Constitutional Design (Class 9 Civics Chapter 2 Notes)

• Apartheid: The racial segregation system imposed by the white minority government in South Africa. Black people were denied voting rights, pushed into terrible living areas, and banned from white areas.
• The Struggle: The African National Congress (ANC), led by Nelson Mandela, fought against apartheid. Mandela was imprisoned for 28 years.
• A New Nation: In 1994, apartheid ended, and South Africa became a democracy. The whites and blacks sat down together to draft one of the finest constitutions the world has ever seen, based on equality and human rights.

Every democratic (and even non-democratic) country needs a constitution because:

• It generates a degree of trust and coordination necessary for different kinds of people to live together.
• It specifies how the government will be constituted and who will have the power to take which decisions.
• It lays down the limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the rights of the citizens are.

Unlike South Africa, India had to draft its constitution during a violent religious partition.

• The Constituent Assembly: An assembly of elected representatives that drafted the document. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the President of the Assembly.
• Time Taken: The assembly took exactly 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days to complete the draft.
• Adoption: The Constitution was adopted on 26th November 1949 and officially came into effect on 26th January 1950 (Republic Day).

The soul of the Indian Constitution is embedded in its Preamble, which declares India to be a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, and Democratic Republic, securing Justice, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for all its citizens.