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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

President takes prompt cognizance

Mumbai: President Droupadi Murmu has taken immediate cognizance of a plea pointing at grave insults to the Indian Tricolour (Tiranga) in pubs and hotels, violations to the Flag Code of India, 2002, in the name of celebrating Republic Day and Independence Day. Pune businessman-cum-activist Prafful Sarda had shot off a complaint to the President on Jan. 26 but was surprised to receive a response from her office in less than 72 hours. Under Secretary Lakshmi Maharabooshanam in the President’s...

President takes prompt cognizance

Mumbai: President Droupadi Murmu has taken immediate cognizance of a plea pointing at grave insults to the Indian Tricolour (Tiranga) in pubs and hotels, violations to the Flag Code of India, 2002, in the name of celebrating Republic Day and Independence Day. Pune businessman-cum-activist Prafful Sarda had shot off a complaint to the President on Jan. 26 but was surprised to receive a response from her office in less than 72 hours. Under Secretary Lakshmi Maharabooshanam in the President’s Secretariat at Rashtrapati Bhavan, replied to Sarda on forwarding his complaint to the Ministry of Home Affairs for necessary action. It further stated that action taken in the matter must be conveyed directly to Sarda. “It’s a pleasant surprise indeed that the President has taken serious note of the issue of insults to the National Flag at night-clubs, pubs, lounges, sports bars and other places all over the country. The blatant mishandling of the National Flag also violates the specially laid-down provisions of the Flag Code of India,” said Sarda. He pointed out that the Tricolor is a sacred symbol and not a ‘commercial prop’ for entertainment purposes to be used by artists without disregard for the rules. “There are multiple videos, reels or photos available on social media… It's painful to view how the National Flag is being grossly misused, disrespected and even displayed at late nights or early morning hours, flouting the rules,” Sarda said. The more worrisome aspect is that such transgressions are occurring openly, repeatedly and apparently without any apprehensions for the potential consequences. This indicates serious lapses in the enforcement and supervision, but such unchecked abuse could portend dangerous signals that national symbols can be ‘trivialized and traded for profits’. He urged the President to direct the issue of stringent written guidelines with circular to all such private or commercial outlets on mandatory compliance with the Flag Code of India, conduct special awareness drives, surprise checks on such venues and regular inspections to curb the misuse of the Tricolour. Flag Code of India, 2002 Perturbed over the “perceptible lack of awareness” not only among the masses but also governmental agencies with regard to the laws, practices and conventions for displaying the National Flag as per the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, the centre had brought out the detailed 25-page Flag Code of India, 2002. The Flag Code of India has minute guidelines on the display of the Tricolour, the happy occasions when it flies high, or the sad times when it is at half-mast, the privileged dignitaries who are entitled to display it on their vehicles, etc. Certain violations attract hefty fines and/or imprisonment till three years.

Human Capital

Economic surveys are not usually known for fretting about what people eat, how long they scroll or whether their children are glued to glowing screens. They are supposed to concern themselves with sterner fare like GDP growth, fiscal arithmetic, productivity trends and export projections. That is precisely why the Economic Survey 2025–26 deserves attention. In a striking departure, it treats junk food, obesity and excessive screen time not as lifestyle peccadilloes but as matters of macroeconomic consequence.


At his briefing ahead of the budget session, India’s chief economic adviser, V. Anantha Nageswaran startled many by straying from the familiar language of output gaps and capital formation. Instead, he spoke of ultra-processed foods, social media addiction and declining physical activity among adolescents and working-age adults. The surprise lay not in the diagnosis but in their placement within the country’s premier economic document. The blunt message was that a demographic dividend cannot be banked if the workforce is unwell in body and mind.


The survey drew on data from the National Family Health Survey to show the rapid change for the worse in India’s nutritional profile. More than one in five adults is now overweight or obese, with urban India predictably worse off but rural and poorer households catching up fast. Obesity, once caricatured as an ailment of affluence, is spreading across age groups and income classes. The causes are familiar enough: cheap ultra-processed foods, high sugar intake and increasingly sedentary lives. What is new is the survey’s insistence that this is not merely a public-health worry but an economic one.


The survey’s treatment of digital life is similarly blunt. Excessive screen time and social-media use, particularly among adolescents and young adults, are linked to anxiety, depressive symptoms and emotional distress. Behavioural studies cited in the report suggest that constant online comparison, coupled with reduced physical activity, heightens the risk of mental ill-health and even suicidal thoughts. Some Indian states have already begun to toy with restrictions on social-media access for minors.


More striking still are the policy implications the survey dares to sketch. It floats the idea of restricting the marketing of ultra-processed foods during most waking hours, alongside tighter controls on the promotion of infant and toddler milk products. It argues for clearer food labelling to help consumers make informed choices. Such measures tread on sensitive ground, pitting public health against powerful commercial interests and India’s instinctive suspicion of nanny-statism. The survey is careful to note that government action alone will not suffice and that cooperation from the private sector and greater public awareness are essential.


India’s growth ambitions rest heavily on its youthful population. In broadening its lens by linking the mental and physical well-being of the populace, the Economic Survey has made a larger point about development. It acknowledges that human capital is shaped as much by diets, screens and habits as by schooling and skills. That is laudable realism.

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