Adoption, commencement and the original document

Detail

1. Adoption: 26 November 1949

• The Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949. The Constituent Assembly was the body of elected and nominated Indians that wrote the Constitution between December 1946 and November 1949.
• The Preamble records this date: "In our Constituent Assembly this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution."
• Adoption means the Assembly gave its final approval to the text. Approval did not put the whole text into force on that day.

2. Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas)

• Constitution Day is observed every year on 26 November, the day the Constitution was adopted.
• The day is part of NCERT's account. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment notified it in 2015, which was Dr B.R. Ambedkar's 125th birth-anniversary year. Before 2015, 26 November was observed as National Law Day.
• The notification:
• The Government of India issued it on 19 November 2015. It made 26 November of every year "Constitution Day", to promote constitutional values among citizens [2].
• PIB announced the decision on 23 November 2015 [2].

• The day was planned as part of the year-long Ambedkar 125th anniversary celebrations. It honours Ambedkar as Chairman of the Drafting Committee [2].

• The first Constitution Day (26 November 2015):

• Students in schools read out the Preamble in the morning assembly [2].
• Schools held talks on the main features of the Constitution and how it was made [2].

3. Signing: 24 January 1950

• 284 members of the Constituent Assembly signed the Constitution on 24 January 1950. This was the Assembly's last sitting before the Constitution came fully into force.

4. Commencement: 26 January 1950

• Commencement of the Constitution means the date from which its provisions have legal force. The whole Constitution was in force from 26 January 1950, now celebrated as Republic Day.
• Why 26 January:
• It recalls Purna Swaraj Day, 26 January 1930. On that day the Congress first called on Indians to demand complete independence from British rule [3].

• On 26 January 1950 the Constitution's legal force joined this older nationalist date.

• Keep the two days apart:

Day	Date	What happened	Observed as
Constitution Day	26 November (1949)	Constitution adopted	Constitution Day since 2015 (earlier National Law Day)
Signing	24 January (1950)	284 members signed	Not a national day
Republic Day	26 January (1950)	Constitution fully in force	Republic Day (date chosen to recall Purna Swaraj Day, 1930)

5. Split commencement under Article 394

• Provisions in force from 26 November 1949 are a small group of articles that Art. 394 brought into force at once, on the day of adoption. Art. 394 says these articles "shall come into force at once" and that "the remaining provisions" start on 26 January 1950 [3].

Group	Articles	Subject
Citizenship	5, 6, 7, 8, 9	Who was a citizen at commencement; migrants to and from Pakistan; persons of Indian origin abroad; no dual citizenship by choice
President	60	President's oath
Elections	324	Election Commission (superintendence, direction and control of elections)
Definitions	366, 367	Definitions and rules of interpretation
Transitional	379, 380, 388, 391, 392, 393	Provisional Parliament and President, other transitional matters, President's power to remove difficulties, short title
Commencement	394	Art. 394 itself

• Why these articles had to start early:
• India had to prepare voters' lists (electoral rolls) for its first general elections.
• The government first needed a legal answer to who is a citizen. Arts. 5–9 gave that answer.
• The rolls also needed an authority to prepare them. Art. 324 created that authority, the Election Commission.

• Definitions (Arts. 366–367) and transitional powers had to work from day one so that these early articles could operate.

• Everything else started on 26 January 1950. This includes the Fundamental Rights (Part III, rights that a person can enforce in court) and the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV, goals the government should follow that a person cannot enforce in court).

6. Article 395: the legal break with Britain

• Art. 395 repealed:
• the Indian Independence Act 1947, and

• the Government of India Act 1935, along with every law that amended or added to it [4].

• It did not repeal the Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act 1949 [4]. The Privy Council was a court in London that heard final appeals from India. This 1949 Act was an Indian law that ended those appeals, so it stayed in force.

• Effect:
• Before 1950, India's legal system rested on Acts passed by the British Parliament.
• Art. 395 ended those Acts, so the British Parliament no longer had any legal link with India's law [4].
• The Constitution now rests on its own authority, "We, the people of India", and not on a British law. Lawyers call this autochthony (a constitution that grows from its own soil).

7. The original manuscript

• The original manuscript of the Constitution is the hand-written and hand-painted master copy signed by the members of the Constituent Assembly.
• Calligraphy:
• Prem Behari Narain Raizada (also spelt Prem Bihari) wrote the whole English text by hand in flowing script. He was from Rampur [6].

