Pingali Venkayya was a freedom fighter and the designer of the Indian National Tricolour who went on to become synonymous with the spirit of free and independent India. The national flag that we see today was based upon his design. Life of Pingali Venkayya Pingali Venkayya was born on 2 August 1876 at Bhatlapenumarru, Near to Machilipatnam (Krishna District), Andhra Pradesh. He received his primary education at Challapalli and at Machilipatnam Hindu High School. To finish high school and study senior Cambridge, he went to Colombo. He completed his training as a plague inspector in Madras and for some time worked as a plague inspector in Bellary. He went to Sri Lanka and studied Political Economics as a special subject at City College, Colombo and passed the Cambridge Senior Examination. Embracing the initiative and adventure, he went to Bombay and joined the army at the age of 19 and fought in the Second Boer War in South Africa. He worked as a guard in the railways for some time. After returning from Africa, he had most of time researching about farming and cultivating cotton. In 1913, he gave a full length speech in Japanese at Bapatla which made him famous as ‘Japan Venkayya’. His interest in researching cotton, especially a particular variety called Cambodia Cotton, gave him another nickname ‘Patti (cotton) Venkayya’. He is a graduate in Geology, he set a record in diamond mining in Andhra Pradesh, that is why he is called 'Diamond Venkayya'. Pingali Venkayya was a firm believer in Gandhian principles and an ardent nationalist. During his stint with the British Army, he had met Mahatma Gandhi in Africa. He was 19 when the meeting took place and formed an association which would last for more than 50 years. He died at the age of 86 on 4 July 1963. Participation in freedom struggle Pingali Venkayya has participated in different moments involved of the Indian National Movement from 1906 to 1922 such as Vande Mataram, home rule movement, and Hridayam (or Aditya Hridayam). After the independence of the country, he settled in Nellore and he also served as an advisor to the Government of India for Mineral Research Department. Design of Indian Flag In his village for five years (1916-21) he studied the flags of thirty different countries. Simultaneously, he published a book, ‘A National Flag For India’, which consisted of thirty different designs for the Indian flag. Post this, he pitched in the idea of India to have its own flag in March 1921, at a meeting of Indian National Congress in Vijayawada (Bezawada). Gandhi finally agreed to this appeal and asked Venkaiah to come up with a fresh design of a potential flag in April, 1921. Venkayya presented a rudimentary design of the Swaraj Flag on a Khadi bunting. Initially, Venkayya came up with saffron and green colours, but it later evolved with a spinning wheel at the center and a third colour white and the charkha represented Swaraj and white is to peace. His design had given an identity to India and its people. The flag was officially adopted by the Indian National Congress in 1931. In 2009, a stamp was also issued to commemorate him.