Naional Insignia

1. GENERAL
AWARENESS
AND
CURRENT AFFAIRS

2. National Insignia

3. National Flag : Tiranga
Horizontally striped deep saffron (muted orange)–white–
green national flag with a 24-spoked blue chakra (wheel)
in the centre. The flag’s width-to-length ratio is 2 to 3.

4. ## In 1921 a student named Pingali (or Pinglay) Venkayya presented a flag design to Gandhi that consisted of the
colours associated with the two principal religions, red for the Hindus and green for the Muslims.
##To the centre of the horizontally divided flag, Lala Hans Raj Sondhi suggested the addition of the traditional
spinning wheel, which was associated with Gandhi’s crusade to make Indians self-reliant by fabricating their own
clothing from local fibres.
## Gandhi modified the flag by adding a white stripe in the centre for the other religious communities in India, thus
also providing a clearly visible background for the spinning wheel.
##In May 1923 at Nagpur, during peaceful protests against British rule, the flag was carried by thousands of people,
hundreds of whom were arrested.
##The Congress flag came to be associated with nationhood for India, and it was officially recognized at the annual
meeting of the party in August 1931.
##At the same time, the current arrangement of stripes and the use of deep saffron instead of red were approved.

5. ## To avoid the sectarian associations of the original proposal, new attributions were associated with the saffron,
white, and green stripes. They were said to stand for, respectively, courage and sacrifice, peace and truth, and faith
and chivalry.
## During World War II Subhas Chandra Bose used this flag (without the spinning wheel) in territories his Japanese-
aided army had captured.
## After the war Britain agreed to consider freedom for India, although the country was divided and a Muslim-
dominated Pakistan was given separate statehood.
##On July 22, 1947, the Indian national flag was officially hoisted. Its stripes remained the same saffron-white-green,
but the spinning wheel was replaced by a blue chakra—the Dharma Chakra (“Wheel of the Law”).
##The Dharma Chakra, which was associated with the emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, appeared on pillars
erected throughout the Mauryan empire during the first serious attempt to unite all of India under a single
government.
##The 1947 flag continues to be used by India, although special versions have been developed for ships registered in
the country.

6. ## While an Indian flag was reportedly
designed by Sister Nivedita, an Irish disciple
of Swami Vivekananda, between 1904-
1906, arguably the first national flag of India
is said to have been hoisted on August 7, 1906,
in Kolkata at the Parsee Bagan Square (Green
Park).
##It comprised three horizontal strips of red,
yellow and green, with Vande Mataram written
in the middle.
## Believed to have been designed by freedom
activists Sachindra Prasad Bose
and Hemchandra Kanungo, the red strip on the
flag had symbols of the sun and a crescent
moon, and the green strip had eight half-open
lotuses.

7. Flag of freedom
fight – 1857
Flag of ‘Bhagini
(Sister) Nivedita
– 1905
Unofficial flag of India in
1906
The Berlin committee
flag, first raised by
Bhikaiji Cama in 1907
The flag used
during the Home
Rule movement
in 1917
The flag unofficially
adopted in 1921
The flag adopted
in 1931. This flag
was also the
battle ensign of
the Indian
National Army
Flag of Azad Hind Sena

8. 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.

9. Designer of the Indian National Flag
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.
Various so-called national flags had been used by members of the Indian
independence movement prior to independence being achieved in 1947.
Venkayya’s version was first designed for the Indian National Congress and
subsequently modified in 1947.
According to The Hindu, “Pingali Venkayya was an authority in geology,
agriculture and also an educationist who set up an educational institution
in Machilipatnam.
He, however, died in poverty in 1963 and was largely forgotten by the society
and by his own party, the Congress.” Pingali Venkayya was honoured with a
postage stamp in 2009 for his contribution towards Indian freedom struggle and
in 2011 it was proposed that he be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna.

10. National Emblem
Representative of: The Republic of India
Based on: The Lion Capital of the Ashoka Pillar in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh
Motto: Satyameva Jayate/ Truth Alone Triumphs
Adopted by: Madhav Sawhney
Adopted on: January 26, 1950
Four different animals: – Asiatic Lion, Elephant, Bull, and Horse
The numbers are:
Four Asiatic Lions and one each of Elephant, Horse, and a Bull
Dinanath Bhargava sketched and illuminated
India’s National Emblem
ASHOK CHAKRA - It is a symbol of Buddhist Dharmachakra, represented with 24 spokes
Slogan ‘Satyameva Jayate’ is a quote from the Mundaka Upanishad, the closing part of the holy Hindu Vedas.
1.The Ashoka pillar, erected by Emperor Ashoka, has four lions seated back to back which imply power, courage,
confidence and pride.
2.Other animals demonstrated on the pillar are horse, bull, elephant, and lion.
3.The elephant denotes Buddha’s outset (the dream of a white elephant entering her womb dreamt by Buddha’s
mother at the time of Buddha’s conception).
4.The bull symbolizes Zodiac sign of Buddha- Taurus.
5.The horse signifies Buddha’s horse, which he rode at the time of departing from the citadel.
6.The lion indicates enlightenment.

