WILDLIFE 1 OCTOBER 1976

 

Lion

 

The Asiatic or Indian lion used to be found in Iran and Iraq as well as in northern and central India. It is now restricted to the Gir forest in Gujarat.The Indian lion is similar to the African cousin but has some slight differences such as fewer spots visible when young and longer tail tassels. The habits of the Indian lion do not differ from those of the African. By day they rest under the shade of trees and at dusk go in quest for food. Their roars are heard throughout the night, more noticeably at dusk and again just before daybreak. In the Gir forest they prey mainly on game and cattle.

 

swamp deer

The swamp deer is found exclusively in India. In Terai (Uttar Pradesh), Assamand the Sunderbans, the swamp deer is distinguished by its splayed hooves and larger skull, while in the hard open ground of Madhya Pradesh, it has smaller well-knit hooves. The coat of the swamp deer, almost woolly in texture, shades from brown to yellowish brown. There is much variation in the form of the antlers. 10 to 14 is the usual number of points of branches of antlers, though there may be as many as 20. Swamp deer has moderate eyesight and hearing power and acute sense of smell. The number of swamp deer is decreasing and it is a protected animal.

LOCOMOTIVES STMAP 15 MAY 1976

Diesel Locomotive 1963

INPEX 77 PHILATELIC EXHIBITION, BANGALORE

Early Punjabi Postman

 

Date of Issue :12  October 1977
Occasion :Inpex 77" Philatelic Exhibition, Bangalore 12 October 1977

   

INDIAN NATIONAL PHILATELIC EXHIBITION,NEW DELHI 23 DECEMBER 1970

Children Examining Stamps

 

