About India: Indian Constitution

What is a Constitution?

A constitution is a written document that contains a set of rules for a government. It defines the fundamental political principles, and establishing the structure, procedures, powers and duties, of a government. By limiting the government's own reach, most constitutions guarantee certain rights to the people. The term constitution can be applied to any overall law that defines the functioning of a government.

Introduction to the Indian Constitution

The Constitution of India is the world's lengthiest written constitution. It consists of a Preamble, 22 Parts with 448 Articles, 12 Schedules, 5 Appendices and a total of 1.46 lakh words. It was passed on 26 Nov 1949 by the 'The Constituent Assembly' and is fully applicable since 26 Jan 1950. The Constituent Assembly had been elected for undivided India and held its first sitting on 9th Dec.1946, re-assembled on the 14th August 1947, as The Sovereign Constituent Assembly for the dominion of India. In regard to its composition the members were elected by indirect election by the members of The Provisional Legislative Assemblies (lower house only). At the time of signing 284 out of 299 members of the Assembly were present.

The constitution of India draws extensively from Western legal traditions in its outline of the principles of liberal democracy. It follows a British parliamentary pattern with a lower and upper house. It embodies some Fundamental Rights which are similar to the Bill of Rights declared by the United States constitution. It also borrows the concept of a Supreme Court from the US.

India is a federal system in which residual powers of legislation remain with the central government, similar to that in Canada. The constitution provides detailed lists dividing up powers between central and state governments as in Australia, and it elaborates a set of Directive Principles of State Policy as does the Irish constitution.

The constitution has provision for Schedules to be added to the constitution by amendment. The ten schedules in force cover the designations of the states and union territories; the emoluments for high-level officials; forms of oaths; allocation of the number of seats in the Rajya Sabha. A review of the constitution needs at least two-thirds of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to pass it.

The Indian constitution is one of the most frequently amended constitutions in the world. Infact the first amendment to it was passed after only a year of the adoption of the constitution and instituted numerous minor changes. Many more amendments followed, a rate of almost two amendments per year since 1950. Most of the constitution can be amended after a quorum of more than half of the members of each house in Parliament passes an amendment with a two-thirds majority vote. Articles pertaining to the distribution of legislative authority between the central and state governments must also be approved by 50 percent of the state legislatures.

Constitutional Day

Constitution Day also known as 'Samvidhan Divas', is celebrated in India on 26th November every year to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India. On 26th November 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India, which came into effect from 26th January 1950.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 19th November 2015 notified the decision of Government of India to celebrate the 26th day of November every year as 'Constitution Day' to promote Constitution values among citizens.

Who wrote the Constitution?

The Constitution of India is unique in the world in that the entire text was handwritten instead of being typed by Prem Bihari Narayan Rayzada who was a famous calligrapher. When the Constitution was ready for printing, the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru summoned Prem Bihari as he wanted to have the Constitution in handwritten calligraphy in italic letters instead of in print.

Prem Bihari was asked what fee he would take to hand-write the Constitution and he responded by saying "Not a single penny. By the grace of God I have all the things & I am quite happy with my life." He did add a condition that he would write his name on every page of Constitution and on the last page wrote his name along with his grandfather's name. This condition was accepted by Nehru so Prem Bihari Narayan agreed to write the constitution.

Prem Bihari needed 432 pen holders to write the Indian Constitution & he used nib number 303b. The nibs were brought from England & Czechoslovakia. He wrote the manuscript of the entire Constitution for six months in a room in the Constitution Hall of India.

In the document, in addition to the text of the constitution space was provided so that the famous painter Nandalal Basu could decorate the document with imagery. Nandalal Bose & his students filled the gaps with imagery such as Mohenjo-daro seals, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Life of Gautam Buddha, Promotion of Buddhism by Emperor Ashoka, Meeting of Vikramaditya, Emperor Akbar & Mughal Empire, Empress Lakshmibai, Tipu Sultan, Gandhiji's Movement, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose & Rupachitra making it a pictorial representation of the history & geography of India.

Text of The Constitution

The full text of the Indian Constitution is over 402 pages in length. The text of the constitution in various languages is available for download as PDF files:

Source: Indian Legislative website.

Suramya.com: About Indian Constitution

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