Tricolour to the rescue of SHGs

District administrations in Tamil Nadu have been organising the tailoring of flags through SHG members attached to the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW) via various methods.

Women tailors attached to self-help groups (SHGs) in the State have been literally burning the midnight oil as they are busy stitching national flags as part of the Har Ghar Tiranga project.

Prema Duraipandi of Priyadarshini SHG in Kancheepuram, who got the orders to stitch 15,000 flags, has been distributing the work among nine other groups. “We have ensured that the material is cotton and pre-ordered the cloth from Erode. The women each get ₹1.50 to ₹2 per flag that they stitch. On Tuesday night, I distributed the material for 5,000 flags and by Wednesday morning many have returned the tailored pieces,” she said.

Ms. Duraipandi and the eight tailoring members in her group began stitching cloth bags since they wanted to leave behind something good for the next generation. “This helps bring small income for the women and the homes. I have suffered quite a bit in life and if this income can prevent others from getting hurt, I will be happy. It would be nice if such schemes are introduced from time to time to encourage cloth,” she added.  

District administrations have been organising the tailoring of flags through SHG members attached to the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW) via various methods. In Tenkasi, the Bharat Mata Garments Mega Cluster with 250 members has managed to stitch 2.5 lakh flags in just three days. “We got the material from Surat only on Monday due to the high demand for cloth. We have block-level mini clusters, which we brought together to form this mega cluster. They cut the cloth and sent them to the tailors and they themselves too worked through the night. In fact, we have supplied food to certain teams for the night so that time would not be wasted for cooking. Every evening, we met over Google Meet to ensure that the work was done,” explained V. M. Sivakumar, Assistant Project Officer, TNCDW.  

The flags being stitched by the SHG members are being sold at kiosks or being distributed for free if sponsors step in.

Tiruvallur Collector Alby John Varghese said that each flag costs ₹20 or ₹25, depending on the material. “There are kiosks in all the 526 panchayats selling flags. We have created awareness about the idea of Har Ghar Tiranga. We have 10 lakh households in the district and there is good response to buying flags. We are teaching people as to how to hoist the flag, how it should be folded and kept at other times. The women in the SHGs are happy about this opportunity,” he said.