UPPSC 2025 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 64 of 150

Correct — B, A-4, B-1, C-3, D-2. Union Constitution Committee — Jawaharlal Nehru (4). Rules of Procedure Committee — Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1). Drafting Committee — Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (3). Fundamental Rights Sub-committee — J. B. Kripalani (2). The Constituent Assembly divided its labour along clear lines. Nehru took the committees that designed the Union — he chaired the Union Powers Committee, the Union Constitution Committee and the States Committee, and it was he who moved the Objectives Resolution. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, as President of the Assembly, took the committees that ran the House itself: the Rules of Procedure Committee and the Steering Committee. Sardar Patel took the provincial and minorities side — the Provincial Constitution Committee and the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas — and it was under that Advisory Committee that the Fundamental Rights Sub-committee sat, chaired by J. B. Kripalani. The Drafting Committee, appointed on 29 August 1947 with seven members to turn the various committee reports into constitutional text, was chaired by Ambedkar. Only option (b) places all four correctly.

• (a)A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4 — It gets B and C right but swaps the other two — Kripalani into the Union Constitution Committee and Nehru into the Fundamental Rights Sub-committee. Nehru's committees were the union-level ones (Union Powers, Union Constitution, States); Kripalani, then Congress President, chaired the Fundamental Rights Sub-committee under Patel's Advisory Committee.
• (c)A-1, B-4, C-3, D-2 — Right on C and D but exactly reversed on the first two: it makes Rajendra Prasad chair the Union Constitution Committee and Nehru the Rules of Procedure Committee. In fact Rajendra Prasad's chairs were procedural (Rules of Procedure, Steering) because he presided over the Assembly, while Nehru designed the Union.
• (d)A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 — Only the Drafting Committee entry survives. It hands the Union Constitution Committee to Rajendra Prasad, the Rules of Procedure Committee to Kripalani and the Fundamental Rights Sub-committee to Nehru — none of which is correct.

The Constituent Assembly, which first met on 9 December 1946, did its real work through committees — around twenty-two in all, of which about eight were major. Substantive committees (Union Powers, Union Constitution, Provincial Constitution, the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights and Minorities, and their sub-committees) settled what the Constitution should contain; procedural committees (Rules of Procedure, Steering) ran the House; and the Drafting Committee, appointed on 29 August 1947, converted all of it into legal text. Chairmanships followed political roles: Nehru on the Union, Patel on the provinces and minorities, Rajendra Prasad on procedure as the presiding officer, Ambedkar on drafting.

In a four-pair match with a shared code column, the efficient move is to find the pairs that discriminate. Here 'C-3' — Drafting Committee to Ambedkar — appears in every single option, so it settles nothing; recognising that saves time. The question actually turns on A and B, where option (b) and option (c) are mirror images of each other. Ask two questions in plain language: who designed the Union? Nehru. Who ran the House? Rajendra Prasad, its President. That gives A-4 and B-1, and Kripalani is then the only name left for the Fundamental Rights Sub-committee. The trap is the reflex that the Assembly's President must have chaired its most important substantive committee.

• Union Constitution Committee — Jawaharlal Nehru, who also chaired the Union Powers Committee and the States Committee
• Rules of Procedure Committee — Dr. Rajendra Prasad, who also chaired the Steering Committee and was President of the Constituent Assembly
• Drafting Committee — Dr. B. R. Ambedkar; it was appointed on 29 August 1947 and had seven members
• Fundamental Rights Sub-committee — J. B. Kripalani; it reported to the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas, which was chaired by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
• Provincial Constitution Committee — Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
• The Assembly first met on 9 December 1946 under Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha as provisional President; Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected its President on 11 December 1946

• Assuming the President of the Assembly (Rajendra Prasad) must have chaired the Union Constitution Committee — he chaired the procedural committees instead
• Treating the Advisory Committee (Patel) and its Fundamental Rights Sub-committee (Kripalani) as one body with a single chairman
• Spending time on the Drafting Committee pair when it is identical across all four options and therefore decides nothing

UPPSC asks this as a four-pair match-the-list, betting that candidates know Ambedkar and little else. UPSC prefers the single-shot form — 'who was the Chairman of committee X' — or a chronology of Assembly landmarks.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas of the Constituent Assembly was chaired by

  • (a)Jawaharlal Nehru
  • (b)Dr. Rajendra Prasad
  • (c)Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
  • (d)Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

  Answer(c) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel — its Fundamental Rights Sub-committee was chaired by J. B. Kripalani.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly was appointed on

  • (a)9 December 1946
  • (b)29 August 1947
  • (c)26 November 1949
  • (d)26 January 1950

  Answer(b) 29 August 1947 — a seven-member committee under Dr. B. R. Ambedkar; the other dates are the Assembly's first sitting, the adoption of the Constitution and its commencement.