Name | The Red & Green (Bengali: লাল-সবুজ) |
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Use | National flag |
Proportion | 3:5 |
Adopted | 17 January 1972 |
Design | A red disc on a green field. |
Civil Ensign of Bangladesh
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Use | Civil ensign |
Design | A Red Ensign with the national flag of Bangladesh in the canton. |
Naval Ensign of Bangladesh
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Use | Naval ensign |
Design | A White Ensign with the national flag of Bangladesh in the canton. |
Flag used during Liberation War (1971)
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Use | Former flag |
Adopted | 2 March 1971 |
Design | A red disc with a golden outline of Bangladesh on a green field. |
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The national flag of Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশের জাতীয় পতাকা pronounced: [baŋlad̪eʃer dʒat̪ie̯o pɔt̪aka]) was adopted officially on 17 January 1972. It consists of a red disc on top of a green field, offset slightly toward the hoist so that it appears centred when the flag is flying. The red disc represents the sun rising over Bengal, and also the blood of those who died for the independence of Bangladesh. The green field stands for the lushness of the land of Bangladesh.
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. The civil ensign and naval ensign place it in the canton of a red or white field, respectively.
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, Manirul Islam (Marshal Moni), Swapan Kumar Choudhury, Quamrul Alam Khan (Khasru), Hasanul Haq Inu, Yousuf Salahuddin Ahmed and few others. The flag was made from clothes donated by Bazlur Rahman Lasker, the owner of Apollo Tailors, Dhaka New Market.
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 Titumir Hall), EPUET. Later the map was painted in the red circle by Shib Narayan Das. 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) The flag was conceived so as to exclude the crescent and the star considered as symbols of West Pakistan.