Pingali Venkayya was born on August 2, 1876 and India is celebrating his 146th birth anniversary

At the age of 19, Pingali Venkayya joined the army during the Boer war. It was during this stint in the British Army that Venkayya met Mahatma Gandhi in Africa. Their association would last over 50 years

In 1913, he delivered a full-length lecture in Japanese, at a school in Bapatla, a town in Andhra Pradesh. He became instantly famous as ‘Japan Venkayya’.

 In 1916, Pingali Venkayya published a booklet on flags of other nations, A National Flag for India, offering nearly 30 designs of for the Indian flag

In 1921, Mahatma Gandhi approved a design at the Indian National Congress meeting in Vijayawada. The version presented by Venkayya to the Mahatma had 2 stripes (green and red) and the Gandhian charkha at the centre. On Gandhi’s suggestion, Venkayya added a 3rd, white stripe on top, and this became the original Tricolour

Pingali Venkayya’s flag was used informally at all Congress meetings since 1921

Pingali Venkayya breathed his last on July 4, 1963

Pingali Venkayya was posthumously honored with a postage stamp in 2009

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy went to Macherla in March 2021 and handed over a cheque of INR 75 lakh to the family of Pingali Venkayya

An amendment of the Flag Code of India, 2002 made on July 20, 2022, has declared, ‘Where the flag is displayed in open or displayed on the house of a member of public, it may be flown day and night.’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to all people to participate in the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ movement by displaying the Indian National Flag in every home between August 13 and 15, to celebrate 75 years of India’s Independence

The Indian National flag can be of any size. However, the shape must be strictly rectangular, with the length to height ratio fixed at 3:2