Two stamps featuring Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, launched by the Department of Posts (DoP) in December 2008 as part of its series titled Builders of Modern India, have been discontinued, an RTI query by The Indian Express has revealed.
The government now plans to introduce stamps under a new series featuring Deendayal Upadhyaya, Jayaprakash Narayan, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Ram Manohar Lohia in the coming months, the RTI further stated.
The DoP had launched the series with nine eminent personalities on stamps of different denominations in 2008. Apart from Indira and Rajiv, other stamps featured Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, Satyajit Ray, Homi Jehangir Bhabha, J R D Tata and Mother Teresa. In May 2009, three more names were added to the category — E V Ramaswamy, C V Raman and Rukmini Devi Arundale.
But the RTI query revealed that from July 2015 onwards, “stamps of denomination of rupees five have been discontinued”. Indira and Rajiv are the only people who featured on the Rs 5 stamps.
According to the RTI, the DoP is in the process of launching another series, titled Makers of India, which will replace Builders of Modern India. The new category will have 24 stamps featuring prominent personalities and a stamp on yoga. Only four people who featured in the Builders of Modern India series — Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and B R Ambedkar — have made the cut.
According to the response to the RTI query, apart from Upadhyaya, Narayan, Mookerjee and Lohia, the new series will feature Vallabhbhai Patel, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhas Chandra Bose, Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rabindranath Tagore, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Maharana Pratap, Vivekananda, Subramania Bharti, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Bhimsen Joshi, M S Subbulakshmi and Bismillah Khan.
Once the new list of stamps comes in print, the old list will be discontinued.
Earlier this year, the Central government had replaced the names of two awards — Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Puraskar and Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Gyan-Vigyan Maulik Pustak Lekhan Puraskar — with Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar and Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar.
