The India Post is observing the National Postal Week from October 9 to 15. The Philately Day will fall on October 12.
The word philately was first coined by Mansion George Herpin of Paris in 1864 and it relates to hobby of collection and study of postage stamps and stationery.
It is known as king of all hobbies and hobby of kings. It educates, entertains and earns. One can start it as a hobby at any age. like all hobbies, stamp collection gives pleasure and educate on culture, heritage, sports, science, music and literature of different countries. Stamp was born for prepayment for carrying letters by post. The world’s first postage stamp was born on May 6, 1840 in England.
In India, commissioner of Sind Bartle Frère introduced paper stamps in 1852. The famous ‘Scinde Dawks’ were the first postage stamps not only in India but in Asia. Captain Thuillier, Deputy Surveyor General, succeeded in bringing out the first all India stamp in October 1854. From 1856 to 1926, Indian stamps were printed by Messrs Thomas De la Rue & Co of london. In 1926, the India Security Press, Nasik took the responsibility of stamp printing. The first Indian pictorial stamp was issued on the inauguration day of New Delhi in 1931. Commemorative stamps were issued during the silver jubilee of King George V in 1935. India was the first country in the commonwealth to issue a special set of airmail stamp in 1929 and fly mail on February 18, 1911 from Allahabad to Naini.
Varieties of postage stamps like definitive stamp, commemorative stamp, charity stamp and stamp of other kinds are named as per their use and importance. Definitive stamps are generally used for prepayment of postage and continue to be printed for years together. Commemorative stamps are issued to commemorate an event or personage, printed in limited quantity and sold for a short period. These stamps are issued to project culture, heritage, flora and fauna of a country. Many countries are issuing charity stamps. The stamp bears two values, one for postage and the other is paid for the charity purpose. Apart from these three kinds of stamps, countries are also issuing other kinds of stamps like newspaper stamp, express stamp, airmail, postage due and local provisional for use in respective purposes.
During processing and printing in security presses, various types of errors and mistakes occurred in stamps which made them famous and rare. A stamp collector may not collect all stamps as it is a costly affair. So beginners face problems regarding “what to collect” and “how to collect”. Now-a-days, mails are computerized and one may not get sufficient stamps from the mails / letters. A stamp collector may purchase new commemorative stamps from post offices, philatelic bureaus/counters at actual price. One can get stamps easily by opening a philatelic deposit account in post office which will help receive commemorative postage stamps at home without postage charges. There are 68 philately bureaus and 1,111 philatelic counters in different POs in India. Two computerised bureaus are functioning in Odisha Circle; the one at Bhubaneswar GPO and the other at Cuttack GPO. Rest 33 HOs have philately counters.
Postage stamp is a mode of commemorating, celebrating and promoting national heritage and events. Great leaders of national and international repute have also been honoured with commemorative stamps, the most prominent being Mahatma Gandhi. The father of the nation has also been honoured with definitive stamps and personalities, who have made contribution in areas like painting, literature, science, music, social upliftment etc.
The Odisha Postal Circle has organised nine State-level Philatelic Exhibitions and several district level exhibitions at Sambalpur, Balangir, Baripada, Brahmapur, Dhenkanal, Jeypore, Puri, Keonjhar, Angul , Cuttack and Bhubaneswar since 1973 till date to promote stamp collection activities. The first Odisha State level Philatelic Exhibition ORPEX-73 was held during 1973 at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. Other State level Philatelic Exhibitions held at different places like ORPEX-76, ORPEX-89 and ORPEX-97 in Cuttack, ORPEX-82 and ORPEX-06 in Rourkela, ORPEX-85, ORPEX-02 and ODIPEX-2014 in Bhubaneswar. Many Commemorative stamps have been issued on freedom fighters, leaders, great personalities , temples , culture, heritage and institutions of Odisha like Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das, Subash Chandra Bosh, Baghajatin, Madhusudan Das, Birsa Munda, Veer Surendra Sai, Dr Harekrushna Mahtab, laxman Nayak, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapathi, Fakir Mohan Senapati, , Biju Patnaik , Ravenshaw College, SKCG College Parlakhemundi, Konark, Puri Temple, lingaraj Temple, Odissi Dance, Hirakud dam etc . The stamp released by India Post on “Jayadev and Geeta Govinda” has added a glorious page in Odisha History by proving that Jaydev represents Odisha. The department may consider releasing more stamps on Odisha. Perhaps no stamp on women personality of Odisha has been issued yet. Though every year, the department receives a large number of proposals for issue of stamps from various sources, including Members of Parliament and State legislative Assemblies, State Governments and other public and private organisations / institutions as well as individuals, perhaps no proposal has been received yet on women personality to submit the same to Philatelic Advisory Committee (PAC) which advises the Government of India on the annual programme for issue of commemorative stamps.
“The Iron lady of Odisha”, a stamp on Nandini Satpathy who was the Chief Minister of Odisha for about three years in two spells from 1972 to 1973 and 1974 to 1976, may be issued to regard women empowerment. Satpathy was a prominent author and translator. She had written many books including Ketoti Katha (1967) and Saptadasi (1989) and won several awards on literature. She also translated Taslima Nasreen’s lajja into Odia. In addition to Nandini Satpathy, commemorative stamp may also be issued on Padmashree Tulasi Munda for social activities. The department may also consider issuing stamps on Parsurameswar Temple, Bhubaneswar as the oldest Temple, Kichakeswari Temple, Mayurbhanj which is made up of complete black stone , Dilip Tirki for Hokey, Sradhanjali Samantaray for women football, Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi, Sanjukta Panigrahi and Kelucharan Mohapatra for Odishi dance, Bhikari Bala for music, Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar and Jayee Rajguru as freedom fighters. Vanivihar Old Students Society 1992 is appealing through this article to its seniors those are representing , Odisha lagislative Assembly, Odisha Government, Parliament of India and Union Government to submit a proposal to concerned authority to issue stamp on the Utkal University, the oldest university of Odisha on its Platinum Jubilee year in 2018.
(The writer works in the India Post in Bhubaneswar. Email-gdrath1970@gmail.com)