Independence Day 2024: Evolution of the Indian flag over the years from 1904 to 1947

Independence Day 2024: The Ministry of Culture, Government of India, ahead of the 78th Independence Day tommorrow (August 15), shared a video on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), displaying the evolution of the Indian flag from pre-Independence era.

In a video post on X, the official account of PIB India, shared the evolution of the Indian flag starting from the first time a non-British flag was used by the independence movement, till the formal adoption of the tricolour in 1947.

We Take A Look: Indian Flag's Journey to the Tricolour

• 1904 - Sister Nivedita designed the first National Flag
• 1906 - First Tri-colour Flag with "Vande Mataram" appeared
• 1906 - A modified version of 'Vande Mataram' Flag, with 8 lotus on top, appeared
• 1907 - Shyamji Krishna Varma, Madam Bhikaji Cama & Veer Savarkar designed a new version of 'Vande Mataram' Flag
• 1917 - New flag with the Union jack adopted by Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak as part of the Home Rule Movement
• 1921 - Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Pingali Venkayya designed a new Tri-colour with 'Charkha' at the centre
• 1931 - A modified version of the flag designed by Pingali Venkayya, was adopted as the National Flag
• 1947 - The Constituent Assembly adopts tricolour featuring Ashoka Chakra as the official National Flag of the Independent India

History and Significance of Indian Flag

The first Indian national flag (comprised of red, yellow and green colours) was hoisted on August 7, 1906 at Parsee Bagan Square in Kolkata. While the first variant closer to the current day Indian tricolour was designed by Pingali Venkayya in 1921. It had two major colours-red and green.

In 1931, a landmark resolution was passed adopting a tricolor flag as our national flag. This flag, the forbear of the present one, was saffron, white and green with Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel at the center.

With a few modifications that included the addition of saffron and white colour, Ashoka chakra from lion capital of emperor Ashoka, the Indian Tiranga was officially adopted on July 22, 1947. It was first hoisted on August 15, 1947.

Tiranga or Tricolor has three colors which include saffron on the top signifying strength and courage of the country. White in the centre embodies peace and truth. The green colour at the bottom shows fertility, growth and auspiciousness of the land. The Ashoka chakra also called as Dharma Chakra is placed at the centre and has 24 spokes signifying that there's life in movement and death in stagnation.

Har Ghar Tiranga

Earlier, Indian citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag except on selected occasions. This changed after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal culminated in the landmark Supreme Court judgement of January 23, 2004 that declared that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India.

'Har Ghar Tiranga' is a campaign under the Centre's Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign now encourages people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 78th year of India's independence.

The official journey of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav commenced on March 12, 2021. It aims to inspire Indians to hoist the national flag at their homes and make their relationship with it a more personal one rather than only formal or institutional.