Girja Shankar Kaura
To ensure that India’s 75th year of Independence is celebrated by majority of the people in the country by hoisting the tricolor at their homes, the government has decided to recognize spending by companies as part of the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign as a share of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending. Ministry of Corporate Affairs has come out with circular which says that the companies purchasing and distributing tricolor as part of the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign can show the same as part of their CSR fund spending.
Officials said that the circular issued yesterday and signed by Vedanr Ojha, Assistant Director, CSR cell of the ministry would help intensifying efforts to popularize the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga‘ campaign which under the aegis of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav is aimed to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and to promote awareness about the national flag.
The circular said, “In this regard it is clarified that spending of CSR funds for the activities related to this campaign such as mass scale production and supply of the national flag, outreach and amplification efforts and other related activities are eligible CSR activities under the item no. (II) of schedule VII of the Companies act pertaining to the promotion of education related to culture”.
It further said that the companies may undertake aforesaid activities, subject to the fulfillment of the Companies (CSR Policy) rules 2014 and related circulars issued by the Ministry thereof, from time to time.
As part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has issued a call for Har Ghar Tiranga to encourage people to bring home a tricolor and hoist it to mark the 75th year of India’s Independence.
The government has aimed at hoisting the tricolor atop more than 20 crore houses across the country for three days next month—August 13 to 15. The Centre has also amended the Flag Code of India, 2002, allowing the use of all kinds of materials for making flags — polyester, cotton, wool, silk and Khadi bunting material. Previously, machine-made and polyester flags were not allowed to be used and government has also said that there would also be no size restriction.
People would now be allowed to hoist the tricolor day and night if it is in the open and hoisted by a member of the public. Earlier, the national flag was allowed to be flown from sunrise to sunset, irrespective of the prevailing weather conditions.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has clarified that clause XI of paragraph 2.2 of the Flag Code was replaced by the following clause: “where the flag is displayed in the open or displayed on the house of a member of the public, it may be flown day and night”. Clause XI earlier read, “where the flag is displayed in the open, it should, as far as possible, be flown from sunrise to sunset, irrespective of weather conditions”.
The campaign is being coordinated by the Union Ministry of Culture with state governments to make this campaign a grand success in the 75th year of India’s Independence.
To meet the huge demand for national flags, traders’ associations are coordinating with textile manufacturers across the country to increase the supply of the national flags. Earlier, the Confederation of All-India Traders (CAIT) had stated that people are already visiting markets in large numbers to buy the tricolor to join the campaign.
