India will celebrate its 72nd Republic Day on Tuesday. As we all know, the Constitution of India came into force on January 26, 1950, and that is why the day is celebrated as Republic Day every year.
However, there are many things that are unheard. Among such things, there's one question that frequently pops up - where is the original copy of our Constitution? How many copies does it have and how are they kept?
The original copy of the constitution
There are three original copies of the Constitution of India. All of these copies have been kept in the Central Library of the Parliament. There is a security enclosure of three rooms, which you get a chance to cross it to view them.
The original copy of the Constitution is 22 inches long and 16 inches wide. It is written on sheets of parchment and its manuscript consists of 251 pages.
It took 2 years 11 months and 18 days to prepare the constitution. Notably, the constitution was approved by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949. A draft committee was formed on August 29, 1947, to prepare the Constitution of India. The committee's president was Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, who drafted the Constitution after closely examining all the constitutions around the world.
It is obvious that keeping this precious document needs a lot of effort. Utmost care has been taken to ensure that the original copy of the Constitution isn't spoiled, therefore, it is kept in a box filled with helium gas.
Before being kept here, the original copy was signed by 284 members of the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950. Surprisingly, the first signature on the copy was not done by the first and then President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, but by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Moreover, 46 of the signatories had signed in Hindi, including President Dr Rajendra Prasad. Among the signatories are 15 women who also contributed in drafting the constitution.
It is also interesting to know that our constitution is the largest written constitution in the world, which is why India is called the largest republic in the world.
