New design of President’s Standard, Colour and Crest for Indian Navy approved

PM Modi had dedicated the new ensign to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

The President’s Standard and the Colour are awarded to static and mobile formations of the Indian Navy, respectively, to acknowledge their distinguished and meritorious service. While the practice of carrying the Standards or Colours — a symbolic flag — into battle is long gone, the tradition of receiving, holding and carrying them continues even today in the Indian Armed forces.

The erstwhile design of the President’s Standard and the Colour for the Indian Navy was instituted in September 2017. The design comprised one horizontal and vertical red band intersecting at the centre, known as St George’s cross and the national emblem inserted at their intersection. The national flag was at the upper left canton adjacent to the flagstaff and a golden elephant was at the lower right canton on the fly side. This design was inspired by the erstwhile naval ensign.

The Navy has said that the new design of the President’s Standard and Colour comprises three main constituents — the national flag in the upper left canton adjacent to the staff, the state emblem under-scribed with ‘Satyamev Jayate’ in golden colour on the upper right canton on the fly side, and a Navy Blue — gold octagon below the golden state emblem. The octagon has twin golden octagonal borders, encompassing the golden national emblem — lion capital of Ashoka – under-scribed with ‘Satyamev Jayate’ in blue Devnagri script resting atop an anchor, and superimposed on a shield.

Below the shield, within the octagon, in a golden bordered ribbon, on a navy blue background, is inscribed the motto of the Indian Navy ‘Sham No Varunah’ in golden devnagri script. The golden state emblem signifies ‘power, courage, confidence and pride’ whilst the navy blue – golden octagon shape draws inspiration from the Seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and represents the eight directions symbolising the Indian Navy’s maritime outreach.

The new Indian Navy Crest has been amended to replace the foul anchor with a clear Anchor. “The clear anchor depicts the steadfastness of the Indian Navy to deter any challenge in the maritime domain and represents clarity in the vision, mission and aspirations of its sailors. The clear anchor also depicts the Indian Navy’s commitment towards securing the coast and maritime interests of India. The change would imply the removal of the symbolic nautical rope in the Crest Designs. The Modified Indian Navy Crest has been introduced with effect from December 4 on the occasion of Navy Day 2022.” the Navy press statement said.

The new naval crest has a traditional naval clear anchor below the Ashoka lion head with ‘Sham No Varunah’ inscribed below it, which has been taken from Vedas and means ‘may the ocean God be auspicious unto us’. The phrase was adopted as the motto of the Indian Navy at the suggestion of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, the first Indian Governor General of Independent India. In line with the change in the Indian Navy Crest, a minor amendment to the crest of the Indian Naval Command Headquarters, which has the Indian Navy Crest in the inset, has also been approved by the President of India.