Spending on ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign declared CSR activity as govt eyes Guinness record with Azadi event

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 26

The government on Tuesday issued a circular saying spending by companies for ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign, including on mass-scale production, procurement, supply of the National Flag, outreach and related activities, would qualify as Corporate Social Responsibility activities under the Companies Act 2013.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs issued a circular to promote private entities to participate in the campaign. CSR spending is eligible for tax exemptions under law.

Starting August 1, all 1.6 lakh post offices in India will facilitate the sale of the Tricolour with the government aiming for at least 20 crore, nearly 65 per cent of Indian households, to hoist the National Flag on their residential premises between August 13 and 15 under the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign.

Private flag hoisting by citizens is a major part of the Government’s push for a Guinness World Records for the ongoing Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.

The flag campaign will mark the middle milestone in the celebrations that were launched in March 2021 and will end on Independence Day 2023.

“We hope the citizens will hoist the Flag and post selfies at harghartiranga.com portal created for the purpose. We also hope private establishments will buy the National Flags in bulk to facilitate the supply to employees besides issuing directives to employees to hoist the Flag and post a selfie with the Flag either on the government website or social media,” government sources said today seeking to create a buzz around the event that they say is “meant to reinforce the spirit of patriotism”.

Officials added that the government was hoping to reach a Guinness record by conducting 48,000 plus events in 150 countries besides India.

“This would mean 1 event every 15 minutes,” a source said.

He added that the government has allowed several relaxations recently to let people bring the Tricolour home and ensure the National Flag wasn’t restricted to being just an official symbol.

“The Flag Code has been amended. People can now hoist the National Flag 24X7 except when it is on a Flagpole. People can own the Flag stitched in any fabric including polyester, wool, silk as against only khadi previously. We have enough polyester in India and insinuations that we depend on China are baseless,” a top source said.

The tentative price of the National Flag at post offices would be between Rs 9 to Rs 25.

Sources said they were hoping at least 20 crore “selfies with the Flag” will be uploaded between August 13 and 15.

The government is also devising a scheme for ecological disposal of Flags after the event though they say they are sure “no one would want to part with the symbol of national pride, the Tricolour”.