WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY stamp released on 17 11 2005
Denomination :500,p
Stamps Printed :0.6 Million
Date of Issue :17-11-2005
Theme:Events national and International
World Summit on the Information Society
The digital revolution in information and communication technologies has created the platform for a free flow of information, ideas and knowledge across the globe. This revolution has made a profound impression on the way the world functions and is critical to both the developed world as a business and social tool and the developing world as a passport to equitable participation, as well as- economic, social and educational development.
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a formal United Nations Summit at the level of Heads of State and Government. It is the result of an initiative by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) further endorsed by the United Nationals General Assembly (Resolution 56/1983) in 2001. Its aim is to develop a common vision and understanding of the Global Information Society and to draw up a strategic Plan of Action for concerted development towards realizing this vision. The purpose of the World Summit on the Information Society is to ensure that these benefits are accessible to all while promoting specific advantages in areas such as e-strategies, e-commerce, e- governance, e-health, education, literacy, cultural diversity, gender equality, sustainable development and environmental protection.
The process is divided in two phases and the first phase of the summit was held in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003, where the foundations were laid by reaching agreement on a Declaration of Principles and a plan of action which form the basis for a global common approach towards the Information Society of all United Nations Member States where the Declaration of Principles presents a vision of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). At WSIS Geneva in December 2003, World leaders declared “our common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
The Road to Tunis entails a process of monitoring and evaluation of the progress of feasible actions laid out in the Geneva Plan and a concrete set of deliverables that must be achieved by the time the Summit meets again in Tunis on 16 to 18 November 2005. Efforts are now being made to put the Plan of Action into motion and working groups are being set up to find solutions and reach agreements in the fields of Internet governance and financing mechanisms.
United Nations Summits have been held on a variety of issues that have commanded the attention of the world, including the pioneering World Summit for Children (1990), the Earth Summit on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 1993), the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995), the International Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995, and the Financing for Development Conference (Monterrey, Mexico, 2002). The Millennium Summit (New York, 2000) brought together world leaders in a unique display of solidarity to achieve far-reaching development goals by 2015.
The objective of the WSIS is to effectively assist the United Nations in fulfilling the goals of the Millennium Declaration. The ultimate objective is to turn the vision of an inclusive and equitable Information Society into reality. This is only possible when the digital revolution is harnessed into extending the frontiers of the global village as well as facilitating the free flow of knowledge and information for economic and social development.
India Post is pleased to issue a postage stamp to commemorate the World Summit on the Information Society, Tunis, 2005
BANDUNG CONFERENCE 1955 stamp released on 18 04 2005
Denomination :1500p
Stamps Printed :0.8 Million
Date of Issue :18-04-2005
Theme: Events National and International
Bandung Conference 1955
Bandung Conference, the first meeting of the newly independent states of Africa and Asia was a clarion call for the independence of the subjugated people. Marking the germination of the ideas of South-South Cooperation, this Conference was a collective effort by the AfroAsian nations to assert their presence on the world stage.
The Conference was a path-breaking meeting, convened upon the invitation of the Prime Ministers of Burna (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, Indonesia and Pakistan, and was attended by 24 other countries of Africa and Asia. Held in Bandung, Central Java, Indonesia in April 18-24, 1955, this Conference brought together some of the towering personalites of that time who envisaged a global order based on equality among nations, territorial integrity, sovereignty and development for all. The leaders were concerned not only with the great issues of the day - freedom, economic and political, fundamental human rights etc. but were gifted with a vision for the combined future of entire community. Emerging from the yoke of colonialism and the ravages of the Second World War into a world divided between conflicting ideologies, the leaders gathered at Bandung steadfastedly refused to join any pre existing and dominant alignments.
The neo independent countries participating in this meeting firmly believed that another world order was not only conceivable but also possible. Envisaging an independent frame of moral power as a counterweight to the bipolar world, the leaders wished to work together to see the new world order emerge.
Bandung initiated the process of the nations of the South coming together, to renew their ancient links - economic, cultural, political and social - that had been severed under colonialism, and to cooperate through exchange of experts & know-how, through establishment of national and regional technical institutions, promotion of joint-ventures, collective actions to safe-guard the interests etc. The Conference was the harbinger of many economic ideas such as diversification of export baskets, value addition to exports, intra-regional economic and commercial links and exchange of commerical information.
