Before the 71st Independence Day, the Centre has issued advisory cautioning the citizens not to use national flags made of plastic and adopt paper flags instead. It has directed the Union Territories (UT) and states to cinch strict biddability of the flag code, reported PTI.
Section 2 of ‘The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971’ states: Whoever in any public place or in any other place within public view burns, mutilates, defaces, defiles, disfigures, destroys, tramples upon or otherwise shows disrespect to or brings into contempt (whether by words, either spoken or written, or by acts) the Indian National Flag or any part thereof, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
In the advisory issued by Ministry of Home Affairs, it says the national flag is a representation of the ‘hopes and aspirations’ of the citizens of India, thus it deserves a ‘position of honour’.
It further noted that the Ministry has come to know about the usage of plastic flags in important events like Independence Day, Republic Day and so on.
The MHA advisory said, “Since plastic flags are not easily biodegradable like paper flags, these do not get decomposed for a long time and ensuring appropriate disposal of National Flags made of plastic commensurate with the dignity of the flag, is a practical problem.”
The advisory is always issued before Independence Day and Republic Day.
The advisory further states that the paper flags used by the citizens during important national, cultural and sports events, are to be used according to the provisions of ‘Flag Code of India, 2002’. After the event, the national flags made of paper are not to be discarded on the ground.
The flags are to be disposed of, in private, without disrespecting the dignity of the flag, read the MHA advisory to the states and union territories.