Giani Zail Singh 1995 India Stamp

Giani Zail Singh  born in Sandhwan, Faridkot district on 5 May 1916 to Kishan Singh. He was a Sikh by religion, was given the title of Gyani, as he was educated and learned about Guru Granth Sahib at Shaheed Sikh Missionary College in Amritsar.

He studied all Hindu, Muslim and Sikh scriptures. He joined the freedom struggle at the tender age of 15. From a simple rural lad he soon became an ardent champion of India's fight for emancipation from feudal and foreign yoke. Zail Singh joined the Riyasati Praja Mandal in 1938 and formed a branch of the Congress Committee in Faridkot. He was physically assaulted by the Maharaja's police, arrested and in a sham trial was imprisoned for five years. Zail Singh suffered various types of torture in prison,  but did not yield his self respect, and refused to apologize.

In April 1946, Giani Zail Singh launched a Satyagraha movement. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited Faridkot and led a mass of people with Gianiji in the vanguard to hoist the tricolour. Giani declared an open revolt against the feudal rule and set up a parallel Government. Giani was sworn in as minister in the first PEPSU government in 1946 and was unanimously elected President of the PEPSU Congress in 1955. He became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1956 and in 1962. After being elected Member of the Punjab assembly, he became a minister in the state. In 1966 he was unanimously elected President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress and in 1972 became the Chief Minister of Punjab. After being elected to the Lok Sabha in 1979, he was included in Smt. Indira Gandhi's cabinet as Home Minister.

In 1982 Gianiji took oath, as the seventh President of the Republic. He was a champion of national unity and stood steadfast on the principle of secularism. His origins were humble but his achievements were remarkable. He won the hearts of the masses and was described as the President of the people.

On November 29, 1994, he met with an accident on his way to his pilgrimage to Anandpur Sahib. He was admitted in Chandigarh, but succumbed to his injuries  on December 25, 1994. At  79 He was cremated at the Raj Ghat Memorial in old Delhi.

Department of Posts released a commemorative postage stamp  on the occasion of Singh's first death anniversary in 1995.

Issued Date: 25.12.1995
Denomination :100 paise

Tipu Sultan 1974 India Stamp

Tipu Sultan was a A brave warrior and  ruler of Mysore, Commonly  know  Tiger  of  Mysore. He was the most powerful of all the native princes of India and the greatest threat to the English position in southern India.

Tipu was born at Devanhalli, the son of Haidar Ali. Himself illiterate, Haidar was very particular in giving his eldest son a prince's education and a very early exposure to military and political affairs. From the age of 17 Tipu was given independent charge of important diplomatic and military missions. He was his father's right arm in the wars from which Haidar emerged as the most powerful ruler of southern India.

But People in Malabar, Mangalore and Coorg loved to hate him to such an extent that they joined hands with the British for his doom. This helped the British in winning the fourth Anglo Mysore War. He lost his sons in the third war and his own life in the fourth one.

A brave warrior, breathed  his last  on 4 May 1799 (aged 48) Srirangapatna,  present-day Mandya, Karnataka while fighting the British forces in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. Tipu himself fought bravely, dressed in his finest, loading and firing muskets handed him by his servants as if he was at a sporting shoot, but the odds were too great. He was wounded and his staff tried to hurry him away in a palanquin, but he was killed for his jewellery by an unidentified British soldier. 

The British Army's National Army Museum ranked Tipu Sultan among the greatest enemy commanders the British Army ever faced.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President of India, called Tipu Sultan the innovator of the world's first war rocket.

Department of Posts honoured him by releasing a commemorative postage stamp on tiger of Mysore

Issued Date : 15.07.1974
Denomination :50 Paise

V. K. Krishna Menon 1975 India Stamp

Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon was an Indian lawyer, publicist, ambassador, foreign policy advisor, and member of India's Parliament. He was also one of the most influential men in India as the principal aide to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in foreign policy.

Krishna Menon was born  at Panniyankara  in Kozhikkode, Kerala in the then British Malabar in a Vengalil family in  May  3rd 1896, to Komathu Krishna Kurup and Smt Vengalil Lakshmikutty Amma.

He received his early education from Thalassery Municipal School and Kozhikode Native School. He completed his intermediate from Samuthiri College and received his B.A degree from the Presidency College, Madras then Menon worked in the Indian Boy Scout movement for 4 years. In 1924 he left for England, where he remained for over a quarter century, ultimately serving there between 1947 and 1952 as India's high commissioner

In England, Menon studied at the London School of Economics (LSE), where he took a bachelor of science degree with honors and a master of science degree. He was profoundly influenced at LSE by the neo-Marxist thought of Professor Harold Laski, whose interpretation of colonialism and imperialism was to mark Menon's image of the world throughout his public life. Menon also earned a master's degree with honors from University College, London, and a law degree from Glasgow University and was subsequently called to the bar from the Middle Temple.