11. Dinanath Bhargava, who died at the age of 89 in Indore, is the man who
sketched and illuminated India’s national emblem, the Lion Capital of Ashoka.
His work also adorns the front pages of the original manuscript of the Indian
Constitution.
Born on November 1, 1927, Dinanath Bhargava belonged to the small town of Multai
in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh. When India gained independence in 1947, he
was in his early 20s and was pursuing 3-year Diploma in Fine Arts at Shantiniketan.
It was at Shantiniketan that he first met the noted painter, Nandlal Bose (then the
Principal of Kala Bhavan Shanti Niketan). Impressed by Bhargava’s talent, Bose
handpicked him as a member of the group responsible for designing the pages of the
Indian Constitution’s manuscript.
It was not an easy task. Bose was very particular about wanting the lions in the emblem to
look exactly like the live ones. For about a month, every day, Bhargava commuted from
Shantiniketan to the Kolkata zoo (about 100 km away), just to study the live lions, their
mannerisms, countenance, body language etc.
It was only after Nandlal Bose was satisfied with his initial sketches that he gave Bhargava
the big task: Designing the emblem for the first page of the Constitution. On 26 January
1950, India adopted Bhargava’s design, the Lion Capital of Ashoka, as the national
emblem.

12. The national anthem of India is
derived from Rabindranath
Tagore's poem Bharot Bhagyo
Bidhata
Rendered in the prescribed metre, it takes exactly 52 seconds to sing the Indian anthem, Jana Gana Mana. The lyrics
derive from the first stanza of Rabindranath Tagore's five-stanza poem Bharot Bhagyo Bidhata, or "Dispenser
of India's destiny".
The anthem opens with an exaltation of the Almighty, who guides the country’s destiny:
Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka jaya he, Bharata-bhagya-vidhata
Or, in English:
You, the ruler of our minds, our nation, To you our humble salutations!
The poem then begins a virtual tour of pre-independence India, beginning in the north and circling west, mentioning
the regions of Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, the southern states speaking Dravidian languages, and
Odisha and Bengal:
Punjaba-Sindh-Gujarat-Maratha, Dravida-Utkala-Banga
Tagore refers to features of physical geography as well: the Vindhya and Himalaya mountain ranges and the Yamuna
and Ganges rivers. The Almighty’s name, the anthem says, swells and animates this land. In the final part, Tagore
provides a refrain:
Taba Subha name jage, taba subha ashisha maange,gahe taba jaya-gatha.
Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Jaya he, Jaya he, Jaya he, jaya jaya jaya jaya he.
Or, in English:

13. National Song
Title: Vande Mataram
Written by: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Featured in: Anadamath
Written on: November 7, 1875
Published on: 1882
Music by: Jadunath Bhattacharya
Raga: Desh
Language: Sanskrit
Translated to English by: Sri Aurobindo
Ghosh
First publication of translated version
on: November 20, 1909
First Performed on: 1896
First Performed by: Rabindranath Tagore
Adopted on: January 24, 1950

14. The National Pledge – India is my country and all
Indians are my brothers and sisters – was originally
written in Telugu 50 years ago
The National Pledge that the students read out everyday
in their school assembly – India is my country and all
Indians are my brothers and sisters – was originally
written in Telugu 60 years ago and in this city.
The author of the pledge was a well-known writer in Telugu, a naturopathy doctor and a bureaucrat – Pydimarri
Venkata Subba Rao. When he was the District Treasury Officer of Visakhapatnam District in 1962 he wrote the
pledge and presented it to senior leader Tenneti Viswanadam who forwarded it to the then Education Minister P.V.G.
Raju, president of Uttarandhra Rakshana Vedika S.S. Shiva Kumar told the media quoting Subba Rao’s son P.
Subrahmanyam.
The then Education Minister is reported to have directed all the schools in the district to have the students take the
pledge. The pledge was then taken up at the National level and the Government of India had it translated into seven
languages and directed that the students of all the schools in the country be asked to take it every day.
The records of the Union Human Resources Development Ministry show Pydimarri Venkata Subba Rao as the author
of the national pledge, but he is forgotten in the State and the place it was born, Shiva Shankar lamented. While
adapting it for schools the Government simplified the language, he said. The family of Subba Rao, who are settled in
Nalgonda, have documentary evidence of the authorship, he added.