GS Paper - II

On 26 November 1949, the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution of India, and it came into effect on 26 January 1950. While January 26 is celebrated as Republic Day, since 2015, 26 November is annually observed as the Constitution Day of India, or Samvidhan Divas.

Why is 26 November observed as Constitution Day?

• In May 2015, the Union Cabinet announced that 26 November would be observed as Constitution Day to promote “constitutional values amongst citizens”.
• That year also marked the 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution. K.M. Munshi, Muhammed Saadulah and Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer were also among the committee’s members.
• This year, the country is celebrating 125th birth Anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The ‘Constitution Day’ will be a part of these year-long nationwide celebrations.
• This will be a tribute to Dr. Ambedkar, who played a seminal role in the framing of the Indian Constitution as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Constituent Assembly, a press release issued by the Press Information Bureau said in 2015.

How the Indian Constitution was adopted 

• The Constituent Assembly, the body meant to draft the Constitution of India, held its first session on 9 December 1946, attended by 207 members.
• Initially, the assembly had 389 members, but after Independence and the Partition of India, the strength was reduced to 299.
• The assembly took over three years to draft the constitution, spending over 114 days considering the content of the draft alone. A range of sources were consulted for the draft, including the Constitutions of other countries, and suitable amendments were made to adapt the provisions to what India needed at the time.
• Another major source was the Government of India Act of 1935. It introduced bicameralism — upper and lower Houses — at the Centre and in six provinces along with direct elections to these chambers.
• At the time, it was one of the longest pieces of legislation passed in the British Parliament.
• On 13 December 1946, Nehru moved the “Objectives Resolution” that was later adopted as the Preamble on 22 January 1947, to encapsulate the basic philosophy of the Constitution.
• The Drafting Committee chaired by Ambedkar was one among the over 17 committees of the Constituent Assembly.
• Their task was to prepare a Draft Constitution for India. Out of some 7,600 amendments tabled, this committee removed about 2,400 amendments while debating and deliberating the Constitution.
• The last session of the Constituent Assembly ended on 26 November 1949, when the Constitution was adopted, and two months later on 26 January 1950 it came into effect after 284 members signed it.
• 26 January was chosen since the Congress’ Poorna Swaraj resolution was declared on this day in the year 1930.