Stamp Issue Date	:	23/12/1970
Postage Stamp Dinomination	:	0.20
Postal Stamp Serial Number	:	0628
Postal Stamp Name	:	CHILDREN WITH STAMP ALBUM
Stamp Information	:	The idea of issuing postage stamps originated with Sir Rowland Hill at whose suggestion, the first postage stamp in the world now known as 'Penny Black' was brought out in England on he 6th May 1840. Other countries followed in quick succession. India brought out her first postage stamp. The famed "Scinde Dawks" in 1852. Two years later, in 1854, the first stamp for use all over India was issued. It is not known with certainty when stamp collecting as a hobby actually started but evidently it must have been immediately after the issue of the first postage stamp in 1840. For nearly two decades, stamp collecting as a hobby was confined mostly to schoolboys and enthusiasts who were called uncomplimentary names such as 'Timbromaniacs'. By 1863, however, the hobby had made inroads into the hearts of serious-minded people. They found in stamps, apart from their illustrative and pictorial value, sufficient interest to justify the study of their specialties. They found the history of every design worth facing through the various mutations of shade, paper, watermark and perforation. Thus, stamp collecting took a new trend towards study and grouping of stamps on a scientific basis. It also acquired a reputable and new name of 'Philately' from the combination of the Greek words 'Philos' (fond of) and 'Atelia' (exemption from tax). Philately being a social hobby, it did not take long for clubs and societies to be organised as the interest in philately grew. With the formation of philatelic clubs and societies, the need for exhibiting individual collections by stamp collectors was strongly felt. Thus, started philatelic exhibitions. At first, this was confined to the members of societies and clubs but soon it spread over t national and international fields. On the occasion of 50th anniversary of the first postage stamp, the first International Exhibition was held in London in 1890. Other International Exhibitions at Paris, Hague, Amsterdam, Vienna followed in quick succession. The first International Philatelic Exhibition in U.S.A. was held in 1913. We are now having International Exhibitions practically every year in one country or the other. In addition, National Philatelic Exhibitions are being held in almost every country regularly. In India, Philatelic Exhibitions are known to have been held in the later decade of the last century. An International Postage Stamp Exhibition (Indipex) was orgainsed by the P & T Department in 1954 at the time of the postage stamp centenary. Several competitive exhibitions have been held in India since INDIPEX at various places, such as Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Banglore, Hyderabad, Trichi, Jullundur, Kanpur etc. The India National Philatelic Exhibition 1970 however is the first of its kind being held in India in recent years. The exhibition is being organised to inculcate public interest in philately, particularly in the younger generation to encourage stamp collecting as a profitable hobby with great educational interest and promote the study of serious aspects of the hobby by advanced collectors. A Philatelic Exhibition, like any other exhibition, will admittedly bring more and more new comers and enthusiasts to the hobby. The exhibition will display some of the rare and valuable collections not only of the Department but of the various collectors and philatelists which have never been seen before by many collectors. These will include Indian classics, proofs and essays of many of its issues. Indian stamps used abroad, Indian cancellations, Indian States (Convention and Feudatory), Indian Air Mails, postal stationary, and literature. A good collection of stamps of other foreign countries will also be shown by reputable collectors and philatelists in India. The Thematic Section of the Exhibition will be really eye-catching with themes like animals, wild life, flowers, scouts, space flight, evolution of flying wings on stamps etc., training of family planning, Red Cross, and various other subjects. On this great occasion, the P & T Department is happy to bring out two special stamps of denominations 20 paise and Re. 1/- to commemorate the India National Philatelic Exhibition, 1970 to be held from the 23rd December, 1970 to 6th January, 1971 on the themes of stamp collecting. In addition to usual First Day Covers, which are being brought out, the Department has arranged to provide separate cancellations on each day at the site of the Exhibition P.O.
Philatelic Stamp Description	:	The design of the stamp is horizontal and depicts a picture of young stamp collectors- a boy and girl- arranging stamps in a stock book. The design of the stamp is adapted from the original prepared by Shri Charanjitlal, Artist, P & T Directorate, New Delhi.
Stamp Currency	:	P
Stamp Type	:	COMMEMORATIVE
Stamp Language	:	English
Stamp Overall Size	:	3.91 x 2.9
Postal Stamp Print Size	:	3.56 x 2.5 cms.
Number of Stamps Per Sheet	:	35
Stamp Perforations	:	13 x 13
Postal Stamp Shape	:	Horizontal
Postage Stamp Paper	:	Unwatermarked adhesive stamp paper
Indian Stamp Process	:	Photogravure
Number of stamps printed	:	50,00,000
Stamp Printed At	:	India Security Press
Indian Stamp's Color	:	Orange & Olive Green

BRIDES IN TRADITIONAL COSTUMES 1980 STAMP

Tamil Nadu

 