The Department of Posts is happy to issue a commemorative postage stamp on Bandung Conference, 1955.
DANDI MARCH stamp released on 06 04 2005
Denomination :500,500,500,500p
Stamps Printed :0.8 Million each
Date of Issue :06-04-2005
Theme: Events National and International
“As the march continued, as days broke into dawn and dawn ripened into dusk, we saw before our very eyes the history of the
world changing. We saw the whole of India rising up with rekindled enthusiasm and, faith. ”
- Sarojini Naidu
Dandi March was one of the most inspiring chapters in the history of the Indian freedom struggle. Although every political act of Mahatma Gandhi was rich in symbolism, Dandi March was an outstanding example as it fired a people to believe collectively as a nation and to come together on a common platform.
Mahatma Gandhi believed firmly in opposing all that was morally unjustifiable, and he would, in his own inimitable way, give expression to such a protest. His opposition to the Salt Tax imposed by the British, was thus elemental and yet effective in rousing the nation,. Announcing the decision to launch the Salt Satyagarha, Gandhiji wrote to Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India, “I regard this Tax (on salt) to be the most iniquitous of all from the poor man’s standpoint. As the independence movement is essentially for the poorest in the land, the beginning will be made with this evil.” The Salt Satyagraha was a masterstroke in political mobilization which also conclusively established that civil disobedience, as a means to achieve freedom was a viable political medium.
On March 12, 1930, Gandhiji started the historic march from Sabarmati Ashram with 78 volunteers to Dandi on the Gujarat Coast. The 25-day long march through dusty and muddy tracks, sometimes through knee-deep waters, culminated on April 6, 1930. Gandhiji picked up a small lump of natural salt, thereby giving the signal to hundreds of thousands of people to similarly defy the law, since the British exercised a monopoly on the production and sale of salt. This was the beginning of the civil disobedience movement. Gandhiji had said in the young India, “I know that the Salt Tax has to go and many other things with it. ”
Gandhiji’s polities was always dictated by a moral logic that went beyond the immediate political priority. To tax salt, a necessity of even the poorest ofthepoor, was to deprive the poor of his basic necessity.
The symbolic struggle to control manufacture of salt soon become a larger statement on what freedom meant.
The effects of the Salt Satyagraha were felt across the country. Thousands of followers were hauled into jail but it was only on May 4, 1930 that the Viceroy’s police arrested Gandhiji under a regulation of 1827.
This period is to be considered the apex of Gandhiji’s political appeal, as the march mobilized many new followers from all sections of the Indian society and with this, the nation had unshackled itself and achieved a symbolic emancipation.
This set of four stamps along with a miniature sheet tries to capture the historic moment and its varied facets. The first stamp (clockwise) catches a glimpse of the marchers, led by Mahatma Gandhi on the move. The second stamp shows Mahatma Gandhi while the headlines in “Bombay Chronicle” of March 13, 1930 announce the beginning of the “Great March for Liberty”. The third stamp shows lines written by Mahatma Gandhi on April 5th, 1930, “I want world sympathy in this battle of Right against the might”.
And finally, the last stamp, while showing the course traversed during the march, has Gandhiji picking up a lump of salt, a simple act, which forever become the powerful symbol of the Salt Satyagrah
.
The miniature sheet extends the idea encapsulated in the stamps with artistic depictions ofthe route taken during the commemoration of 75 years of Dandi March, while showing the historical footage of the followers of Mahatma Gandhi.
