Why the tricolour/tiranga was chosen as India’s National Flag

New Delhi, Aug 14: A flag is a necessity for nations. Every free nation of the world has a flag of its own. The Indian National in its present form was adopted during the meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on the July 22nd, 1947.

In India tricolour or Tiranga refers to the Indian National Flag.

The Indian National Flag is designed in horizontal rectangular shape. It is designed using three colours : Deep Saffron (Kesari) top most, white (middle), dark green(lower most), The middle white part contains navy blue Ashok Chakra(means Wheel of Law) in the centre having 24 spokes in the wheel.

The original design of the flag was given by Pingali Venkayya.

Evolution of Tricolour or Tiranga

Before the final flag design was adopted, it went through many changes. The first national flag is said to have been hoisted in Calcutta on August 7, 1906, in the Parsee Bagan Square. The flag had three horizontal strips of red, yellow and green.
There were subsequent changes made in 1907 when Madam Cama hoisted it. Again in 1917 Dr Annie Besant and Lokmanya Gangadhar Tilak hoisted it during Home rule period. This too had many changes.

In 1921 during the All India Congress Committee session a flag made of 2 colours red and green representing the 2 main communities Hindus and Muslims was shown to Gandhiji. Gandhiji suggested addition of white strip representing remaining communities of India and a spinning wheel depicting progress.

The resolution to adopt a tricolour flag as the Indian National Flag was passed in 1931. This flag had strips of Saffron, white and green with spinning wheel in the middle. However, it was clarified the colours did not represent any particular community.

Little before India got its independence, on July 22, 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted Free India's National Flag. The colours remained the same, however, spinning wheel was replaced by Dharma Chakra of emperor Ashok as the emblem on the flag.

Meaning and Significance of the Indian National Flag

Each colour of the flag has significance. The top Saffron band indicates strength and courage of the country, the white middle band represents peace and truth. The last band with green colour represents fertility, growth and auspiciousness of the land.

The Dharma chakra indicates the 'wheel of law' in the Sarnath Lion Capital from the Maurya dynasty. It shows that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.

Flag code:

The citizens of the country can hoist the Indian National Flag a top their homes, offices etc on any day and not just National days provided they follow the rules and regulations about how to fly the flag.