Flag Adoption Day: All you need to know about the Indian Tricolour
The Flag Adoption Day is marked to celebrate the adoption of the Tricolour on July 22, 1947, as India's national flag. On January 26, 2002, the flag code was modified to allow the citizens of India to hoist the Indian flag over their homes, offices and factories on any day.
Former Union minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday wished the country on Flag Adoption Day. The day is celebrated because the Tricolour was adopted in its present form during the meeting of Constituent Assembly on July 22, 1947.
"Best wishes to countrymen on #FlagAdoptionDay. On this day in 1947, the Indian Tricolour was adopted as #nationalflag. Our national flag is a symbol of peace, and exhorts us to move forward on the path of sacrifice, prosperity and development," Vardhan said in his tweet posted in Hindi.
The Tricolour adopted on July 22, 1947, served as the national flag of the Dominion of India between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950 and that of the Republic of India thereafter, according to goverment website.
The national flag, which is hoisted on Republic Day and other important events, is a horizontal Tricolor of deep saffron at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The government-prescribed ratio of width of the 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. The saffron represents strength and courage, the white indicates peace and truth with the Dharma Chakra, and green shows fertility, growth and auspiciousness.
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.
On January 26, 2002, the Indian flag code was modified and after several years of Independence, the citizens of India were finally allowed to hoist the Indian flag over their homes, offices and factories on any day, and not just national days, as was the case earlier.