The Department of Posts joins the nation in commemorating the 75th anniversary of Dandi March and is privileged to issue this set of stamps on this occasion
100 YEARS OF COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN INDIA stamp released on 08 05 2005
Denomination :500p
Stamps Printed :0.8 Million
Date of Issue :08-05-2005
Theme:Events National and International
100 Years of Cooperative Movement in India
The concept of cooperation can be traced to our ancient Vedas and Upanishads. It was embedded in our past as an economic form of governance.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the problems of rural indebtedness and the consequent conditions of farmers created an environment for the cooperative societies. The farmers found the cooperative movement an attractive mechanism for pooling their meager resources for solving common problems relating to credit, supplies of inputs and marketing of agricultural produce. The experience gained in the working of cooperatives led to the enactment of the first cooperative law of India, ‘The Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904′ and the `Agricultural Credit Cooperative Society’ of Kanaginahal Village of Gadag District in Karnataka was the first cooperative society formed under this Act. This was launched on 8th May 1905 by the villagers of Kanaginahal under the leadership of Shri Siddanagowda Sannaramanagowda Patil with the initial share capital of rupees two thousand. His efforts led to formation of cooperative societies all over the country. In the post independence era with the adoption of economic planning, cooperative movement was recognized as an important and preferred institutional framework for economic development and social justice.
Over the years, cooperative movement has achieved phenomenal growth with multi-dimensional development of cooperatives in almost all conceivable area of‘ economic development. Today, Indian Cooperative Movement is the largest in the world having more than half a million cooperative societies with a membership of about 230 million. The cooperatives have covered 100 percent of villages and 75 percent of rural households and have created a formidable base for themselves in various segments of the Indian economy reflected by credit and banking, marketing, processing, distribution, dairy, storage, handloom, handicrafts, fisheries, sugar, hospitals, tourism, housing, labour etc.
Cooperatives are disbursing 46 percent of total agricultural credit and are producing 28 percent of total fertilizer along with fertilizer distribution of about 36 percent. In the production of sugar the cooperative share of the market is about 59 percent and in the marketing and distribution of cotton they have a share of around 60 percent. In the field of housing as well, cooperatives are playing a dominant role especially in the urban areas. The consumer cooperatives are becoming the backbone of the public distribution system. In the field of milk production, India stands first in the world. This has been achieved mainly by following the cooperative methodology.
The National Cooperative Union of India is the apex organization promoting the cooperative movement in the country. The role of cooperatives has acquired a new dimension in the changing scenario of globalization and liberalization of economy and cooperatives, at all levels, are making efforts to reorient themselves according to the market demands. The Government of India has initiated several measures to strengthen and revitalize the cooperative structure in the country including constitutional amendment in order to ensure the autonomous, democratic and professional functioning of these institutions and ultimately to improve the quality of life of the people.
The Department of Posts is happy to issue a commemorative postage stamp on the Centenary of the Cooperative Movement in India.
100 YEARS OF COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN INDIA stamp released on 08 05 2005
Denomination :500p
Stamps Printed :0.8 Million
Date of Issue :08-05-2005
Theme: Events and International Events
100 Years of Cooperative Movement in India
The concept of cooperation can be traced to our ancient Vedas and Upanishads. It was embedded in our past as an economic form of governance.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the problems of rural indebtedness and the consequent conditions of farmers created an environment for the cooperative societies. The farmers found the cooperative movement an attractive mechanism for pooling their meager resources for solving common problems relating to credit, supplies of inputs and marketing of agricultural produce. The experience gained in the working of cooperatives led to the enactment of the first cooperative law of India, ‘The Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904′ and the `Agricultural Credit Cooperative Society’ of Kanaginahal Village of Gadag District in Karnataka was the first cooperative society formed under this Act. This was launched on 8th May 1905 by the villagers of Kanaginahal under the leadership of Shri Siddanagowda Sannaramanagowda Patil with the initial share capital of rupees two thousand. His efforts led to formation of cooperative societies all over the country. In the post independence era with the adoption of economic planning, cooperative movement was recognized as an important and preferred institutional framework for economic development and social justice.
Over the years, cooperative movement has achieved phenomenal growth with multi-dimensional development of cooperatives in almost all conceivable area of‘ economic development. Today, Indian Cooperative Movement is the largest in the world having more than half a million cooperative societies with a membership of about 230 million. The cooperatives have covered 100 percent of villages and 75 percent of rural households and have created a formidable base for themselves in various segments of the Indian economy reflected by credit and banking, marketing, processing, distribution, dairy, storage, handloom, handicrafts, fisheries, sugar, hospitals, tourism, housing, labour etc.
