November 26-Celebration Of Constitution Day In India- Puri
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Constitution Day also known as ‘Samvidhan Diwas’ is celebrated in India on 26 November every year to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India. Also called earlier as National Law Day, the Constituent Assembly of India on 26 November, 1949 adopted the Constitution of India and it came into effect on 26 January, 1950. The Government of India declared 26 November as the Constitution Day on 19 November, 2015 by a notification as it was the 125th birth anniversary year of Bhim Rao Ambedkar (14 April, 1891 – 6 December, 1956) who is the backbone and torchbearer of the Indian Constitution. So it was decided to celebrate this year with a boom and bang. A special committee was chaired by the Prime Minister of India to arrange various programmes for celebrations all through the year. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation of the B.R. Ambedkar Statue of Equality Memorial at Indu Mills compound in Mumbai. B.R. Ambedkar played a significant role in the drafting of the Constitution. So this day of importance i.e. 26 November was chosen to highlight, convey and propagate the meaning and significance of the Constitution to the citizens of India in a broader way.
The Statue of Equality also known as Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Memorial is a monument under construction. It is dedicated in the honour of B.R. Ambedkar, the pillar of the Indian Constitution and a par-excellent intellectual of the Indian Constitution. The centre of attraction of the statue will be a 25,000 square feet stupa around a pond and a dome-like structure will be constructed with 24 stone ribs and an Ashoka Chakra covering the memorial structure. There will be an interactive museum that will cover many aspects of Ambedkar’s life so that people have an easy access to know about the great intellectual of the 20th century. To pay a befitting tribute to the Architect of the Nation, there will be a Meditation Hall and Gallery of Struggle. It will promote the Constitutional Values among the citizens of India. It will bring an awareness about the worth of the constitution and the vital know-how about the intellectual Ambedkar, the Chief Architect of our Indian Constitution.
The Ministry of External Affairs issued directions to all the schools in overseas to celebrate 26 November as Constitution Day. It issued instructions to embassies to translate the Indian Consitution into the local languages so that various academies, libraries and faculties know the content material of the constitution, fathom its meaning and make out some sense of the same.
Our Constitution assures its citizens equality, liberty and justice which are precisely earmarked in its Preamble that records the aims and aspirations of Indian citizens. The Preamble contains its aims as:
“We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic and to secure to all its citizens:
Justice, social, economic and political; liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; equality of status and of opportunity, and to promote among them all – fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and its integrity of the Nation; In our constituent Assembly this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact, and give to ourselves this constitution.
India as a dominion of Britain continued to use the legislation from 1947 to 1950. But just after independence, the Constitutent Assembly drafted the Constitution of India to replace the Government of India Act, 1935. The Constitution was framed in accordance with the needs and conditions of the Indian people. It was an uphill task for B.R. Ambedkar who worked hard and studied the Constitutions of sixty countries.
The Constitution Assembly was formed on 6 December, 1949, with its President as Rajendra Prasad and H.C. Mukherjee as its Vice-Chairman. On 26 November, 1949, the Constution of India was adopted by the Assembly which was put into effect on January 26, 1950. It is the longest written Constitution in the world. It was neither typed nor printed. It was handwritten and calligraphic in English and Hindi both. It was entirely handcrafted by the artists of Shantiniketan under the guidance of Acharya Nandalal Bose. Prem Behari Narain Raizada in Delhi performed the calligraphy texts. Each part of the Constitution begins with a scene from India’s national history ranging from Mohenjodaro in the Indus Valley, the Vedic Period, the Gupta and Maurya Empires and the Mughal age to the National Freedom Movement. Thus Nandalal Bose’s pictorial richness and affluence presents a true journey across 4000 years of veritable history.
Note: This article is dedicated to Smt. Alka Puri, M.A. (Hindi, B.Ed.) who was the Secretary, Ladies Club, Punjabi University, Patiala during the tenure of Vice Chancellor Dr. S.S. Johal awarded with Padma Bhushan in 2004. Smt. Alka Puri was the wife of Dr. Ajit Singh Puri and mother of Dr. Jaswant Singh Puri.
November 14,2022
