Indian National Flag was designed by Pingali Venkayya who was a freedom fighter from Andhra Pradesh. He also published a book in 1916 offering thirty designs of what could make the Indian flag. Throughout all Congress sessions between 1918 and 1921, he relentlessly put forward the idea of having a flag of our own. Venkayya’s design for the National Flag was finally approved by Mahatama Gandhi in a Congress meeting in Vijayawada in 1921.
Pingali Venkayya
The Indian flag was adopted on July 22, 1947, just before India received independence from Britain on August 15, 1947.
The saffron colour represents courage and sacrifice while white colour represents truth, peace and purity. Green colour of the flag denotes prosperity while the Ashok Chakra represents the Laws of Dharma (righteousness).
When a foreign dignitary travels in a car provided by the government, the flag should be flown on the right side of the car while the flag of the foreign country should be flown on the left side.
Did you know, Mahatma Gandhi was not present at the celebrations of the country’s first Independence Day? Yes, He was actually at a hunger strike that was conducted to hinder the communal killings that were triggered due to partition.
India became an independent country much before August 15th. Surprising? Isn’t it? So let us tell you that India became independent on July 18, 1947 but Lord Mountbatten declared 15th August as the date of Independence because this date observed the second anniversary of the surrendering of Japan to the Allied Forces during World War II.
Lord Mountbatten
India shares it’s Independence Day with five more countries, Bahrain, North Korea, South Korea, Congo, and Liechtenstein on August 15
At the time of independence, Indian did not have an official national anthem. The song Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata composed in 1911 by Rabindranath Tagore was renamed as ‘Jan Gan Man’ and adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India as the national anthem on 24th January 1950.
The Radcliffe Line, the demarcation line drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe to depict the Pakistani and Indian portions of Punjab and Bengal was completed on 3rd August 1947. But it was officially published only on 17th August 1947, 2 days after India got her independence from the British.
Until 1973, the Governors of the respective states unfurled the national flag on independence day. The Chief Ministers of the respective states commenced unfurling the Indian flag only from1974. Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister, M Karunanidhi, played a major role in initiating this tradition. He wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, highlighting the different practice followed in Delhi. This suggestion was accepted by the Central government.
The Indian flag is officially manufactured and supplied from only one place in the country. The Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha (KKGSS), located in Dharwad, Karnataka, has the authority to manufacture and supply the Indian flag. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the national flag is manufactured only with hand-spun and handwoven cotton khadi bunting.
2 thoughts on “11 Interesting Facts About India’s Independence”
I am really excited to know such unknown but very relevant details about our beloved country. I think everyone should have the opportunity to have this valiseful bunch of knowledge in this proud moment of 15th August. Thank you Sir.
I am really excited to know such unknown but very relevant details about our beloved country. I think everyone should have the opportunity to have this valiseful bunch of knowledge in this proud moment of 15th August. Thank you Sir.
Very informative Sir.