Independence Day 2024: History and Evolution of the Indian National Flag

The Indian national flag has undergone significant changes over the years. Here's all you need to know

India is gearing up to celebrate the 78th Independence Day on August 15, 2024. On this day, people demonstrate their patriotism by unfurling the national flag on their houses, societies, schools, and other places.

Unfortunately, people are not well aware of the evolution of the Tricolour, India’s national flag. If you are interested in knowing the history of India's national flag, your search ends here.

History of the Indian national flag

The national flag of India, colloquially called Tiranaga, is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag. Our national flag has three colours;  saffron, white and green. It also has a 24-spoke wheel in navy blue at its centre, called Ashoka Chakra.

The Indian Constituent Assembly adopted the Indian national flag on July 22, 1947, and it became the official flag of the Union of India on August 15, 1947. The flag was retained as that of the Republic of India, In India, the term 'tricolour' always refers to the Indian national flag.

The tricolour is majorly based on the Swaraj flag, the flag of the Indian National Congress that was adopted by Mahatma Gandhi after making significant modifications to the proposed design by Pingali Venkayya. Jawaharlal Nehru replaced charkha with Chakra in the national flag in 1947.

Initially, the national flag was made of Khadi, a special type of hand-spun cloth or silk, made popular by Mahatma Gandhi. However, after the amendment in 2021, flags made of polyester or machine-made flags have been allowed. The new rules allowed people to make the Tricolour hand-spun, hand-woven, or machine made cotton /polyester/wool/silk/khadi bunting. 

The Bureau of Indian Standards has shared all the manufacturing processes and specifications for the national flag. The manufacturing rights are held by the Khadi Development and Village Industries Commission, which allocates them to regional groups. There are only four units licensed to manufacture the national flag in India. 

The Flag Code of India governs all the usage of the flag and prohibits the use of the flag by private citizens except on national days such as Independence Day and Republic Day. 

In 2002, the Supreme Court directed the Government of India to amend the code allowing private citizens to use the national flag. The law was further amended by the Union Cabinet of India allowing limited usage. It was further amended in 2005 allowing some additional use including adaptation on certain forms of clothing.

The flag code governs the protocol of flying the flag in its conjunction with other national and non-national flags. 

Happy Independence Day: Evolution of National Flag

The Indian National Flag has undergone multiple changes before taking on its present form. According to knowindia.gov.in, the first national flag was hoisted on August 7, 1906, in the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park) in Calcutta, now Kolkata.

Madame Cama and her band of exiled revolutionaries hoisted the flag for the second time in 1907. That was very similar to the national flag, but the lotus was replaced by stars denoted the Saptarishi. 

The flag was hoisted for the third time by Dr Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak in 1917. This national flag was very different from the previous two as it has red and green horizontal stripes, seven stars in the saptarishi configuration, a white crescent and star, and the Union Jack. 

The fourth flag was hoisted in 1921 which was prepared by Andhra youth who took it to Mahatma Gandhi during the All India Congress Committee session. It has red and green colours representing Hindu and Muslim communities in India. Mahatma Gandhi added a white strip representing the remaining communities and a spinning wheel that symbolises national growth. 

The present-day flag was adopted in 1931 and used in the battle ensign of the Indian National Army. The moment when the resolution was passed to adopt the national flag holds special significance. It has saffron, white and green bands and Gandhi's spinning wheel at the centre. 

Later, when India gained Independence, the colours of our flag remained the same but Gandhi's spinning wheel was replaced with the Dharma Charkha of Emperor Asoka.