Pingali Venkayya birth anniversary: Meet the man who designed the tricolour

Freedom fighter Pingali Venkayya was the designer of India’s national flag, a geologist, a lecturer at Machilipatam’s Andhra National College and a fluent speaker of Japanese. In fact, he was so fluent in Japanese that he was known as 'Japan Venkayy’.

He was born near Machilipatnam on August 2, 1876. Pingali Venkayya went to South Africa to fight in the war as a British Indian Army soldier. It was in South Africa that he was struck by the sense of nationhood.

Venkayya went on to design many models of the national flag. It was in 1921 when Mahatma Gandhi gave nod to a design at the Indian National Congress meeting in Vijayawada.

The version put forward by Venkayya to Mahatma Gandhi had two stripes (green and red), and the Gandhian charkha at the centre. On Mahatma Gandhi's recommendation, Venkayya added a white stripe and this became the original Tricolour.

The tricolour was used informally at all Congress meets since 1921. During its 1931 session, Congress selected the Tricolour with the colour scheme -- saffron, white and green and the charkha at the centre.

The flag became the symbol of Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent freedom movement.

In order to commemorate his birth anniversary, the Government of India will launch a special commemorative postage stamp on August 2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the stamp at an event in the national capital.

The central government has invited family members of Pingali Venkayya for the event.

Pingali Venkayya passed away in extreme poverty in 1963. Back in 2009, a postage stamp in his honour was launched. The Vijayawada station of the All India Radio was also named after him in 2014.

In the meantime, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy mentioned that there is a call to confer Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, on Pingali Venkaiah. In 2021, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had recomended his name for the Bharat Ratna.

Also Read: PM Modi pays homage to designer of national flag, Pingali Venkayya on his birth anniversary