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The Pledge Beside the Flag

Layered painted stripes of orange and green with a large white-rimmed blue Ashoka Chakra sticker

Written 1962, recited ever since

Stripes laid like poster paint, a Chakra pressed on like a sticker — this is the flag as the school notice-board knows it. School is exactly where its companion text lives.

The National Pledge — “India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters…” — was written by Pydimarri Venkata Subba Rao in 1962 and entered school use across the country from 1963. It faces the opening pages of textbooks and rises at morning assemblies, usually in the flag’s presence: the tricolour supplies the sight, the pledge supplies the sentence.

Frequently asked questions

Who wrote India’s National Pledge?

Pydimarri Venkata Subba Rao, in 1962; schools across India adopted it from 1963.

When is the National Pledge recited?

At school assemblies and on national days — typically as the flag is hoisted, in languages across the Eighth Schedule.

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