Cooperatives are disbursing 46 percent of total agricultural credit and are producing 28 percent of total fertilizer along with fertilizer distribution of about 36 percent. In the production of sugar the cooperative share of the market is about 59 percent and in the marketing and distribution of cotton they have a share of around 60 percent. In the field of housing as well, cooperatives are playing a dominant role especially in the urban areas. The consumer cooperatives are becoming the backbone of the public distribution system. In the field of milk production, India stands first in the world. This has been achieved mainly by following the cooperative methodology.
The National Cooperative Union of India is the apex organization promoting the cooperative movement in the country. The role of cooperatives has acquired a new dimension in the changing scenario of globalization and liberalization of economy and cooperatives, at all levels, are making efforts to reorient themselves according to the market demands. The Government of India has initiated several measures to strengthen and revitalize the cooperative structure in the country including constitutional amendment in order to ensure the autonomous, democratic and professional functioning of these institutions and ultimately to improve the quality of life of the people.
The Department of Posts is happy to issue a commemorative postage stamp on the Centenary of the Cooperative Movement in India.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE stamp released on 21 09 2005
Denomination :500p
Stamps Printed :0.8 Million
Date of Issue :21-09-2005
Theme: Events national and International
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE
The United Nations is the only organization in the world that is permitted to issue postage stamps though it is neither a country nor a territory. It is also the only postal authority to issue stamps in three different currencies, namely US Dollars, Swiss Francs and Austrian Schillings.
The idea of the United Nations issuing its own stamps was first proposed by Argentina in 1947. An agreement with the United States Postal authorities was executed in 1951 and the first United Nations stamps were issued in US Dollar denominations on United Nations Day, 24 October 1951.. The stamps were an immediate success and sold out within days. Similar postal agreements were subsequently made with the Swiss and Austrian authorities and since 1979, United Nations stamps are issued simultaneously at United Nations Offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna.
In the 55th Session of the United Nations General Assembly it was decided to observe 21st of September of each year, as the International Day of Peace. Since then the United Nations Postal Administration has developed a unique concept which allows all Postal Administrations to participate and spread the message of peace throughout the world through postage stamps
.
Apart from being messengers of peace, the United Nations stamps also draw attention to significant world problems and the United Nations’ commitment to serve humanity by promoting improvements in areas like human rights, dignity of labour, child welfare, food for all, clean environment, health, world peace etc.
The beauty, uniqueness and special significance of United Nations stamps, combined with their individual often intriguing histories, continue to be a source of fascination and make the stamps of great value for philatelists and collectors. The United Nations stamps are appreciated by the collectors not only for their innovative designs and universal themes, but also because it is possible to collect every United Nations stamp ever issued. The United Nations Postal Administration has issued over one thousand stamps till date.
The future of philately, like the future of the world, rests with today’s youth. Keeping this in view, the United Nations Postal Administration is encouraging children to take up philately as a recreational hobby which will also help spread the message of the United Nations by introducing fun packs and special stamp albums for children.
The United Nations stamps are miniature works of art which have won international design awards. They are created by professional artists as well as amateur and child artists from around the world, and are printed around the world in different countries.
The stamp designs for the UN International Day of Peace, 2005, have been prepared by children who participated in the United Nations global peace poster contest which was sponsored by the Lions Clubs International, who have given the United Nations Postal Administration the exclusive right to use the artwork for United Nations postage stamps. The United Nations in turn has allowed postal administrations around the world to use these designs from which a selection has been made.
India as a nation has always been a votary of peace and non-violence, and the Department of Posts is privileged to issue a commemorative postage stamp on the occasion of the United Nations International Day of peace in 2005.
THE AGA KHAN AWARD FOR ARCHITETURE AGRA FORT 2004 stamp released on 28 11 2004
Denomination :1500p , 1500p
Stamps Printed :0.8 Million each
Date of Issue :28-11-2004
Theme: Events-national and international
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was established in 1977 by the Aga Khan, the forty-ninth hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, to enhance the understanding and appreciation of Islamic culture as expressed through architecture. Its method is to seek out and recognize examples of architectural excellence, encompassing concerns as varied as contemporary design, social housing, community improvement and development, restoration, reuse, and area conservation, as well as landscaping and environmental issues. Through its efforts, the Award seeks to identify and encourage building concepts as a conscious endeavor to sustain the inheritance of cultural pluralism.
