Every free nation of the world has its own flag. It is a symbol of a free country. The National Flag of India was designed by Pingali Venkayyaand and adopted in its present form during the meeting of Constituent Assembly held on the 22 July 1947, a few days before India's independence from the British on 15 August, 1947. It served as the national flag of the Dominion of India between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950 and that of the Republic of India thereafter. In India, the term "tricolour" refers to the Indian national flag. The National flag of India is a horizontal tricolor of deep saffron (kesari) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The ratio of width of the flag to its length is two to three. In the centre of the white band is a navy blue wheel which represents the chakra. Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. Its diameter approximates to the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes.
Evolution of the Tricolour
It is really amazing to see the various changes that our National Flag went through since its first inception. It was discovered or recognised during our national struggle for freedom. The evolution of the Indian National Flag sailed through many vicissitudes to arrive at what it is today. In one way it reflects the political developments in the nation. Some of the historical milestones in the evolution of our National Flag involve the following:
Unofficial flag of India
in 1906
The Berlin committee
flag, first raised by
Bhikaiji Cama in 1907
The flag used during the
Home Rule movement
in 1917
The flag unofficially
adopted in 1921
The flag adopted in 1931.
This flag was also the
battle ensign of the
Indian National Army
The present Tricolour
flag of India
The second flag was hoisted in Paris by Madame Cama and her band of exiled revolutionaries in 1907 (according to some inl9OS). This was very similar to the first flag except that the top strip had only one lotus but seven stars denoting the Saptarishi. This flag was also exhibited at a socialist conference in Berlin.
The third flag went up in 1917 when our political struggle had taken a definite turn. Dr. Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak hoisted it during the Home rule movement. This flag had five red and four green horizontal strips arranged alternately, with seven stars in the saptarishi configuration super-imposed on them. In the left-hand top corner (the pole end) was the Union Jack. There was also a white crescent and star in one corner.
During the session of the All India Congress Committee which met at Bezwada in 1921 (now Vijayawada) an Andhra youth prepared a flag and took it to Gandhiji. It was made up of two colours-red and green-representing the two major communities i.e. Hindus and Muslims. Gandhiji suggested the addition of a white strip to represent the remaining communities of India and the spinning wheel to symbolise progress of the Nation.
The year 1931 was a landmark in the history of the flag. A resolution was passed adopting a tricolor flag as our national flag. This flag, the forbear of the present one, was saffron, white and green with Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel at the center. It was, however, clearly stated that it bore no communal significance and was to be interpreted thus.
On July 22, 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted it as Free India National Flag. After the advent of Independence, the colours and their significance remained the same. Only the Dharma Charkha of Emperor Asoka was adopted in place of the spinning wheel as the emblem on the flag. Thus, the tricolour flag of the Congress Party eventually became the tricolour flag of Independent India.
Colours of the Flag:
In the national flag of India the top band is of Saffron colour, indicating the strength and courage of the country. The white middle band indicates peace and truth with Dharma Chakra. The last band is green in colour shows the fertility, growth and auspiciousness of the land.The Chakra:
This Dharma Chakra depicted the "wheel of the law" in the Sarnath Lion Capital made by the 3rd-century BC Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. The chakra intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.Flag Code
On 26th January 2002, the Indian flag code was modified and after several years of independence, the citizens of India were finally allowed to hoist the Indian flag over their homes, offices and factories on any day and not just National days as was the case earlier. Now Indians can proudly display the national flag any where and any time, as long as the provisions of the Flag Code are strictly followed to avoid any disrespect to the tricolour. For the sake of convenience, Flag Code of India, 2002, has been divided into three parts. Part I of the Code contains general description of the National Flag. Part II of the Code is devoted to the display of the National Flag by members of public, private organizations, educational institutions, etc. Part III of the Code relates to display of the National Flag by Central and State governments and their organisations and agencies.There are some rules and regulations upon how to fly the flag, based on the 26 January 2002 legislation. These include the following:
The Do's:
- The National Flag may be hoisted in educational institutions (schools, colleges, sports camps, scout camps, etc.) to inspire respect for the Flag. An oath of allegiance has been included in the flag hoisting in schools.
