National Flag Adoption Day is celebrated in India on July

What is National Flag Day celebrated in India on July 22 every year?

• The day celebrates the adoption of the Indian tricolour as the National Flag of India before independence.
• On this day the Tricolour was adopted in its present form during the meeting of Constituent Assembly on this day in the year 1947.
• Earlier, the Flag Code did not allow anyone to fly the national flag at their homes, offices, or any other business places other than on special occasions such as January 26, August 15, or October 2.
• The Flag Code was modified on January 26, 2002, which gave permission to everyone to hoist the tricolour at their houses offices, or any other establishment throughout the year.

History

• Before the Indian independence movement rulers of various princely states used a variety of flags
• Following the rebellion of 1857, after the establishment of direct imperial rule, the British rulers of India first proposed the idea of a single Indian flag
• On June 23, 1947 the Constituent Assembly which was established in August 1947 formed an ad hoc committee to choose a flag for the newly independent India.
• Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru later proposed the Pingali Vekayya flag in the Constituent Assembly on July 22, 1947, just before India gained independence from the British on August 15, 1947.

NOTE-

• The Indian national flag, which is most similar to the current one was created in 1923 by Pingali Venkayya, with saffron, white, green stripes and the spinning wheel positioned in the white area.
• It was raised in Nagpur on April 13, 1923, as part of a ceremony honouring the Jallianwallah Bagh Massacre

What were the previous versions of our National Flag?

• The journey of the Indian flag earlier symbolised the struggle for liberation and today it symbolises a free India.
• 1904, the first ever Indian flag that came into existence was designed by Sister Nivedita, which had two colours – red and yellow.
• According to government website, the first national flag is said to have been hoisted on August 7, 1906, in the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park) in Kolkata. The flag was composed of three horizontal strips of red, yellow and green.

Indian National flag- In Detail

• The National flag of India is a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion.
• The ratio of width of the national flag to its length is two to three.
• In the centre of the white band is a navy blue wheel which represents the chakra.
• Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka (called the Dharma Chakra). Its diameter approximates to the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes.

Each colour of the flag has a meaning