November 26: The day India celebrates Constitution Day, and remembers why its values should never be forgotten

New Delhi, Nov 26: The Constitution Day is celebrated on November 26 every year since 2015. The day, also called the National Law Day, commemorates the adoption of the Constitution of India and honours and acknowledges the contribution of founding fathers of the Constitution.

This year too the Constitution Day is being celebrated with great enthusiasm across the country including in all central government, ministries and departments.

However, the Constitution of India came to force on 26 January 1950 which is celebrated as the Republic Day.

Why is 26 November celebrated as Constitution Day?

PM Modi-led BJP government in May 2015 announced that November 26 will be observed as Constitution Day every year to promote constitutional values among citizens. It has to be noted that year 2015 marked the 125th anniversary of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution. The Central government's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment notified November 26 as Constitution Day on 19 November 2015.

Earlier, the day was observed as National Law Day as a tribute to Ambedkar, the first law minister of the country.

November 26 marks the day in 1949 when the Constitution of India was adopted by the Constituent Assembly.

The first session of the Constituent Assembly, the panel set up to draft the Constitution of India, held in Constitution Hall, now Central Hall of the Parliament on 9 December 1946 was attended by 207 members, including nine women.

Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, was elected as the President of the Assembly. The panel took two years, 11 months and 18 days to draft the Constitution.

The Constituent Assembly took almost three years to draft the Constitution for Independent India. During this period, it held eleven sessions covering a total of 165 days, according to the Lok Sabha website. Of these, 114 days were spent on the consideration of the contest of the Draft Constitution.

Initially, the Assembly had 389 members, but after partition, a separate Constituent Assembly was set up for Pakistan and the membership was reduced to 299.

The "Objectives Resolution" passed by Jawaharlal Nehru four days later on December 13 was unanimously adopted as Preamble on 22 January 1947. On the evening of 14 August 1947, the Assembly met in the Constitution Hall again and took over as the Legislative Assembly of an Independent India.

On 29 August 1947, the Constituent Assembly set up a Drafting Committee, one of its 17 committees, under the chairmanship of B R Ambedkar to prepare a Draft Constitution for India. Of the 7,635 amendments tabled, the committee discussed and disposed at least 2,473 amendments.

The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949, the last day of the Assembly's last session. It came into effect next year on 24 January 1950 after all 283 members signed it. On that day, the Constituent Assembly ceased to exist, transforming into the Provisional Parliament of India until a new Parliament was constituted in 1952.

The Indian Constitution is the lengthiest and most comprehensive constitution in the world. At the time of its commencement, the Indian Constitution had 395 Articles, 22 Parts and 8 Schedules. It justifies the vastness of the nation in terms of geographical and linguistic diversity and the vast population of India. This document was given shape through extensive deliberations, debates and discussions. The drafting of the Constitution was steered by Dr B R Ambedkar - the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, and one of India's finest scholars and statesmen.

PM Modi to participate in Constitution Day celebrations in Supreme Court today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the Constitution Day celebrations in the Supreme Court today.

During the programme, the Prime Minister will launch various new initiatives under the e-court project. The project is an effort to provide services to litigants, lawyers and the judiciary through ICT enablement of courts.

The initiatives being launched by the Prime Minister include Virtual Justice Clock, JustIS mobile App 2.0, Digital court and S3WaaS Websites.