- A member of public, a private organization or an educational institution may hoist/display the National Flag on all days and occasions, ceremonial or otherwise consistent with the dignity and honour of the National Flag.
- Section 2 of the new code accepts the right of all private citizens to fly the flag on their premises.
The Don'ts
- The flag cannot be used for communal gains, drapery, or clothes. As far as possible, it should be flown from sunrise to sunset, irrespective of the weather.
- The flag cannot be intentionally allowed to touch the ground or the floor or trail in water. It cannot be draped over the hood, top, and sides or back of vehicles, trains, boats or aircraft.
- No other flag or bunting can be placed higher than the flag. Also, no object, including flowers or garlands or emblems can be placed on or above the flag. The tricolour cannot be used as a festoon, rosette or bunting.
The Indian National Flag represents the hopes and aspirations of the people of India. It is the symbol of our national pride. Over the last five decades, several people including members of armed forces have ungrudgingly laid down their lives to keep the tricolour flying in its full glory.
58 years back, a salute of 21 guns and the unfurling of the Indian National flag by Dr. Rajendra Prasad heralded the historic birth of the Indian Republic on January 26, 1950; 894 days after our country became a dominion following withdrawal of British Rule. Since then, every year the day is celebrated with great pride and happiness all over the nation. 
60 km out of the town of Marree in South Australia, there is the figure of a man etched into the ground that is more than 4 km long. This geoglyph, popularly known as the Marree Man, is not only Australia's but also the world's biggest geoglyph, and had been created by scouring out the vegetation from the land and exposing the bar earth underneath. The main reason for this being hyped so much is that no one knows who, or why made this astounding drawing on the earth. Although there are only a few clues, a local version says that the eccentric Bardius Goldberg made this using a GPS and a bulldozer. satellite image of the Marree Man Marree Man: aerial view
Among the many agonies of the Second World War, an often repeated name is that of the Berlin Wall. It shall doubtlessly be stated that the Berlin Wall is one of the most intriguing components of the German narrative. The wall had as much an ideological construct, as a physical divide, with bare fangs of democracy on the west, and those of communism on the east. Upon its inception, the wall was a guarded stretch of barbed wires, which was supposed to keep the east to the west human migration from taking place. Although, the soreness of separation was equal on both sides of the fence. By the recorded facts, despite all odds, around five thousand people managed to cross over the wall. There were some four hundred people who either died or were injured in an attempt to crossover. The movement of reconciliation came to the wall on the 23rd of August 1989. On this day, Hungary decided to cease its border limitations with its neighbor Austria. This way, around 13000 people managed to escape en route Hungary. As a result of this build up, mobbing started at the gate of the Berlin Wall, where people started to demand an entry into West Berlin. Following this, the Berlin wall was brought down.
Paris, the capital city of the country France is celebrated most for the Eiffel Tower, Napoleon's tomb and Notre Dame. This city is also known as the world's fashion capital. The very popular Statue of Liberty was created in France, and gifted to the United States of America. The face of the statue is sculpted similar to the face of Isabella Eugenie Boyer, wife of the manufacturer of the Parisian sewing machine, Isaac Singer. The official language in France, French was also the official language of England for more than 300 years. The 1st of April originated as the fools day from France. When the country switched over to the Gregorian calendar people unaware of the change considered 1st April as the New Year's Day. From that day onwards the fool's day originated to mock them.
Are you aware of the interesting facts about Hollywood, the world renowned name in the motion picture industry? This district of Los Angeles has the well-known Hollywood sign. In reality, this sign was built in 1923 by one of the real estate agents and an investor, Harry Chandler, with a motive of advertisement. He spent around $21, 000 for this and wanted it to stay for 18 months. But at that stage he was not aware that this construction would become a legend in itself. Today, the famous Hollywood sign is more than 80 years old. Initially, the sign used to read "Hollywood Land". But in 1949, "Land" was removed and only "Hollywood" remained. Today, the sign is taken care of by "Hollywood Sign Trust" which was formed in the year of 1995. On September 18, 1932, Lillian Millicent "Peg" Entwistle after unsuccessful Hollywood carrier, jumped from the letter 'H' into her death. She was only 24 years old. 
