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Stamps
of India Collectors Companion
The
First, Free & Only Email Newsletter on Philately & Postal Services of India
AWARDS:
Silver Medal with ?Felicitations of the Jury? at BELGICA 2001 World Stamp
Exhibition
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Archives
October 17, 2002
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New
Stamps Released
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Sheetlet Once More
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New
Set of Greeting Cards
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Design A Stamp Contest Results
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Guaranteed
Delivery Service
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Interactive Voice Response System
for Speed Post
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Employees Develop Software for
Postal Operations
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Fake Stamps Seized At Hyderabad
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Nepal
New Issues
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Plastic Money
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Philately
in Transition in India, Part 28
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Readers
Forum ? Naveen K Samuel
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Research
Notes ? PIN Code Update
- Also
in the News ? Internet
Philatelic Dealers Association
NEW STAMPS RELEASED
ANANDA NILAYAM VIMANAM
Pramod Mahajan, the Minister of Communications & Information Technology and Parliamentary Affairs, released a commemorative stamp on Ananda Nilayam Vimanam, the golden canopy over the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirumala On October 11, 2002.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said "It is the first stamp released by me on a non-mortal subject, the first one related to God and the first one released with my shoes off as a mark of reverence". Lauding the strides made by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) on the IT front under the guidance of the IT-savvy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu, he said that with schemes like e-seva, e-hundi, e-puja and the like being launched, Lord Venkateswara had become the first "e-God".
The stamp is in the denomination of Rs. 15, the current overseas air letter rate. Sankha Samanta designed the stamp and the First Day Cover, priced at Rs. 2. Alka Sharma designed the pictorial first day postmark. Information Sheet containing write-up and technical data and priced at Rs. 2 were issued on the occasion. Madras Security Printers Limited of Chennai printed the stamps by photo Offset in six colors on imported unwatermarked stamp paper in the quantity of 3 million. The issued sheets contain 40 stamps.
KANIKA BANDYOPADHYAY
Pramod Mahajan, the Minister of Communications & Information Technology and Parliamentary Affairs, released a commemorative stamp on Kanika Bandyopadhyay On October 12, 2002 at a special function held at Kolkata.
Bandyopadhyay, 1924-2000, was a great exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, a genre of music created by India's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
The stamp is in the denomination of Rs. 5, the current inland letter rate. Sankha Samanta designed the stamp and the First Day Cover, priced at Rs. 2. Alka Sharma designed the pictorial first day postmark. Information Sheet containing write-up and technical data and priced at Rs. 2 were issued on the occasion. India Security Press of Nashik printed the stamps by photogravure in multicolor on Imported un-watermarked adhesive gravure coated stamp paper in the quantity of 0.4 million. The issued sheets contain 35 stamps.
ARYA VAIDYA SALA
Dr. Sanjay Paswan, the Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology released a commemorative stamp on Arya Vaidyasala, Kottakkal, on October 12, 2002 at a special function held at New Delhi.
Established by P S Varier in 1902 the Vaidya Sala is an institution of excellence that has contributed immensely to the development of the Aurvedic medical practices in modern times. The ancient Indian system of medicine, Ayurveda is perhaps the longest unbroken health tradition in the world with theory and practice that is several centuries old.
The stamp is in the denomination of Rs. 5, the current inland letter rate. Suresh Kumar designed the stamp and the First Day Cover, priced at Rs. 2. Alka Sharma designed the pictorial first day postmark. Information Sheet containing write-up and technical data and priced at Rs. 2 were issued on the occasion. Calcutta Security Printers Limited of Kanpur printed the stamps by photo Offset in five colors on matt chromo paper in the quantity of 0.8 million each. The issued sheets contain 16 stamps.
BHAGWAN BABA
Pramod Mahajan, the Minister of Communications & Information Technology and Parliamentary Affairs, released a commemorative stamp on Bhagwan Baba On October 15, 2002 at a special function held at Ahmednagar.
Hailing from the Beed district, Bhagwan Baba (1896-1965) was an ascetic who belonged to the long tradition of mystics and saint poets of Maharashtra. In many ways, he was a spiritual successor to Jnyaneshwar, Tukaram and Ramdas.
The stamp is in the denomination of Rs. 5, the current inland letter rate. Alka Sharma designed the stamp and the pictorial first day postmark. Brahm Prakash designed the First Day Cover, priced at Rs. 2. Information Sheet containing write-up and technical data and priced at Rs. 2 were issued on the occasion. Calcutta Security Printers Limited of Kanpur printed the stamps by photo Offset in four colors on matt chromo paper in the quantity of 0.4 million each. The issued sheets contain 40 stamps.
