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{{short description|Indian civil servant and jurist (1887-1953)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Sir B. N. Rau
| image = BN Rau 1988 stamp of India.jpg
| caption = B. N. Rau on 1988 stamp of India
| office1 = Judge of the [[International Court of Justice]]
| term1 = 1952–1953
| predecessor1 = [[Charles De Visscher]]
| successor1 = [[Muhammad Zafarullah Khan]]
| office2 = [[President of the United Nations Security Council]]
| term2 = June 1950
| office3 = Prime Minister of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]
| predecessor3 = [[Kailash Nath Haksar]]
| successor3 = [[Ram Chandra Kak]]
| term3 = 1944–1945
| birth_date = {{birth date|1887|02|26|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Mangalore]], [[Madras Presidency]], British India Present day – [[Karnataka]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1953|11|30|1887|02|26|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Zurich]], Switzerland
| occupation = Civil servant, jurist, constitutional scholar
| spouse =
}}

'''Sir Benegal Narsing Rau''', [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]], (26 February 1887 – 30 November 1953) was an [[Indian Civil Service|Indian civil servant]], jurist, diplomat and statesman known for his key role in drafting the [[Constitution of India]]. He was the Constitutional Advisor to [[Constituent Assembly of India|Constituent Assembly]]. He was also India's representative to the [[United Nations Security Council]] from 1950 to 1952. His brothers were [[Governor of the Reserve Bank of India]] [[Benegal Rama Rau]] and journalist and politician [[B. Shiva Rao]].

One of the foremost Indian jurists of his time, Rau helped draft the constitutions of Burma in 1947 and India in 1950. As India's representative on the United Nations Security Council (1950–52), he was serving as president of the council when it recommended armed assistance to South Korea (June 1950). Later he was a member of the Korean War post [[s:Korean Armistice Agreement|Armistice]] United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission ([[UNCMAC]]).

A graduate of the Universities of Madras and Cambridge, Rau entered the Indian civil service in 1910. After revising the entire Indian statutory code (1935–37), he was knighted (1938) and made judge (1939) of the Bengal High Court at Calcutta (Kolkata). His writings on Indian law include a noted study on constitutional precedents as well as articles on [[human rights in India]]. He served briefly (1944–45) as [[Minister of Jammu and Kashmir]] state. From February 1952 until his death, he was a judge of the [[International Court of Justice]] at [[The Hague]]. Before his election to the court, he was regarded as a candidate for [[secretary-general of the United Nations]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/492161/Sir-Benegal-Narsing-Rau |title=Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (Indian jurist) – Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=Britannica.com |date=30 November 1953 |access-date=13 June 2013}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Rau was born on 26 February 1887 in a [[Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin]] family.<ref>[https://books.google.co.in/books?id=RajqAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 The Hindu Family and the Emergence of Modern India: Law, Citizenship and Community, Cambridge University Press ]</ref> His father Benegal Raghavendra Rau was an eminent doctor. Rau graduated from the [[Canara High School]], Mangalore, topping the list of students of the entire [[Madras Presidency]]. He graduated in 1905 with a triple first degree in English, Physics, and Sanskrit, and gained an additional first in Mathematics in 1906.<ref name=":0">[[#Rau|Rau]], p. xv</ref> On a scholarship, he proceeded to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], and took his [[Tripos]] in 1909, just missing the Senior Wranglership.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/12/01/stories/2003120100400800.htm |title=B. N. Rau dead |work=The Hindu |date=1 December 2003 |access-date=13 June 2013 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111012306/http://hindu.com/thehindu/2003/12/01/stories/2003120100400800.htm |archive-date=11 November 2012}}</ref> He died of intestinal cancer at Zurich on 30 November 1953 and at that time he was a Judge of International court of Justice, Hague.<ref>{{cite news |last1=The New York Times |first1=NYT |title=Sir Benegal Narasing Rau 66 dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/11/30/archives/sir-benegal-narsing-rau-66-dies-indian-leader-world-court-judge.html |access-date=26 February 2020 |agency=NYT |publisher=NYT |date=30 November 1953}}</ref>

==Bureaucratic and judicial career==
B. N. Rau passed the [[Indian Civil Service]] Examination in 1909 and returned to India, posted to Bengal. Doing well on the executive side, in 1909 he moved to the judiciary thereafter, and served as a judge in several districts in East Bengal.<ref name=":0" /> In 1925, he was offered a dual position by the Assam government, as Secretary to the provincial council as well as Legal Remembrancer to the government. He served in this position for about eight years.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to these duties, he occasionally fulfilled additional functions for the Assam government, such as drafting memoranda for financial support for the [[Simon Commission]]'s tour of India in 1928–29, and presenting their case before the Joint Select Committee of Parliament in London after the third Round Table Conference in 1933.<ref name=":1">[[#Rau|Rau]], p. xvi</ref> He also worked with Sir John Kerr to prepare a note on how provincial legislatures in India might be designed to work better.<ref name=":1" />

