<P> B.N. Rau was appointed as the Constitutional Adviser to the Constituent Assembly in formulating the Indian Constitution in 1946 . He was responsible for the general structure of its democratic framework of the Constitution and prepared its initial draft in February 1948 . This draft was debated, revised and finally adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 26 November 1949 . </P> <P> On 14 August 1947 meeting of the Assembly, a proposal for forming various committees was presented . Such committees included a Committee on Fundamental Rights, the Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution Committee . On 29 August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed, with Dr B.R. Ambedkar as the Chairman along with six other members assisted by a constitutional advisor . These members were Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (KM Munshi, Ex - Home Minister, Bombay), Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer (Ex - Advocate General, Madras State), N Gopalaswami Ayengar (Ex-Prime Minister, J&K and later member of Nehru Cabinet), BL Mitter (Ex-Advocate General, India), Md . Saadullah (Ex - Chief Minister of Assam, Muslim League member) and DP Khaitan (Scion of Khaitan Business family and a renowned lawyer). The constitutional advisor was Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (who became First Indian Judge in International Court of Justice, 1950--54). Later BL Mitter resigned and was replaced by Madhav Rao (Legal Advisor of Maharaja of Vadodara). On DP Khaitan's death, TT Krishnamachari was included in the drafting committee . A draft Constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 4 November 1947, which was debated and over 2000 amendments were moved over a period of two years . Finally on 26 November 1949, the process was completed and the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution . 284 members signed the document and the process of constitution making was complete . This day is celebrated as National Law Day or Constitution Day . </P> <P> The assembly met in sessions open to the public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution, the 308 members of the assembly signed two copies of the document (one each in Hindi and English) on 24 January 1950 . The original Constitution of India is hand - written with beautiful calligraphy, each page beautified and decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Nandalal Bose . The illustrations on the cover and pages represent styles from the different civilisations of the subcontinent, ranging from the prehistoric Mohenjodaro civilisation, in the Indus Valley, to the present . The calligraphy in the book was done by Prem Behari Narain Raizda . It was published in Dehra Dun, and photolithographed at the offices of Survey of India . The entire exercise to produce the original took nearly five years . Two days later, on 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India became the law of all the States and territories of India . Rs. 1, 00, 00,000 was official estimate of expenditure on constituent assembly . It has undergone many amendments since its enactment . </P> <P> The original 1950 Constitution of India is preserved in helium cases in the Parliament house, New Delhi . There are two original versions of this--one in Hindi and the other in English . The original constitution can be viewed here . </P>

Who was entrusted with task of illuminating the original document of constitution of india