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

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About the new designs-

• While the design of the President’s Standard incorporated the new ensign of the Navy unveiled by the Prime Minister in September 2022, the new crest of the Navy does away with the symbolic nautical rope which was there in the earlier crest, a change already introduced in the new ensign. 
• The St George’s Cross in the earlier ensign of Indian Navy  Crest was removed. 
• The new ensign crest of the Indian Navy on a navy blue background encompassed an octagon representing the royal seal or Rajmudra of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. 
• The anchor inside the octagon, which was earlier a ‘foul anchor’ entangled in a nautical rope was replaced with a ‘clear anchor’ without the rope ‘underscoring the steadfastness of the Indian Navy.’
• 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 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.

Note: 

• The President’s Standard and President’s Colour are awarded to static and mobile formations of the Indian Navy respectively, to acknowledge their distinguished and meritorious service to the Nation. 
• The Indian Navy was the first among the three Services to be awarded the President’s Colour on 27 May 1951 by the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad. 
• In the Indian Navy, the President’s Colour has been awarded to the Western, Southern, and Eastern Naval Commands, both Western and Eastern Fleets, the Submarine Arm, the Naval Air Arm, INS Shivaji, INS Valsura and the Indian Naval Academy. 

• The 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron was the first Naval Combatant Squadron to be honoured with the President’s Standard.

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