Borrowing Battles: Kerala’s Curious Reliance on Constitutional History
May 7, 2024
In the Supreme Court, Kerala contended that states have unrestricted authority to borrow money, citing Indian constitutional history among other arguments. This piece briefly examines the genesis of Article 293 and explores Kerala’s use of constitutional history in this instance.
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Why Ambedkar Opposed an Indian Constituent Assembly
April 1, 2021
B.R. Ambedkar’s seminal contribution to Indian constitution-making as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee is widely celebrated and acknowledged. Less known was his initial critique of an Indian Constituent Assembly in the mid-1940s. On 6 May 1945, Ambedkar addressed a gathering of the All-Indian Scheduled Castes Federation. Instead of speaking about the sectional interests of the Scheduled Castes, he chose to speak on a ‘topic which is general and has wider appeal, namely, the shape and form of the future Constitution of India’.
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November 1948: Ambedkar presents Draft Constitution, Indian Constitution-Making Shifts into High Gear
November 7, 2020
4th November 1948 was a critical date in India’s constitution-making process: B.R. Ambedkar, Drafting Committee Chairman, formally introduced the Draft Constitution in the Constituent Assembly. This ‘formidable’ (as Ambedkar referred to it) document, containing 315 Articles and 8 Schedules, was the culmination of the Assembly’s work, particularly its committees, that began on 9th December 1946. From this point onwards, all of the Assembly’s debates – 114 out of 165 sittings – centred around this Draft. These debates mark the most intense phase of Indian constitution-making.
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