Indian National Flag


• The Indian National flag is a horizontal tricolour of saffron at the top, white in the middle, and green at the bottom. In the centre, there is a navy blue wheel with twenty-four spokes. The wheel with 24 spokes is known as the Ashoka Chakra. It is taken from the Ashoka pillar at Sarnath.

• In India, the term "tricolour" is also used to refer to the Indian national flag.

• Saffron signifies the symbol of courage and sacrifice. The white colour represents honesty, peace, and purity. The green colour represents faith and chivalry. It is a symbol of prosperity, vibrancy, and life.

• The ratio of the height of the flag to its width is 2:3.

• The diameter of this Chakra is three-fourths of the height of the white strip.

• The National Flag of India, by law, is to be made of khadi.

• The original cloth flag can be made by only one place called the Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha (KKGSS). They are the only licensed manufacturer and supplier of the Indian National Flag.

• The first unofficial flag of India was hoisted on 7th August in 1906, in the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park) of Kolkata by Schindra Prasad Bose. It was also a tricolour with three horizontal strips of red, yellow and green.

• On 22nd August 1907, Bhikaiji Cama unfurled a tricolour flag in Stuttgart, Germany. This flag had green at the top, saffron in the centre and red at the bottom. It becomes the first Indian flag to host on foreign soil.

• A freedom fighter from Andhra Pradesh named Pingali Venkayya published a book in 1916 offering thirty designs of what could make the Indian flag. Venkayya's design for the National Flag was finally approved by Mahatama Gandhi in a Congress meeting in Vijayawada in 1921.

• In 1931, the Congress party adopted another flag as their official flag. It had the colours of saffron, white and green, and featuring the Charkha (spinning wheel) in the centre.

• The National Flag of India was adopted in its present form during an ad hoc meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on the 22 July 1947.

• Prior to 2002, the general public of India could not fly national flag publicly except on designated national holidays. The Union Cabinet amended the Indian flag code with effect from 26 January 2002, allowing the general public to hoist the flag on all days of the year, provided they safeguarded the dignity, honour and respect of the flag.

• The design and manufacturing process for the national flag is regulated by three documents issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

• On 29th May 1953, Tenzing Norgay hoisted the Indian National Flag on Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak of the world for the first time.

• The Indian National Flag flew into space in 1984 when Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel to space. The flag was attached as a medallion on the space suit of Sharma.

• The world's largest Khadi national flag was installed in Leh, Ladakh on 2nd October 2021 on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 152nd birth anniversary.

• When a foreign dignitary travels in a car provided by the government, the flag should be flown on the right side of the car while the flag of the foreign country should be flown on the left side.