On I-Day, tricolour is hunting for buyers

Searching for its first national marketing is the IS:1 national flag. Made in Mumbai only. Spin doctors at the Khadi and Village Industries Commission are furiously scripting the ‘Be a proud citizen, buy the national flag’ pitch, with country-wide sales nowhere close to the target of 13,000 per state.

Pictures from Independence day 2002

From Bombay High Court and University of Mumbai to Ministry of Defence in New Delhi, few government offices unfurl a tricolour with the Bureau of Indian Standards certification. So KVIC, at a budget of Rs 50,000 per event per state, is targetting the common man who has been permitted to fly the flag at homes, offices of atop cars by a recent central government order.

‘‘If even 1 per cent of the country’s 52 per cent literate population buys a table flag each, it will record sales of five lakh pieces worth a minimum business of Rs 5.6 crore,’’ says a March 2002 study by Khadi Printers and Dyers at Borivali..

KVIC Director (Marketing) S.K. Sinha said: ‘‘We’re not in a position to measure demand. We have 1.5 lakh flags ready for Independence Day. This is a time to teach people the basics of Flag Code. The problem is that nobody knows that BIS-certified flags exist.’’

‘‘There is no response from anywhere, even the Bombay High Court. Each flag goes through 42 production tests and generates barely Rs 70-80 lakh annual revenue. How to make citizens and government offices aware that BIS flags exist?’’ asks the manager of the 30-year-old Borivali unit, Dhanesh Bhatt. Meanwhile, roadside sellers hawk plastic fare for Rs 2 a piece.