Flag of Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Name	The Red & Green (Bengali: লাল সবুজ, romanized: Lal Shôbuz)
Use	National flag
Proportion	3:5
Adopted	January 17, 1972; 49 years ago (1972-01-17)
Design	A red disc slightly off center to the left on a dark green banner.
Designed by	Quamrul Hassan
Civil Ensign of Bangladesh
Use	Civil ensign
Design	A Red Ensign with the national flag of Bangladesh in the canton.
Naval Ensign of Bangladesh
Use	Naval ensign
Design	A White Ensign with the national flag of Bangladesh in the canton.
Variant flag of Bangladesh
Use	Air force ensign
Proportion	1:2
Design	A field of air force blue with the national flag of Bangladesh in the canton and the Bangladesh Air Force roundel in the middle of the fly.
Flag used during the Liberation War (1971)
Use	Former flag
Adopted	2 March 1971
Design	A red disc with a golden outline of Bangladesh on a green banner.

The national flag of Bangladesh, was adopted officially on 17 January 1972. It consists of a red disc on top of a dark green banner. The red disc is offset slightly toward the hoist so that it appears centered when the flag is flying. While there are many interpretations, according to Shib Narayan Das who put the map on the first flag design, green on the flag represented the landscape and the red circle represented the sun, symbolising a new day and end of oppression. ^[1]

The flag is based on a similar flag used during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which had a yellow map of the country inside the red disc. In 1972 this map was removed from the flag. One reason given was the difficulty for rendering the map correctly on both sides of the flag.^[2] The civil ensign and naval ensign place it in the canton of a red or white field, respectively.

Origin[]

The first version of the flag was designed and made by a section of student leaders and activists of Swadheen Bangla Nucleus on 6 June 1970, at room 108 of Iqbal Hall (now Sergeant Zahurul Haq hall), Dhaka University; students involved with the design were namely Kazi Aref Ahmed, ASM Abdur Rab, Shahjahan Siraj, , , , Hasanul Haq Inu, and .^{[citation needed]} The flag was made from clothes donated by Bazlur Rahman Lasker, the owner of Apollo Tailors, Dhaka New Market.^[3]

A map of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was first traced on a tracing paper from an atlas by Hasanul Haq Inu, Yousuf Salahuddin Ahmed and Enamul Haq, at Enamul's room (312) in Quaid-I Azam Hall (now Sher-E-Bangla Hall), EPUET (now BUET).^[4][5] Later the map was painted in the red circle by Shib Narayan Das.^[6] On 2 March 1971, this initial version of the flag was hoisted in Bangladesh for the first time at Dhaka University, by student leader A. S. M. Abdur Rab, the then Vice President of Dhaka University Students' Union (DUCSU)^[7] The flag was conceived so as to exclude the star and crescent considered as symbols of West Pakistan (now Pakistan).

According to CIA World Fact Book,^[2][8] the green used in the flag represents the lushness of the green landscape of the country.^[9][10] On 13 January 1972 the flag was modified. The map from the center was removed, and the red disk moved towards the hoist. The red in the center is a symbolic representation of the blood Bengalis shed in the Bangladesh Liberation War.^[10]

Design[]

Construction guide for Flag of Bangladesh

Color Reference Color model Green Red Procion (official specification) Brilliant Green H-2RS 50 parts per 1000 H-2RS 60 parts per 1000 Pantone[11] 342c 485 CMYK 100-0-26-58† 0-83-73-4 † (Hex) #006a4e† #f42a41† RGB 0,106,78† 244,42,65† ^† Colors video approximation based on Inkscape colors value.

According to Bangladeshi government specifications,^[12] following is the specification of the national flag:

• The flag will be in bottle green and rectangular in size in the proportion of length to width of 10:6, with a red circle in near middle.
• The red circle will have a radius of one-fifth of the length of the flag. Its centre will be placed on the intersecting point of the perpendicular drawn from the nine-twentieth part of the length of the flag, and the horizontal line drawn through the middle of its width.
• The green base of the flag will be of Procion Brilliant Green H-2RS 50 parts per 1000. The red circular part will be of Procion Brilliant Orange H-2RS 60 parts per 1000.
• Depending on the size of the building the flag sizes will be 10 ft × 6 ft (3.0 m × 1.8 m); 5 ft × 3 ft (1.52 m × 0.91 m); 2+1⁄2 ft × 1+1⁄2 ft (760 mm × 460 mm). The size of the flag for cars is 12+1⁄2 in × 7+1⁄2 in (320 mm × 190 mm), and the size of the table flag for bilateral conferences is 10 in × 6 in (250 mm × 150 mm).

