Ban on import of National Flag a gift to Khadi artisans: KVIC

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on Wednesday said the government's decision to ban import of the National Flag is a "Diwali Gift" to millions of Khadi artisans.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has issued a notification under which "import of Indian National Flag not adhering to the specifications prescribed under Part - 1, Section 1.2 of Flag Code of India, 2002, is prohibited".

KVIC said as per the flag code, the National Flag should be made of hand spun and woven wool or cotton or silk Khadi bunting.

In other words, KVIC is the only statutory entity established by an act of Parliament having the right to manufacture Indian National Flags.

"Since the last two years KVIC noticed that the sale of National Flag was going down," it said in a release.

During 2017-18, the sale was Rs 3.69 crore and during 2018-19 it came down to Rs 3.16 crore, a decline of more than 14 per cent. In 2019-20 so far, the sale was only Rs 1.94 crore.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the declining sale of the flag was brought to the notice of Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal.

In a letter to Goyal, Saxena had said import of counterfeit flags (mostly plastic) is a blatant violation of the Flag Code of India also.

The KVIC has urged the minister to immediately impose restriction on the imports.

Most of the flags were being imported from China, a source said.