The Founding Fathers of the Indian Constitution were wise enough to know about the Borrowed Features of The Constitution from the experience gained in the working of various other Constitutions. They also kept in mind the needs and conditions of India. Nearly 75 percent of the Constitution can be said to be a reproduction of the Government of India Act- 1935 with suitable adaptations and modifications. Following are the borrowed features of the constitution from different countries.
Borrowed Features of The Constitution
From U.K.
- Nominal Head – President (like Queen)
- Cabinet System of Ministers.
- Post of Prime Minister.
- Parliamentary Type of Government
- Bicameral Parliament
- Lower House more powerful
- Council of Ministers responsible to Lower House
- Speaker in the Lok Sabha
- Single citizenship
From The United States
- Written Constitution
- Executive head of state known as President and his being the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
- Vice – President as the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha
- Fundamental Rights
- Supreme Court
- Provision of States
- Independence of Judiciary and judicial review
- Preamble
- Removal of Supreme Court and High Court judges
From USSR
- Concurrent List
- Language of the preamble
From Australia
- Concurrent List
- Language of Preamble
- Provision regarding trade, commerce
From Japan
- Law on which the Supreme Court function
From Weimar Constitution of Germany
- Suspension of Fundamental Rights during the emergency
From South Africa
- Procedure of Constitutional Amendments
From Canada
- Scheme of federation with a strong centre
- Distribution of powers between Centre and the States and placing. Residuary Power with the Centre
From Ireland
- Concept of Directive Principles of State Policy (Ireland borrowed it from SPAIN)
- Method of election of the President
- Nomination of members in the Rajya Sabha by the President
Must Read:
20 Features of Indian Constitution