National Symbols

National Symbols

National flag

·         It was adopted by constitute assembly of India on July 22, 1947.

·         A tricolour flag was first accepted by the Indian national congress in 1931, having charkha in place of today’s chakra.

·         It is a horizontal tricolor of deep saffron at top (stands for courage, sacrifice and renunciation ), white at middle ( shows truth and purity in thoughts), dark green at the bottom (symbol of life abundance and prosperity )

·         A wheel (chakra) in centre of the white strip is the symbol of progress and movement. It has 24 spokes.

National Emblem

·         It is adopted from the sarnath lion capital of Asoka on January 26, 1950.

·         In this emblem, only three lions are visible, the fourth lion being hidden from view. Thewheel appears in relief in the centre of the abacus with a bull on right and a horse on left. The bell shaped lotus (as in the original) has been omitted.

·         The word satyamev jayate are inscribed below the abacus in devanagri script. These words are taken from mundaka Upanishad

National Anthem

·         The song jana gana mana is the national anthem of India which was composed originally in Bengali.

·         It was adopted by constitute assembly on January 24, 1950 in its Hindi version.

·         The song jana gana mana was first published in January, 1912 under the title ‘bharat vidhta’ in tattva bodhini patrika .

·         The song was translated in English in 1919 with the title “morning song of India”

·         It was first sung at the Calcutta session of congress on December 27, 1911.

·         Playing time of full version of national anthem is 52 seconds while it is 20 seconds for first and last lines of the stanza.

National song

·         “vande mataram” is the national song of india, chatterji, originally in Sanskrit.

·         It was adopted on January 24, 1950 providing it equal status with national anthem jana gana mana.

·         It is taken from his novel Anand Math published in 1882. Its English translation was done by sri Aurobindo.

·         It was sung for the first time at the congress session of 1896.

National Calendar.

·         National calander is based on saka era (began on 78 A.D. ) with chaitra as its frist month with a normal year of 365 days adopted from march 22 normally and on march 21 in leap year.

·         National Animal

·         The tiger (Panthera Tigris ) is the national Animal of india. It has a thick yellow coat of fur with dark stripes.

·         Lion was the national animal of india till 1972. Later on, it was replaced by tiger.

Official Publication of difference countries / organizations

Publication                                                                   Issued / Released by

Blue Book         …………………………………………………………………………Report by the British government

Green Book……………………………………………………………………………. Government of Italy and Iran

Grey Book………………………………………………………………………………. Japanese and Belgium Government

Orange Book………………………………………………………………………….. Government of the Netherlands

White Book………………………………………………………Official publication of Germany, Portugal and China.

White Paper (Shwet Patrika) …………………………………………………… issued by the Government of France

Yellow Book …………………………………………………………………………….. Issued by the Government of France

Economic Survey ………………………………………………………………Ministry of Finance (Government of India)

Report on Currency and Finance ……………………………………………. Reserve Bank of India

Wholesale Price Index ……………………………………………………………. Ministry of Industry

National Accounts Statistics …………………………………………………… Central Statistical Organization

National Emblems

Country                                                        Emblem

 India ………………………………………………………………… Sarnath Lion Capital

Australia …………………………………………………………… Kangaroo

Bangladesh ………………………………………………………. Water Lily

Canada ……………………………………………………………… White Lily

Denmark …………………………………………………………... Beach

France ………………………………………………………………. Lily

Germany…………………………………………………………… Corn Flower

Iran …………………………………………………………………… Rose

Ireland ……………………………………………………………… Sham Rock

Italy ………………………………………………………………….. White Lily

Japan ……………………………………………………………….. Chrysanthemum

Pakistan ……………………………………………………………. Crescent

Spain …………………………………………………………………. Eagle

Sri Lanka ……………………………………………………………. Sword &Lion

Russia ………………………………………………………………… Sickle and Hammer

United Kingdom ………………………………………………… Rose

USA …………………………………………………………………… Golden Rod

New Zealand……………………………………………………… Silver Fern

Significance of signs and symbols

Symbol                                                                                              Meaning

Red triangle …………………………………………………………. Family planning

Red Cross …………………………………………………………….. Hospital /Ambulance

Red Light …………………………………………………………….. Danger / Emergency

Green Light …………………………………………………………. Line clear signal

Olive branch ………………………………………………………… peace

Dove ……………………………………………………………………. Peace

Black arm band ………….. ………………………………………. sign of mourning / protest

Black flag ………………………………………………………………. Demonstration of protest

Red flag …………………………………………………………………. Sign of danger, revolution

Yellow flag ………………………………Displayed by ship with infectious disease on board or ship in quarantine

