Republic Day of India - 26 January

Although India obtained its independence on August 15, 1947, it did not yet have a permanent constitution; instead, its laws were based on the modified colonial Government of India Act 1935, and the country was a Dominion, with George VI as head of state and Earl Mountbatten as Governor General.
On August 29, 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed to draft a permanent constitution, with Dr. Ambedkar as the Chairman. A Draft Constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on November 4, 1947. The Assembly met, in sessions open to public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution.


After many deliberations and some modifications, the 308 members of the Assembly signed two hand-written copies of the document (one each in Hindi and English) on January 24, 1950. Two days later, the Constitution of India became the law of all the Indian lands. The Constitution of India came into effect only on January 26, 1950. Following January 26, 1950, Rajendra Prasad was elected as the president of India.


This was, infact, a delibrate act, signing the constitution on 26th January, to mark and respect the freedom fighters who wanted 26 January as India's intial independence day.