But Menon's real career in England was as secretary of the India League, through which he publicised India's national interest and lobbied for independence from Britain during the years 1929 to 1947. He was particularly persuasive among Labour party members, on whom he wisely concentrated his efforts.

Most importantly, in the 1930s Menon met Jawaharlal Nehru, with whom he struck up a deep intellectual and personal friendship, later influence in Indian government and politics was significantly a result of his close personal association with the Prime Minister.

Menon's second career began with his appointment as India's first high commissioner to England, in 1947. This was the first time that an Indian had held such a prestigious and high ranking political seat. From 1953 to 1962 he headed the Indian delegation to the annual sessions of the United Nations, where his outspoken advocacy of India's position and his strong ideological commitments made friends of some nations and alienated others.

During these years Menon represented Nehru at many international conferences. From late 1956 until his resignation in November 1962, following the India-China War, Menon was minister of defense. In 1957 and 1962 he was elected to the Lok Sabha, India's Parliament, as a Congress party candidate from North Bombay.

Virtually all of Menon's thoughts and actions on foreign policy were infused by a deep and pervasive distrust of the United States, which he saw as the primary agent of imperialism, racism, and capitalist exploitation in the modern world. These views were an outgrowth of Menon's political philosophy and his emotional reaction to India's colonial experience. For these reasons he also deeply hated Pakistan. He held that Pakistan was created by British imperialism and supported by United States imperialism and, as a theocratic Moslem state, was a historical threat to a secular India. Pakistan's collusion with China simply strengthened his distrust. His uncompromising position on Kashmir derived from his view of Pakistan and a fear that Kashmir might be the first step in Pakistan's effort to recontrol the sub-continent.

Although some of these positions were less than productive in serving India's interests, Menon made significant contributions to world diplomacy and to India's role in international affairs. His representation of nonalignment as an external form of India's national independence and his efforts to expand the "area of peace" in the world, to press for wider disarmament, and to encourage conciliation in and out of the United Nations were all positive efforts. They reflected Nehru's mind as much as Menon's, and in this sense Indian foreign policy in the decade 1952-1962 was a product of the unique personal understanding between the two.

After his 1962 resignation Menon's political fortunes declined. He was denied a Congress nomination in the 1967 elections, resigned from the party, and was defeated by the Congress candidate when he stood from the North Bombay (East) constituency as an independent. In 1969 he was elected in a West Bengal by-election with leftist support, and in 1971 he stood successfully as an independent from a Kerala constituency. Here too he received the support of the left Communists. His publicly stated views were always consistent with those which he had maintained during the peak of his career.

Menon was often described as being a man of great strength, personality, and ambition. He spent his entire life serving his country. Menon Breathed his last  on October 6, 1974, in New Delhi, India.He was conferred upon with the Padma Vibhushan award thus, becoming the first Malayalee to be so honored.

The V.K. Krishna Menon Foundation, based in London was instituted in his memory and till date, works towards the eradication of illiteracy and the promotion of Indian arts and culture

Department of Posts released a commemorative postage in memory of  V. K. Krishna  Menon

Issued Date : 24.10.1975
Denomination : 25 Paise

Durga Das 2003 India Stamp

Durga Das (1900-1974) was a legendary journalist of India who did signal service to the 'national cause through his vocation.

Hailing from the Jalandhar District of Punjab, he started taking interest in journalism from a relatively young age. His interest in news and news reporting also drew him towards the national movement.

His career, spread over fifty-five years, fell into four distinct phases. He was with the Associated Press of India, now known as the Press Trust of India, from 1919 to 1937 and was its Chief Parliamentary Correspondent, ace reporter  and  editor.  Thereafter, he  worked  as  a Special Representative (and in other capacities also) of The Statesman of Kolkata and Delhi from 1937 to 1943. He became Joint Editor and political columnist of the Hindustan Times in April 1944 and Chief Editor of the paper in 1957. He founded The India News and Feature Alliance, a feature agency devoted to the regional press, on 14 November,  1959 and was its Managing Director, Editor-in-Chief and political columnist.

As a journalist Durga Das was fair and objective in reporting, informative and analytical in writing, constructive in editorial comment, and a supporter of the voice of dissent as a political columnist.

For him, journalism was an opportunity to serve the motherland. Professional honours came  to him in various forms. These included positions like the Chairman of the Press Gallery Committee of the Indian Parliament, President of All India Newspaper Editors' Conference, founder President of the Press Club of India and member of the Press Council. Durga Das authored two important books, namely India and the World (1958), and India from Curzon to Nehru  & After (1969).

