Roy M.N. Draft Constitution of Free India

New Delhi: Navchetan Press, 1979. — 16 p.M.N Roy’s Constitution of Free India: A Draft was published in 1944. It was endorsed and released for public discussion by the Radical Democratic Party of which M.N. Roy was an important member. The Draft, according to him, would achieve three objectives: first, remove Indian political parties as intermediaries between the British and the Indian people on questions of India’s constitutional future and the transfer of power; second, articulate a novel constitutional vision for the country and; third, expedite the transfer of power from the British to the Indian people.The Draft embraced radical decentralisation and direct democracy. It called for the establishment of a nationwide network of ‘People’s Committees’ (district/city governments) elected by citizens. These committees would enjoy wide and critical powers in federal, provincial and local governance. They could, among other things, recall representatives, initiate legislation, and demand referendums on executive measures – even those initiated by the federal government. The Draft had an interesting take on the doctrine of separation of power: it separated executive and legislative functions at the federal levels but coalesced them at the provincial tier of government.Other notable features of the Draft: State/collective ownership of economic resources (E.g. Land), proportional representation and separate electorates for minorities, and provision for free, compulsory and secular education for children up to the age of 14.