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The fifth edition of Har Ghar Tiranga ran from 9 to 17 August 2026 under the Ministry of Culture, with 150 years of Vande Mataram as its organising theme.
More than 8.24 crore Tiranga selfies were uploaded to the campaign portal; this year's selfie download also carries the lyrics and tune of Vande Mataram.
A new global element, Suryapath Tiranga, saw the National Flag hoisted in sequence at 54 Indian Missions and Posts following the path of the rising sun — from Suva in Fiji at 1:30 AM IST to San Francisco at 8:30 PM IST, spanning more than 19 hours.
A Tiranga Bike Rally of Members of Parliament was flagged off from Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, by Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan on 12 August, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram.
Mass singing of both Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana formed part of the programmes at missions abroad, and industry bodies including FICCI, Assocham and CII joined the domestic campaign.
Encourage citizens to hoist the National Flag at their own homes and build a personal rather than purely institutional relationship with the Tiranga.
Key: Launched in 2022 under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav with the Ministry of Culture as nodal agency, and declared by the Prime Minister on 22 July 2022 — the anniversary of the flag's adoption. Its signature digital element is the 'selfie with the Tiranga' uploaded to the campaign portal, which generates a certificate. The 2026 edition ran 9-17 August.
Extend Har Ghar Tiranga beyond India's borders by staging a continuous chain of flag hoistings at Indian Missions and Posts as dawn moves westward.
Key: First held in 2026. Fifty-four missions and posts participated across more than 19 hours, beginning in Suva, Fiji and ending at San Francisco, and passing through South and Southeast Asia, West Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Programmes at missions included mass singing of Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana.
Commemorate 75 years of Independence and the people, culture and achievements associated with it.
Key: The umbrella commemoration, coordinated by the Ministry of Culture, that began on 12 March 2021 — 75 weeks before 15 August 2022 — with a date chosen to mark the anniversary of the start of the Dandi March. Har Ghar Tiranga is its most durable surviving component.
Not a statute but an executive code consolidating conventions, instructions and practices on display of the National Flag. It came into effect on 26 January 2002 and specifies, among other things, that the middle panel shall bear the Ashoka Chakra in navy blue with 24 equally spaced spokes, and that the flag's length-to-height ratio shall be 3:2.
Permitted National Flags made of polyester and machine-made flags, in addition to the earlier hand-spun, hand-woven or machine-made cotton, polyester, wool, silk and khadi bunting. This is the change that made mass distribution for Har Ghar Tiranga feasible.
Amended clause (xi) of paragraph 2.2 of Part II so that a flag displayed in the open, or on the house of a member of the public, may be flown day and night. Previously the flag had to be lowered at sunset — the single most-tested fact about the campaign, because the old rule is still widely believed to apply.
The penal statute, distinct from the Flag Code, that criminalises burning, mutilating, defacing or showing disrespect to the National Flag and the Constitution, and disrespect to the National Anthem. Remember the division: the Flag Code tells you how to display the flag; this Act punishes insulting it.
Restricts commercial and improper use of the National Flag, the national emblem and other specified names and emblems — the third leg of the legal framework that questions on this topic tend to combine.
| Aspect | Jana Gana Mana (National Anthem) | Vande Mataram (National Song) |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Rabindranath Tagore | Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay |
| Composed / first published | First sung at the Calcutta session of the Congress in 1911 | Composed 1875; published 7 November 1875 in Bangadarshan; included in Anandamath (1882) |
| First public rendition of note | Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress, 1911 | Sung by Rabindranath Tagore at the Calcutta session of the Congress, 1896 |
| Adopted | 24 January 1950 by the Constituent Assembly | Accorded equal status the same day, by the declaration of Dr Rajendra Prasad |
| Prescribed playing time | Approximately 52 seconds for the full version | No prescribed duration |
| Code of conduct | Formal directions exist on when it is played and that the audience should stand | No comparable formal code |
The relay tracked dawn westward across time zones. It opened in the Pacific at Suva, Fiji, moved through New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar, then across South Asia through Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It continued through Central and West Asia — Uzbekistan, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — before crossing into Africa and Eurasia via Ethiopia, Russia, Kenya, Israel, Egypt and South Africa. In Europe the sequence ran Latvia, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Morocco and Iceland, before the Atlantic crossing to Brazil, Suriname, Guyana, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Colombia, Canada, Jamaica, Peru and Mexico, closing at San Francisco.
GS Paper 1 > Modern Indian History and National Symbols; GS Paper 2 > Government Policies and Interventions
General Awareness > National Symbols, Static GK and Current Affairs
General Awareness > National Symbols and Current Events
General Awareness > Government Campaigns and Current Affairs
National symbols are among the most frequently repeated static-GK areas in SSC and Railway examinations, and the Flag Code amendments have appeared regularly since 2022.
A relay of flag hoistings at 54 Indian Missions and Posts following the path of the rising sun, first held on 15 August 2026 under Har Ghar Tiranga.
An executive code, not a statute, consolidating the rules and conventions for displaying the National Flag; effective from 26 January 2002.
The Congress flag from which the present Tricolour evolved; the charkha at its centre was replaced by the Ashoka Chakra in 1947.
The commemoration of 75 years of Independence, begun on 12 March 2021, under which Har Ghar Tiranga was launched.