Protocol[]

Dhaka University campus, where the flag was raised for the first time on 2 March 1971

The national flag of Bangladesh is flown on all working days on important government buildings and offices, e.g., the president house, legislative assembly buildings, etc. All ministries and the secretariat buildings of Bangladesh, offices of the high court, courts of district and session judges, offices of the commissioners of divisions, deputy commissioner/collectors, chairman, upazila parishad, central and district jails, police stations, primary, secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions and other buildings notified by the government from time to time. Ministers of state and persons accorded the status of a minister of state, deputy ministers and persons accorded the status of a deputy minister while on tour outside the capital within the country or abroad are entitled to fly the flag on their motor vehicles and vessels.^[12]

Official residences[]

The following persons must fly the flag on their official residence:^[12]

• The President of Bangladesh
• The Prime Minister of Bangladesh
• The Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh
• The Chief Justice of Bangladesh
• All Cabinet Ministers
• Chief Whip of Bangladesh
• Deputy Speaker of the Parliament
• The leader of the Opposition in Parliament
• Ministers of States
• Deputy Ministers
• Heads of Bangladeshi Diplomatic or Consular Missions in foreign countries
• Chairmen of Chittagong hill tracts (district offices of Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban)

Motor vehicles and vessels[]

The following persons are entitled to fly the flag on their motor vehicles and vessels:^[12]

• The President of Bangladesh
• The Prime Minister of Bangladesh
• The Speaker of the Parliament
• The Chief of Justice of Bangladesh
• All Cabinet Ministers
• Chief Whip
• Deputy Speaker of the Parliament
• The leader of the Opposition in Parliament
• Heads of Bangladeshi Diplomatic or Consular Missions in foreign countries

Display[]

Children holding the flag of Bangladesh.

The national flag of Bangladesh is flown on public and private buildings throughout Bangladesh and the office premises of Bangladeshi diplomatic missions and consular posts on the following days and occasions:^[12]

• Independence Day on 26 March.
• Victory Day on 16 December.
• Birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
• Any other day notified by the Government of Bangladesh.

Half-mast[]

The national flag of Bangladesh is flown at half-mast on the following days:^[12]

• National Shaheed Day, now the International Mother Language Day, on 21 February
• National Mourning Day of Bangladesh on 15 August.^[13]
• All other days notified by the Government of Bangladesh.

World record[]

On 16 December 2013, the 42nd Victory Day of Bangladesh, 27,117 people gathered at the National Parade Ground in Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and created a "human flag" which was recorded in Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest human national flag.^[14][15][16] This feat was short, however, as India topped the record on 7 December 2014 with 43,830 people participating to achieve the new world record for largest human national flag.^[17]

In July 2021, Saimon Imran Hayder used 16,000 envelopes to create a 240m² Bangladesh flag at the InterContinental Dhaka which was also a Guinness World Records attempt.^[18][19]

Historical flags[]

Pre-colonial states[]

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1206–1352	Flag of the Delhi Sultanate	A dark green flag with a black strip left of center.
	1352–1576	Flag of the Bengal Sultanate	A white flag with two red strips at the top and bottom.
	1576–1858	Flag of the Mughal Empire	Mughal Empire Alam flag that was primarily moss green.[20]
	–1757	Flag of the Bengal Subah	A white flag with three red barrels and a red sword.[21]

British India and independence[]

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1858–1947	The official state flag of the British Empire for use in India	The Flag of the United Kingdom.
	1885–1947	Flag of the Viceroy of India	The Union Jack with the insignia of the Order of the Star of India beneath the Imperial Crown of India.
	1880–1947	Flag of the British Raj: A civilian flag used to represent British India internationally.	A Red Ensign with the Union Flag at the canton, and the Star of India displayed in the fly.
	–1947	Flag of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal Presidency, later Bengal Province)	A Blue Ensign with the Union Flag at the canton, and the Bengal Presidency Emblem displayed in the fly.
	1947-1971	Flag of Pakistan	Green flag with a white crescent and star on it, and a white strip to its left. See List of Pakistani flags for more.
	March – December 1971	Flag of Mukti Bahini (Liberation Forces)	A flag with a red background, a white disk and a hand holding a rifle- bayonet in the middle.
	1971– 1972	Flag of Provisional Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, used after independence too.	A flag with a green background, a red disk and a yellow map of the country in the middle[2]
	1972–present	National flag of Bangladesh	A red disc on top of a green field, offset slightly toward the hoist.[9]

See also[]

• List of Bangladeshi flags
• National symbols of Bangladesh

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National flag of Bangladesh.

• Bangladesh at Flags of the World
• Farooq, AKM (2012). "National Flag". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
• Similarities between flags of Bangladesh, Japan, and Palau