A Home for India's Philatelic Heritage

Lekhika: Replica of one of the earliest 

depictions of letter writing in Indian culture. 

From a stone carving at Konark, Orissa. 

The renovated National Philatelic Museum (NPM) at New Delhi will be inaugurated on 11^th July, 2011.

Postage stamps represent a steady stream of communication from a nation, espousing its views on a variety of subjects in various pictorial formats. They are described as paper ambassadors of the issuing country, and have considerable socio-cultural relevance. The National Philatelic Museum brings forward selected stamps and other philatelic material for public viewing through carefully constructed exhibits, displays and models.

A museum is a community asset. The NPM has been redesigned keeping this in view. It is an interactive space devoted to philately, the art and science of collecting stamps. Philately transforms itself into a vehicle here, one that enables the young and the old to travel through the avenues of India’s rich history, culture, national achievements and natural wealth. The Museum has bays dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, past Prime Ministers of India and leaders of the freedom struggle. The displays also include themes like Science and Technology, Wildlife and Transport. There are glimpses of philately from other countries and displays from the Army Postal Service. There are relics, models and pictures representing postal life over the centuries.

NPM has an amphitheatre for talk shows and presentations, a reference library, a souvenir shop and an artist’s corner where stamp designers give live demonstrations. 

Village post office: A diorama from NPM

The Museum, thus, will hold enough attraction for the veteran collector as well as the curious visitor. Philately, it is hoped, will come alive here, enabling people to explore, learn, get inspired and find enjoyment.

Location:   At the ground floor, Dak Bhawan, Patel Chowk, Ashoka Road, New Delhi.

Timings:   Monday-Friday, 10.00 AM to 5.00 PM. Visits of school groups possible on Saturdays, on request

The Philatelic Husain

MF Husain’s work on cinema billboards is well known, and even celebrated. Much less discussed, however, have been the  philatelic designs he did for the country. The Department of Posts is known to have used his designs on three postage stamps and two First Day Covers.

The most striking among these five designs is the one titled Swarajya, on a composite postage stamp released to commemorate Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s inspirational call "Swaraj is my birthright" which moved generations of Indians. This stamp was released on 16th August 1988, amidst celebrations of the 40th anniversary of India's independence.

Tilak's thundering proclamation, the enthusiastic response of the country's youth to it, the rising spirit of nationalism and the spread of the message of self-reliance and self-confidence all combined to create an environment befitting an epic struggle. This backdrop of high drama and patriotism, predictably, inspired Husain, and he went on to produce a design that is one of the most striking ever to be seen on a postage stamp.

The Department of Posts and the India Security Press, Nashik also chipped in with their efforts to underline the uniqueness of the design - it was rendered as a composite setenant stamp, retaining every bit of its visual impact. The well known Husain elements like the horse, moving figures and graffiti-like characters are all there, but the mood is definitely one of defiance and the spirit, that of patriotism. The beginning of Tilak's historic proclamation appears in Marathi in Husain's handwriting at the top of the visual.

Though the print order of the stamp was 15 lakh, only a few of these stamps survive today. The surviving copies are proud possessions of the collectors who own them. 

The other two postage stamps based on Husain's designs were also released in the eighties. The first one, based on Husain's 1956 painting Between the Spider and the Lamp was issued in September 1982, and the other, commemorating Rani Lakshmi Bai, in May 1988.

- PN Ranjit Kumar

The author is a former philately administrator of the Government of India. The views are personal.

Trade and industry keen to join hands with the Post Office

Post Office is a unique infrastructure, but there is a growing realisation that its potential is not fully utilised by the nation. How can the inherent value of the postal network be unlocked? How can the trade and industry make better use of this huge network profitably? And what should be the role of the Post Office in the 21^st century?

These were some of the issues that were deliberated upon in the round table interactions held by Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology with industry leaders in New Delhi on 4^th July,2011. 