The stamps, First Day Covers along with the information sheets are available on sale at nearly 1000 selected Post Offices, including all Philatelic Bureaus and Counters, all over India.
SHEETLET ONCE MORE
The Arya Vaidyasala, Kottakkal is the second commemorative that was issued in a sheetlet of 16 with an illustrated margin all around depicting various herbs, in place of the regular sheets of 40 or 35. There are, believe it or not, only 50,000 sheetlets printed and we do not foresee these lasting long enough. If you have not yet bought this new addition to India Post's line of philatelic products, hurry before it is too late.
There were 200,000 sheetlets printed for the first issue released in sheetlet format,'50 years of Diplomatic relations between India and Japan' on April 26, 2002. These are still available at philatelic bureaus though not for long again as the bureaus stock and sell the stamps only for six months from the date of issue.
NEW SET OF GREETING CARDS
India Post released 66 new Greeting Cards on October 5, 2002 with pre-paid postage envelopes where the imprinted postage stamp is an exact replica of the greeting card inside. The Greeting Cards included in this set are 11 for Deepavali, 5 for Christmas, 16 for New Year, and 24 for other occasions. This is the eleventh set issued and the first with new postal rate of Rs. 5 in the imprinted stamp.
DESIGN A STAMP CONTEST RESULTS
Jyotsana Diesh (Chairperson of the Judging Panel and the Chief Postmaster General of Delhi Postal Circle), Vishnu Saksena (Former Member of Postal Services Board), Surinder Suman of Shankar's Academy of Arts, and India Post's resident artist, Alka Sharma judged this year's Design A Stamp Contest held on October 11, 2002 at New Delhi.
Sunayana Coelho of Modern School, Vasant Vihar, won the first prize of Rs. 1000. Tara Khilani of G D Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj and Anish Goel of Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj won the 2nd and 3rd prizes of Rs. 750 and Rs. 500 respectively. Parampreet K Chadha of Springdales, Dhaula Kuan and Parvinder Singh of Mata Gujari Public School received the consolation prizes of Rs. 250 each.
Ravi Pahwa, Assitant Superintendent of Post Offices (Philately) coordinated the program with Manisha Mishra, Senior Superintendent of Post Offices (South West).
The prize-winning entries at the national level are likely to be chosen for the stamp and the first day cover to be released on Children's Day 2003.
GUARANTEED DELIVERY SERVICE
India Post recently launched the 'Guaranteed Delivery Service' targeted to those who regularly send large volume of mail. The service is being provided on a minimum of 10,000 articles per posting at a service charge of Rs. 2 per article in addition to the normal postal tariff. India Post provides the recipients' acknowledgement as the proof of delivery. The Service at present is available only in Chennnai on an experimental basis and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and RPG Cellular Services have availed the service.
INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM FOR SPEED POST
The central postal region in Kerala has developed new software for interactive voice response system (IVRS) for tracking the Express Mail Service (EMS) Speedpost articles handled by India Post. The value-added service comes with no additional charge and is currently available only at the Kochi Speedpost Centre, being expanded soon to all Speedpost centres in Kerala and would be launched later, all over India.
The software provides a bar code and track number for the Speedpost article, which can be traced at any time on its route at the national level by logging on to the websites www.speedpost.org or www.Indiapost.org. The customer, who books the article, has just to dial a given telephone number to know the location of the article through the IVRS. The IVRS is being incorporated into the tracking system in existence at present. There are three language options - English, Hindi or Malayalam. The new software also provides for short message service (SMS) on the cellular phone for a return message on delivery.
EMPLOYEES DEVELOP SOFTWARE FOR POSTAL OPERATIONS
The work by a team of postal assistants has brought national and international recognition to the informal in-house computer center at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and the software developed by them is already in demand in South Asian countries.
On coming across postal assistants who held formal qualifications in computer applications like MCA, MS and BCA, K V Sundara Rajan, Post Master General of Kurnool Postal Region secured permission from the HQ to set up a computer laboratory. The team did not find it difficult to develop the software suitable for its applications being well versed with the functioning of the Postal Department and developed 'Head Record Software' to handle the core work of the department within two years. The software is in application at 23 centres across the country now. Enthused by the success, the team has now begun working on developing "circle bag accounting", another crucial area of the postal service.