His love for the profession found culmination when he founded the Durga Das Ratan Devi Trust in 1969 to give five annual Durga Ratan Awards for excellence in journalism.

Durga Das, one of the most prominent journalists in India, breathed his last of a heart attack on 17th May  1974.  He was 73 years old.

The Department of Posts is happy to issue a commemorative postage stamp in honour of Durga Das.

Issued  Date : 02.05.2003
Denomination : 500 Paise

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin 1970 India Stamp

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin was a Russian revolutionary, and the leader of the Bolshevik party. He was the first leader of the USSR and the Communist government that took over Russia in 1917. Lenin is also known as the creator of Leninism a version of Communism that Lenin adapted for the Soviet Union.

“We want to achieve a new and better order of society: in this new and better society there must be neither rich nor poor; all will have to work. Not a handful of rich people, but all the working people must enjoy the fruits of their common labour. Machines and other improvements must serve to ease the work of all and not to enable a few to grow rich at the expense of millions and tens of millions of people. This new and better society is called socialist society.”

Lenin was born in the town of Simbirsk in the Russian Empire. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father was an education official.

Lenin was an able student, learning Latin and Greek. In 1887, he was thrown out of Kazan State University because he protested against the Tsar who was the king of the Russian Empire. He continued to read books and study ideas by himself, and in 1891 he got a license to become a lawyer.

In the same year that Lenin was expelled from University, his brother Alexander was hanged for his part in a bomb plot to kill Tsar Alexander III, and their sister Anna was sent to Tatarstan. This made Lenin furious, and he promised to get revenge for his brother’s death.

While studying law in St. Petersburg he learned about the writings of Karl Marxand Friedrich Engels, both radical Marxist philosophers from Germany. Lenin developed a lifelong philosophy of seeking to overthrow Capitalist society and replace it with a fairer Communist society. He saw existing Capitalist society as inherently unjust.

“Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave-owners. “

For becoming involved and writing about Marxism, Lenin was arrested sent to prison in Siberia.

In July 1898, when he was still in Siberia, Lenin married Nadezhda Krupskaya. In 1899 he wrote a book he called The Development of Capitalism in Russia”. In 1900, Lenin was set free from prison and allowed to go back home.

He then travelled around Europe. He began to publish a Marxist newspaper called Iskra, the Russian word for “spark” or “lightning”. He also became an important member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP.

In 1917, people started rumours that Lenin had received money from the Germans. That made him look bad because a lot of Russians had died fighting Germany in the war. The rumours were so bad he was afraid he could get arrested or even killed. He left Russia and went to Finland, a country right next to Russia, where he could hide and carry on with his work on Communism.

After Tsar Nicholas II gave up his throne during the February Revolution, Germany hoped that they could persuade Russia to leave the war. The German government helped Lenin to secretly return to Russia, in the hope that Lenin would help end Russia’s involvement in the war. Lenin was still considered to be a very important Bolshevik leader, and he saw the great discontent of the population giving a unique opportunity for revolution. He wrote that he wanted a revolution by ordinary workers to overthrow the government that had replaced Nicholas.

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, headed the Petrograd Soviet and other Soviets all over Russia in a revolution against Kerensky’s government, which was known as the October Revolution. They won, and announced that Russia was a Communist country. In November, Lenin was chosen as its leader.

Because Lenin wanted an end to World War One in Russia, he signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in February 1918. While the treaty ended the war with Germany, Russia paid a high price in terms of lost land. But, to Lenin ending the war was critical.

“The government considers it the greatest of crimes against humanity to continue this war over the issue of how to divide among the strong and rich nations the weak nationalities they have conquered, and solemnly announces its determination immediately to sign terms of peace to stop this war on the terms indicated, which are equally just for all nationalities without exception.”

After the war, Lenin brought in the New Economic Policy to try and make things better for the country. Some private enterprise was allowed, but not much. Businessmen, known as nepmen, could only own small industries, not factories.

A woman named Fanny Kaplan shot Lenin in 1918, he started having strokes. By May 1922, he was badly paralysed. After another stroke in March 1923, he could not speak or move. Lenin’s fourth stroke killed him in January 1924. Just before he died, Lenin had wanted to get rid of Stalin because he thought he was dangerous to the country and the government.

The city of St. Petersburg had been renamed Petrograd by the Tsar in 1914, but was renamed Leningrad in memory of Lenin in 1924.

Before Lenin died, he said he wished to be buried beside his mother. When he died, Stalin decided to let the people in Russia come and look at his body. Because so many people kept coming, they decided not to bury him, and preserved his body instead. A building was built in Red Square, Moscow over the body so that people could see it. It is called the Lenin Mausoleum. Many Russians and tourists still go there to see his body today

Department of Posts released commemorative postage stamp on his  centenary.

