White Paper on Indian States (1950)/Part 11
PART XI
INDIAN STATES UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION
215. The new Constitution of India accords to the States their rightful place with the Provinces of India, as full-fledged constituent units of the Indian Union. With the inauguration of the Constitution of India the process of bringing the States to the Provincial level both in respect of their internal constitutional set-up and their relationship with the Centre, which started with the accession of the States on the three subjects of Defence, External Affairs and Communications, has run virtually the whole of its gamut. So rapid has been the process of sitting the States in the new mould that the framers of the new Constitution were constantly outpaced by the events in States and it became necessary to table, right at the very final phase of the Constitution-making, a whole set of amendments which radically altered the position of the States under the new Constitution.
216. When the States entered the Constituent Assembly of India it was envisaged that the Constitution of States would not form part of the Constitution of India. It was also clearly understood that unlike the Provinces the accession of the States to the Indian Union would not be automatic but would be by means of some process of ratification of the Constitution. In the context of these commitments and the conditions then obtaining the framers of the Draft Constitution made provisions which placed the States, in certain important respects, on a footing different from that of the Provinces.
217. As a result of the policy of integration and democratisation of States pursued by the Government of India since December 1947, the internal and external set-up of the States underwent a complete transformation. This greatly accelerated the process of what might be described as the 'unionisation' of States and in consequence it became possible to review the position of the States under the new Constitution and to remove from it all vestiges of anomalies and disparties which crept into the original draft as a legacy from the past.
218. When the Covenants establishing the various Unions of States were entered into it was contemplated that the Constitutions of the various Unions would be framed by their respective Constituent Assemblies within the framework of the Covenants and the Constitution of India. These provisions were made in the Covenants at a time when the theory that any attempt on the part of the Constituent Assembly of India to draft a Constitution for the States would constitute an encroachment on their internal sovereignty still held the field. However, it was soon realised that lack of uniformity in the Constitutions of the various Unions of States would lead to unnecessary complications and in order, therefore, to ensure that the Constitutions of these Unions were drawn up on a uniform basis and that they generally followed the Provincial Constitution, a Committee, with Shri B. N. Rau as Chairman, was appointed to draft a model Constitution for the States to serve as a guide to their Constitution-making bodies in framing the Constitution for their respective States. This was only a half-measure; as the States came closer to the Centre it became clear that the idea of separate Constitutions being framed for different constituent units of the Indian Union was a legacy from the Rulers' polity which could have no place in a democratic set-up. The matter was, therefore, further discussed by the Ministry of States with the Premiers of Unions and States on May 19, 1949 and it was decided, with their concurrence, that the Constitution of the States should also be framed by the Constituent Assembly of India and should form part of the Constitution of India. Accordingly, a committee was appointed, with Shri M. K. Vellodi as Chairman, to examine the Draft Constitution of India and to suggest amendments to be incorporated in the new Constitution with a view to approximating the position of the States to that of the Provinces. The amendments, as they emerged as a result of the discussions with the Drafting Committee, were examined by the Constitution-making bodies of the States where such bodies were in existence, namely, Saurashtra, Travancore-Cochin and Mysore. The Saurashtra Constituent Assembly adopted the draft Constitution in its entirety. The other two Constitution-making bodies proposed a few amendments. Some of these were incorporated in the amendments finally accepted by the Constituent Assembly of India; others were dropped as a result of discussions with the delegations of these Assemblies. The readiness with which these representative bodies accepted this procedure and their helpful approach to the provisions of the Draft Constitution concerning the States, were an indication of the desire of the States people to eschew the separatist trends of the past.
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