Did you know that Bible was written over a period of 1600 years? 40 men were given inspiration by God to continue writing the Bible and it has 66 books which are related. There is an Old and New Testament and they are divided by the life of Jesus Christ. The Bible has been successfully translated to more than twelve hundred languages and dialects in part or whole. The Bible is still bestselling book of all time. Translation into English was first started by John Wycliffe and completed by John Purvey in 1388. This highest selling book is much revered and was first divided into chapter's paragraph in the Geneva Bible of 1560. Lots of data in Bible are prophecies and some of them have come true. Some theories say that Bible wasn't even written by its original authors. Some things sound like a child storytelling: "It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested. (From the NIV Bible, Exodus 31:17)." Our opinion is that Bible is like everything else on our planet with its good and bad sides. Usually bad things are the ones that are written by human hand. The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible. Books alternate in color between white and light gray. The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in the chapter. Each of the 63,779 cross references found in the Bible is depicted by a single arc - the color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect. 
One of the oldest micronations, the republic of Molossia It is located in Dayton, Nevada. It is inhabited by only four citizens, one of whom, Kevin Baugh is the president. It was founded in May 1977 by Baugh when he was aged fourteen and was formerly known as the republic of Vuldnstein. It has its own space program, has a railway and issues currency (valora) as well. Relations with the neighboring Muchistan have been troubled of late. In 2000, Molassia staged the first ever Micronation Olympic games in tune with the Sydney Olympics. 
Spanning across Anchorage in south central Alaska and stretching to the Western coast of the Bering Sea, each team of twelve to sixteen huskies and their musher cover a huge distance of 1150 miles in ten to seventeen days. Rick Swenson of Alaska won Iditarod five times and Susan Butcher is the only woman to have won it on four occasions. It is organized by thousands of volunteers who make arrangements for medical equipments supplies, food stocks and veterinarians. The now historic Iditarod begun as a mail supply route from coastal towns like Seward and Knik to interior mining camps. Almost every year one dog dies on IditaRod. However, today dogs are equipped with microchips in order to track them easily. This is truly the toughest race on Earth. 
Juneau is capital of Alaska, and it is not accessible by road from any other state. Alaska has 17 of the 20 highest peaks in United States. Alaska has more than 3 million lakes. Kodiak bear found in Alaska is the largest in the world. The coastline of Alaska is greater than the combined coastline of United States. There are 29 volcanoes in Alaska. Alaska was first discovered in 1741. 25 % of the oil produced in US comes from Alaska. The official insect of this state is a four-spot skimmer dragonfly. The official flower of Alaska is forget-me-not. Transnational Corporation called "Russian-American Company" owned Alaska and in 1867, during the Russian difficult financial position, sold Alaska to United Sates for 7.2 million dollars. 
The name India is derived from the river Indus. The game of chess originated from India. The decimal code along with the place value system was an original Indian development. The highest cricket ground of the world is in Chail, approximately 2444 meters above sea level. Budhayana an Indian mathematician was the first to calculate the value of "pi" mathematically and explained the concept of Pythagorean Theorem in the 6th century. The Indian railway is the largest employer in the world, over a million people work for it. The game of snake and ladders was discovered in India by Gyandev in the 13th century.
Known as Qazvin in the ancient times, the Caspian sea is surrounded by southern Russia, Turkmenistan, Northern Iran, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Its surface area is 371,000 square kilometers and the volume is 78200 cubic kilometers. World's 40-44% of the lake water is accounted for by the Caspian Sea. Around 130 rivers are a source of water inflow for the sea and it is due to this inflow that the northern region of the sea acts like a fresh water lake. The Northern region comprises of a couple of islands accounting for a total land area of around 2000 square kilometers. Caspian Sea is often listed as the world's largest lake since it is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. Caspian Sea is rich in oil fields and natural gases which results in great pollution from toxic wastes by countries like Russia and Azerbaijan.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32. 
