Government changes caller tune to ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ message on I-Day

Culture Secretary said the caller tune had been changed for Independence Day, alone

National flags were distributed to licensed porters at the Mysuru Railway Station on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Anyone making a phone call on Monday was greeted by a message to share a selfie with the Indian flag on HarGharTiranga.com, as caller tunes were changed as a part of the government’s campaign to encourage the hoisting of the Tricolour.

Before the ringing of the phone, a message asking the caller to upload a selfie followed by a short clip of the Har Ghar Tiranga theme song was played. The Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, organised by the Union Culture Ministry, aimed to have 20 crore households in the country hoist a national flag between August 13 and August 15 and also asked individuals to share photos with the flag.

Culture Secretary Govind Mohan said the caller tune had been changed for Monday, Independence Day, alone. As of Monday morning, over 4.2 crore selfies had been uploaded on the site. By evening, the number had crossed 5 crore.

Saurav Bhaik, the founder of Tagbin, the company working on the site, said: “It’s been an overwhelming response as we touched 5 crore selfies. This is beyond our expectation of last year’s campaign where users uploaded 2.5 crore videos signing the National Anthem on rashtragaan.in.”

In the run-up to the campaign, the Union Home Ministry had amended the Flag Code twice to allow flags to be made of materials other than khadi and to enable the hoisting of the flag “day and night” by members of the public.