FAKE STAMPS SEIZED AT HYDERABAD
The officers of StampIT (Stamp Investigation Team of Karnataka Police) have seized a huge cache of fake stamps worth Rs. 94 million stored in a godown on the outskirts of Hyderabad with the assistance of other agencies, including the Hyderabad City Police. They have also arrested seven persons in this connection.
In a nightlong operation on October 6, the officers raided four places in various parts of Hyderabad. The arrested have been identified as Sadashiva, alias Shiva, Abdul Wahid, Sadiq Kudli, Sarfarz Nawaz, Abdul Khuddus, Illiyas, and Sachin Kalgeen, a release from StampIT said.
The Madiwala Police had arrested Badruddin, Rafi, and Byroji Rao in Bangalore prior to the Hyderabad raid. It followed registration of fresh cases against Karim Lala and others for running the multibillion stamp paper racket even when Lala was lodged in judicial custody at the Central Jail in Parappana Agrahara, Bangalore.
StampIT stated that all the arrested were the associates of Abdul Karim Ladsab Telagi, alias Karim Lala, the kingpin of the racket. They were acting on the instructions of Lala to circulate fake stamps in various parts of the country. The Delhi Police seized fake stamps and stamp papers worth Rs. 2.4 billion (and not Rs. 21.6 million as reported erroneously in previous issue) on October 4, 2002. The Chandigarh Police had also seized fake stamp papers and stamps worth Rs. 40 million recently.
All those arrested in Hyderabad were wanted by police in different states. Sadashiva was wanted by the Hyderabad Police, Abdul Wahid by the Chennai Police, Sarfarz Nawaz and Sachin Kalgeen by the Chandigarh Police, and Sadiq Kudli and Illyas by the Pune and Bangalore Police.
With the arrest of seven persons, the allegations that Lala was organising the sale, circulation, and distribution of fake stamps and stamp papers throughout the country even in custody are said to have been substantiated.
Those arrested by the Madiwala Police have been remanded in police custody by the VII Additional Metropolitan Magistrate till October 21.
Those arrested in Hyderabad operation were remanded to police custody by a Hyderabad court for being taken to Bangalore for production before the court before October 9. StampIT is conducting further investigation.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court rejected the bail application of Lala on October 8, 2002. This was the second time Lala had approached the court for bail. Lala had preferred the present petition on health grounds.
The case is being investigated by StampIT, specially formed by the Karnataka Government in January 2002 under the Additional Director-General of Police, R. Sri Kumar. Lala, who was in the custody of the Pune Police, was brought to Bangalore to be produced before the Magistrate on October 7, 2002, and taken back to
Pune.
NEPAL NEW ISSUES
Nepal Post issued a new Rs. 5 stamp to mark the International Year Of Mountains on October 9, 2002. The stamp was printed in four colors by offset lithography at Austrian Government Printing Office, Vienna, in the quantity of 1 million in 50 stamps to each sheet. The stamp designed by Mohan Narsingh Rana is in vertical format and the size of the stamp is 30x40 mm.
Nepal Post also issued a set of 4, Rs. 5, stamps on Visit Nepal Series on October 9, 2002. The stamps depict Pathibhara Devisthan of Taplejung, Galeswor Mahadevsthan of Myagdi, Ramgram Stupa of Nawalparasi, and Mount Nilgiri Of Mustang. The stamps were printed in four colors by offset lithography at Austrian Government Printing Office, Vienna, in the quantity of 1 million in 50 stamps to each sheet. The stamps designed by K K Karmacharya are in horizontal format and the size of the stamps is 30x40 mm.
PLASTIC MONEY
Nepal became 21st country to issue a polymer bank note with the release of a Rupees 10 note on September 30, 2002. The Note Printing Australia (NPA), a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia, produced 50 million polymer banknotes for Nepal at the cost of $A3 million. The polymer note has been issued following the Nepal Rastra Bank's policy to replace the paper notes of Re 1, Rs 2 and Rs 5 with coins and Rs 10 with polymer notes. These are the notes most widely used in the country.
Polymer bank notes, currently used in over 20 countries, offer superior security, machine processability, cost effectiveness and recyclability. The Reserve Bank of Australia first issued polymer bank notes in 1988, setting a new world standard in banknote technology. NPA developed polymer technology in partnership with CSIRO and has been supplying polymer banknotes to 15 countries
Bangladesh was the first country in South Asia to issue a polymer note on December 14, 2000, a 10 Taka note depicting Mujibar Rahman. This was also produced by NPA in the quantity of 50 million.
It is learned that India is currently testing polymer banknotes. |