• The original calligraphed copy is in English [6].

• Illustrations:

• Nandalal Bose and his team decorated the pages with scenes "from Mohenjo-daro to the freedom movement".

• The artists came from Shantiniketan and worked under Acharya Nandalal Bose. Raizada did the calligraphy in Delhi [7].

• Scenes shown (NCERT Class 7, Figs. 10.6–10.13):

• a gurukula (ancient forest school);
• Rama's conquest of Lanka;
• Orissan sculpture;
• Nataraja (Shiva as the cosmic dancer);
• Bhagiratha's penance and the descent of Ganga at Mahabalipuram;
• Akbar and Mughal architecture;

• Nalanda (ancient university).

• Preservation:

• Current fact: since 1994, the original calligraphed copies in Hindi and English have been kept in two nitrogen-filled glass cases [8]. The National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, made the cases [8].
• The cases are in the Parliament Library building, Sansadiya Gyanpeeth [8].
• (NCERT: the copies are kept in helium-filled glass cases in Parliament's library, because helium does not react with paper or ink.)
• Why an inert gas is used: an inert gas does not react with other substances. Without oxygen and moisture around them, the paper and ink do not decay.

8. Authoritative Hindi text: Article 394A

• The authoritative Hindi text of the Constitution is the official Hindi version. It has the same legal standing as the English text.
• Its legal basis is Art. 394A, inserted by the Constitution (58th Amendment) Act, 1987 [5].
• What Art. 394A says:
• Clause (1)(a): the President publishes a Hindi translation of the Constitution, signed by the members of the Constituent Assembly. Its wording is updated to match the language used in Hindi texts of Central Acts. It includes all amendments made before publication [5].
• Clause (1)(b): the President also publishes a Hindi translation of every later amendment made in English [5].
• Clause (2): the Hindi translation has the same meaning as the original. If a difficulty arises in reading any part of it that way, the President has the translation revised [5].
• Clause (3): the published translation is the authoritative text in Hindi "for all purposes" [5].

Prelims Hooks

• Adopted 26 November 1949, signed 24 January 1950 by 284 members, fully in force 26 January 1950. A common trap is to swap the adoption and commencement dates.
• Constitution Day = 26 November. It was notified on 19 November 2015 in Ambedkar's 125th birth-anniversary year. Before that, the day was observed as National Law Day [2].
• Art. 394 brought these articles into force on 26 November 1949: 5–9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391, 392, 393 and 394 [3]. Fundamental Rights (Part III) and Directive Principles (Part IV) were not among them.
• Art. 324 (Election Commission) and Arts. 5–9 (citizenship) started early so that electoral rolls could be prepared for the first elections.
• Art. 395 repealed the Indian Independence Act 1947 and the GoI Act 1935. It did not repeal the Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act 1949 [4].
• Art. 394A (authoritative Hindi text) was added by the 58th Amendment, 1987. The President publishes the translation and has it revised if a difficulty arises [5].
• Calligrapher: Prem Behari Narain Raizada. Illustrator: Nandalal Bose, with Shantiniketan artists [6][7].
• Preservation: the copies have been kept in nitrogen-filled cases made by NPL since 1994, in Parliament Library [8] (NCERT: helium).
• Purna Swaraj Day (26 January 1930) explains why 26 January was chosen [3].

Mains Points

• Split commencement as practical planning: Art. 394 brought citizenship, the Election Commission, definitions and transitional powers into force first. This let India prepare for its first general elections, under universal adult franchise (every adult can vote), without waiting for the full Constitution. It shows the framers' concern with making the new system work, not only with drafting it.
• Legal break and autochthony: Art. 395 repealed the 1935 and 1947 Acts, so the Constitution does not rest on any British law. It kept the Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act 1949, so the end of appeals to London stayed in place. This is useful when arguing that India's Constitution is its own and that the Preamble's "We, the people" is the real source of authority (GS-II).
• Constitution Day and civic education: the 2015 notification turned a lawyers' observance (National Law Day) into a national day for promoting constitutional values, such as reading the Preamble in schools [2]. It links constitutional morality (respect for the Constitution's values and rules) to everyday citizenship.
• Language and the authoritative text: Art. 394A (1987) gave the Hindi text the same legal standing as the English text. The President can revise the translation if its meaning is unclear [5]. It reflects the long debate over the official language (Part XVII) and the challenge of keeping two equal texts consistent.