Indian Constitution: The Need To Borrow Features

The Constituent Assembly was of the opinion that India should borrow a lot of concepts and features from other nations because these nations had the necessary experiences to deal with situations which India would also face in the future.

Borrowed Features of Indian Constitution From Other Countries

Let’s take a look at the countries from which we borrowed features and the borrowed features as well:

Countries	Features Borrowed
Australia	– The Concept of Concurrent List Trade and Commerce – Parliament’s Joint-sitting
Canada	– Federalism Residuary Powers – State Governors and Their Appointment – Supreme Court and Its Jurisdiction
Ireland	-Directive Principles of State Policy – Rajya Sabha and Nominations – Presidential Elections
Russia (Erstwhile USSR)	– Fundamental Duties
UK	– Bicameral Legislature – Single Citizenship Parliamentary Form of Government – Cabinet Parliamentary Privileges
US	– Fundamental Rights Judiciary and Its Independence – Review by the Judiciary – Concept of Impeachment
France	– Equality, Liberty and Fraternity – Republic

Apart from these countries, the Constituent Assembly generously borrowed from the Government of India Act, 1935.

Indian Constitution: Tailoring Features to Suit Context

It is a certain possibility that many argue that the Indian Constitution is a conglomeration of borrowed features and there may not be any individuality in it. However, one should keep in mind that the framers of the Indian Constitution meticulously tailored these features to suit the Indian context. Additionally, it should also be noted that the members of the Constituent Assembly further took pains to iron out the flaws and defects in the borrowed features.

So borrowed features of the Indian Constitution had a definitive role to play in the framing of the charter and talks of ‘copy-paste’ don’t have any merit.

For example, we have borrowed a parliamentary form of government from the UK. But we don’t have a supreme king or queen in India. It is the President of India who is the supreme commander of our armed forces. It is to be noted that the UK doesn’t have such a provision.

The Indian Constitution is also a written document. An important point to note here is that several countries like New Zealand have no written constitution. The Indian Constitution has more than 400 articles, while that of Australia has around 130 articles.

Due to its phenomenal brainstorming, the Constituent Assembly ensured that the cultural diversity of India was also given its due importance while framing the Indian Constitution.

Dr Ambedkar on Criticisms on Borrowed Features

The Father of the Indian Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar gave a befitting reply to allegations against borrowed features of Indian Constitution, that included borrowings from Government of India Act, 1935. He said,

“As to the accusation that the Draft Constitution has reproduced a good part of the provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, I make no apologies. There is nothing to be ashamed of in borrowing. It involves no plagiarism. Nobody holds any patent rights in the fundamental ideas of a Constitution….”

So one should always keep in mind that the Indian Constitution is unique in its spirit and content though it has referred to as many as 60 different constitutions and borrowed generously.

We hope this article on Borrowed Features of Indian Constitution helps you understand the need for borrowing concepts and how they were edited to suite Indian polity. For much such informative article, keep visiting Embibe.

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Last Modified 27-01-2025

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Borrowed Features of Indian Constitution

Indian Constitution: The Need To Borrow Features