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Navy to shake off colonial ensigns
on I-Day

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

In an attempt to erase some of the symbols of colonialism in the armed forces, the navy is redesigning its ensigns. The new flags will be introduced on Independence Day.

The new naval standard will shed the cross of St George, patron saint of England, which cuts the current flag into four squares. It will have the Tricolour in the upper left-hand corner and the navy's official emblem in the bottom right-hand corner.

The attempt, a senior officer explained, "is to indigenise our flags, to shed the vestige of colonialism".

Not everyone favours the move. The cross of St George, visible on several international flags, including that of the Boy Scouts, is no longer a symbol of colonialism, critics of the move say.

"If they want to remove the vestiges of colonialism, they should shed everything from their band tunes and bugles to so many other practices," the opponents argue.

The navy, however, is going ahead full steam with its plan and, sources said, orders have already gone out from Naval Headquarters to adopt the new ensigns beginning August 15, 2001.

As part of the indigenisation exercise, flags of senior officers are also being redesigned.

In the existing system, the number of roundels decreases with increasing rank. Thus, the admiral's flag contains no roundel, while that of a rear admiral has two.

In the army and air force, however, the number of stars on a flag increases with rank.

Now, in the navy's new system, the flags of senior officers will also bear stars, whose number will rise with the rank. Thus, the admiral of the fleet will have five stars on his standard, while other admirals will have four, a vice-admiral, three, rear admiral, two, and commodore, one.

"We will thus attain parity with the army and air force," the officer said.

The proposal to replace the ensigns has been going around for many years. Former navy chief Vishnu Bhagwat had enthusiastically embraced the idea, but his dismissal slowed it down. Now his successor, Admiral Sushil Kumar, will implement it.

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