Interesting facts about the tricolour: history and rules of India's flag

Every Indian stands taller at the sight of the tricolour flying. It is not just a piece of cloth but a symbol of the freedom struggle, of sacrifice and of our values. Here are interesting facts about the tricolour — who designed it, what its colours mean, how it is made and what the rules for flying it are.

The story of the tricolour

• The designer: in 1921 Pingali Venkayya, a freedom fighter from Andhra Pradesh, gave Mahatma Gandhi a design for a flag. Today's tricolour is based on a developed form of it.
• From the spinning wheel to the chakra: in 1931 the Congress adopted a flag of saffron, white and green with a charkha (spinning wheel) in the middle. At independence, the Ashoka Chakra replaced the charkha.
• The date of adoption: the Constituent Assembly adopted the tricolour as the national flag on 22 July 1947 — 24 days before independence.

Colours, proportion and the wheel

The ratio of the flag's length to its width is always 3:2. The Flag Code lays down nine standard sizes — the largest is 6.3 metres by 4.2 metres.

Did you know? On 15 August the Prime Minister hoists the flag at the Red Fort, pulling it up from the bottom, while on 26 January the President unfurls a flag already tied at the top of the pole on Kartavya Path.

The Flag Code: key rules

The rules for using the flag are in the Flag Code of India, 2002. Some of the main points:

• A torn, dirty or upside-down flag (green on top) may not be displayed, and the flag must not touch the ground or water.
• Since a change in December 2021, machine-made and polyester flags are allowed as well as hand-spun, hand-woven khadi.
• Since an amendment in July 2022, the flag may be flown on homes both day and night. The "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign followed.
• A torn or worn-out flag is destroyed respectfully and in private — it is never thrown away carelessly.

A right of every citizen

In 2004, in the case of the industrialist Naveen Jindal, the Supreme Court ruled that flying the national flag with respect is a fundamental right of every citizen — part of the freedom of expression in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Before that, ordinary people could not fly the flag on their homes or offices except on certain days.

Historic moments for the tricolour

Long before independence, in 1907, Madame Bhikaiji Cama drew the world's attention by raising an early Indian flag at Stuttgart in Germany. When Tenzing Norgay first reached the top of Everest on 29 May 1953, the flags he carried included the Indian tricolour. Today the flag flies on lakhs of homes every year in the "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign.

Where is the tricolour made?

Flags are made to the standards of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha at Bengeri near Hubballi, Karnataka, is known as the main certified unit in the country making standard khadi flags, where mostly women stitch them.

Read about India's other national symbols in National symbols of India. Find out what happened to the tricolour on the first day of freedom in Interesting facts about 15 August 1947.

Read more: History articles.