Indian Stamp On Prafulla Chandra Chaki

India Post has released a stamp on Prafulla Chandra Chaki on 11th December 2010.

Prafulla Chaki was born on December 10, 1888 in the Bihari village of Bogra district, now in Bangladesh. He was expelled from Rangpur Zilla School when studying in Class 9 for taking part in a students' demonstration that violated the Carlisle Circular of the government of East Bengal and Assam. Then he joined Rangpur National School where he came in contact with revolutionaries like Jitendranarayan Roy, Abinash Chakravarti, Ishan Chandra Chakravarti and became a believer and practitioner of the revolutionary philosophies.

Barin Ghosh brought Prafulla to Kolkata and he was enlisted in Jugantar party. His first assignment was to kill Sir Joseph Bampfylde Fuller (1854-1935), the first Lieutenant Governor of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam. However, the plan did not materialize.

Next, Prafulla, along with Khudiram Bose was chosen for the murdering of Kingsford, the Calcutta Presidency Magistrate, and later ,magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

Khudiram and Prafulla watched the usual movements of Kingsford and prepared a plan to kill him. In the evening of April 30, 1908, the duo waited in front of the gate of European Club for the carriage of Kingsford to come. When a vehicle came out of the gate, they threw bombs and blew up the carriage. However, the vehicle was not carrying Kingsford, rather two British ladies - Mrs. and Miss Kennedy were killed. The revolutionaries fled.

Prafulla and Khudiram decided for separate routes for escape. Prafulla took disguise and boarded train to Kolkata. Nandalal Banerjee, a Sub-Inspector of Police, suspected Prafulla at the Samastipur Railway station. A commotion and a short chase ensued. Prafulla was soon cornered and he took his own life by shooting at the head.

Khudiram was later arrested and was hanged to death.

First Cloth Stamp From India [Hindustan Times]

A unique stamp printed on cloth is all set to grace the collections of philatelists world wide. In a bid to popularise philately (study and collection of stamps and related items), India Post has decided to release a stamp printed on khadi. A first such stamp in the country, it will bear the image of Mahatma Gandhi.

"We will issue the special philately stamp on February 12, the inaugural day of week-long world philatelic exhibition —Indipex 2011 — that will be observed in India and Japan this year. President Pratibha Patil will release the stamp," Harpreet Singh, director, Indipex 2011, said.

The stamp will be released at the national museum amid thousands of eminent philatelists from different countries.

"The stamp, with the denomination of R100, will be released on a single sheet and we are hoping that it would be in great demand," said an officer of department of post's philatelic bureau.

According to eminent philatelist Madhukar Jhingan, this is a revolutionary step as no Indian stamp was ever made on any material other than paper. "I am sure this stamp will be in high demand. Earlier, a few countries such as Bhutan, Thailand and Austria had successfully experimented with stamps on cloth and other materials," Jhingan said.

During Indipex, which will be organised jointly by India Post and Philatelic Congress of India, the department will also issue unique personalised stamps called ‘My Stamp'.

"A personalised stamp is a postage stamp where a picture or photograph can be added to the stamp," said Singh. Those interested can get their snaps clicked during the Indipex.

These snaps would then be printed on stamps and can be used along with real stamps, Singh said.He also inaugurated a letter writing and stamp designing competition on Sunday at India Gate premises, which saw participation of more than 3,000 schoolchildren.

The winners of the stamp designing competition, the theme of which was ‘save the tiger', will have their designs displayed at Indipex.

Six best designs will be printed as official government stamps and issued on the Children's Day, said India Post sources.