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Karnataka govt. unveils State flag
Context:
The Karnataka government has unveiled the State flag ( nada dhwaja ) for Karnataka.
Details:
- If approved by the Centre, Karnataka will be the second State to have a flag after Jammu and Kashmir.
- The proposal will be now sent to the Union Home Ministry for approval since a State has no powers to announce its own flag.
Backdrop:
- The government in Karnataka constituted a nine-member committee to design a state flag and look into the legalities of it.
- The State Cabinet had earlier approved the proposal of having separate flag for Karnataka
Flag in Karnataka:
- Karnataka has had an unofficial flag since the mid 1960s.
- The red and yellow flag was created by Kannada writer and activist Ma Ramamurthy for a pro-Kannada political party called the Kannada Paksha.
- For years, there has been a demand to recognise it as the state’s official flag.
- Recently unveiled the red-white-yellow flag has the State emblem at the centre
Legal sanctity:
- The existing legal provisions do not prohibit states from having their own flags
- When asked about the Constitutional provisions for a State to have its own flag, Karnataka CM said there was no bar in the Constitution on the States having their own flag.