Producer: Nibandh Vinod
India is all set to celebrate the 77th Independence Day on August 15, 2023. Let’s take a look at how the Indian National Flag has evolved over the years.
In 1906, during the Swadeshi and Boycott struggle, a flag of India was hoisted for the first time in the Parsee Bagan Square in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata).
A flag with slight modifications was raised by Madam Bhikaji Cama in Paris. It was also exhibited in Berlin at a socialist conference and thus came to be called the Berlin Committee Flag.
In 1917, as a part of the Home Rule Movement, Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak hoisted another flag. The flag signified autonomous rule for Indians within the Colonial Empire.
In 1921, at the Bezwada (now Vijayawada) session of Congress, a young freedom fighter Pingali Venkaiah, presented a design of a flag to Mahatma Gandhi. A spinning wheel was superimposed, signifying the country's progress.
A resolution was passed adopting a tricolour flag as our national flag in 1931. This flag was saffron, white and green with Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel at the center.
On July 22, 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted it as Free India Flag. Only the Dharma Charkha of Emperor Asoka was adopted in place of the spinning wheel.