The Award has completed eight cycles of activity since 1977, and the Ninth Award Cycle covers the period from 2002 to 2004. Prizes totaling up to US$ 500,000- constituting the largest and most prestigious architectural award in the world - are presented every three years for projects selected by an independent Master Jury. The 2004 award ceremonies were slated for 27th and 28th November, 2004.
Situated in the heart of the city of Agra, on the west bank of the Yamuna River beside the gardens of the Taj Mahal, the majestic red sandstone Agra Fort is an important Mughal monument of the 16th & 17th centuries, and was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1983. It is one of sixteen World Cultural Heritage sites maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Akbar, the third Mughal emperor began the construction of Agra Fort in 1565. The Fort was ready by 1571, though additions continued to be made until the rule of Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan. During the time of Akbar, the fort mainly served a military purpose, while during the time of Shah Jahan it served as a palace and court. The Agra Fort is considered as the precursor of the Red Fort at Delhi.
An irregular semicircle, constructed on the foundations of an earlier fortified structure built in brick by the Lodhi Sultans, the Fort’s colossal double walls rise to a height of 20 metres and measures 2.5 km, in circumference. The Fort was built in a crescent shape following the curve of the river, flattened on the east with a long, nearly straight wall facing the river. The walls were pierced by slits for musketeers. The Fort contains elaborate palaces both in red sandstone and white marble and is surrounded by two moats. The architecture mixes Transoxanian features from Central Asia while drawing on the broader architectural traditions of Gujarat, Malwa and Raj asthan.
To commemorate the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, two postage stamps featuring Agra Fort are being issued. The set of stamps depict Khas Mahal, or Private Palace, built entirely of marble by Shah Jahan in 1637. It overlooks the Angoori Bagh. The enclosure has three riverside pavilions overlooking the Yamuna River, with a fountain opposite the central pavilion. The central pavilion, an airy edifice used by the emperor as a sleeping chamber, has three arches on each side, with five arches on the front facade, and two turrets rising from the roof. It is flanked by two pavilions, Bangla-i Darshan to the north, where Shah Jahan held public audiences for his subjects, and to the south, Bangla-i Jahanara, the pavilion of his daughter Jahanara.
The facade along the eastern wall includes Mussaman Burj or Octagonal Tower, a two-storied pavilion made of delicate marble lattices with ornamental niches from where the ladies of the court could gaze outside without being seen. From here the Taj Mahal, erected by Shah Jahan for his deceased wife could be viewed and this is where Shah Jahan is said to have spent his last few years as the captive of his son Aurangzib. On the southern side of the fort is Amar Singh Gate, one of the two great entrances. This impressive outer gate was added by Shah Jahan and named after the Rajput Maharaja, Amar Singh Rathore.
The Department of Posts commemorates the Ninth Aga Khan Award for Architecture with a set of two stamps on Agra Fort.
THE GREAT TRIGONOMETRICAL SURVEY stamp released on 28 06 2004
Denomination :500p
Stamps Printed : 0.8 Million
Date of Issue :28-06-2004
Theme: Events-national and international
The Survey of India, the premier mapping agency of the country, was raised during the era of the East India Company, by Lord Clive. Major James Rennell was commissioned to commence the Bengal Surveys in 1767 as the first Surveyor General of the Bengal Survey. This is accepted as the beginning of systematic topographical mapping in India and the founding of one of the oldest survey and mapping agencies in the world. Soon after the conquest of Mysore in 1799, the third Mysore surveys were ordered under Colonel William Lambton. At that time, the detailed knowledge of the earth’s size and shape did not exist. So, in 1802 AD, Colonel Lambton decided to carry out a trigonometrical survey of the peninsula in the vicinity of Madras on 10 April, 1802, starting an exercise that marked the beginning of the Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS).
