India is a diverse country with varying cultures, people, languages, and geography. Naturally, the history of the constitution of such a country is an interesting one. From a mere collection of statutes before the country gained independence to becoming the supreme law of India, the constitution has gone through substantial revisions and reworkings.

The Constitution of India lays down the framework and structure of India's government, along with its powers and directive principles and the fundamental rights and duties of its citizens. It is the longest written constitution in the world, whose drafting took 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days and cost 6.4 crore rupees. It draws heavily from the other constitutions in the world and contains 25 parts, comprising 448 articles and 12 schedules.

What we know today as the Constitution of India started as the Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935. Even after getting independence from the British rule in 1947, India continued to be governed by the Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935, as it was still a dominion of the United Kingdom.

The Government of India Act of 1919 was passed as a gesture of gratitude acknowledging India's role in World War I for Great Britain. This Act is the basic structure of the constitution that governs our country today. The main goal of this legislation was to increase the role of native Indians in mainstream politics and government. Under this act, the Imperial Legislative Council (ICL) was transformed into a bicameral (constitutional assembly that has 2 chambers) legislature with an Upper House and a Lower House, which are known as the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha respectively today.

In addition to this, a High Commissioner with a London address was also established by the Act to represent India in the United Kingdom, and the system of dyarchy (government by two independent authorities) was introduced.

However, this Act provided next to no autonomy to Indian representatives in the government and was met with protests from the Indian National Congress (INC).

As a result, the Government of India Act of 1935 was passed.

Thereafter, as the possibility of India becoming a sovereign country was becoming a reality, a Constituent Assembly with 296 representatives was chosen by the members of the provincial legislatures to draft the Constitution of India. Although the Indian National Congress held a majority in this assembly, it also consisted of representatives from the Muslim League, Scheduled Caste Federation, Indian Communist Party and Union Party, among others.

The first meeting of this Constituent Assembly took place in December 1946. Since framing the constitution was a complicated process, a number of committees were appointed by the assembly to tackle various aspects of the framing process. Some of these committees were the Union Powers Committee, Union Constitution Committee, and Committees on Fundamental Rights, among others. These committees worked tirelessly to produce the fundamentals of the constitution.

In October 1947, the first draft of the Indian Constitution was produced by the Advisory Branch of the Office of the Constituent Assembly with Sir B.N, Rau as the constitutional legal advisor. What went behind the making of this Draft Constitution was widespread research and a three series 'Constitutional Precedents' which consisted of principal texts from the constitutions of about 60 countries.

This draft constitution of India was submitted to the Constituent Assembly in February 1948 and was debated extensively. A special committee was formed to comb through the draft, and the suggestions made by it were again debated by the Drafting Committee.

After a clause-by-clause consideration, followed by the Second Reading and the Third Reading by the Assembly, the 243 items and 13 schedules of the draft constitution were changed to 395 articles and 8 schedules with necessary amendments.

The legislature then moved, discussed, and rejected 2,473 of the total 7,635 amendments during its discussions on the revised drafted constitution.

On November 26, 1949, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee said, "that the constitution as settled by the assembly be passed". Thus, the constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly and this day is now celebrated as Constitution Day in India.

On January 26, 1950, the constitution came into effect in its entirety, and the Constituent Assembly became a Provisional Parliament. From this day on, with the constitution, India was now the Sovereign Democratic Republic of India.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Rajendra Prasad noted that they had been to write a strong constitution that he was confident would benefit the nation. But he also said:

"If the people who are elected are capable and men of character and integrity, they would be able to make the best even of a defective constitution. If they are lacking in these, the constitution cannot help the country. After all, a constitution like a machine is a lifeless thing. It acquires life because of men who control it and operate it, and India needs today nothing more than a set of honest men who will have the interest of the country before them.

There is a fissiparous (inclined to cause or undergo division into separate parts or groups) tendency arising out of various elements in our life. We have communal differences, caste differences, language differences, provincial differences and so forth. It requires men of strong character, men of vision, men who will not sacrifice the interests of the country at large for the sake of smaller groups and areas and who will rise over the prejudices which are born of these differences. We can only hope that the country will throw up such men in abundance."

The making of the Constitution of India has always been a dynamic process. Today, the aim is to incorporate essential reforms to keep up with the times while preserving the pillars of the polity.

Through judicial interpretations and constitutional amendments, the constitution, which is the driving force of our country, has been amended 105 times, making it one of the most amended constitutions in the world. The original copy of the constitution was handwritten by the Indian calligrapher Prem Behari Narain Raizada and each page was decorated by renowned artists from all over the country.

It is currently housed at the Library of the Parliament of India.

TIMELINE OF THE MAKING OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

6 December 1946: The Constitution Assembly was formed.

9 December 1946: The first meeting of this Constitution Assembly

11 December 1946: Rajendra Prasad was chosen as the Assembly's was held in the constitution hall. president, along with H. C. Mukherjee as vice-president and, B. N. Rau as constitutional legal adviser.

13 December 1946: Jawaharlal Nehru submitted a "Objective Resolution" outlining the fundamental ideas of the constitution. This is what we know today as the Preamble of the Constitution.

22 July 1947: The national flag of India was adopted.

15 August 1947: Indian subcontinent gained independence and was divided into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan.

29 August 1947: The Drafting Committee was appointed. The six members of this committee were K.M. Munshi, Muhammed Sadulla, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Devi Prasad Khaitan and BL Mitter.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar was the chairman of this committee.

26 November 1949: The Indian Constitution was adopted and ratifiedby the legislature.

24 January 1950: Last meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held wherein the Constitution was signed and accepted.

26 January 1950: The Constitution came into force and India was Sovereign Democratic Republic of India.