The Indian national flag is a symbol of our independence. Waving our flag in the country means that the country is free. After independence, the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said, ‘The national flag is not just our freedom, but it symbolizes the freedom of all the people of the country.’ According to Indian law, the national flag should be of Khadi cloth. Initially, the national flag was used by ordinary citizens only on National Day like Independence Day and Republic Day, in other days they could not hoist it. But after some time the Union Cabinet changed it and its use was started by ordinary citizens.
Everyone knows the Indian national flag by the name ‘Tricolor’, it means three colors. All three color planar are divided into equal parts. Saffron is at the top, white under it and green at the bottom. The length of the tricolor is in the ratio 2: 3. In the middle of the tricolor, there is a blue ashoka chakra over the white color, which has 24 stripes.
Detailed description of the three colors of the tricolor –
Saffron – Saffron color is at the top of the tricolor, it is a symbol of courage, selflessness and power.
White – The white color in the tricolor symbolizes truth, peace and purity. This color shows the utility of peace and happiness in the country.
Green- Green is a symbol of faith, poise, growth and fertility of green land. It shows prosperity and life.
Ashoka Chakra – It is also called Dharma Chakra. The blue colored Ashoka Chakra was created by Emperor Ashoka in the third century. Which is placed in the middle of the tricolor, it has 24 stripes. The Ashoka Chakra indicates the movement of life, its absence means death.
History of Indian National Flag
The national flag represents India’s long fight for independence and the national treasury. It is a symbol of the Republic of independent India. A few days before the independence of the country, a meeting was organized on 22 July 1947 about the constitution of independent India, where the national flag tricolor was presented to everyone for the first time. After this, from 15 August 1947 to 26 January 1950, the national flag was presented as the dominion of India. When the Constitution came into force in 1950, it was declared the national flag of the independent republic. The national flag was made by Pingali Venkakya.
All National Flag History of India –
1904-06 – The history of the national flag of India is linked to the pre-independence era. For the first time around 1904 -06 the national flag appeared in front of the logo. At that time it was built by Sister Nivedita, the Irish disciple of Swami Vivekananda. After some time this flag came to be called Sister Nivedita flag. The color of this flag was yellow and red. In which red color symbolized freedom fight and yellow color won. It was written in Bengali as ‘Vonde Matoram’ meaning Vande Mataram. On this, a picture of Lord Indra’s weapon Vajra and Safe Lotus was also made. Vajra was a symbol of strength and lotus purity.
1906 – After the creation of Sister Nivedita, a new flag was created again in 1906. It contained three colors, blue at the top then yellow and red at the bottom. At the top of it there were 8 different types of stars in the blue stripe. The red strip at the bottom was made of sun on one side and half moon and a star on the other side. Vande Mataram was written from Devanagari script in Pili Patti.
This year, a little change was made in this flag, it had only three colors, but those colors were changed. It had saffron, yellow and green colors, which was called the Calcutta flag. At the top of it, 8 half-blossomed lotuses were made, so it was also named the lotus flag. It was made by Sachindra Prasad Bose and Sukumar Mitra. This flag was hoisted by Surendranath Banerjee on 7 August 1906 at the Parsi Bagan intersection of Calcutta. At that time Bengal was partitioned, this protest was done against that.
• In 1907 – 1907, changes were made again by Madame Bhikaji Cama, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Shyamji Krishna Verma. It was also called Madame Bhikaji Cama flag. This flag was hoisted in Germany on 22 August 1907 by Madame Bhikaji Cama. This was the first time that the Indian flag was hoisted on foreign soil outside the country. After this ceremony, it was also called the ‘Berlin Committee Flag’. The flag had green saffron at the top and red at the bottom.
In 1916 – 1916, a writer named Pingali Venkayya made a flag, in which his thinking of taking the whole country along was clear. She also met Mahatma Gandhi and took his opinion. Gandhiji talked about adding a spinning wheel to them. Pingali made the flag for the first time with Khadi cloth. In this, 2 colors were made from red and green and spinning wheel was also made in the middle. Mahatma Gandhi rejected this flag, he said that red color is a symbol of Hindu and green color of Muslim caste. The country does not seem united by this flag.
In 1917 – 1917, Bal Gangadhar Tilak adopted the new flag as the national flag. The flag of the European country was also attached on top of this flag, in the other place there were 5 red and 5 blue lines. In this, 7 stars, called Saptarishi, were made to reflect the religiosity of Hindus. A half moon and a star were also made in it.
1921 – Mahatma Gandhi wanted a flag of the country to be clearly visible in the national flag of India, due to which a flag was constructed. This flag also had 3 colors, white at the top and then red at the last. In this flag, white color represented the minority of the country, green color Muslim caste and red color Hindu and Sikh caste. A charkha was also added in the middle, which showed the solidarity of the entire caste. This flag was not adopted by the Congress party, but still it remained a symbol of nationality in the freedom struggle.
1931 – Some people were very angry with the communal interpretation in the flag. Keeping all these things in mind, the red color in the flag was ocher. This color reflects both Hindu and Muslim races. But after this the people of Sikh caste made a separate demand to reveal their caste in the national flag. As a result, Pingali created a new flag, with saffron at the top and then green at the white end. It had a blue spinning wheel over the white in the middle. It was passed at the Congress Party meeting in 1931, after which it became the official flag of the Congress.
When the country became independent in 1947 – 1947, then the first President and Committee Head of the country, Rajendra Prasad ji called a meeting to talk about the national flag. Everyone there agreed to take their flag from Congress with one vote. It was adopted with a change in the flag made in 1931. Ashok Chakra replaced the spinning wheel in the middle. In this way, the national flag of our country was prepared.
Construction of the flag – The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) set the standard for the construction of the flag. He set every small thing related to its construction like its fabric, yarn, color and its proportions according to rules, even the things related to its hoisting were written in rules.
Some important things related to the national flag – This is a national symbol, which is respected by every Indian. The common man should always remember a few things related to the honor of the national flag –
- When the national flag is raised, always keep in mind the saffron color at the top.
- No flag or symbol should be above the national flag.
- If any other flags are being hoisted, they should always be hoisted in the row on its left side.
- If a procession or parade is going out, the national flag should be on the right or in the middle of the other flag.
- The national flag should always be hoisted in the main government buildings and institutions like Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House, Supreme Court, High Court etc.
- The national flag cannot be used for any personal business or work.
- The national flag should be taken off at sunset in the evening.
Interesting fact –
- The national flag was hoisted on 29 May 1953 on Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
- Madam Bhikhaji Khama is the first man who hoisted the national flag on foreign soil.
- In 1984, it was hoisted on the inner space by Rakesh Sharma.
- In December 2014, in Chennai, 50 thousand people set a record by making the national flag.
- The tallest national flag was hoisted in Central Park of Delhi, which was 90 feet in length and width was 60 feet.
