Pingali Venkayya

Recently, the Ministry of Culture organized “Tiranga Utsav” to celebrate the contributions of Pingali Venkayya to the nation on the occasion of his 146^th Birth Anniversary. A commemorative Postal Stamp, in the honor of Pingali Venkayya, was also released during the event.

About Pingali Venkayya: He was born on August 2, 1876 at Bhatlapenumarru, near present-day Machilipatnam town in Andhra Pradesh.

• At the age of 19, he had enrolled in the British Indian Army and was deployed to South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899–1902), where he met Gandhi for the first time.
• He was also called 'Patti Venkayya' (Cotton Venkayya), because he dedicated most of his time researching staple varieties of cotton.
• He designed several models of national flag starting from the one designed in 1921 which was approved by Mahatma Gandhi at a Congress meeting in Vijayawada.
• This flag, called the Swaraj flag, consisted of two red and green bands; the two bands represented the two major religious communities — the Hindus and the Muslims.
• The flag also had a charkha, which represented Swaraj.