Pingali Venkayya, a fervent freedom fighter and the man who
designed the Indian national flag, was born on 2 August, 1876. Venkayya joined
the British Indian Army at the age of 19 and took part in the Anglo-Boer war in
Africa. It was during the war that Venkayya met Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and
formed an association which would last for more than 50 years.
Conception of the tricolour
On 31 March, 1921 at the Kakinada conference of the Indian
National Congress, Venkayya conceived the idea of a national flag.
MK Gandhi added the white stripe to Venkayya's saffron and
green flag while Arya Samaj movement founder Lala Hansraj contributed the Dharm Chakra ( wheel of
law).
The present tricolour was adopted just days before India's
independence, on 22 July, 1947 at a meeting of the Constituent
Assembly.
Venkayya died on 4 July, 1963 in Vijayawada.