White flag ………………………………………………………………. Truce

Tricolour …………………………………………………………………. National flag of India

Union jack ………………………………………………………………. National Flag of UK

Lotus ……………………………………………………………………….. Culture and civilization

Wheel ………………………………………………………………………. Progress

Flag Flown upside down …………………………………………… Distress

A blind- folded woman holding a balance …………………. Justice

Country Symbols

Country                                                                  Symbol

India ……………………………………………………………………………   Royal Bengal tiger

China ……………………………………………………………………………. Dragon

Russia …………………………………………………………………………… Brown Bear

USA ………………………………………………………………………………  Bald Eagle

Spain ……………………………………………………………………………. Red carnation

Japan ……………………………………………………………………………. Cherry blossom

England ………………………………………………………………………… Rose

Australia ……………………………………………………………………….. Golden wattle Flower

South Africa ………………………………………………………………….. Blue crane

Denmark ……………………………………………………………………….  Beach Tree

Colombia ………………………………………………………………………. Orchid

Canada ………………………………………………………………………….. Maple Leaf

Greece ………………………………………………………………………….. Olive Branch

Environmental and Wildlife

Biosphere Reserves

·         The programme of Biosphere Reserve was initiated under the ‘Man and Biosphere’ (MAB) programme by UNESCO in 1970.

·         The purpose of the formation of the biosphere reserve is to conserve in situ all form of life along with its support system, in its totality, so that it could serve as a referral system for monitoring and evaluating changes in natural ecosystem.

·         The first biosphere reserve of the world was established in 1979, since then the network of biosphere reserve has increased to 564 in over 109 countries across the world (MAB, 2010).

·         Presently, there are 15 existing biosphere reserves in India.

·         Out of these 15 Biosphere Reserve, seven have been recognized on world network of Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, namely, Nilgiri (2000) Sunderbans (2001), Gulf of Manner (2001), Nanda Devi (2004), Nokrek (2009), Pachmarhi (2009) and simlipal (2009).

Biosphere Reserve of India

S.No.	Biosphere Reserve	Year of establishment	State/ UT
1.	Nilgri	1986	Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka
2	Nanda Devi	1988	Uttarakhand
3	Nokrek	1988	Meghalaya
4	Great Nicobar	1989	Andaman & Nicobar Islands
5	Gulf of Mannar	1989	Tamil Nadu
6	Manas	1989	Assam
7	Sunderbans	1989	West Bengal
8	Simlipal	1994	Orissa
9	Dibru Saikhowa	1997	Assam
10	Dehang Debang	1998	Arunachal Pradesh
11	Pachmarhi	1999	Madhya Pradesh
12	Khanchen Dzonga	2000	Sikkim
13	Agasthyamalai	2001	Kerala
14	Achanakmar – Amarkantak	2005	Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
15	Kachchh	2008	Gujarat

Largest National Parks in India

S.No.	Name	Area (sq.km)	State
1	Hemis	3350.00	Jammu & Kashmir
2	Desert	3162.00	Rajasthan
3	Gangotri	2390.02	Uttarakhand
4	Namdapha	1807.82	Arunachal Pradesh
5	Khangchen dzonga	1784.00	Sikkim
6	Guru Ghasi – Das(sanjay)	1440.71	Chhattisgarh
7	Sunderbans	1330.10	West Bengal
8	Indravati (kutru)	1258.37	Chhattisgarh
9	Papikonda	1012.86	Andhra Pradesh
10	Kanha	940.00	Madhya Pradesh

Wildlife Sanctuaries

There are 514 existing wildlife sanctuaries in India. They cover an area of 118,150, which is 3.59% of the geographical area of the country (national wildlife database, April 2010.) Another 219 sanctuaries are proposed in the Protected Area Network report covering an area of 16.699.

Largest Wildlife Sanctuaries in India

S.No.	Name	Area (sq.km)	State
1.	Great Indian Bustard	8,496.44	Maharashtra
2.	Kachchh Desert	7,506.22	Gujarat
3.	Karakorma (Nubra Shyok)	5,000.00	Jammu & Kashmir
4.	Wild Ass	4,953.71	Gujarat
5.	Dibang	4,149.00	Arunachal Pradesh
6.	Changthang Cold Desert	4,000.00	Jammu & Kashmir
7.	Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarjuna Sagar – Srisailam)	3,568.09	Andhra Pradesh
8.	Gahirmatha (Marine)	1,435.00	Orissa
9.	Kibber	1,400.00	Himachal Pradesh
10.	Simlipal	1,354.30	Orissa

Ramsar Wetlands of India

S.No.	Name of RAMSAR Site	State	Year of Notification	Area (ha)	Status
1	Asthamudi Wetland	Kerala	19/08/02	61,400	Coastal, Estuarine
2.	Bhitarkanika Mangroves	Orissa	19/08/02	65,000	Coastal
3.	Deepor Beel	Assam	19/08/02	4,000	Freshwater Lake
4.	Keoladeo National Park	Rajasthan	01/10/81	2,873	Freshwater
5.	Kolleru Lake	AP	19/08/02	90,100	Freshwater
6.	Loktak Lake	Manipur	23/03/90	26,600	Freshwater Lake
7.	Point Calimere Wetlands	Tamil Nadu	19/08/02	38,500	Coastal
8.	Rudrasagar Lake	Tripura	08/11/05	240
9.	Surinsar-Mansar Lakes	J&K	08/11/05	350
10.	Tsomoriri Lake	J&K	19/08/02	12,000	Freshwater Brackish Lake
11.	Vembanad – Kol Wetland	Kerala	19/08/02	151,250	Estuarine, Backwaters