Continuing with the policy of bringing out stamps on famous figures from all walks of life, commemorating their contribution and honouring them on their birth or death anniversaries, the Department of Posts recently released stamps on Mahatama Gandhi, Rana Pratap and Nahar Singh. These are classified in the category of martyrs, revolutionaries, warriors and patriots.Two stamps about litterateurs are on Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar, a Jnanpith awardee in Marathi literature, who also won the Sahitya Akademi award for his novel Yayati and Punjabi novelist Nanak Singh. Singh started his literary career as a poet, but found the medium of the novel more suitable for the mobilisation of people in the freedom struggle. He has also won the Sahitya Academy award for his endeavour.
Not all the releases are based on historical personalities. On January 2, the Department celebrated 50 glorious years of the Eleventh Gorkha Rifles, the first infantry and only Gorkha regiment to have been raised postindependence --on January 1, 1948. Its battalions have taken active part in major war operations. The regiment primarily recruits Rais, Limbus, Sherpas and Bhutias.
On January 12, Council on Legislation, the legislative body of Rotary International, had its first meeting in India. To mark the occasion, a stamp with the insignia of "Council on Legislation" was released. On January 25, tourism was officially recognised as a separate subject by the Government of India. The golden jubilee of the India Tourism Day was celebrated in a glittering festival. The week-long cultural festival also saw the release of a special commemorative stamp.
Recently the Kartik cultural festival held at the Nahar Singh Palace, Ballabhgarh brought back memories of the this ruler of a small state. Nahar Singh played a vital role in the revolt of 1857. The festival highlighted the grandeur of the era when he planned, organised and exhorted native chieftains for the revolution. He was tried and hanged with some other revolutionaries on January 9for their association in the uprising.
Another release, which deserves special mention, is a set of four stamps on the Father of the Nation. Released on January 30, the stamps depict Gandhiji's social ideals and the ideas he wanted to infuse among the youth.The ideals of non-violence, economic upliftment of deprived sections of society, communal harmony and his experiments with "truth" are symbolically presented through the composite design of the set. While one stamp depicts Gandhiji at Champaran in 1917, protesting against indigo plantation forced on Indian farmers, the second underlines his compassion and strive toameliorate the position of downtrodden. The third stamp focuses on the Salt Satyagrah and the last stamp shows him in 1947, disgusted at the communal violence that underlined Partition. In denominations of Rs 2,6,10 and 11 the set traverses the history of political struggle and development of Gandhiji's philosophies. The first-day cover heralds a new morrow with a child leading the "Father ofnation".
"There are too many stamps on personalities. True, they all are great figures in their own rights but as a collector I am not interested in collecting stamps on freedom fighters, revolutionaries or literary figures. Who knows them in philatelic circles," asks Brahmo Mehta, a philatelist. But he is all praise for the set of stamps on Gandhiji. Stamps with thematic ideas are well received by stamp collectors for they have appeal in the international market. Therefore, the stamp commemorating Rotary International-Council's Legislation and the one on Indian Tourism, may interest young philatelists.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
