Five things to know about the Indian Constitution

Indian Constitution, adopted on November 26, 1949, is hand-written and one the longest in the world. It is a vast scripture that was written after borrowing from various different ideas from other constitutions while keeping Indian traditions in sight.

Here are five things to know about the Indian Constitution:

A Hand-written document

There were two versions of the Constitution initially, one written in English and the other in Hindi, both were hand-written meticulously given that it is the longest hand-written constitution in the world. It was written by Prem Behari Narain Raizada in calligraphy and published in Dehradun while Survey of India helped with the photolithography.

Neary three years to complete the Constitution

It took nearly three years for the members of the Constituent Assembly to draft the document. Even after the draft was complete and put forward for debate, it needed 2000 amendments before the final draft was approved. The Constituent Assembly sat down for 11 sessions before the draft was adopted on November 26, 1949.

January 26, 1950

On January 24, 1950, 284 members of the Constituent Assembly signed the Constitution in what was called the Constitution hall, know it is the central hall of the Parliament. It was legally enforced on January 26, 1950. The day was significant because it was the same day of declaration of "purna swaraj" from British rule, way before in 1930.

From the French and the Soviet Union

Indian Constitution borrows various ideas from other constitutions from all over the world. Prominently, the words "liberty, equality, and fraternity" printed in the Preamble are taken from the French Constitution, which was originally the slogans of the French Revolution.

The Five Year Plans were taken from the socialist Soviet Union, which disintegrated in 1991.

From Japan, the US, and Germany

The Constitution of Japan was adopted to frame laws that govern our highest court Supreme Court or the concept of "procedure established by Law.” The idea of suspending fundamental rights during Emergency was taken from the Weimar Constitution of Germany.

"We the people" at the beginning of the Preamble is similar to the US Constitution's Preamble.