India flag is the national flag of India, the world’s most populous nation. The flag is a horizontal tricolor of three equal stripes. The color of the top stripe is saffron (yellow orange). It stands for sacrifice and dedication. The middle stripe is white and stands for truth. The bottom stripe is green and represents the fertility and growth of the land. At the center of the flag, a blue chakra (wheel) appears in the middle of the white stripe. It comes from carvings on a stone pillar set up in the 200’s B.C. by Emperor Ashoka. Ashoka was the first ruler to unite most of India. The chakra on the flag represents the idea that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.
India’s present flag developed gradually from flags used in the first half of the 1900’s, during India’s struggle for independence from the United Kingdom. In 1931, the Indian National Congress, a political group pushing for independence, officially adopted a flag with horizontal stripes of saffron, white, and green. A traditional Indian spinning wheel appeared on the white stripe. The wheel had appeared on earlier flags as a symbol of India’s campaign for economic and political independence.
On July 22, 1947, the assembly writing India’s new constitution adopted the three-color flag design. It replaced the spinning wheel with the Ashoka Chakra. The new design became the official national flag when India became independent the following month.