The Royal Geographical Society considered the GTS the most significant contribution to the advancement of the science in the 19th century. Though Lambton had initially planned a short arc, it later grew in size and scale to become one of the most ambitious and adventurous scientific undertakings known to man. The 1600 mile survey took nearly fifty years to be completed, involved equations more complex than any in the pre-computer age and covered inhospitable and perilous terrain from the southern tip of the Indian sub-continent into the frozen wastes of the Himalayas. The Great Arc made possible the mapping of the entire subcontinent. Scientific and infrastructural initiatives could not have taken place without the accurate maps which the measurement of the Great Arc made possible. The Arc also resulted in the first accurate measurement of the Himalayas and significantly advanced our knowledge of the exact shape of our planet by producing new values for the curvature of the earth’s surface.
This gigantic endeavor would not have been possible without the pioneering efforts clear thinking and sagacious vision of an intrepid band of surveyors. Foremost among them is Colonel William Lambton, a man of extraordinary scientific passion. A self-taught astronomer, geographer and mathematician, he joined the British Army as an ensign in the 33rd Regiment and moved with his Regiment to India when he was almost 50 years of age.
It was his desideratum most sublime to determine by actual measurement the magnitude and figure of the earth. The brilliant executor of Lambton’s scientific legacy was George Everest who made the Arc his life’s work. The loftiest peak in the Himalayas and consequently in the world was given his name: an acknowledgement of the painstaking, scientific endeavour that made possible the measurement of the snowcapped Himalayas. Everest’s “right hand” and Chief Computer was Radhanath Sikdar who joined the Survey at Mussourie at the age of 21. He was appointed as computer in 1831 and took field with Everest in October 1833. He is said to have calculated the height of Mount Everest and thereby discovered the highest mountain in the world. His most important contribution was the preparation of the first edition of the Auxiliary Tables. He also assisted in the compilation of “Manual of Surveying for India”. After Everest’s departure he was equally trusted by Waugh, the new Surveyor General. He retired in March 1862 and passed away on 17 May, 1870.
Another intrepid schoolteacher who made an invaluable contribution to the advancement of the Survey was Nain Singh. He took up the challenge of mapping Tibet and that too under cover since Tibet was completely sealed off by edict. Nain Singh entered Tibet in the guise of a lama, armed with prayer wheel and rosary but concealing in a secret compartment in his trunk precious instruments-the compass, sextant, thermometer, chronometer and bottle of mercury. Over 21 months, he surveyed the 2000 km trade route, took 31 latitude fixes and determined elevations at 33 places. He followed the course of the great Tibetan river, the Tsangpo for 800 km and eventually proved that Tsangpo and Brahmaputra are the same.
The Department of Posts is proud to release a set of postage stamps to commemorate the “Great Trigonometrical Survey”. The stamp features two of the greatest contributors to the Survey-Radhanath Sikdar and Nain Singh besides depicting the theodolites and other instruments.
150 YEARS OF INDIAN POST stamp released on 04 10 2004
Denomination :500,500,500,500p
Stamps Printed :0.8 Million each
Date of Issue :04-10-2004
Theme: Events International National
1854 marks a watershed in the history of Post in India. On 1 st October, 1854, India Post, as we know it today, was born with a skeletal network of 701 post offices under the control of a Director General. The Post Office Act of 1854 reformed the earlier postal system, providing total monopoly to the Government for the management of the Post Office and the exclusive privilege for conveyance of letters. The Railway Mail Service was also established in 1854, and a new sea mail service was introduced from India to Great Britain and China.
On 1 st October, 1854, the first postage stamp valid across the country was issued at an affordable and uniform rate of postage, fixed by weight and not by distance. For the first time the common man could use a facility which included free delivery of letters from door to door - a privilege previously enjoyed only by Heads of States and State officials. From this day forth, the Post Office touched the life of every citizen. Even though the British established the Post Office for imperial interests, it became, along with the Railways and the Electric Telegraph, one of the great engines of social development.
