Republic of India.

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The writing of the Indian Constitution gives shape to India's identity as a Republic. And its history is as rich as that of the country. It was on 11 am, December 9, 1946 that work began on putting to paper what India stands for and will live by - the writing of the Indian Constitution. For the next 2 years, 11 months and 17 days, the founding fathers of our Constitution were at work. Paper was flown in from England for India's First document. On Nehru's reference, Prem Bihari Narain Raizada was brought in to calligraph the English version. Nandalal Bose, the well-known artist from Santi Niketan chipped in to embellish moments of the nation's history, at the beginning of each chapter. These included artistic flourishes from Harappan times to the independence struggle. Inspiration galore As regarded the document's content, the whole world became India's inspiration. Whether it was the Parliamentary avatar from the British, Fundamental rights from the Americans, Directive Principles from the Irish, Central Powers from the Canadian, the Five Year Plan and fundamental duties from the Soviet and the spirit of liberty and equality from the French - all of it was enshrined in what was to become and remains the world's longest Constitution. On November 26, 1949, it was adopted by the Constituent Assembly. But it was only a month later that everybody signed on the dotted line. And there's an interesting aside regarding the signatures as well. It is said that Nehru got so excited that he signed first, although Rajendra Prasad was the President of the Constituent Assembly. So there's a diagonal signature that came later from the first President of India. They also say that there was a drizzle, which was considered a good omen. And on January 26, 1950, India became a sovereign democratic republic. Socialist and secular were added later to the Preamble in 1976. So much like India, its First document too has a long, interesting history.