National Constitution Day 2020: History, Significance and 10 Interesting Facts about Indian Constitution

The National Constitution Day 2020 was observed on November 26, 2020. The day, also known as Samvidhan Divas, is celebrated every year since 2015 to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India.

The Constituent Assembly of India had adopted the Constitution of India on November 26, 1949 and it was brought into effect on January 26, 1950. 

The Indian Government had declared November 26 as the Constitution Day on November 19, 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made the declaration while laying the foundation stone of the Ambedkar's Statue of Equality Memorial in Mumbai on October 11, 2015. 

President of India, Ram Nath Kovind marked the National Constitution Day by leading the nation in reading the Preamble to the Constitution of India. 

President Kovind lead the nation in reading the Preamble to the Constitution of India on the occasion of Constitution Day pic.twitter.com/hoHM1E5KZ7

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) November 26, 2020

National Constitution Day 2020: History

The Indian Government officially announced the celebration of the day as ‘Constitution Day’ in 2015, as the year was the 125th birth anniversary year of B R. Ambedkar, who is popularly known as the father of the Indian constitution.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar had chaired the drafting committee of the Constituent Assembly and played a pivotal role in the drafting of the Indian constitution.

10 Interesting Facts about Indian Constitution

1. The Indian constitution is the world’s longest written constitution of any country on earth. It is divided into 25 parts and comprises 448 articles and 12 schedules.

2. The Indian constitution was not typed or printed, but it was handwritten in both Hindi and English. 

3. The original constitution was handwritten by Prem Behari Narain Raizada with beautiful calligraphy in a flowing italic style. 

4. Each page of the original constitution was uniquely decorated by Shantiniketan artists including Nandalal Bose and Beohar Rammanohar Sinha. 

5. The original copies of the 1950 constitution are preserved in a helium-filled case in the Library of the Parliament House in New Delhi. 

6. The Indian Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950 after deliberations that lasted for 2 years, 11 months and 18 days. The Constituent Assembly had met for the first time on December 9, 1946.

7. Over 2000 amendments were made to the first draft when it was put up for debate and discussion. 

8. The original copies of the handwritten Constitution were signed by all 284 members of the Constituent Assembly, which included 15 women. 

9. The Preamble of our Constitution is inspired by the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, which also begins with "We the people".

10. The ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in our Preamble were borrowed from the French Constitution. The words "secular" and "socialist" were added later to the preamble during the Emergency in 1976.