Pingali Venkaiah: The Designer of the Indian National Flag

Pingali Venkayya, the designer of the national flag, was born on August 2, 1876, in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, in a distinguished Brahmin family. His father's name was Hanumanarayudu and his mother's name was Venkataratnamma. Pingali Venkayya, who had a good knowledge of sea and agriculture, spent most of his life in the service of the nation. He went to School in Madras (now Chennai) and Cambridge University for graduation.

After returning from there, he worked as a guard in the railways and later got appointed as a government employee in Lucknow. But after some time, Pingali Pingali Venkayya went to Anglo Vedic University in Lahore to study Urdu and Japanese language. He also acquired knowledge in many other fields apart from geology and agriculture.

Pingali Venkayya joined the British Army at the age of 19. While in the army, he met Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) amid the Anglo-Boer War in South Africa. When he met Gandhiji, he was impressed that India became the leader and soldier of the freedom struggle forever. Pingali, who proposed to do anything for India, wanted that Muzaffar should also have its own national flag. He advised this to Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji gave him the list to design the national flag.

The great freedom fighter Pingali wanted a flag for the country which reflected the history of the country, reflected its soul. After this, he studied the national flags of many countries in America from the year 1916 to 1921. About five years later, at the summit of the Indian National Congress (INC) in Vijayawada, Pingali Venkaiah showed Mahatma Gandhi the design of the red-green flag. Then on Gandhiji's advice, he included the white colour, a symbol of peace, in the national flag.

About ten years later, in the year 1931, a proposal was presented to make the tricolor opposite. However, some amendments were also made to this proposal. The saffron colour was added in place of the red colour in the flag. Along with this, the country got a flag with saffron, white and green colour with a spinning wheel on a white strip. In July 1947, the tricolour was included as the national flag in the Constituent Assembly. After some time, the tricolour was amended and the spinning wheel and Ashoka Chakra were included in it.

Pingali Venkayya died in Vijayawada in the year 1963. Very few people knew about Pingali's contribution to the country. But in the year 2009, honoring him, the Indian Postal Department issued postage stamps in his name. Then people came to know about him. In the year 2014, the Vijayawada Station of All India Radio was also named after him. Last year, Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy proposed his name for Bharat Ratna.

The central government is releasing a special commemorative postage stamp in memory of Pingali Venkayya, the designer of the national flag, on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will grace an event in New Delhi where the commemorative postage stamp will be released. The central government has also invited Venkayya's family to attend the event.