On his return to India in 1935, Rau worked with the Reforms Office of the Government of India, on drafting the Government of India Act, 1935. At the end of this project, Sir [[Maurice Gwyer]], the first Chief Justice of India's Federal Court, suggested that he gain the necessary five years' experience that would qualify him to serve as a judge on the Federal Court as well.<ref name=":2">[[#Rau|Rau]], p. xvii</ref> He served thereafter as a judge on the Calcutta High Court, but his tenure was interrupted by two additional projects that he was assigned to by the Government of India – he first presided over a court of inquiry concerning wages and working conditions on railways in India, and thereafter with a commission working on reforms concerning [[Hindu law]].<ref name=":2" /> He also was reassigned to chair the Indus Waters Commission, which submitted a report on riparian rights on in 1942.<ref name=":3">[[#Rau|Rau]], p. xviii</ref>

His distinguished work brought him a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the [[1934 New Year Honours]] list<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34010/supplements/6 London Gazette, 29 December 1933]</ref> and a knighthood in 1938.<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34518/supplements/3687 London Gazette, 9 June 1938]</ref> Rau retired from service in 1944, and was then appointed as the [[Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir|Prime Minister]] of the princely state of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]].<ref name=":3" /> He resigned from this position in 1945, following differences with the then-Maharaja of Kashmir, writing in his resignation letter that "...I have been conscious for some time that we do not see eye to eye on certain fundamental matters of external and internal policy. And that leads, as it must lead, to disagreement in many a detail. I have never questioned and I do not now question, the position that in all these matters Your Highness' decision must be final. The Prime Minister must either accept it or resign."<ref name=":3" />

Following his resignation as Chief Minister of Kashmir, Rau was asked to serve in a temporary capacity in the Reforms Office of the Government of India, which he did so. He was also offered, and declined, the position of a permanent judge on the [[Calcutta High Court]], preferring to stay in the Reforms office and work on constitutional and federal issues.<ref name=":4">[[#Rau|Rau]], p. xix</ref> He was consequently appointed as a Secretary in the Governor-General's office, working on constitutional reforms, until he became the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly in 1946.<ref name=":4" />

While the Constituent Assembly was engaged in discussing the draft Constitution, Rau also worked on preparing a brief on the question of whether the [[United Nations Security Council]] could intervene in a dispute between the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]] and the Indian government, and was part of a delegation that represented India at the United Nations General Assembly, concerning this question as well as issued relating to the peaceful uses of atomic energy.<ref>[[#Rau|Rau]], p. xxiv</ref>

==Role in drafting the Constitution of India==
B. N. Rau was appointed as the Constitutional Adviser to the Constituent Assembly in formulating the [[Constitution of India|Indian Constitution]] in 1946.<ref name=":4" /> He was responsible for the general structure of its democratic framework of the Constitution and prepared its initial draft in February 1948.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://arunshourie.voiceofdharma.com/articles/ambedkar.htm |title=The Manu of Our Times?|author=Shourie, Arun |access-date=30 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220030736/http://arunshourie.voiceofdharma.com/articles/ambedkar.htm |archive-date=20 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This draft was debated, revised and finally adopted by the [[Constituent Assembly of India]] on 26 November 1949.<ref>{{cite news|title=Celebrating Constitution Day|url=http://www.thehindu.com/specials/in-depth/november-26-celebrating-constitution-day/article7918507.ece|access-date=2 December 2015|date=26 November 2015}}</ref>

As part of his research in drafting the Constitution of India, in 1946, Rau travelled to the US, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, where he had personal consultations with judges, scholars, and authorities on constitutional law.<ref>[[#Rau|Rau]], p. xxii</ref> Amongst others, he met Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]] of the American Supreme Court, who famously advised him against the inclusion of a clause for '[[due process]]' in the Indian Constitution as it would impose an 'undue burden' on the judiciary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/Of-constitutional-lsquodue-process/article16302879.ece |title=Of Constitutional 'Due Process' |last=Chandrachud |first=Abhinav |date=24 May 2010 |website=The Hindu |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170323212504/http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/Of-constitutional-lsquodue-process/article16302879.ece |archive-date=23 March 2017 |url-status=live |access-date=23 March 2017 }}</ref>