Stamp Issue Date	:	30/12/1980
Postage Stamp Dinomination	:	1.00
Postal Stamp Serial Number	:	0995
Postal Stamp Name	:	TAMIL NADU
Stamp Information	:	BRIDES OF INDIA A bride anywhere in the world signals joy. However, in India particularly she is welcomed as Saubhagyavati: "The fortunate one", the harbinger of auspiciousness into the home. The traditional bride fulfils the promise of her community and is in turn fulfilled by it. While she epitomises the cultural style of her community, the means by which she is decorated depend heavily on the skill of local vraft traditiona. For once the age-old art traditions. For once the age-old art of adornment walks hand-in-hand with a traditional socio-economic wisdom and the skills of generations of anonymous jewellers, weavers and other silent workmen. Kashmir: Her bridal dupatta, fringed with gold thread and sequins, frames the bride's head ornament, plaques of beaten and incised silver, the pendanents of which fall low across the brow.The deliberate framing effect of her jewellery continuous through the sequinned hoops rimming her ears to the deep drops from their lobes. These effectively throw her bridal face into relief as they droop to meet the richly embroidered ornamentation of her dark loose-fitting choga. THe sense of drama to this traditional arrangements lies in the intricaterly worked silver so controlled and distributed as to indicate the personality of the bride. Bengal: With Bengal, we are in the tropies: the bridal crest, a finely fretted ith tiara (of the kind that is further elaborated for pratimas of Durga). The bride's brocaded sari is traditionally Banarasi. The accent falls noticeably through graceful loops and arabesques from crest through curve of chain and pendant at hairline to the dedicate "creeper" painted in sandal-paste to emphasise the bhru-lata of her brows and recalling ritual alpana. With loops of fresh jasmine and rose about her neck, wrists, with gems at her throat and her ear-lobes shielded by disks of finely-wrought gold, hers is the delicate curvilinear style by which Bengal is known. Rajasthan: A blaze of colour and strength of form characterise the desert dwelling Rajputs. The curve upon curve of beaten silver haslis this bride wears about her throat with heavy silver chains and their pendant rings complements the textural interest of the tie-dye odani that circles her head in red, turmeric-yellow and gleaming gota. The curve of nath from nose to ear enhances the curve of her cheek, echosed by the looped chain at hairline that suspends her bor. Cones of pendant silver drop from her ears, balancing the straight glance, the bindu and the rounded chin. Visual drama is balanced with a fineness of detailing that comes from centuries of courtly tradition and recalls the Mewari school of Rajput painting. Tamilnadu: A certain classical vigour and tension distinguishes Tamil cultural expression. Notice the rythemic effect of this bride's gold and gem-studded decoration. This comes from an effectively repeated motif : the mango, symbol of fruitfulness, from the border of her Kanchipuram silk to her necklet. Her long hair is thickly twined with gold thread and jasmine buds, whose close-hudded form is repeated in the ornament that binds her brows, defines her parting, dropping to a pendant. This is echoed by her ear pendants anf the jewels of her nose. This sense of symmetryis further underlined by the symbolic sun and moon ornamets to left and right of the parting in her hair. These, and the studded armlets recall the classificism of bharatnatyam and the formal discipline of temple bronzes. Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department is happy to issue a set of four stamps on brides of India. (Text by Priadevi)
Philatelic Stamp Description	:	Description of Design The stamp depicts brides in their traditional finery from Kashmir, Bengal, Rajasthan and Tamilnadu. (Photos by O.P. Sharma, S.J. Singh, Chitrangad Sharma). The first day cover shows traditional wedding ceremony from Manipur (Photo by courtesy of Government of Manipur). The cancellation design carries drawing of a bride in a Palanquin.
Stamp Currency	:	P
Stamp Type	:	COMMEMORATIVE
Stamp Language	:	English
Stamp Overall Size	:	3.91 X 2.
Postal Stamp Print Size	:	3.55 X 2.5 cms.
Number of Stamps Per Sheet	:	35
Stamp Perforations	:	13 x 13
Postage Stamp Paper	:	Unwatermarked adhesive stamp paper.
Indian Stamp Process	:	Photogravure
Number of stamps printed	:	20,00,000
Stamp Printed At	:	India Security Press
Indian Stamp's Color	:	Multicolour

80 INTERNATIONAL STAMP EXHIBITION ( 3RD ISSUE ) 25 JANUARY 1980

Army Post Office & Postmarks

 

