History of Indian Flags

1. Designed on the line of the other
ex-British colonies, this flag was
meant to represent British India.
The need to come up with a flag
arose after the 1857 Revolution.
Based on the Union Flag, this flag
was designed. It also had a ‘Star of
India’ that was enclosed by the
royal crown signifying the imperial
rule.

2. Earliest of Indian flags to evolve was this flag. It, when compared, is
diametrically removed from the modern-day national flag. It was the
ideation of a well-known Irish disciple of Swami Vivekananda, named
Sister Nivedita. The colours selected were very symbolic to the
prevalent mood - red and yellow. While the colour red symbolised
freedom, yellow on the other hand, represented victory. It carried a
small text printed 'Vande Mataram' in Bengali. In addition to that,
there was also the emblem a ‘Vajra’ figure with a centered lotus. These
together created the powerful combination of strength and purity.

3. The first national flag in India is
said to have been hoisted on August
7, 1906, in the Parsee Bagan Square
(Green Park) in Calcutta now Kolkata.
The flag was composed of three
horizontal strips of red, yellow and
green.
The second flag was hoisted in Paris
by Madame Cama and her band of
exiled revolutionaries in 1907
(according to some inl9OS). This was
very similar to the first flag except
that the top strip had only one lotus
but seven stars denoting the
Saptarishi. This flag was also

4. Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the leaders of the Home Rule
Movement jointly designed this flag. Delineating their demand for a
dominion status for the then British India, this design helped to
accentuate the key points of the Home Rule League. There is, on top
left, the union jack that defines the concept of ‘dominion’ This flag had
five red and four green horizontal strips arranged alternately, with
seven stars in the saptarishi configuration super-imposed on them. In
the left-hand top corner (the pole end) was the Union Jack. There was
also a white crescent and star in one corner.

5. With the emergence of Gandhi onto the political scene of British India, a
new design came up. Gandhi wanted a representation of the entire
demography in spite of the diversity. As a result, the flag was attributed
with three colours - white representing the minority communities, the
colour green representing the Muslims, and finally the colour red
representing both Hindu and Sikh communities. This was also the very first
time when the ‘Charkha’ was used in the flag. During the session of the All
India Congress Committee which met at Bezwada in 1921 (now Vijayawada)
an Andhra youth prepared a flag and took it to Gandhiji. It was made up of
two colours-red and green-representing the two major communities i.e.
Hindus and Muslims. Gandhiji suggested the addition of a white strip to

6. Communal tendency and its undeniable effects, as began to loom large, there rose
the exigency of a flag that would be more inclusive of all kinds of political beliefs
across the spectrum. Keeping in line with the communal demands without sabotaging
the overall national interest, the national flag of India underwent another
transformation.A special mention goes for this particular design that saw the light
of the day before the ones mentioned above. It was the earliest of the flags and
also happened to be the first all-blue flag for the then India (British India). This
flag, the forbear of the present one, was saffron, white and green with Mahatma
Gandhi's spinning wheel at the center. It was, however, clearly stated that it bore

7. Lord Mount batten ‘s 1947 proposal for the flag of
India, effectively the flag of the Congress but with a
Union Jack in the canton. It was rejected
by Jawaharlal Nehru on the grounds that he felt that
Congress' nationalist members would see the inclusion
of the Union Jack as pandering to the British.

8. After India attained independence, a committee headed by
Rajendra Prasad was formed to discuss the National Flag of India
and they adopted the 1931 flag with a little modification. The
saffron colour came to denote courage and selflessness, The white
stripe in the middle is representative of honesty, purity and peace
and the green stripe on the bottom represents faith, fertility and
prosperity. The chakra was replace by the Ashoka Chakra which is
the symbol of dharma, the crux of their faiths, Buddhism, Hinduism,

9. The design and manufacturing process for the national flag
is regulated by three documents issued by the Bureau of
Indian Standards (BIS). All of the flags are made out
of khadi cloth of silk or cotton. The standards were
created in 1968 and were updated in 2008. Nine standard
sizes of the flag are specified by law

10. Half-mast
The flag should be flown at half-mast as a sign of mourning. The decision to
do so lies with the President of India, who also decides the period of such
mourning. When the flag is to be flown at half mast, it must first be raised
to the top of the mast and then slowly lowered. Only the Indian flag is flown
half mast; all other flags remain at normal height.
The flag is flown half-mast nationwide on the death of the president, vice-
president or prime minister. It is flown half-mast in New Delhi and the state
of origin for the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, and Union Ministers. On deaths of Governors, Lt. Governors and Chief
Ministers, the flag is flown at half-mast in the respective states and union