Committees of Constituent Assembly, Major & Minor Committees List

There was a total of 22 Committees of the Constituent Assembly & of them 8 were the Major committees & 14 were Minor. Check the complete List of Major & Minor Committees in detail for the UPSC exam.

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Committees of Constituent Assembly

The Constituent Assembly had composed of different committees working in specific areas of constitution-making. There was a total of 22 committees of the constituent assembly and of them, only 8 were the most important committees, while the remaining were the minor and supporting committees. Out of the 22 committees, 10 committees handled Procedural affairs while 12 committees handled substantive affairs.

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Head of Constituent Assembly

Dr Sachidanand Sinha was the first temporary head (President) of the Constituent Assembly. Later, Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected its head (President). The Committees of the Constituent Assembly were divided into 8 major and 14 minor committees.

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Major Committees of Constituent Assembly

The 8 Major Committees of the Constituent Assembly are given below:

S.No.	Committees	Chairman
1.	Union Power Committee	Jawaharlal Nehru
2.	Rule of Procedure Committee	Dr Rajendra Prasad
3.	Provincial Constitution Committee	Sardar Patel
4.	Steering Committee	Dr Rajendra Prasad
5.	Drafting Committee	Dr BR Ambedkar
6.	Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, Tribal and Excluded areas	Sardar Patel was the head of this committee. This committee has the following five committees: Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee – J.B. Kripalani Minorities Sub-Committee – H.C. Mukherjee North-East Frontier Tribal Areas & Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee – Gopinath Bardoloi Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee – A.V. Thakkar North-West Frontier Tribal Areas Sub-Committee Note: North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan became part of the Pakistan territory as a result the tribal areas in this region became a concern of Pakistan. Hence, the Sub-Committee on the Tribal Areas in the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan was not called upon to function on behalf of the Assembly of India.
7.	Union Constituent Committee	Jawaharlal Nehru
8.	State Committee	Jawaharlal Nehru

Minor Committees of Constituent Assembly

The 14 Minor Committees of the Constituent Assembly are given below:

S.No.	Committees	Chairman
1.	Finance and Staff Committee	Dr. Rajendra Prasad
2.	Credentials Committee	Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar
3.	House Committee	B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
4.	Order of Business Committee	Dr. K.M. Munshi
5.	Ad-hoc Committee on the National Flag	Dr. Rajendra Prasad
6.	Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly	G.V. Mavalankar
7.	Ad-hoc Committee on the Supreme Court	S. Varadachari (Not an Assembly Member)
8.	Committee on Chief Commissioners’ Provinces	B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
9.	Expert Committee on the Financial Provisions of the Union Constitution	-Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (Not an Assembly Member)
10.	Linguistic Provinces Commission	S.K. Dar (Not an Assembly Member)
11.	Special Committee to Examine the Draft Constitution	Jawaharlal Nehru
12.	Press Gallery Committee	Usha Nath Sen
13.	Ad-hoc Committee on Citizenship	S. Varadachari (Not an Assembly Member)
14.	Committee to Examine the Effect of the Indian Independence Act of 1947

Language Committee of the Constituent Assembly

Debate on the Language of the Constituent Assembly: Constituent Assembly was constituted by the British in 1946 to solve political problems and to draft a Constitution for India. The language of the Assembly from the very first became a question of controversy as some of the members favoured Hindi while some favoured Hindustani. But there were some members who were in favour of English.

But, the Language Committee under Moturi Satyanarayana suggested regarding the issue of Hindi as the Official National language was – Hindi in Devanagari script would be accepted as the official language of India; the translation of Hindi would be gradual and for the first fifteen years English would be used for the official purpose and Each province would be allowed to opt for one regional language.

Women in the Constituent Assembly

Women played an essential role in framing the Indian Constitution. There were 15 women members who contributed towards bringing in the Constitution of independent India. The notable contributions of each of these 15 personalities are:

Women Leaders	Important Facts
Shrimati Ammu Swaminathan	She had put forth that the two stable pillars on which the Indian Constitution rests are the Fundamental Rights, and the Directive Principles of State Policy.
Shrimati Annie Mascarene’s	Worked on the select committee on the Hindu code bill. She also helped Sardar Patel for unifying India
Begum Aizaz Rasul	She was the only Muslim woman member of the assembly.
Shrimati Dakshayani Velayudan	She was the first women SC graduate of India and she also advocated for the rights of scheduled caste in the assembly
Shrimati G. Durgabai	She was the only woman on the panel of chairman of the constituent assembly.
Shrimati Hansa Mehta	She highlighted the need for social, economic and political freedom for women. She also has contributed to the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Shrimati Purnima Banerji	She forwarded her views on the State’s Control over Religious Instruction in Schools. She also wanted the word sovereign to be dropped from the preamble.
Shrimati Renuka Ray	She worked on the Hindu code bill and included divorce rights. She majorly on the equality status of women.
Shrimati Sarojini Naidu	She was the governor of the United Province till her death in 1949.
Shrimati Sucheta Kripalani	She was a member of the sub-committee that drafted the constitution. She also became the first women chief minister (UP).
Shrimati Vijayalakshmi Pandit	She became a diplomat and was the first woman ambassador (USSR).
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur	She was the first woman of independent India to join the Cabinet in the position of Health Minister. founded the Indian Council for Child Welfare followed by the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Lady Irwin College in Delhi.
Shrimati Malati Chowdhury	She emphasises the role of education in the development of a nation.
Shrimati Leela Ray	She worked for the Hindi-Muslim amity in Noakhali. Founded the Jatiya Mahila Sanghati, and Dacca Mahila Satyagraha Sangha that worked towards women empowerment, and the anti-salt tax movement respectively.
Shrimati Kamla Chaudhri	She was part of the first JL Nehru government and significantly worked towards women’s education and empowerment.