Photos: Women outdo men at India’s official flag maker in Karnataka

Updated On Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

The village of Tulasigeri is home to India's only official flag-making company, where the raw products are processed, and then in Bengeri - around two hours away - is where the finished products are made. Last year, they produced around 60,000 Indian tricolours of saffron, white and green against a blue wheel. Around 400 people work for the state-owned company, most of them women. The female employees perform all the intricate parts of the process after the men who’d been hired for the job gave up soon after due to impatience.

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Employees of Khadi Gramodyog Samyukta Sangh (KGSS) stitch together a national flag at the Indian National Flag Production Centre in Bengeri, Karnataka. When top Indian officials salute the national flag anywhere in the world, women in villages at the other end of the country from New Delhi swell with pride. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Updated on Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

Employees of Khadi Gramodyog Samyukta Sangh (KGSS) stitch together a national flag at the Indian National Flag Production Centre in Bengeri, Karnataka. When top Indian officials salute the national flag anywhere in the world, women in villages at the other end of the country from New Delhi swell with pride. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

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Tulasigeri is home to India’s only official flag-making company -- and the local men have proved themselves not up to the job. “The men were not as patient as the women and got the measurements wrong,” groaned Annapurna Koti, a supervisor at KGSS. “They had to unstitch the cloth and re-do the time consuming process,” she told AFP. “They left after the fourth day and never returned.” (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Updated on Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

Tulasigeri is home to India’s only official flag-making company -- and the local men have proved themselves not up to the job. “The men were not as patient as the women and got the measurements wrong,” groaned Annapurna Koti, a supervisor at KGSS. “They had to unstitch the cloth and re-do the time consuming process,” she told AFP. “They left after the fourth day and never returned.” (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

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A KGSS employee spins cotton fibre into yarn to be later used to make the national flag. Around 400 people work for the state-owned company, most of them women. Production takes place at two sites: in Tulasigeri where the raw products are processed and in Bengeri around two hours away where the finished products are made. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Updated on Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

A KGSS employee spins cotton fibre into yarn to be later used to make the national flag. Around 400 people work for the state-owned company, most of them women. Production takes place at two sites: in Tulasigeri where the raw products are processed and in Bengeri around two hours away where the finished products are made. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

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The female employees perform all the intricate parts of the process such as spinning the cotton and weaving the thread into cloth on foot-powered looms. Their flags hang at all official events and government buildings, at Indian embassies across the world, as well as at schools, village halls and on official cars. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Updated on Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

The female employees perform all the intricate parts of the process such as spinning the cotton and weaving the thread into cloth on foot-powered looms. Their flags hang at all official events and government buildings, at Indian embassies across the world, as well as at schools, village halls and on official cars. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

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An employee checks a screen print for the central strip of the national flag in Bengeri. The guidelines in the national flag code of India and from the Bureau of Indian Standards are strict, covering everything from the exact shades to the stitching size. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Updated on Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

An employee checks a screen print for the central strip of the national flag in Bengeri. The guidelines in the national flag code of India and from the Bureau of Indian Standards are strict, covering everything from the exact shades to the stitching size. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

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Nirmala S. Ilkal (L) prepares to screen print the central strip of the Indian national flag. “The piece is rejected if there is even the slightest error,” Ilakal, who has worked in the printing department for 15 years, said. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Updated on Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

Nirmala S. Ilkal (L) prepares to screen print the central strip of the Indian national flag. “The piece is rejected if there is even the slightest error,” Ilakal, who has worked in the printing department for 15 years, said. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

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Employees of KGSS piece together a flag. Most workers, especially the women -- who also manage their households -- have rarely travelled outside their local districts. But Koti, the supervisor, says that knowing that their handiwork goes far and wide goes some way to compensating for this. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Updated on Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

Employees of KGSS piece together a flag. Most workers, especially the women -- who also manage their households -- have rarely travelled outside their local districts. But Koti, the supervisor, says that knowing that their handiwork goes far and wide goes some way to compensating for this. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

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Last year, they women at KGSS produced around 60,000 Indian tricolours in various sizes of saffron, white and green against a blue wheel. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Updated on Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

Last year, they women at KGSS produced around 60,000 Indian tricolours in various sizes of saffron, white and green against a blue wheel. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

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An employee checks finished national flags at Production Centre in Bengeri. “We can’t go outside to different places but the flags we make go all over the world and I feel proud to see everyone saluting them,” Koti said. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Updated on Jul 10, 2018 09:44 am IST

An employee checks finished national flags at Production Centre in Bengeri. “We can’t go outside to different places but the flags we make go all over the world and I feel proud to see everyone saluting them,” Koti said. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

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