IIT Delhi start-up to design advanced fabric for National Flag

NEW DELHI: An IIT Delhi start-up has collaborated with the Flag Foundation of India to develop top-notch and advanced textiles for the tricolour. An MoU was recently signed between IIT Delhi and the Foundation to execute the associated research and development activities via the start-up called "SWATRIC".

"In a historic judgment on January 23, 2004, the Supreme Court of India held that the right to fly the national flag freely, with respect and dignity, is a fundamental right. "Given India's diverse climatic and geographical conditions, designing and developing engineered fabric for the flag is a big challenge," said a senior official of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. The official explained that the flag's materials have to be selected and designed specifically to make it durable for extreme weather conditions without being too heavy.

"It is the need of the hour to help manufacturers with a proper standardization and core subject knowledge or skills on technical yarns and fabrics to improve the quality of the flag fabric," said Bipin Kumar, professor at the Textile and Fibre Engineering Department, IIT Delhi.

The Flag Foundation of India is a non-governmental organization, registered under the society's registration Act of 1980. It has a primary vision to popularize the display of the Tiranga (tricolor flag) by more and more Indians, with a great sense of pride.

"We have always been facing a challenge of obtaining good quality flags. It is indeed a proud moment for us to work with IIT Delhi's experts on developing appropriate technologies, which are relevant to the country's pride," said Major General (retd) Ashim Kohli, CEO, Flag Foundation of India.

SWATRIC, the start-up by the researchers from the institute's Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering, is working to develop state-of-the-art technologies to help Indian domestic textile and garment industries in commercializing new and competitive categories of the smart and functional products.

"India has the potential to be the global leader in technical textiles. The Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering at IIT Delhi has been constantly working in the field of smart and functional textile projects, actively supporting the National Technical Textiles Mission to empower the Indian textile sector through 'Make in India' technologies for various applications ranging from geotextiles, defence, sportswear, smart wearables, medical, composites, transport, protection, packaging," IIT Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao said.

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