'Constitution of India': Preservation of original
IR@NPL: CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi
View Archive InfoField | Value | |
Title |
'Constitution of India': Preservation of original
|
|
Creator |
Aswal, D. K.
Mehrotra, Ranjana |
|
Subject |
Multidisciplinary
|
|
Description |
the ‘Constitution of India’ was adopted
by the ‘Constituent Assembly’ on 26
November 1949 and came into force on
26 January 1950. It is the longest consti-
tution of any sovereign country in the
world written under the chairmanship of
B. R. Ambedkar. The original English
version of the ‘Cons
titution of India’ was
calligraphed by Prem Behari Narain Rai-
zada, which weighs ~13 kg and consists
of 221 calligraphed sheets of hand-made
parchment paper of size 45.7 cm ×
58.4 cm size. The calligraphed sheets
were decorated and illuminated by Nand
Lal Bose, depicting a journey from the
Mohen-jo-Daro and Vedic periods to the
Indian freedom movement. The Hindi
version of the ‘Constitution of India’–
comprising of 252 calligraphed sheets
and
weighing
about
14 kg – was
calligraphed by Basantrao Vaidya.
Interestingly, the Hindi version was cal-
ligraphed exactly as its English counter-
part which had been calligraphed by
Nand Lal Bose. Both documents have
been bound in first-class Morocco leather
embossed in gold. Both the original cal-
ligraphed copies of the ‘Constitution of
India’ are with the Parliament Library,
and have great autographic and historical
value as they contain the signatures of
the founding fathers of the Constitution.
In the mid-1980s, it was felt that these
historic volumes need to be preserved for
long periods, and therefore, require
appropriate preservation solutions. The
Parliament Library based on the scienti-
fic report – consisting the results of opti-
cal testing, brightness of the paper, and
gloss of the gold on the document –
Figure 1.
The original ‘Constitution of
India’ (Hindi and English versions) at Par-
liament Library, preserved in hermetically
sealed glass cases jointly developed by
CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New
Delhi and Getty Conservation Institute,
USA.
obtained from the National Research
Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural
Property at Lucknow, concluded that
both volumes were in fairly sound condi-
tion. The Parliament Library then began
discussions with the National Physical
Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi for deve-
loping a case for preserving these docu-
ments. NPL developed the concept of
‘hermetically sealed glass cases’ for dis-
playing and storing these documents
under inert-gas atmospheres, so that the
Constitution can be prevented from oxi-
dation, microbiological deterioration and
air-pollution damages. The challenging
aspects of constructing such a display
case were to produce a hermetical seal
with (i) mechanical strength so as to
withstand changes in temperature and
atmospheric pressure, and (ii) durability
over several decades. After an extensive
literature search on the subject, the fol-
lowing three available methods for pro-
ducing hermetic seals were identified and
evaluated: silver-lead soldering, organic
sealants and mechanical seals using O-
rings. During 1988–89, NPL fabricated
cases using tempered glass and appropri-
ate sealants; however, these cases were
not accepted as the durability of the seal
over many years could not be assured.
In parallel, NPL al
so made efforts to
collaborate with various national and
international institutions for the deve-
lopment of hermetically sealed glass
cases. In 1992–93, NPL scientist Hari
Kishan visited Saint-Gobain Company,
Paris, France to develop hermetically
sealed glass cases. He was able to fabri-
cate two display cases – one sealed by
the soldering process and another sealed
with O-rings; however, they were also
not found suitable as long-term preserva-
tion of the Constitution could not be as-
sured.
In France, Hari Kishan also discussed
the issue with Georges Amsel (a special-
ist in conservation aspects in the famous
Louvre Museum, Paris) who suggested to
contact the Getty Conservation Institute
(GCI), USA, as in 1989 they had devel-
oped nearly similar cases for the storage
and display of the 27 Royal Mummies at
the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. In
November 1992, NPL contacted M. A.
Corzo (Director GCI) who readily agreed
to sign an agreement to jointly develop
‘hermetically sealed glass cases’ – a task
that was highly significant and challeng-
ing. The following are edited portions of
the agreement signed between NPL and
GCI in July 1993 regarding the fabrica-
tion of the display cases for the Constitu-
tion of India. ‘Two identical display
cases will be fabricated, one for the Eng-
lish and the other for the Hindi version of
the document. The internal volume of
each case will be 96,250 cm
3
, and the
dimensions of each case will be 55 cm
wide, 70 cm long, and 25 cm high. The
documents will be stored and maintained
at a relative humidity of 40–50% in a ni-
trogen atmosphere with an oxygen con-
centration of less than 1% by volume. A
special protective vault like room,
180 cm wide, 180 cm deep, and 305 cm
high will be constructed in the Parlia-
ment Library at the Parliament House for
display and storage of the documents.
The room will be climate controlled to
maintain a temperature of 20
±
2
°
C and a
30
±
5% relative humidity throughout the
year. It was also agreed that the cases
would be constructed at the GCI in the
United States and transported to the Par-
liament Library in New Delhi, where
they would be installed and jointly tested
by the GCI and the NPL.’
In March 1994, these cases were
installed successfully at the Parliament
Library (Figure 1). The cases were indi-
vidually mounted on polished stainless-
steel stands (approximately 1 m in
height) with varnished teak cabinet-work
that covers the metal frames of the cases.
The stands and cabinets were constructed
at NPL. A trace-oxygen analyser con-
nected to a data logger was installed in
each nitrogen filled case for monitoring
oxygen leakage into it during perfor-
mance evaluation. The cases were initial-
ly flushed with dry nitrogen, and oxygen
content was reduced to below 1000 ppm.
The performance of the cases was
accepted by both NPL and GCI. The per-
formance of these display cases is
annually evaluated by a team of NPL
scientists.
|
|
Publisher |
Indian Academy of Sciences
|
|
Date |
2018-08-25
|
|
Type |
Article
PeerReviewed |
|
Format |
application/pdf
|
|
Identifier |
http://npl.csircentral.net/4027/1/not%20abstract%20given%20Constitution%20of%20India.pdf
Aswal, D. K. and Mehrotra, Ranjana (2018) 'Constitution of India': Preservation of original. Current Science, 115 (4). p. 788. ISSN 0011-3891 |
|
Relation |
http://npl.csircentral.net/4027/
|
|