It’s that time of the year when we wear our patriotic hearts on our sleeve. It’s that time of the year when the colours of celebrations are saffron, white and green. Demand for the national flag soars on Independence and Republic Day.
The ‘officially approved’ flags are available at various outlets of the Khadi and Village Industries Board, Kerala Sarvodaya Sangh Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan at Ayurveda College and Gandhi Bhavan. All these places sell only those flags that are made in accordance with specification of the Bureau of Indian Standards.
“We are not allowed to sell flags without the ISI mark. We source the flags from Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangh (Federation) [KKGSSF] in Hubli, Karnataka, the only licensed flag production and supply unit in India,” explains O.P. Raju, manager of the Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan that has its headquarters in Kozhikode. As per the BIS guidelines, the flag should be ‘made of hand spun and hand woven cotton Khadi bunting’.
The flags from KKGSSF come in different sizes. “The largest we have is the 6x4 variety. In addition we have flags in 3x4 1/2, and 2x3 types. The large flags are often taken by various state government and Central government institutions, the airport and the Reserve Bank of India. We also have the ‘car flags’ that are flown on government vehicles,” says Raju. While the 6x4 variety costs Rs. 1,550, 3x4 1/2 type costs Rs. 900. The 2x3 variety is priced Rs. 550 and a ‘car flag’ costs Rs. 150.
The flags are available throughout the year in the Khadi outlets. The Khadi Board alone has five outlets in the district, in addition to a mobile outlet, says J. Prasanna Kumari, project officer of the district office of the Khadi Board. This is the only Khadi product on which there is no rebate, ever!
However, certain outlets in the city do sell flags that do not conform to the BIS norms. They are made of Khadi, but the product is different in terms of quality and strength of the yarn, the dye used and manufacturing process. Trivandrum Khadi Bhandar near Ayurveda College stocks these flags in different sizes. “We source these flags from Nagercoil. Those of 2x3 size cost Rs. 30 and 6x4 variety is priced Rs. 60. Schools and various government offices are our regular clients, especially during Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi Jayanthi celebrations,” says Radhakrishnan, who runs the Khadi Bhandar.
The Indian Flag Code allows private citizens to hoist the flag on any day of the year, subject to their safeguarding the dignity, honour and respect of the flag. But flying a flag made of any material other than Khadi is punishable by law with imprisonment up to three years, besides a fine.
However, cheap plastic flags flood the market during this time. In fact, the Government of Maharashtra issued a circular in 2007 imposing a ban on the manufacture, sale and purchase of national flags following a petition that pointed out that after the celebrations these flags are found on roads and gutters, which is an insult to the national flag and, therefore, is a violation of the Constitution. Little has changed since then, even in Maharashtra. But each of us can make a difference by ensuring that the tricolour is not degraded in any way and it flies high today and every day.
Flag facts
The Indian tricolour is based on the Swaraj flag, a flag of the Indian National Congress designed by Pingali Venkayya.
At Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha, the sole manufacturer of the flag, utmost care is taken to ensure that the right colour, size, thread count, strength of yarn and so on are chosen while making the flag.
Two different types of hand-woven cloth are used to make the flags. Bunting cloth is used to make the three panels of the flag while duck cloth is used to attach the sleeve. The Khadi-duck is an unconventional type of weave that meshes three threads into a weave, compared to the two weaves used in conventional weaving.
The Ashoka Chakra of a specific size is screen-printed with Navy blue colour in the centre, in such a manner that the chakra is visible on both sides of the flag.
Even with regards to machine stitching, sewing threads should conform to the BIS norms. The four corners of the flags are reinforced with triangular pieces if bunting of the same construction and colour as is used for making the flags. Finally, a sleeve will be provided along one side of the flag. A toggle is attached to each flag at the top of the saffron panel to avoid hoisting of the flag in reverse manner. Wood toggles are made from well-seasoned timber.
(Source: http://www.khadifederation.com)
