OF CONSTITUTION

There has been a galaxy of great men in India. One of most illustrious persons
amongst them is Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. In spite of his being born in a
family of Untouchables, who were being socially, politically and economically
being suppressed, he rose to grater heights and occupied very important positions
entirely on account of his laborious hard work and strong will power. He was a
scholar par excellence, a philosopher, a genius, a visionary, an emancipator, and a
true social activist who always fought for uplifting poorer and weaker sections of
Indian society and strived for their well being. Not only that but he was also
associated with many historical events like south Borough commission, Simon
commission, Round table conference, Government of India act 1935, Cripps
mission, Cabinet mission and many other. He proved his strong metal in drafting
the revolutionary living document i.e., 'The Constitution of India'. This essay
particularly envisages his vital role in framing the Constitution of India.

India became an independent nation on 15th of August 1947. But India became
republic on 26th of January 1950. It took about 3 years for us to be called as a
republic nation though we were independent. This time period was used for
accomplishing a very important task i.e., drafting of our constitution. Prior to that a
constituent assembly was opened on 9 December 1946 to frame independent
India’s Constitution. After we have become independent, with Nehru as our first
prime minister Ambedkar was chosen to be the first law minister of the nation. On
29th August 1947 constituent assembly formed a drafting committee with seven
members including Ambedkar. Ambedkar, because of his bright characteristics,
deep and vast study, tremendous knowledge, expertise in various fields and his
strong command over English language, was unanimously selected as the
chairman of the drafting committee of Indian Constitution. The prime duty of this
committee was to draft Constitution in keeping mind the current and future
necessities of the nation for it’s welfare and well-being. Ambedkar from now was
totally immersed in the task of making Indian Constitution.
Making a Constitution for a vast and diverse nation like India is not a simple task.
There must be a consideration of all diverse aspects such as religion, language,
region, caste, and many other which played a dominant role in that day society.
Equal opportunities to all, unbiased ness over allocation of different resources and
services, being able to provide better living conditions for all the people in the
nation there by uplifting them politically, socially and economically becomes main
agenda while preparing a Constitution for a nation like India whose economy and
demography was disturbed and looted by colonial imperialism. Ambedkar also
being an expert in history and anthropology apart from his deep knowledge over
different Constitutions across the globe understood this aspect very well. So, he
worked day and night putting his heart and soul in drafting constitution. We can
say constitution of India clearly resembles ideas and ideologies of B.R. Ambedkar.

The draft Constitution by Ambedkar and his mates have several unique features.
Firstly it is one among the very few written Constitutions of the world. Secondly it
is not only very comprehensive but also very carefully worded. Thirdly it combines
the requisite degree of flexibility and also it’s strong enough to hold the country
together both at peace and war time. Finally he made it a dynamic Constitution, so
that necessary amendments can be put in it meeting necessities of the society with
passage of time. All these features made our constitution stand still even after 70
years of it’s came into force.

Ambedkar worked on making our constitution to be a social document through

which lives of millions of people can be made better. He was determined to bring
revolutionary changes in national life of India. We all know that, in India there
existed a caste-ridden social inequality for centuries together. Hence in order to
change this situation he wanted to bring a complete change in social, political and
economic life of Indian society. He experienced how millions of people were being
deprived of basic human rights. He thought that democracy is not only a mere form
of government but also it can be a prime mover of social and economic status of
people. So he wanted a society based on democratic principles and values. His
conviction was that all these can be done only through constitutional means. Thus
through constitution he succeeded in establishing an egalitarian society in India
based on constitutional values.
Ambedkar never wanted to impose a ' constitution ' on Indians but he wanted it to
be drafted in such a manner through which aspirations of Indians can be fulfilled.
He clearly knew what type of government , governing bodies and policies must be
set up so that people gets benefitted. So, he framed out our constitution hinge on
certain fundamental aspects. Firstly he examined functioning of a democratic
government on basis of stability and responsibility. However, in the constitution he
recommended that parliamentary of executive must have more responsibility
towards stability. Secondly, on talking about the character of the constitution it was
“ federal in form and unitary in spirit “. It established dual polity with union at the
center and states at the peripheral level, each of these having their own sovereign
powers.

Ambedkar was a master in convincing other members of constituent assembly

through his exact argument while discussing about issues that benefits the life of
common people. For example he offered more powers to the center and made it
strong. Some members of the constituent assembly condemned this as it was
contradictory with Ambedkar’s ideology of development of each province and
each village. He then justified it by saying, he made center strong not only to save
minorities from misrule majorities but also that only center can work for general
interests of the entire country as a whole. There are many other instances of same
kind.

In any country equality of opportunity plays a major role in social and economic
development of it’s people. Ambedkar gave very importance to this aspect in
constitution. He had provided us with some fundamental rights and of them he said
equality of opportunity is very important one. He also considered article 32 i.e.,
right to constitutional remedies as the very heart and soul of our constitution.
Directive principles of state policy were also put in constitution to bring social and
economic equality. He emphasized on measuring the progress of a community by
degree of progress that women have achieved. So, he did all that he can do to bring
gender equality through constitutional means.
He had also stressed upon importance of national integration. Single citizenship,
single judiciary, all India common civil service examinations are few examples of
his work on integrating nation through constitutional law. Ambedkar’s thoughts on
states reorganization are worthy of serious attention even today. His ideas of
removing barriers for social and economic development, that were incorporated in
our constitution are clearly visible. His contribution can be seen in all 395 articles,
22 parts and 8 schedules of our constitution. For example eradication of
untouchability through article 17, right to life and personal liberty through article
21 etc.

Ambedkar’s work was praised by many members of the constituent assembly like,
Krishnamachari, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad and many other. So, the
contribution by this great man in making of our constitution will be written in
Golden words in Indian history as a creator of social justice. Dr. Ambedkar was a
visionary, a champion of the common man with uncommon zeal for the interests of
the millions, who keep this democracy alive. The credit of working of our
constitution so perfectly even after 70 years of it’s commencement is incredible.
That’s why recently chief justice of India Dipak Misra said and I quote “ we all
are under constitutional sovereignty, and we have to surrender to constitutional
supremacy”. Thus Ambedkar truly deserves being called as the “THE CHIEF
ARCHITECT or THE FATHER OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION”.