The event, organized under the theme  “Partnering India Post: 2012 and Beyond”, saw captains of the banking, telecommunication, logistics and IT industries as well as representatives of business associations expressing  a wish to join hands with India Post to take their products to different sections of the population. There was a general appreciation that India Post with its vast network of 1.5 lakh Post-Offices and the large bouquet of services like mails, logistics, finance, deposits, insurance, savings and retailing, has the potential to play a vital role in accelerating economic growth. The deliberations threw up specific suggestions on the areas, methods and challenges for developing symbiotic relationships between the Post Office and key stakeholders. Some valuable inputs  came up for the Department of Posts to develop its future business model. The need for the integration of such a business model with the technological architecture of the Vision 2012 project - an ambitious programme of computerizing and digitally connecting the entire postal network - was highlighted.

Public sector banking institutions advocated  retailing of loan products, mutual funds and other novel financial products. Central  Ministries and state administrations suggested that post offices can be utilized to deliver social security plans as is being done successfully with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Sachin Pilot,  Minister of State for Communications & IT, Government of India summarized the deliberations  at the end. He stated that the consultations show that Department of Posts belongs to all. The round table  should be a beginning for new endeavours, financial inclusion and opportunities for rural masses.

About seventy representatives of various Departments, PSUs, Banks and corporate world participated in the interactions. 

Providing Postal Services on the Internet

India Post set up shop on the internet on 9^th March, 2011, with launch of its e-Commerce portal, the “e-Post Office”.  This is a pilot project offering selected postal services, like the Electronic Money Order (eMO), Instant Money Order (iMO), Sale of Philatelic Stamps, Postal Information and Tracking of Express and International shipments.

The Department of Posts is committed to make the postal services more inclusive and more accessible to the citizens of the country. The e-Post Office takes this commitment forward a long way, by enabling the customers to transact postal business at any time, and from anywhere, using either debt card or credit card, through the medium of internet. Internet is fast becoming a way of life in India. We have more than 50 million internet users in the country. It represents a huge market, a new community in itself. India Post also hopes that the e-Post Office will help to rope in the younger generation who is internet savvy as customers to its products.

Plans are in place to scale up the portal to a full-fledged e-Market Place, which would offer a wide range of postal and non-postal products. India Post’s core competency in the mail-parcel segment will be leveraged for e-Commerce order fulfillment. Another objective is to convert it as a platform that facilitates small and medium enterprises to access new markets through e-Commerce.

The ePost Office clocked a turnover of about Rs. 1 crores during the first four months of its operation, making this pilot project notable success. It is expected to contribute substantially to the revenues of the Department in the years to come. You can access the e-Post Office at www.epostoffice.gov.in. For more details, you may write to www.epohelpdesk.gov.in .

“Buy, Pack and Send” : India Post to enhance the shopping experience at retail outlets

Often while shopping you comes across a product which you would have loved to gift a friend, but feel a tinge of sadness, because you are you unable to do so since the friend is living someplace else. India Post now introduces the “Buy, Pack and Send” service, to help you keep in touch with your near and dear, even when they are away.

The “Buy, Pack and Send” concept went operational last month when India Post in collaboration with Fabindia Overseas Private Limited opened a postal retail extension counter at the latter’s flagship store at Greater Kailash-I, in New Delhi.

           

Fabindia is India’s largest private retail platform for craft based products. As a part of the joint endeavor to enhance customer experience, India Post will now offer customers hassle free postal retail service which would enable them to buy, pack and dispatch merchandise not only to addresses  within India but also to international destinations. To help the customers in booking consignments, postal staff will be deployed at Fabindia store.

This initiative comes as an expansion of the existing postal retail service introduced earlier at the Jawahar Vyapar Bhawan (Cottage Emporium), New Delhi. Customers are able to use Speed Post and Registered Parcel services from the premises of the shopping complex to send products to places in India and abroad. The current tie-up with Fabindia is the first similar partnership with a private institution.

           

India Post is exploring avenues to increase the accessibility of postal services, and to make these services responsive to the changing needs of customers. Discussions are currently on with some agencies in the public and private sector for forging similar partnerships.

           

India Post is keen to hear from you on this initiative. Do leave your comments on this blog, or tweet to us at http://twitter.com/?lang=en&logged_out=1#!/PostOfficeIndia.