July 22, 1947: The day Tricolour became united colours of India

NEW DELHI: As the country gears up to celebrate its 75th year of Independence, the zeal and enthusiasm have peaked in nooks and corners of every street, especially in the backdrop of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

People across the spectrum are even purchasing the Tricolour to be part of the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign. Here’s a look at some interesting facts about the Indian national flag.

The first Indian national flag was hoisted on August 7, 1906, at Parsee Bagan Square in Kolkata. The flag had three major colours namely red, yellow and green.

The first variant closer to the current day Indian Tricolour was designed by Pingali Venkayya in 1921. It had two major colours-red and green. In 1931, a landmark resolution was passed adopting a Tricolor flag as our national flag.

This flag, the forbearer of the present one, was saffron, white and green with Mahatma Gandhi’s spinning wheel at the centre.

With a few modifications that included the addition of saffron and white colour, the Ashoka Chakra from lion capital of emperor Ashoka, the Indian Tiranga was officially adopted on July 22, 1947. It was first hoisted on August 15, 1947.

Tiranga or Tricolor has three colours which include saffron on the top signifying strength and courage of the country. White in the centre embodies peace and truth. The green colour at the bottom shows fertility, growth and auspiciousness of the land. The Ashoka Chakra also called as Dharma Chakra is placed at the centre and has 24 spokes signifying that there’s life in movement and death in stagnation.

Earlier, citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag except on selected occasions.

This changed after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal culminating in the landmark Supreme Court judgment of January 23, 2004, that declared that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India.

Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is being observed to mark the country’s 75th anniversary of independence with the aim to bring the Tiranga home and be a part of the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign.

‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ is a campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India’s independence. The programme envisages inspiring Indians everywhere to hoist the national flag at their homes.

The aim of the programme is to make the relationship with the national flag a more personal one rather than just keeping it formal or institutional.

The official journey of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav commenced on March 12, 2021, which started a 75-week countdown to our 75th anniversary of Independence.