Much before preparations for the Independence Day begin, flag-makers across the country work without a pause .

Mangaluru :

Much before preparations for the Independence Day began, flag-makers across the country work without a pause. The Shetty family from Talapady, located about 26 km from Mangaluru city, has also been flooded with orders for the last two months to make tricolours of various sizes for the occasion.

Flag-making, however, is not the main job of Jayanth Shetty, who works at a cloth showroom in the city. Despite being preoccupied with the wholesale distribution job, he has been making flags for over 25 years. As Independence Day nears, his days get busier, since orders for flags start pouring in.

“It was in the 1990s, when I was working in a shop owned by a flag-maker, Dooja Poojary, that I got inspired to take up the work. Initially, it seemed to be a Herculean task since we had no machines to rely upon, and everything was made by hand,” he recalls.

A lot of care goes into stitching the flag in the exact required size, and also in the screen printing process, Shetty points out. “If there is an error, the piece gets rejected,” he says, adding that now, printed flags have taken over hand-woven ones, which are mostly supplied from Chennai.

The material used for the tricolour is sourced from wholesale dealers from Surat and Ahmedabad. “We use polyester, which is later cut into required sizes and stitched,” explains Shetty, who claims to be the sole flag-maker in Mangaluru. He does the machine stitching and screen printing of the blue Ashoka Chakra of specific size with the help of his family members — his daughter Divya, who works as an accountant; son Amarnath, a cashier; and wife Jayashree, a home-maker. His brother, Krishna Shetty, too helps in the display and sale of the flags at his fruit shop at Padil a week before the Independence Day.

It takes 10 minutes for the Ashoka Chakra to be printed on the piece of white cloth, while the whole process of making one flag takes nearly 20 minutes. The tricolour is made in six sizes, ranging from large cloth banners to small hand-held ones. This year, the family has already produced almost 800 flags at their house, which have been dispatched. On an average, 1,000 flags are made every year and sent to schools, government offices and wholesalers.

“When I started, we used to supply flags free of cost to government schools, clubs and schoolchildren. However, today the demand has come down, due to the availability of printed flags, which mostly come from outside the state,” Shetty says. “At present, we supply only to dealers in Dakshina Kannada who buy in bulk,” he says recalling an earlier order that required him to supply a large tricolour cloth banner to a foreign country. Shetty is now a recognised figure in the town because of his work. Dr Yathish Kumar, associate professor, Department of Commerce, University College, lauds him for the passion he puts into the job.

“The three colours in the flag are a symbol of unity of India. There is universal affection and respect for the tricolour. Jayanth is one of the few persons in Dakshina Kannada who is into this noble work despite having a busy schedule. All the work done out of respect for our country must be appreciated and supported,” Kumar says.

Shetty too finds satisfaction in the fact that the job involves the feeling of working for the country. “We are not into flag-making to earn any profit,” he says. “We do it purely out of the respect and pride that we have towards India.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Divya Cutinho / Express News Service / August 18th, 2019

Bengeri unit in Hubballi is the only authorised one in the country to make the official National Flag.

Hubballi :

As the 73rd Independence Day went by, a tiny village in North Karnataka got busy. To be specific, the women force. This year was no different.

Meet the women behind the making of the Tricolour. For the last two months, the women employees of the country’s largest National Flag manufacturing unit in Hubballi worked in double shifts to meet the demand. This is the only authorised unit, located in Bengeri, Hubballi, in the country to produce the National Flag.

About 1,200 women working in 22 centres in Bagalkot district prepare the cloth – spinning and weaving — for the  flags which are manufactured in  Bengeri, run by the Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha (KKGSS). About  1,500 employees are attached to the Sangha in Hubballi, of whom 90% of the employees are women.
For years, the Khadi Bhandar has played a vital role in the lives of women in Bagalkot, Viajyapura and Dharwad districts.

It all started in 1981, when the Vijayapura region faced severe drought, drying up job opportunities too, hitting the rural population hard. The government then stepped in to bridge the ‘yarning’ gap. It decided to start khadi spinning units in Vijayapura district and it gave a big boost to the rural  women in the drought-hit areas.

The women in these centres started sewing khadi materials. In 2004, the Bengeri unit got  government’s recognition to start manufacturing the National Flag. Since then, these women have marched on, spinning a success story. The flags are made to specific standards laid down by the Flag Code. There are specifications for the cloth, the yarn and the dye. The dye shouldn’t get washed away by rain. So all these things are tested for every flag. A piece is rejected even if there is the slightest error. They have to follow exacting standards set up by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

The flags produced here are fluttering not only in India but also around the world. These flags adorn the Parliament building, the Supreme Court and the Red Fort in New Delhi. And This year it was special because the flag was hoisted in the ‘new’ Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and the state becoming  a Union Territory.

“It’s a proud feeling to make the National Flag. When everyone including the Prime Minister salutes the flag made in Hubballi,  we feel our hard work  has paid off. Be it a child or anyone, everyone has respect for the  National Flag and we are proud to be part of the making process,” says Annapurna Koti, manager at the flag making unit.

Priya Ballari, an employee at the unit, says, “In a day we make about 20-30 standard-sized flags. We work with patriotic fervour and It gives us  a sense of satisfaction.”
She adds, “We are paid according to our  timings. Both the central and state governments are trying to increase our wages and other facilities like medical aid. We begin our day when our children go to school and wind up by the time they return home. Sometimes we do overtime to meet the demand which surges during the national festivals.”

“The right mixture of cotton and khadi materials is procured from our branches operating in Bagalkot and Dharwad districts. Bengeri is the only BIS-certified national flag-making unit in India and we are proud to be associated with it. The Federation  has plans to popularise khadi and also  increase the production of other materials and items made here. There is a  sale counter in Bengeri unit and the public can choose from several items,” says an employee. “My husband is an autorickshaw driver. It is difficult to run the family on his earnings alone.  After I joined the flag-making unit about two years ago, we are financially better off. Our wages are decided by the Union minister and there is scope for incentives for overtime. When my husband is free and can take care of our children, I do overtime here,” she adds.

In the last 15 years, the unit has produced and sold more than one crore national flags of different sizes. The Bengeri unit is also known for producing the largest-sized khadi National Flag measuriung 14X21 feet. It requires about eight workers to complete it in a day and it weighs about 10 kg.
When the demand increases, all the womenfolk  extend their working hours. As the orders are increasing every passing year, the unit makes the flags throughout the year.

Secretary of KKGSS Shivanand S Matpathi says women employees are the main force behind the unit in Hubballi. “On an average, 2.5 lakh flags of different sizes are made at the Hubballi unit every year. The demand for flags during August 15 and January 26 increases and also work of the women employees. Jobs like stitching, screen printing and ironing are done by the women employees. When the demand for flags increases, all the employees work for additional hours to meet the demand,” he says.

“Ours is a BIS-certified unit. It’s mandatory for all government and private organisations to buy ISI-marked national flags for the celebrations. For the last few years the demand for khadi flags has increased after the government made it mandatory. As all the panchayat buildings hoist tricolour every day, they need at least three flags per year. This has increased the business at the khadi unit here,” he adds.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Amit S. Upadhye / Express News Service / August 18th, 2019