Flag Challenge #46 Voting

[FONT=&quot]“THE SADNESS OF MOTHER INDIA”, AN INDIAN FLAG CHALLENGE[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]New Challenge:[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] May 24th 2011

Closing Date for entries: May 30th 2011

POD:
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]When British rule on the Indian subcontinent ended in 1952 the Union of Greater India was established. The Union consisted of OTL Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Birma, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, southern Tibet, eastern Iran.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Within a couple of years however the Union fell into a permanent state of war as several parts of the realm proclaimed independance. For a few years the Union was succesfull in keeping it’s territories together with help from allied countries (Great Britain, U.S.A., Japan, Germany), but after 1966 the first of several realms actually gained independance.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Around the 1980’s the Union still survived, but was surrounded by several hostile countries which were once part of the Union itself. Only due to heavy military and financial support from Japan and Germany the Union was able to hold on to it’s core territories .

CHALLENGE:

Design a flag for the surviving Union of Greater India or for one of the other parts that became independant after 1966. [/FONT]

OPTION 1 : THE PROFESSOR

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Brief History:

As India gained greater autonomy the Indian Muslim League often contemplated a full separate independence from the Hindu and Sikh states but under Sir Muhammed Iqbal's continuing influence and his moderate successors they remained part of the Indian National Congress which gained growing autonomy until final independence in 1952.

Following Indian Independence there was growing violence between muslim, hindu, and sikh nationalists that culminated in increased martial law and the estrangement of the Indian Muslim League. The assassination in 1954 of the Governor of the Northwest Province and President of the Indian Muslim League, Liaquat Ali Khan, led to a declaration of secession and independence of the NWP under the name Pakistan.

Several other regions also declared independence such as the Socialist Republic of Bengal [1] and the Tamil Republic [2] almost leading to the collapse of the Indian Union.

The Country:

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a federation consisting of the Provinces of Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir-Jammu, Pashtun or Khyberistan, Punjab, Sakastan, and Sindh, the Federal Capital Territory, and the Tribal/Frontier Regions (under federal administration).

In 1991 with the Islamic Republics of Iran [3] and Afghanistan it formed the Union of Islamic Republics which is slowly transitioning from an economic and cultural union to a political one.

The Flag:

The Pakistani flag is an adaptation of the flag of the Indian Muslim League, itself based on the Indian Union Civil Flag.
The Indian Union Civil Flag is a tricolour of Green, Saffron, and Red.
The Indian Muslim League expanded the green to 2/3 of the flag and added a crescent and star to symbolise Islam.
On independence the yellow stripe was replaced with white to signify purification, while the red symbolised martyred blood.


[1] includes Assam
[2] includes Sri Lanka
[3] a longer civil war leads to it being smaller than OTL - it consists mostly of the core Persian territories with the remaining lands under Azerbaijan, the Arab Federation [4], Kurdistan, or the Gulf Federation [5]
[4] Roughly OTL Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, less the Kurdish regions
[5] An expanded Trucial/Bahraini Coast - OTL UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Al-Hasa, and Hormuz

OPTION 2: ISERLOHN

Here is my flag for the Union Of Greater India: The flag design (both the orange colour and the swallow tail) itself is borrowed from the Maratha Empire, which in rather recent history ruled huge tracts of land on the Indian subcontinent. The cockade stands for the original flag proposal by Gandhi in 1921, with the white standing for purity, the red for the Indian people's sacrifice and the green for the Union's hope, as well as Republicanism. The white bar below the cockade symbolises the peace intended between the many ethnic groups of the Union. The hexagram in the centre of the cockade stands for the religious variety of the Union Of Greater India, seeing how the six-pointed star is an important symbol in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Islam, which all have followers within India.

OPTION 4: JKARR

Greater Union of Ashoka (1950 - 1992)

Nations: Republic of India, Republic of Pakistan, Kingdom of Nepal, Theocratic State of Tibet, Republic of Bangladesh

Official Religions: Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism

Captial: Bhopal

OPTION 4: AKKISMAT

Republic of Bangla
The Republic of Bangla was one of the earliest realms that became de facto independant after years of civil war.

The republic consists of OTL Bangladesh, Assam and parts of Myanmar.

Bangla was a breakaway Islamic republic from the beginning which housed many and diverse groups which culturally and religiously were different from the majority of the country which was culturally Bangali and religiously Islamic. Bangla itself also has a lot of organisations and rebel groups who claim independance for their own regions, such as the Assam Liberation Army and the Birmese People's Liberation Front.

As of now there is a civil uprising starting in some Assamese provinces, which most think is fueled with money and arms from the Union and even China.

The flag is based on the old Mughal Empire flag and incorporates some emblems from the Indian Independance Movement. The Islamic symbol of the moon-and-crescent itself was adopted after right-wing Bengali nationalists gained a majority of seats from 1981 on. Before this the moon-and-crescent was a stylized Bengali lotus flower.

Early days yet but I'm predicting another Akkismat win

The Professor said:

Early days yet but I'm predicting another Akkismat win

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There should be a clause written so that people who win to often get a handicap.

Iserlohn said:

There should be a clause written so that people who win to often get a handicap.

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or that they cant enter the next round at least...it was akkismats idea too which kinda makes it unfair

jkarr said:

or that they cant enter the next round at least...it was akkismats idea too which kinda makes it unfair

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Yep, that could be an alternative: The PROPOSER of the next contest's theme, may it be the last winner OR a second user MAY NOT enter the contest.

Sounds good to me for the future.

Iserlohn said:

Yep, that could be an alternative: The PROPOSER of the next contest's theme, may it be the last winner OR a second user MAY NOT enter the contest.

Sounds good to me for the future.

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I thought that was already a rule...

*checks*

Oh, it isn't. Sounds good to me anyway. But I'd prefer a simpler version, that the winner of a contest can't enter the next one.

When I won 2 or 3 challenges in a row I deferred to the runner-up regarding the next challenge. Also, when we started this, the flags were voted on anonymously/without the creator's name (entry #1, #2, ... in order of their submission). Excellent flags this round folks!

I don't think we need to ban winners from entering the next contest just yet.
Maybe if it gets to 4 in a row.

I also agree that flag entries should be anonymous in the poll - it reduces the chance of people voting on the name rather than the flag.

I think the contest is fine as is. The anonymous poll thing might be good, but let's not handicap people that want to make flags - especially when we only have four entries this week.

Sicarius said:

I think the contest is fine as is. The anonymous poll thing might be good, but let's not handicap people that want to make flags - especially when we only have four entries this week.

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i agree i dont wanna put people off sicarius, but after a while its always the same people winning...and that puts people off

The Professor said:

I don't think we need to ban winners from entering the next contest just yet.
Maybe if it gets to 4 in a row.

I also agree that flag entries should be anonymous in the poll - it reduces the chance of people voting on the name rather than the flag.

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problwm with that though, is poeple can jsut check on the entries thread to se who posted it..i think we should find a way to post it without posting the users name...or delete those entries once the poll starts up

jkarr said:

problwm with that though, is poeple can jsut check on the entries thread to se who posted it..i think we should find a way to post it without posting the users name...or delete those entries once the poll starts up

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That's taking it to far I think - we just want to reduce those who vote the creator's name rather than the flag.
I doubt anyone who tends to vote based on the author would be of the mindset to check the entries page first