List of Borrowed Features of Indian Constitution

The Constitution of India is the longest handwritten constitution in the world. It has 464 articles under 25 parts, 12 schedules, 5 appendices, and 122 amendments. There are some salient features of the Constitution of India taken from other countries of the world. The Constitution is the backbone of democracy in India. Many features are borrowed from other countries' Constitutions such as Fundamental Rights, Rule of Law, Fundamental Duties, Parliament Government, Method of the election, Judicial Review, Emergency proclamation etc.  

The Constituent Assembly borrowed features of the Indian Constitution on the first republic day on 26th November 1949 and it came to action on 26th of January 1950. The Constitution controls and determines the relations between the different institutions and components of the government, the legislature, the executives, the judiciary, the central and the local government. The Indian Constitution is unique in its articles and parts. 

Although many features of the constitution of India are taken from other countries, the Indian constitution has many features that make it different from the constitutions of other countries. We will study the different features of the Indian constitution adopted from which country.

(Image will be uploaded soon)

 Image: Constitutional Concept Borrowed from other countries

List of Borrowed Features of Indian Constitution

The list of the features of the constitution of India taken from other countries is listed below. The name of features of the  Indian constitution adopted from which country are listed before the country name.

Important Sources of the Indian Constitution

Some important sources of features of the Indian constitution borrowed from different countries are given below which led to the implementation of the Constitution of India.

              (Image will be uploaded soon)

   Image: Countries from features of the Indian constitution are taken

• Government of India Act 1935

This was the longest act passed by the British government in 1935, with 321 sections and 10 schedules. This act had drawn its content from four sources - discussions and deliberations at the Third Round Table Conference, the White Paper of 1933, the reports of the Joint select committees, and the Report of the Simon Commission. The Government of India Act terminated the system of provincial dyarchy and suggested the establishment of dyarchy at the centre and a ‘Federation of India’ consisting of the provinces of British India and the princely states. When this act came, then the office of the Governor was established; all the executive powers of the centre were given to the Governor.

Some important features of this act are given below:

• Federal Legislature: The act proposed that the legislature will have two houses, the first will be the Council of States, and the second will be the Federal Assembly. The Council of States (Rajya Sabha) was the upper house that was declared as a permanent body. The Federal Assembly was decided as the lower house with a tenure expanding up to five years.

• Provincial Autonomy: The Provincial Governments were responsible only to Provincial Legislatures and helped them break free from external control. The powers between the centre and states were divided in terms of three lists – Federal list, Provincial list and Concurrent list. 

• The United Kingdom

Some of those features which are taken from the Constitution of The United Kingdom are:

Parliamentary form of government: In the Parliamentary form of government, the country is governed by a cabinet of ministers. The leader of the cabinet is the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the head of the Parliament government.  

Rule of Law: The concept of the rule of law,, leading states that everyone is equal before the law, even the ones making it. The State can not prohibit a person's equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.

The idea of single citizenship: A person born or migrated to the Indian Territory can have India’s political and civil rights.

• The United States of America

The Indian Constitution has adopted many features from the United States of America's Constitution. There are some features that are taken from the United States of America; they are given below.

Fundamental Rights: The Indian Constitution contains all the fundamental rights from  Articles 12 to 32. Fundamental rights are the basic human rights that are given to the citizens of any country to secure and maintain equality in society. Everyone knows about fundamental rights, but they do not know fundamental rights taken from which country. The six fundamental rights are - Right to Equality, Right to Freedom of Religion, Right to Freedom, Right against Exploitation, Cultural and Educational Rights and last is Right to Constitutional Remedies.

Judicial Review: The Judicial Review gives the judiciary an upper hand in interpreting the Constitution. The judiciary can nullify an order by the legislature or executive if the order conflicts with the Constitution of the country.

• Ireland

Many important features are borrowed from the Irish Constitution. The important feature borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland is the provision of the Directive Principles of State Policy. The Directive Principles of State Policy are listed in Part IV of the Indian Constitution, and it states that the State must apply principles in the process of law-making. 

• Canada

The features borrowed from the Constitution of Canada are The provisions of a Federation with a centre, the advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and  Residuary powers of the Centre, the appointment of State governors by the Centre. Article 248 of the Constitution has declared that the Parliament has the power to make laws regarding any item which are not mentioned in the Union and State lists. Article 143 gives an advisory jurisdiction for the Supreme Court. Under this provision, the President can seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on public matters, and the Supreme Court can give its opinion.

• France

The Indian Preamble was borrowed from the French Constitution. The ideals of the Preamble are  Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. The Indian state gets recognition as the ‘Republic of India’ in the lineage of the Constitution of France.

• Russia

Fundamental duties borrowed from the Constitution of Russia. These are duties assigned by the Indian Constitution to the citizens of India. Other features that took from the Russian Constitution are the ideals of justice in the field of social, economic and political.

• Australia

The Constitution of Australia provides us with the provisions of Freedom of Trade and Commerce in the country and the states. The same provisions are written down in Articles 301-307 of the Indian Constitution. The Australian Constitution also gave the provisions of the Concurrent List and the joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament.

• South Africa

The Constitution of South Africa gave the Indian Constitution the provisions of the amendment in the constitution and the Election of the members of the Rajya Sabha.

• Germany 

The German Constitution provides us with the suspension of fundamental rights during an emergency.

Various provisions or features of the Constitution of India taken from other countries; now, they are absorbed in the Indian Constitution. The Indian Constitution is written in detail, which makes it the most detailed constitution in the world. The American Constitution has seven articles, the Australian Constitution has128 articles, and the Indian Constitution consists of 395 articles which have now increased to 448 articles.

It is drafted considering various factors such as the historical perspective of Indian Nationalist struggles, the geographical diversity of India, its traditions and characteristics. There were many challenges when the Indian constitution was being made, but the Drafting Committee had successfully drafted the world's largest constitution.

Did You Know?

• The father of the Indian Constitution and the Chairman of the Drafting Committee is Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

• The formulation of the Indian Constitution borrowed much inspiration from different constitutions from various countries, which took  2 years, 11 months and 18 days to complete the Indian Constitution.