India’s national flag has gone through many changes over the last one hundred years. In fact there have been eight versions of the flag in that time. The Indian flag that you would see today in India was adopted on July 22, 1947, after India became independent from Great Britain. The flag was based on the design of the flag of the Indian National Congress. But what do the various elements in the flag represent?
There are three equal horizontal bands of saffron, white, and green, with a blue Chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band. Saffron is the sacred color of Hinduism and represents courage, sacrifice, and the spirit of renunciation. The white signifies purity unity and truth. And green stands for faith and fertility but originally is represented Islam. The blue Dharma Chakra in the middle of the white band symbolizes the wheel of life in movement and death in stagnation. The 24 spokes represent the hours in a day and at the end of each spoke there is a half moon. Blue is the color for the sky and the ocean.
There is a committee which sets standards for the manufacturing of the flag. It also lays out rules regarding the hoisting of the Indian flag. This committee is known as 'Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS)'. It specifies the cloth, dye, color, thread count and each and every thing about the flag.
Indian Flag Factoids:
There are three equal horizontal bands of saffron, white, and green, with a blue Chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band. Saffron is the sacred color of Hinduism and represents courage, sacrifice, and the spirit of renunciation. The white signifies purity unity and truth. And green stands for faith and fertility but originally is represented Islam. The blue Dharma Chakra in the middle of the white band symbolizes the wheel of life in movement and death in stagnation. The 24 spokes represent the hours in a day and at the end of each spoke there is a half moon. Blue is the color for the sky and the ocean.
There is a committee which sets standards for the manufacturing of the flag. It also lays out rules regarding the hoisting of the Indian flag. This committee is known as 'Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS)'. It specifies the cloth, dye, color, thread count and each and every thing about the flag.
Indian Flag Factoids:
- According to the flag code of India, citizens did not have the right to hoist the Indian flag except for some important days like Republic day, Independence day and Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.
- There is litigation in process now in the Indian court system to allow citizens the right to hoist the Indian flag on any day as long as it is done in a respectful manner.
- Some Interesting Facts
- The Indian flag was hoisted on the highest mountain peak of the world, Mount Everest on 29th May 1953.
- Madam Bhikaji Rustom Cama was the first person to hoist Indian flag on foreign soil on 22nd August 1907 in Stuttgrat, Germany.
- The Indian National Flag flew to space in 1984 when Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma went to the space. The flag was attached as a medallion on the space suit of Rakesh Sharma..
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