Wales (country that is part of the United Kingdom), there is a village called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (58 letters), which in English means "Saint Mary's Church in the hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of Saint Tysilio near the red cave." The locals call it Llanfairpwll. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com is the longest single word .com domain name in the world. 
In England in the nineteenth century, bear baiting was a very common method of entertainment. Bear baiting is when there are highly trained hunting dogs set loose on a defenseless bear. The bear has no claws, no teeth, and is chained to a pole of some sort. Bellow is the sad and shocking video produced by WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) exposing the disgusting, savage, and very cruel practice of bear baiting. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. 
Love to surf? Then you have to visit Brazil to surf the longest wave on the planet Earth called Pororoca. Between February and March Atlantic ocean tides generate waves up to 12 feet high which can last for over half an hour. Pororoca in indigenous Tupi language means "great destructive noise" and it destroys everything in its path with the speed of 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 km) per hour. 
China, the new emerging power has been the oldest continuous civilization on Earth, for the last 4000 years. Chinese flag is red which represents the blood spilled during the communist revolution. On the flag there is one large star, representing leadership, and four small stars which represent four social classes: capitalists, bourgeoisie, workers and peasants all united under one Communist Party. Some of the China’s inventions: gunpowder, paper, printing, compass, porcelain, first paper currency, animal zodiac, cast iron, chopsticks, crossbow, toilet paper, collapsible umbrella, fork and many other cool inventions. Interesting fact about China is that in last three years growth of China’s economy was around 10% per year making China the country with largest world economy. The funny fact is that China was in dispute with WTO (World Trade Organization) because of the extremely low taxes on their exports. However, United States was in the dispute with WTO because of the high taxes on U.S. imports. "We are committed to challenging China's WTO-inconsistent practices that harm American workers and businesses," said U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
The Hawaiian Alphabet only contains 12 letters: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p and w. Every word ends with a vowel. A glottal stop is also used, called an 'okina (meaning cutting, 'oki meaning cut and na meaning -ing). It used to be called an 'u'ina (meaning snap).
2012 is expected to be year of great positive change. It is not the end of the world! Back in 1899 something was identified called Schumann Cavity Resonance. It is the heart beat or frequency of the Earth. Since its discovery till 1986 this heart beat frequency was constant 7.8 Hertz per second. From 1986 it started to raise dramatically and in 1998 it was reported to be 10 hertz per second. On other hand magnetics of the earth are dropping dramatically and it is expected they will reach zero point in 2012. Maya calendar and other calendars end in 2012, but it is not the end of the world just beginning of the new one since every 26000 years Earth goes through grand cycle of evolution. 
The Blue Hole is located just off of the coast of Belize, near the Ambergris Caye. The Blue Hole began as a limestone cave in our last Ice Age. After ages of erosion the cave collapsed leaving the scenic beauty we see today! The Blue Hole is almost perfectly circular reaching 300m (1000ft) across and 120m (400ft) deep. The blue cave is perfect spot for all divers because of its beauty and geological history. 
The stereotypical vision of the Egyptian Pyramids are large mountain like brown piles of stone uprooting from the desert having a rough contour. Though when first constructed around 2500 BC. The pyramids were paper white and as smooth as glass, toping the pyramid was a golden capstone that gleamed in the desert sun. It was an amazing spectacle. The pyramids somewhat stayed in this state until the Arab invasion of Egypt around AD 500. The Arab invaders stripped the pyramid of it's smooth limestone and built a huge section of Cairo. Many of the Mosques and Palaces of Cairo consist of the Ancient stones of the pyramids. Quite sad actually. 
India which is one of the densely populated country had a bachelor (a man who has never been married) prime minister, president and defense minister in 2000. For 4-5 years when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister. Coincidence? India is the second country in the world after China to cross the one billion mark. India's population rose by 21.34 % between 1991 - 2001. 
