We all celebrate 26th January every year as our Republic Day. It is one of the huge celebrating event in our country.
We, being the loyal citizens of our country, know the reason behind the
celebration. On 26th January 1950, the Constitution of India came into
effect to administrate the country as a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic.
Constitution is the foundational law of a country
which ordains the fundamental principles on which the government (or the governance).
It lays down the framework and principal functions of various organs of the
government and its citizens. With the exception of the United Kingdom (U.K)
almost all democratic countries possess a written Constitution. India also
possesses an elaborate written Constitution which was enacted by a constituent
assembly specifically set up for the purpose.
The constitution we have today has gone through a very
interesting journey, thus, has many exciting facts that you must know. Below we
have shared certain Most Interesting Facts And Features of the Constitution of India,
please read them with keen interest as many of them could be asked in
competitive exams.
34 Most Interesting Facts And Features Of Indian
Constitution That Every Indian Should Know
1. The idea that India should have a
Constitution was given by M N Roy, a pioneer of the communist movement in
India.
2. The
original Constitution of India was not typeset or printed but was handwritten
and calligraphed in both English and Hindi. Prem Behari Narain Raizada (Saxena)
of Delhi wrote the entire constitution in a flowing italic style in the
best calligraphic tradition of our country. He used 254 pen-holder nibs
of NO.303 and devoted his six months to complete the
writing.
He was allotted a room in Constitution House by the
Government of India to execute the prominent work.
Instead of charging any kind of remuneration, he had
asked permission to write his name on every page of the constitution and the
name of his grandfather with his name on the last page.
3. The
original copies of the Indian Constitution, written in Hindi and English, are
kept in special helium-filled cases in the Library which is located in the
Parliament of India.
4. Our
Constitution might not be one of the most recited scripts but is an example of
hand crafted creativity.
This momentous task of accomplishing the art work in
every page of Constitution was handed over to Acharya Nandalal
Bose in Kala Bhawan, Shantiniketan along with
his students.
Nandalal Bose himself painted the major images and
guided his students in designing other art work.
The most important page of Constitution “The
Preamble”, also called as the face of Constitution, was decorated by Beohar
Rammanohar Sinha, one of Nandalal Bose’s student.
5. Our
Constitution came into force after a long expedition with Constituent Assembly.
The Constituent Assembly set Drafting Committee on
29th August 1947 to prepare a Draft Constitution under the chairmanship
of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, also known as “Father of Indian
Constitution”. Its others members were:
Diwan Bahadur Sir Narasimha Gopalaswami Ayyangar
K.M. Munshi
Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla
N.Madhav Rao
D.P.Khaitan (T Krishnamachari, after Kahitan's Death
in 1948)
6. Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru presented an objective resolution on 13th December 1946 in the
assembly. This resolution served as the guidelines for framing up the
Constitution.
7. The
Drafting Committee prepared the draft of the Constitution, which came out in
the open in February 1948 to elicit the public opinion and reaction to it. The
constituent assembly next meet in November 1948 when the provisions of the
draft were considered and discussed in detail.
8. The
Assembly has discussed and passed 2473 amendments out of 7635 tabled. It took
exactly two years, eleven
months. and seventeen days for the Assembly in drafting the constitution.
9. The draft constitution was declared as passed on November
26th, 1949. 284 out of 299 members affixed their signature to the constitution.
On the same day the people of India
in the constituent assembly adopted, enacted and gave to themselves this
constitution. The date is therefore known as Constitution or National Law
Day.
The original constitution which was adopted on November 26th, 1949 consisted of
a preamble, 395 articles and 8 schedules.
The preamble was enacted after the
entire constitution was already enacted.
10. The provisions related
to citizenship, elections, provisional parliament, temporary and transitional
provisions and some articles such as 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379,
380, 388, 391, 392 and 393 came into force on November 26th, 1949. The major part
of the remaining constitution came into force on Jan 26th, 1950 which is
considered as the commencement date and the Republic day.
11. Pandit Nehru was the first to sign the
Constitution's calligraphic copies and members from Madras followed
him. After the last member had signed the books, Rajendra Prasad
decided that he, too, must do so. But, rather than signing behind the last
signatory, he inserted his name in the small space between the last line of the
text and Nehru's signature.
12. It
was a raining cats and dogs outside the parliament, the day constitution was
signed, and this was considered to be a good omen by the assembly members.
13. And finally on 26th January, 1950 ,
the Constitution became fully effective. At a ceremony held in Rashtrapathi
Bhavan's Durbar Hall, Governor General Rajagopalachari solemnly proclaimed
India as a “Sovereign, Democratic Republic”. And thus we celebrated our First Republic Day.
Through its unprecedented abolition
of untouchability, the Constitution serves as a powerful emancipation
proclamation ending centuries of caste-based discrimination and social
exclusion.
