Know more about our national flag

NATIONAL FLAG OF INDIA

• Introduction
• Evolution in the tricolour of our flag
• Facts about our national flag

INTRODUCTION

Every free nation of the world has its own flag. It is a symbol of a free country. The National Flag of India was adopted in its present form during the meeting of Constituent Assembly held on the 22 July 1947, a few days before India's independence from the British on 15 August, 1947. It served as the national flag of the Dominion of India between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950 and that of the Republic of India thereafter. In India, the term "tricolour" refers to the Indian national flag.

The National flag of India is a horizontal tricolor of deep saffron (kesari) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The ratio of width of the flag to its length is two to three. In the centre of the white band is a navy blue wheel which represents the chakra. Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. Its diameter approximates to the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes.

EVOLUTION IN THE TRICOLOUR OF OUR FLAG

You will be amazed to see the various changes that our tricoloured national flag went through since very first hosting.

Our national flag have gone through numerous changes, to be what it is today.

In one way,it reflects the political development in the nation.

Some of the national flags are given below to understand the evolution in the design of the national flag:

1. Flag of freedom fighters(1857)

2.Flag of ‘Bhagini (Sister) Nivedita – 1905

3.Unofficial flag of India in 1906

The first national flag in India is said to have been hoisted on August 7, 1906, in the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park) in Calcutta now Kolkata. The flag was composed of three horizontal strips of red, yellow and green.

 And in middle 'vandematram' was written in debnagri script.

4.The Berlin committee flag, first raised by Bhikaiji Cama in 1907

The second flag was hoisted in Paris by Madame Cama and her band of exiled revolutionaries in 1907 (according to some inl9OS). This was very similar to the first flag except that the top strip had only one lotus but seven stars denoting the Saptarishi. This flag was also exhibited at a socialist conference in Berlin.

5.The flag used during the Home Rule movement in 1917

The third flag went up in 1917 when our political struggle had taken a definite turn. Dr. Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak hoisted it during the Home rule movement.

 This flag had five red and four green horizontal strips arranged alternately, with seven stars in the saptarishi configuration super-imposed on them. In the left-hand top corner (the pole end) was the Union Jack. There was also a white crescent and star in one corner.

6.The flag unofficially adopted in 1921

During the session of the All India Congress Committee which met at Bezwada in 1921 (now Vijayawada) an Andhra youth prepared a flag and took it to Gandhiji.

It was made up of two colours-red and green-representing the two major communities i.e. Hindus and Muslims. Gandhiji suggested the addition of a white strip to represent the remaining communities of India and the spinning wheel to symbolise progress of the Nation.

Gandhi’s constructive program. It represents Swadeshi, self-sufficiency, and at the same time interdependence, because the wheel is at the center of a network of cotton growers, carders, weavers, distributors, and users. .  It also embodied the dignity of labor, equality, unity, as all volunteers were to spin each day, and finally independence, as British control of India was rooted in control of indigenous industries such as textiles. For this reason, Nehru called  khadi the homespun cloth  “the livery of our freedom.”

Spinning formed the “sun” in the “solar system” that was Gandhi’s Constructive Programme.  Almost every person, regardless of age, social class or gender, was involved in spinning and sometimes elsewhere in the chain of cloth production, from sowing the seeds of cotton to wearing khadi. 

7.The flag adopted in 1931. This flag was also the battle ensign of the Indian National Army

The year 1931 was a landmark in the history of the flag. A resolution was passed adopting a tricolor flag as our national flag. This flag, the forbear of the present one, was saffron, white and green with Mahatma Gandhi’s spinning wheel at the center. It was, however, clearly stated that it bore no communal significance and was to be interpreted thus.

8.Official flag of independent India

On July 22, 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted it as Free India National Flag. After the advent of Independence, the colours and their significance remained the same. Only the Dharma Charkha of Emperor Asoka was adopted in place of the spinning wheel as the emblem on the flag. Thus, the tricolour flag of the Congress Party eventually became the tricolour flag of Independent India.

MEANING OF TRICOLOUR AND THE ASHOKA CHAKRA:

Colours of the Flag

In the national flag of India the top band is of Saffron colour, indicating the strength and courage of the country. The white middle band indicates peace and truth with Dharma Chakra. The last band is green in colour shows the fertility, growth and auspiciousness of the land.

The Chakra

This Dharma Chakra depicted the “wheel of the law” in the Sarnath Lion Capital made by the 3rd-century BC Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. The chakra intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.

The 24 spikes in between the chakra symbolizes the 24 hours time circle.

FACTS ABOUT OUR TRICOLOURED NATIONAL FLAG:

1.Pingali Venkayya, a fervent freedom fighter and the designer of the flag on which the Indian national flag was based, was born on 2 August, 1876. He was born at Bhatlapenumarru, near Masulipatnam, in what is now the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

2. The tricoloured flag was adapted by free India on 22nd July,1947.

3.The right to manufacture the national flag of India is held by the Khadi Development and Village Industries Commission, who in turn allocates it to the regional groups.

4. By law,the flag should only be made in khadi fabric,one introduced by Mahatma Gandhi.

5.According to the Flag code of India, the Indian flag has a ratio of two by three, where the length of the flag is 1.5 times that of the width and all three stripes of the flag – Saffron, White, and Green – should be equal in width and length. Also, the chakra should be printed on both sides of the flag. There are nine different sizes in which the Indian flag is made. The smallest one is 6×4 inches and the biggest one, hoisted on buildings and forts with high mast, is 21×14 feet.

The flags hoisted on Red Fort, Rashtrapati Bhavan, and medium-sized government buildings are 12×8 feet.

6.The Indian national flag was hoisted on Mount Everest on May 29, 1953, along with the Union Jack and the Nepalese National flag.

 7.Bhikaji Rustom Cama was the first Indian who raised the flag on foreign soil.

8. Bhikaji cama hoisted the second national flag of India in the Germany.

9. A tricolor flag was first accepted in 1931 by the Indian national Congress,having chakra in place of today's Ashoka chakra.

10. The flag must be  flown on the right side, while the other countries flag can flown on left side.

All the images are taken from Google images