Bengaluru: Karnataka’s department of personnel and administrative reforms has last Saturday issued an order banning the use of plastic national flag with immediate effect.
The order is based on the Flag Code of India 2002, which restricts the size and texture of the tricolour to wool, cotton and silk.
The code, written in 2002, was merged with the following acts: Provisions of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 (No.12 of 1950) and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 (No. 69 of 1971) and came into effect from January 26, 2002 as Flag Code of India, 2002 (successor to the Flag Code – India, the original flag code).
It was adopted in its present form during a meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on July 22,1947, when it became the official flag of the Dominion of India.
The flag was subsequently retained as that of the Republic of India. In India, the term ‘tricolour’ or ‘tiranga’ in Hindi almost always refers to the Indian national flag. The flag is based on the Swaraj flag designed by Pingali Venkayya.
Khadi or hand-spun cloth is the only material allowed to be used for the flag, and flying a flag made of any other material is punishable by law with imprisonment up to three years, besides a fine. Raw materials for khadi are restricted to cotton, silk and wool.