In 490 BCE, Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, ran from Marathon to Athens (about 25 miles) to inform the Athenians the outcome of the battle with invading Persians. The distance was filled with hills and other obstacles; thus Pheidippides arrived in Athens exhausted and with bleeding feet. After telling the townspeople of the Greeks' success in the battle, Pheidippides fell to the ground dead. In 1896, at the first modern Olympic Games, held a race of approximately the same length in commemoration of Pheidippides. 
Highest mountain on Earth, Mt. Everest grows about 4 millimeters a year since two tectonic plates which collided millions of years ago to form the Himalayas, continue to press against each other. Earths highest waterfall is at Angel Falls in Venezuela which drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). Hottest place on earth is Azizia in Libya 136 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius) and coldest was in Vostok, Antarctica -129 Fahrenheit (-89 Celsius). Pacific is the biggest ocean (32.6% of the Earth's surface). Interesting fact is that Amazon recently became longest river by a bit more than 100 meters. According to Guido Gelli (director of science at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) "Today, we can consider the Amazon the longest river in the world". Amazon is 4,225 miles (6,800 kilometers) long and the Nile is 4,160 miles long (6,695 kilometers).
The fear of number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia and it was derived from treiskaideka, the Greek word for thirteen and phobia. There were thirteen people at Christ's Last Supper before his captivity, it is recorder that Christ was crucified on Friday. Routine mission to the moon goes drastically wrong on Apollo 13. Some hotels skip number thirteen when numbering rooms. In Formula 1, there is no car with the number 13. 
Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world. No taxes on income and there are no personal taxes either. In Dubai Emirates Mall you can ski indoors while shopping, measuring 400 meters and using 6000 tons of snow. Burj Dubai will become the world's tallest building, along with the world's tallest man-made structure when it is completed. Eighty percent of Dubai residents are foreigners.
Monopoly was invented by Charles B. Darrow during the Depression in the 1934 and at first it was rejected by Parker Brothers due to "52 design errors"! Streets in Monopoly are taken from Atlantic City, New Jersey. Game was very popular in Cuba until Fidel Castro took power and burned all the Monopoly sets. Standard Monopoly bank starts with $15,140 and it is estimated that Monopoly has been sold 250 million times through out the world.
Maya people were masters of mathematics and calendars and they were keeping track of time using three separate calendars. For predictions about the beginning and end of the “world†they used “Long Count†calender. And on December 21st 2012, the Long Count will be at the point zero which Maya predicts as the end of time and beginning of the new world. The Mayas were very accurate in their predictions and they predicted invasions on their soil and the World Wars.
The word "testis" dates from the Latin meaning to bear witness. In ancient Rome, only men could bear witness or testify in a public forum. In order to show importance to their testimony, they would hold their testicles as they spoke, and an oath was declared while holding another testicles. THIS FACT NEEDS TO BE RESEARCHED. It seems that word testis derives from word testificare 'to bear witness' and there is very little data to support original idea of holding testicles. However, in book of Genesis there are passages in which a man who is taking an oath puts his hand "under the thigh".
St. Malachy, (d. 1148) Irish Bishop and Seer, produced an accurate list of future popes which began with Pope Celestine II in the year 1143. The prophecy is concerned with the succession of the Popes and there will be one more Pope after the current Pope Benedict XVI according to the prophecies of St. Malachy.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World compiled by ancient Greek historians are: The Great Pyramid of Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Colossus of Rhodes and The Lighthouse of Alexandria. 
It is common mistake to say that The Great wall of China is visible from outer space. It is too thin to be noticed from such a great distance. There are no man made structures that are visible from space or moon. Man made objects start to disappear after 300 miles up. From that distance you can barely see the outline of the Great China Wall. If we consider that distance from Earth to Moon is around 384,403 kilometers/238,857 miles then we can draw reasonable conclusion that it would be impossible to see any man-made structures from such a distance. Astronaut Alan Bean said: "The only thing you can see from the moon is a beautiful sphere, mostly white (clouds), some blue (ocean), patches of yellow (deserts), and every once in a while some green vegetation. No man-made object is visible on this scale. In fact, when first leaving earth's orbit and only a few thousand miles away, no man-made object is visible at that point either."