NDA (I) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 132 of 150

Correct — A, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru moved the resolution on the National Flag in the Constituent Assembly on 22 July 1947, three weeks before independence, describing the flag as a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron, white and dark green in equal proportion with a wheel in navy blue at the centre of the white band. The Assembly adopted it unanimously. The design followed the recommendation of the ad hoc flag committee headed by Rajendra Prasad, and the key change from the earlier Congress flag was the replacement of the spinning wheel by the Ashoka Chakra, the wheel from the lion capital at Sarnath, with its twenty-four spokes. Nehru presented it as a flag of freedom for everybody, and made a point of saying the colours carried no communal meaning.

• (b)B. R. Ambedkar — Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee and piloted the draft Constitution through the Assembly from November 1948 onwards. The flag resolution of July 1947 was not his, and he had no part in framing the design.
• (c)Rajendra Prasad — Prasad is the most tempting wrong answer, because he chaired the ad hoc committee that recommended the design and he presided over the Assembly. But presiding is not proposing — the resolution was moved from the floor by Nehru.
• (d)Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel — Patel's work in this period was the integration of the princely states and the Advisory Committee on Minorities and Fundamental Rights. The flag resolution was not his.

The national flag was settled by the Constituent Assembly acting in its capacity as the legislature of the new Dominion, before the Constitution itself was written. An ad hoc committee under Rajendra Prasad reported in July 1947, and Nehru moved the resolution on 22 July. The design descends from the flag Pingali Venkayya had worked on for the Congress, with the charkha in the white band; the Assembly replaced the charkha with the Ashoka Chakra so that the flag would belong to the whole country rather than to one political party. The proportions are three to two, and the twenty-four-spoked wheel is taken from the abacus of the Sarnath lion capital.

The way to keep this item straight is to separate the four verbs the topic uses — designed, recommended, proposed, adopted. Pingali Venkayya is associated with the earlier design; Rajendra Prasad's committee recommended; Nehru proposed the resolution; and the Assembly adopted it. Questions on the flag switch between these verbs and expect the candidate to notice. Note also what the stem quotes: 'saffron, white and dark green in equal proportion' and 'a wheel in navy blue at the centre'. That is the language of the resolution itself, which is a useful signal that the item is asking about the moving of a resolution and not about the drawing of a design.

• Nehru moved the National Flag resolution in the Constituent Assembly on 22 July 1947, and it was adopted unanimously.
• The ad hoc flag committee that recommended the design was headed by Rajendra Prasad.
• The Ashoka Chakra replaced the spinning wheel of the earlier Congress flag and has twenty-four spokes.
• The wheel is taken from the abacus of the Ashokan lion capital at Sarnath.
• The flag's ratio of length to height is three to two.

• Choosing Rajendra Prasad because he chaired the flag committee and presided over the Assembly.
• Confusing the person who designed the flag with the person who moved the resolution.
• Assuming the wheel is a spinning wheel — the charkha was deliberately replaced by the Ashoka Chakra.

NDA sets national symbols as a who-proposed or a design-detail question, most often the number of spokes or the source of the wheel.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Ashoka Chakra in the National Flag of India is taken from

  • (a)the Rampurva bull capital
  • (b)the abacus of the Sarnath lion capital
  • (c)the Great Stupa at Sanchi
  • (d)the Iron Pillar at Mehrauli

  Answer(b) the abacus of the Sarnath lion capital — the same monument that gives India its State Emblem.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Constituent Assembly adopted the National Flag of India on

  • (a)22 July 1947
  • (b)15 August 1947
  • (c)26 November 1949
  • (d)26 January 1950

  Answer(a) 22 July 1947 — three weeks before independence, on a resolution moved by Nehru.