Post Offices of one sort or another have served the modern Indian Army for the last two hundred years. To begin with, they were postal agencies run by the Army with its own resources but linked with the national system at convenient points. From 1800 onwards there are many references in military records of army postmasters being appointed for specific campaigns. However, the Army Postal Service of today traces its history from 1856 when the first full-fledged self-contained post office was attached to the Field Force sent to Persia to fight the East India Company's last war. From then Army Post Offices (APOs) designated as Field Post Offices (FPOs) and Base Post Offices (Base POs) have accompanied all the Expeditionary Forces sent out of India and to all the theatres of the two World Wars not to mention the numerous operations on the Frontiers.FPOs form an integral part of the Army and are set-up, worked, controlled and closed under the orders of the Army's own Postal Organisation, the Army Postal Service (APS). For Technical and postal purposes, APS functions as a branch of the P&T Department which provides volunteers to man, operate and supervise the APOs.After Independence the Army Postal Service has been expanded to cater for the growth of the armed forces and to cope with new responsibilities such as the handling of all official mail previously dealt with by the Army Signals and the opening of Postal Savings Bank and Life Insurance branches in the APOs. In recognition of its new and permanent status, APS has been constituted into a separate corps with its own colours (white and red), emblem – (Raj Hans (swan) in flight) and motto ‘Amity and Concord’.The basic unit of the Army Postal Service is a Field Post office. FPOs are attached to brigades and higher field formations and they are established, as necessary, on the lines of communication. A number of FPOs are grouped under a Divisional Unit or a Communication Zone Postal Unit. All the FPOs in a particular area are dependent on a Base P0 for receipt and despatch of mail, for replenishment of postage stamps and stores and for maintenance of accounts. Separate units have been designed to meet the postal needs of the headquarters of Corps and Armies. There are specialist Postal units for tracing the mail that cannot be delivered as addressed and for collecting and notifying information regarding the location of units.Mail for delivery through FPOs is not addressed to a post town of destination but to a unit followed by a code name like '56 APO' which directs it to the right Base P0. At the Base P0 a complete record is kept of the units served by its FP0s and their day-to-day locations. All incoming mail is first separated into the main divisions of the Army and then sorted in to separate bundles for each unit. Direct mail bags are closed for each FP0 and they contain unit mail bundles already sorted for immediate distribution at the other end.As befits their army role, FPOs are fully mobile and equipped to function in tents, trucks, bunkers and even in open air. They provide all the main postal facilities to the soldiers and they take pride in being the quickest and most dedicated mail handlers in the world. Base POs work round the clock and FPOs receive and deliver mail on all days of the week without any break for holidays.Soldiers are great patrons of the money order service whose centenary we are celebrating this year. FPOs were among the first Indian post offices to offer this facility to their customers in 1882 when they were on field service in Egypt.The hobby of stamp collecting has long association with the Indian Army, many of whose officers have been pioneers of Indian Philately. The first Commander-in-Chief of Independent India's Army, General K.M.Cariappa was a life long collector of stamps. The Army Postal Service is actively engaged in promoting philately among servicemen. It maintains separate philatelic bureau at its Central Base Post Offices. It is also using philately to project the heroic deeds of our servicemen and the colourful histories of their units by sponsoring stamps and issuing special covers.Date of Issue: 25.1.1980

Money Order

Stamp Issue Date : 25/01/1980 Postage Stamp Dinomination : 0.50 Postal Stamp Serial Number : 0956 Postal Stamp Name : MONEY ORDER Stamp Information : Among the many things, good and bad, that the modern world has produced, surely the postal system, which covers the world, is one of its most beneficient activities.? -Jawahar Lal Nehru India, during the past hundred and twenty-five years, has built up an impressive postal system. INDIA-80, the first international philatelic exposition to be held in Asia under the aegis of the Federation Internationale de Philatelie, is the Federation Internationale de Philatelie, is the culmination of the celebrations connected with epoch-making events in the history of Indian Post Office. The Year 1979 saw the completion of hundred years of postcard service and fifty years of scheduled carriage of domestic mail by air. 1979 also marked the 125th anniversary of the issue of first Indian postage stamp. A series of special stamps to commemorate these events have been issued and the current set of stamps completes the series. MONEY ORDER: 1880-1980 (50 paise) The introduction of money order service, inter alia for revenue and rent transmission, saved the public from the ardours of long journeys to pay these charges in person. Till 1880, money orders were issued and paid at Government Treasuries. Their small number (283) contined to cause inconvenience to the public. In that year, the business of money order was transferred from the Treasury to the Post Office, which then numbered about 5500. over the years, this service has proved very popular with the people as the payment of the money order is made at the door of the payee. Today more than 108 million money orders are issued and paid annually throughout the country. Philatelic Stamp Description : The design of the stamp features a part of the 1879 record (courtesy: National Archives of India) dealing with the transfer of the service from the Indian Finance & Commerce Department to the Post Office along with some Indian Coins used during the latter half of the last century. The first day cover illustration is an artist?s impression of the hand-operated transfer press, the type of hand-operated transfer press, the type of litho-printing machine used for striking the first postage stamps in 1854 under the guidance of Cat. (later on General Sir) Henry L. Thuillier (inset). The design is based on photographs by courtesy of the Surveyor-General of India. The design of the First Day Cancellation depicts a line drawing of the Hall of Nations, the main venue of the exhibition along with the logo of INDIA-80. Stamp Currency : P Stamp Type : COMMEMORATIVE Stamp Language : English Stamp Overall Size : 2.90 X 3.91 cms Postal Stamp Print Size : 2.54 X 3.5 cms. Number of Stamps Per Sheet : 35 Stamp Perforations : 13 x 13 Postal Stamp Shape : Vertical Postage Stamp Paper : Watermarked paper Indian Stamp Process : Photogravure Number of stamps printed : 30,00,000 Stamp Printed At : India Security Press Indian Stamp's Color : Sepia and Crimson