14. The date 26th January was especially
selected since it was the anniversary of “Purna Swaraj Day” (26th January
1930); the day Indian congress seeded the fight for complete Independence and
hoisted the Indian national flag for the first time.
15. Our
Republic day is celebrated for 3 days. Beating the retreat marks the end of the
celebration on January 29.
16. The Indian Constitution is the
longest written Constitution of any sovereign country in the world
with 25 parts containing 448 articles and 12 schedules, 5 appendices
(originally it contained 395 articles
in 22 parts and 8 schedules at the time of commencement). The Indian Constitution has a total
of 117,369 words in its English language version.
17. The
Preamble to our Constitution was inspired by the Preamble to the
Constitution of the United States of America, which
starts with the sentence "We the people".
18. Our Constitution
makers took inspiration from various other Constitutions while drafting the one
for our country, which is why the Indian Constitution is often called a bag of
borrowings.
The Indian Constitution draws bits and pieces from other world constitutions
like:
A. Irish Constitution – Directive principles have been derived
from the Irish constitution.
B. British Constitution –
Parliamentary form of government with a cabinet system having accountability to
the lower House and parliamentary privileges.
C. US Constitution – Fundamental rights, the Supreme
Court, the post of Vice-President.
D. Canadian Constitution –
The Federal system, union-state relations and distribution of powers between
the union and the states.
E. Australian Constitution –
The concurrent list, provision of trade and commerce.
F. German (Weimer) Constitution –
Emergency provisions.
G. French
Constitution - The concepts of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
H. Japan Constitution - The law on which the Supreme Court
functions.
19. The
Indian Constitution has also been hailed as one of the world's best
Constitution because in 62 years of its adoption, it had been amended only 94
times. As of now, our Constitution has undergone a total of 101 amendments.
20. The
Part III of the Constitution of India describes the ‘Fundamental Rights’ that
guarantee civil freedom to all the citizens of India to allow them to live in
peace and harmony.
There are six fundamental rights mentioned in the
Constitution.
Right to Equality: Equality before the law. No partiality based on race,
religion, caste, creed, gender, or place of birth.
Right to Freedom: Right to speech and expression, to assemble peacefully or to
form an association, to move freely throughout the territory of India, to life
and liberty, reside and settle in any part of India etc.
Right to Freedom of Religion: Freedom of conscience and profession, to run
religious affairs and to give religious instructions in certain institutions.
Right against Exploitation: Banning of forced labor and prohibition of
employment of children in perilous jobs.
Cultural and Educational Rights: Preservation of language and culture of minorities
and right of minorities to establish educational institutions.
Right to Constitutional Remedy: To move the courts for issuance of writs &
explains the writs of Habeas corpus, Mandamus, Prohibition, Quo Warranto,
Certiorari.
21. Interestingly, in the beginning, the Right to
Property was also one of the fundamental rights. The Article 31 of our
constitution said that, "No person shall be deprived of his property save
by authority of law." However, the 44th Amendment, in 1978, deleted it.
22. Indian
constitution constitutes the Directive Principles of State Policy which
contain the broad directives or guidelines to be followed by the State while
establishing policies and laws.
23. It
is a unique feature of the Indian Constitution that it makes the citizens
duties a part of the basic law of the land.
24. The
Constitution of India establishes a parliamentary from of Government both at
the Center and in the States.
25. Unlike
the federal Constitutions of the USA and Australia the Indian Constitution lays
down provisions relating to the Governmental machinery not only in the Center
but also in the States.
26. Indian
Constitution though written is sufficiently flexible.
27. The
Indian Constitution provides an independent judiciary which acts as guardian of
liberties and fundamental rights of citizens. Constitution ensures that
Judiciary is free of government influence to have a legitimate and authentic
decision making. Therefore a number of provisions has been made in the
Constitution to ensure independence of judiciary.
28. The
Indian Constitution has special reservation of seats for the Scheduled Casts
and Tribes in public appointments and educational institutions in the Union and
State Legislatures.
29. The
Indian Constitution is "for the people" and "by the
people". Constitution does not draws its authority from parliament, Prime
minister or President. Constitution draws its authority from "the
people" and has been promulgated "in the name of people"
30. The
Indian Constitution unlike other federal Constitutions provides for a single
unified judiciary with the Supreme Court at the Apex, the High Courts in the
middle and the Subordinate Courts at the bottom.
31. The
Constitution of India adopted a balance between American system of judicial
supremacy and the British principle of Parliamentary supremacy.
33. Under
the Indian Constitution every adult above 18 years of age has been given the
right to elect representatives for the legislature without prescribing any
qualification based either on sex, property education or the like.
34. An
outstanding feature of the Constitution is Panchayati Raj. The idea for
organizing village Panchayats was provided in the Constitution under Article 40
of Part 4 which received Constitutional legitimacy through the 73rd Amendment
to the Indian Constitution.
In this article, we have shared few
important facts of our Constitution that should be known by you being a citizen
of this country.
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