The postal system in India is the synthesis of many influences. Its origins include elements of systems established from the time of the Mauryas, as also those established later by the British, the Princely States, the District postal systems and the Zamindari dak. The British Postal system in India was established by Lord Clive in 1776, and further developed by Warren Hastings, who established the Calcutta GPO in 1774. GPOs at Madras and Bombay followed in 1786 and 1793 respectively. The Post Office Act of 1837 united the Post Office organizations in all the three presidencies into one all-India Service. By 1908, of the 650 princely states, some of which were well developed with local postage stamps of their own, 635 states cast their lot with the Indian Post Office. The remaining 15, including those of Hyderabad, Gwalior, Jaipur and Travancore, merged only after independence.
The Post Office is universally recognized as a facilitator of communication. The postal runner defied all odds - natural calamities, wild beasts, geographical terrain and bandits - in the discharge of his duties, to earn a place in the folklore of every region. However, what is less recognized is its pioneering role in retailing a diverse range of services through its vast network. In the mid nineteenth century, the post office served as facilitator of travel with its conveyance systems, and by maintaining the dak bungalows and dak series. Mail order services were started with the value payable system introduced in 1877, while fund remittances at the doorstep became possible from 1880 through money order services. With the introduction of the Post Office Savings Bank in 1882 banking facilities were accessible to all and by 1884 all Government employees were covered by the Postal Life Insurance. The post office has even been used to retail quinine and salt in public interest.
The postal network of over 155,000 outlets is the largest in the world, and, arguably, the largest retail network in the country. Its capacity to handle financial transactions, its intimate knowledge of the local environment in any part of the country and its unparalleled access renders it an efficient, cost effective means of accessing customers anywhere. Today, the focus is on modernizing and computerizing the network to enhance its capacity to render various e-based services like e-post and value added premium services like Speed Post, Business Post etc to meet the emerging needs of customers and also provide e-governance facilities. In this era of economic liberalization, the post office is gearing itself to meet its social obligations as well as the challenges of the commercial, competitive environment.
India Post today is a blend of tradition and modernity, playing the role of a catalyst for social change. It has knit the country together by facilitating education, trade and industry and by breaking down social barriers - an integrator in a fractured world. Its philatelic stamps have showcased the best facets of India to the world.
This set of four commemorative stamps marks the sesquicentennial year of the Department of Posts as it rededicates itself to the service of the nation.
SATYAGRAHA : THE STIRRINGS stamp released on 02 10 2007
| Denomination :500,500,500,500 p Stamps Printed : 0.8 Million each Date of Issue : 02-10-2007 Theme : Events national and international |
|
Satyagraha is the philosophy of non-violent resistance most famously employed by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in forcing an end to the British Raj in India, beginning with his struggles in South Africa. It was in South Africa in 1893 that Gandhiji conceived of Satyagraha, which he defined as the technique of mass force based on truth and moved by non-violence.
The technique was not born full-grown, it was developed and refined with each application, first in South Africa and later in India, as a moral response to violence, and which has subsequently spread around the world. A tactic that ultimately impelled the British to free India, this technique was first put to the test on 11 September, 1906, before a gathering of more than three thousand people “of the coloured race” who had gathered at the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa to listen to a young Indian lawyer Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who had promised to show the path of redemption to the oppressed of the world. And the path was Satyagraha.
Satyagraha was an important constituent of Gandhi’s programmes of national self-purification. When he started campaigning against the racially discriminatory measures in South Africa, Gandhi discovered that his countrymen there lacked personal and communal self-respect, courage and the willingness to organize themselves.
In a memorable phrase he urged them to ‘rebel’ against themselves. This call initiated the stirrings. Mahatma Gandhi coined the term Satyagraha to describe his philosophy of non-violent resistance, and he described it, thus “Truth (Satya) implies love, and firmness (agraha) engenders and therefore serves as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian movement Satyagraha, that is to say, the Force which is born of Truth and Love or Non-Violence.”
The special set of commemorative stamps is dedicated to the spirit of Satyagraha. It should make us pause to reflect on how a colossal revolution took place in India without the violence attached to revolutions that occurred in other countries of Asia and Africa and to turn the search light on oneself to find an alternative to violence, which threatens to destroy the very fabric of civilized existence.
The Department of Posts is happy to issue a set of four commemorative postage stamps on the occasion of centenary of Satyagraha which portrays the stirrings of Satyagraha in a beautiful and inspiring depiction.