 Copper Ticket

Stamp Issue Date : 25/01/1980 Postage Stamp Dinomination : 1.00 Postal Stamp Serial Number : 0957 Postal Stamp Name : COPPER TICKET Stamp Information : ?Among the many things, good and bad, that the modern world has produced, surely the postal system, which covers the world, is one of its most beneficient activities.? -Jawahar Lal Nehru India, during the past hundred and twenty-five years, has built up an impressive postal system. INDIA-80, the first international philatelic exposition to be held in Asia under the aegis of the Federation Internationale de Philatelie, is the Federation Internationale de Philatelie, is the culmination of the celebrations connected with epoch-making events in the history of Indian Post Office. The Year 1979 saw the completion of hundred years of postcard service and fifty years of scheduled carriage of domestic mail by air. 1979 also marked the 125th anniversary of the issue of first Indian postage stamp. A series of special stamps to commemorate these events have been issued and the current set of stamps completes the series. COPPER TICKET: 1774 (100 paise) During the administration of Warren Hastings (1774-1785) in India, the Post Office was placed on a better footing than before and steps were taken to make the post available to a limited extent for the carriage of private communications also. A system of carriers connecting the head-quarters of the Government with the principal towns in various provinces was established. An overland route from Madras to Calcutta with a weekly service was introduced in 1770. On 31st March 1774 a regular system of post was brought into force. A Postmaster-General was appointed and postage was charged for the first time at the rate of 2 Annas (1/8th of a Rupee) for every 100 miles (160 kilo-meters). Small copper tickets of 2 Annas in value were introduced as a token of prepayment of postage within the realms of the East India Company. Philatelic Stamp Description : The design of the stamp shows the obverse and the reverse of a copperticket of 1774 (courtesy: G.B. Pai). The first day cover illustration is an artist?s impression of the hand-operated transfer press, the type of hand-operated transfer press, the type of litho-printing machine used for striking the first postage stamps in 1854 under the guidance of Cat. (later on General Sir) Henry L. Thuillier (inset). The design is based on photographs by courtesy of the Surveyor-General of India. The design of the First Day Cancellation depicts a line drawing of the Hall of Nations, the main venue of the exhibition along with the logo of INDIA-80. Stamp Currency : R Stamp Type : COMMEMORATIVE Stamp Language : English Stamp Overall Size : 2.90 X 3.91 cms Postal Stamp Print Size : 2.54 X 3.5 cms. Number of Stamps Per Sheet : 35 Stamp Perforations : 13 x 13 Postal Stamp Shape : Vertical Postage Stamp Paper : Unwatermarked paper Indian Stamp Process : Photogravure Number of stamps printed : 20,00,000 Stamp Printed At : India Security Press Indian Stamp's Color : Mineral Red

Sir Rowland Hill & birthplace Kidderpore