The Constituent Assembly's resolution setting up the Drafting Committee on 29 August 1947, under the chairmanship of [[B. R. Ambedkar]], declared that it was being set up to "Scrutinise the Draft of the text of the Constitution prepared by the Constitutional Adviser, give into effect the decisions taken already in the Assembly and include all matters ancillary thereto or which have to be provided in such a Constitution, and to submit to the Assembly for consideration the text of the Draft Constitution as revised by the Committee." The draft prepared by the constitutional advisor was submitted in October 1947. Along with this draft, the proposals offered by the various other committees set up by the Constituent Assembly were considered and the first draft by the Drafting Committee was published in February, 1948. The people of India were given eight months to discuss the draft and propose amendments. In the light of the public comments, criticisms and suggestions, the Drafting Committee prepared a second draft, which was published in October 1948. The final draft of the Constitution was introduced by Dr. [[B. R. Ambedkar]] on 4 November 1948 (first reading). The second reading was clause by clause consideration and took over a year. After three drafts and three readings, the constitution was declared as passed on 26 November 1949.
Dr [[B. R. Ambedkar]] in his concluding speech in constituent assembly on 25 November 1949 stated that:
{{Quote
|The credit that is given to me does not really belong to me. It belongs partly to Sir B.N. Rau the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly who prepared a rough draft of the Constitution for the consideration of Drafting Committee.
}}<ref>{{Citation
| url = http://prasarbharati.gov.in/whatsnew/whatsnew_653363.pdf| title = Dr B.R. Ambedkar concluding speech in constituent assembly on November 25, 1949}}</ref>

== Role in drafting the Constitution of Burma ==
Rau also assisted in drafting the early Constitution of [[Myanmar]], or [[Burma]], as it was then known. He met with [[U Aung San]], Burma's Prime Minister, in New Delhi in December 1946, who invited him to assist in drafting Burma's Constitution. Burma's Constitutional Advisor was deputed to New Delhi in April 1947 where they worked together to collect research materials, and prepared a first draft that was taken back to [[Rangoon]] for modifications by a Drafting Committee. The Constitution was adopted on 24 September 1947.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rau|first=B. N.|year=1948|title=The Constitution of the Union of Burma|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/washlr23&start_page=288&collection=journals&id=294|journal=Washington Law Review and State Bar Journal|volume=23|pages=288–300|via=HeinOnline}}</ref> Rau went to [[Rangoon]] (now [[Yangon]]) to witness the final draft of the Constitution being passed by the legislature.<ref>[[#Rau|Rau]], pp. xix–xx</ref>

==Diplomatic career==
Rau served India as a representing delegate in the United Nations. From 1949 to 1952 he was India's Permanent Representative to the UN, till he was appointed as a Judge of the International Court in The Hague. He also served as the [[President of the United Nations Security Council|President]] of the [[United Nations Security Council]] in June 1950.<ref>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828045749/http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/scpres1950.htm | url=http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/scpres1950.htm | archive-date=28 August 2011 | title=Presidents of the Security Council : 1950–1959 | publisher=United Nations | access-date=11 October 2020}}</ref>

=== Tenure on the Court of International Justice ===
Rau was invited by the Ministry of External Affairs to stand for election to the International Court of Justice towards the end of 1951, and began service towards 1952. He served for about a year, before succumbing to ill health while being treated in Zurich in 1953.<ref>[[#Rau|Rau]], pp. xxvii–xxviii</ref>
In 1988, On the occasion of his birth centenary, the Govt. of India issued a postage stamp in honor of B.N. Rau.<ref>{{cite web|title=Indian Philatelics|url=http://www.indianphilatelics.com/stamps/commemorative-stamps/1987-1988/item/8339-birth-centenary-of-bn-rau-click-for-stamp-information.html|access-date=30 November 2017|date=30 November 2017}}</ref>

==Indian parliament condolence message==
https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/55593/1/lsd_01_05_30-11-1953.pdf Page no. 43

== Publications ==
* B.N. Rau (1947) ''Constitutional Precedents'' (New Delhi: Government of India Press)
* B.N. Rau (1948) ''The Constitution of the Union of Burma,'' 23 Wash. L. Rev. & St. B. J. 288
* B. N. Rau (1949) ''The Parliamentary System of Government in India'' 24 Wash. L. Rev. & St. B. J. 91
* B.N. Rau (1949) ''The Indian Constitution'' (Manchester: Manchester Guardian)
* B.N. Rau (1951) ''India and the Far East: Burwash Memorial Lectures'' (Toronto: Victoria University)
* {{Cite book|ref=Rau|title=India's Constitution in the Making|last=Rau|first=B. N.|publisher=Orient Longmans|year=1960|editor-last=Rao|editor-first=B. Shiva|location=Calcutta}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rau, Benegal Narsing}}
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1953 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Dakshina Kannada district]]
[[Category:Mangaloreans]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Indian diplomats]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian judges]]
[[Category:Indian knights]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Scholars from Mangalore]]
[[Category:Permanent Representatives of India to the United Nations]]
[[Category:International Court of Justice judges]]
[[Category:Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Politicians from Mangalore]]
[[Category:Indian judges of United Nations courts and tribunals]]

B. N. Rau - Revision history

->GreenC bot at 17:36, 24 October 2021