<P> A few days before India became independent on 15 August 1947, the specially constituted Constituent Assembly decided that the flag of India must be acceptable to all parties and communities . A modified version of the Swaraj flag was chosen; the tricolour remained the same saffron, white and green . However, the charkha was replaced by the Ashoka Chakra representing the eternal wheel of law . The philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who later became India's first Vice President and second President, clarified the adopted flag and described its significance as follows: </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> "</Td> <Td> Bhagwa or the Saffron denotes renunciation or disinterestedness . Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work . The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct . The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends . The "Ashoka Chakra" in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma . Truth or satya, dharma or virtue ought to be the controlling principle of those who work under this flag . Again, the wheel denotes motion . There is death in stagnation . There is life in movement . India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward . The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change . </Td> <Td>" </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> "</Td> <Td> Bhagwa or the Saffron denotes renunciation or disinterestedness . Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work . The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct . The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends . The "Ashoka Chakra" in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma . Truth or satya, dharma or virtue ought to be the controlling principle of those who work under this flag . Again, the wheel denotes motion . There is death in stagnation . There is life in movement . India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward . The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change . </Td> <Td>" </Td> </Tr> <P> A number of flags with varying designs were used in the period preceding the Indian Independence Movement by the rulers of different princely states; the idea of a single Indian flag was first raised by the British rulers of India after the rebellion of 1857, which resulted in the establishment of direct imperial rule . The first flag, whose design was based on western heraldic standards, were similar to the flags of other British colonies, including Canada and Australia; its blue field included the Union Flag in the upper - left quadrant and a Star of India capped by the royal crown in the middle of the right half . To address the question of how the star conveyed "Indianness", Queen Victoria created the Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India to honour services to the empire by her Indian subjects . Subsequently, all the Indian princely states received flags with symbols based on the heraldic criteria of Europe including the right to fly defaced British red ensigns . </P>

What does the blue wheel that appear in the indian national flag stand for