75 years of Constitution adoption: Prez to address joint sitting of Houses

The celebrations will take place at the old Parliament complex, now called the Samvidhan Sadan

President Droupadi Murmu will on Tuesday lead the celebrations at the Central Hall of the old Parliament complex, now called  the Samvidhan Sadan, to mark 75 years of the adoption of the Constitution and will address a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament, the government announced on Monday. The Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949, and came into force on January 26, 1950. 

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Modi, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will also take part in the celebrations 

on the Samvidhan Divas, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said. “We will sit in the very same chamber where the Constituent Assembly sittings happened and the Constitution was adopted,” the Minister said. Rijiju said the PM would not address the event and accused “some of the Opposition parties” of giving reactions without knowing the actual arrangement.  “Secondly, we have made sitting arrangements for the Leaders of Opposition of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on the dais,” Rijiju said.

  Earlier in the day, leaders of various Opposition INDIA bloc parties wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Monday, urging him to allow leaders of the opposition in both Houses of Parliament, Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, respectively, to speak during the Constitution Day function to be held on Tuesday.   A look back... 

Adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949, the Constitution of India came into force on January 26, 1950. The Assembly sat for 11 sessions and 167 days for over a period of two years and 11 months to frame the Constitution. The Constitution of India is neither printed or typed. It is handwritten and calligraphed in both Hindi and English. Every page was decorated by Santiniketan artists, led by Nandalal Bose. 

At the time of its adoption, the Constitution contained 395 Articles and 8 Schedules and was about 145,000 words long, making it the longest national Constitution to ever be adopted. It now contains 12 Schedules and has been amended 106 times.     

Key amendments  

1st | June 18, 1951 Secured constitutional validity of zamindari abolition laws, placed reasonable restrictions 

on freedom of speech, and introduced Schedule 9

  7th | November 1, 1956: Reorganisation of states on linguistic lines

  26th | December 28, 1971: Abolition of privy purses paid to former rulers

  36th | April 26, 1975: Formation of Sikkim as a state within the Indian Union 

42nd | January-February 1977: Passed during the Emergency, included ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the Preamble  

  52nd | March 1, 1985: Introduced Anti-defection law 

61st | March 28, 1989: Reduced voting age to 18 from 21

  73rd, 74th | April-June,1992: Introduced Panchayati Raj and statutory status to urban local bodies

  91st | January 1, 2004: Restricted the size of council of ministers to 15% of legislative members

  93rd | January 20, 2006: Provided for 27% reservation to OBCs in government and private educational institutions

  100th | July 31, 2015: Exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh

  101st | July 1, 2017: Introduced Goods and Services Tax

  103rd | January 12, 2019: 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections

  106th | September 28, 2023: Reserved one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women

 

(1) First day of the Constituent Assembly of India, December 11, 1946. In the first row (from left): B R Ambedkar, B G Kher, Vallabhbhai Patel and KM Munshi; (Photos: Kritikasni, CC BY-SA 3.0/ Wikimedia Commons) 

(2) Jawaharlal Nehru addressing a meeting of a committee of the Constituent Assembly in New Delhi in 1949. Rajendra Prasad and Vallabhbhai Patel are seated at the right; (Photos: Kritikasni, CC BY-SA 3.0/ Wikimedia Commons) 

(3) A Constituent Assembly of India meeting in 1950. B R Ambedkar can be seen seated top-right (Photos: Kritikasni, CC BY-SA 3.0/ Wikimedia Commons)