Dear Comrades,
INDIPEX 2011 being organised from February 12 to 18 aims to bring the international philatelic community together to celebrate philately. This world-level philatelic exhibition will provide a unique platform for interaction between stamp lovers.
THE SUCCESS OF INDIPEX 2011 being held at Pragati Maidaan (New Delhi), especially when private courier-services and e-communications have become popular is a matter of enthusiasm and pride for the Indian Posts Department.
INDIPEX 2011 being organised from February 12 to 18 aims to bring the international philatelic community together to celebrate philately. This world-level philatelic exhibition will provide a unique platform for interaction between all the philatelic stake-holders. It is being organized by India Post in association with the Philatelic Congress of India.
To further support philately and to earn more revenue, the department of posts should initiate some steps in the interest of not only stamp-collectors but also users of postal-services.
The following steps can be taken towards this endeavour:
1. Stamps of all denominations of a new definitive series should be released simultaneously together with a complete set of postal stationary on a particular theme on the first day of new financial year (1st April). This should also be the date for introduction of any new postal tariff announced earlier in Union Budget presented on last day of February.
2. Present system of issuing commemorative stamps in denomination of rupees 15 should be changed to that of rupees 10 because an RTI reply reveals that most commonly used denominations are rupees 5 and 10.
3. Since users of different denominations of stamps are different, a stamp-sheet must have only one denomination of stamps unlike presently where a sheet at times also has stamps of two or more denominations.
4. Some highly dignified, non-controversial and non-political legends like Lata Mangeshkar should be given special honour by portraying them on stamps in their life-time. Selection of such legends should be rare with consent of all major political parties in the Parliament to avoid misuse.
5. Miniature sheets should be charged more than face-value of stamps because of excessive printing costs and being a collectors’ item rather than for general use as postage stamps.
6. Schools and colleges should be motivated to give philatelic items and coin-sets in place of trophies, etc.
7. Philately as a subject should also be introduced in school text-books.
8. All postal-tariffs should be generally in multiples of rupees five with Speed Post tariff being universal at rupees fifteen or twenty for every 50-gms rise in weight abolishing differential tariff of rupees 12 for local and rupees 25 for non-local mail-articles. Since even beggars refuse coins below rupee one, post-cards should be priced at rupee one abolishing loss-giving Inland-Letter card altogether.
9. Foreign-mail tariffs should have equal tariff-rise for every 20-gms rise in weight-slab for Air Mail, and 50-gms rise in slab-weight for Surface or Sea Mail abolishing present cumbersome system to impose Air Surcharge on already haphazard tariff-system for Surface Mail.
10. Special RTI stamp on lines of revenue-stamps should be introduced for users of RTI Act to save huge handling cost of rupees 22.71 on handling of a postal-order worth rupees ten presently used as RTI fees.
11. Postal-orders should be given a new-look payable at par at all post-offices with minimum denomination of Rupees 20, adding more denominations like that of Rupees 200 and 500.
CJ: MADHU AGRAWAL Wed, Feb 16, 2011 17:36:32 IST merinews.com