Issued Date : 22.04.1970
Denomination : 20 Paise

Kunwar Singh 1966 India Stamp

Kunwar Singh was one of the most important freedom fighters in the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Kunwar Singh was born in Jagdishpur in the Shahabad (now in BhojpurDistrict) of Bihar. 

It was about 1777 AD and was destined to die a hero in the Great Rising of 1857. When the people of all parts of India rose against British authority in 1857, Babu Kunwar Singh was already past his prime being nearly 80 years old. In that age, he fought against the British East India Company. Despite his age and failing health, when the call to fight came, Kunwar Singh plunged into the thick of it and for nearly a year battled against the British forces with grim determination and undaunted courage. 

In Bihar, Kunwar Singh was the Chieftain against the British. He assumed command of the soldiers who had revolted at Danapur on 5th July. Two days later he occupied Arrah, the district headquarters. Major Vincent Eyre relieved the town on 3rd August, defeated Kunwar Singh`s force and destroyed Jagdishpur. Kunwar Singh left his ancestral village and reached Lucknow in December 1857. 

In March 1858, he occupied Azamgarh. However, he had to leave the place soon. He was pursued by Brigadier Douglas and he retreated towards his home in Bihar. On 23 April, Kunwar Singh had a victory near Jagdishpur over the force led by Captain Le Grand, but the following day he died in his village. The mantle of the old chief now fell on his brother Amar Singh who, despite heavy odds, continued the struggle and for a considerable time ran a parallel government in the district of Shahabad. In October 1859 Amar Singh joined the rebel leaders in the Nepal Terai. 

*In his last battle, fought on 23 April 1858, near Jagdispur, the troops under the control of the East India Company were completely routed. On 22 and 23 April being injured he fought bravely against the British Army and with the help of his army drove away the British Army, brought down the Union Jack from Jagdishpur Fort and hoisted his flag. [citation needed] He returned to his palace on 23 April 1858 and soon died on 26 April 1858.*

Government of Bihar established Veer Kunwar Singh University, Arrah in 1992. Named after him,

The ICSE board has in its Hindi textbook (Ekanki Suman) a play by Jagdish Chandra Mathur (by the name of Vijay Ki Vela, literally: Moment of Victory and Veer Kunwar Singh) on the later part of Veer Kunwar Singh's life, starting from the time he was crossing the river Ganges and finishing with his death, because of his injury.

As a recognition to his contribution to India`s freedom movement, the Department of Posts honoured him by releasing a commemorative postage stamp.

Issued  Date : 23.04.1966
Denomination : 15 Paise

Dr Rajkumar 2009 India Stamp

Singanalluru Puttaswamayya Muthuraju known mononymously by his stage name Rajkumar and , Appaji was an Indian actor and singer in the Kannada Cinema. Widely acclaimed as one of the finest actors in the history of Indian Cinema, 

A method actor, Rajkumar entered the film industry after his long stint as a dramatist with Gubbi Veeranna's Gubbi Drama Company, which he joined at the age of eight, and got his first break as a lead in the year 1954 film Bedara Kannappa, and went on to work in over 220 films, in the year 2000 super hit Shabdavedhi being the last acted movie.

Rajkumar was born on 24 April 1929 in Gajanur, a hamlet in a predominantly Kannada-speaking Talavadi taluk in the erstwhile Madras Presidency (in present-day Erode district, Tamil Nadu). His father, Puttaswamayya and mother, Lakshmamma were impoverished theatre artists from Singanallur.Puttaswamayya was good at playing roles like Kamsa,  Ravana  and Hiranyakashipu. Rajkumar left school at eight and was later discovered by film producers, who cast him in bit roles that he played till he was 25. Originally, he was named Mutturaja, after the Muthaththii Raya (a name for the Hindu deity Hanuman), which is a temple deity located in Muthathi, a settlement on the banks of river Kaveri in present-day Karnataka.

Before acting in what would become his first film as a lead, Bedara Kannappa, he appeared in Sri Srinivasa Kalyana in 1952, as one of the seven Saptarishi (sages).  It was an insignificant role, he remembered the scene was over before he recognized himself in the scene.

Rajkumar is the first Indian artist to enact a role of James Bond in Jedara Bale.[25] Later, in Operation Jackpotnalli CID 999, Goadalli CID 999, and Operation Diamond Racket where he played roles chronicling the adventures of Prakash aka Agent CID 999, a James Bondesque superspy.

Rajkumar was awarded numerous State,National & International awards. He was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, a doctorate from Mysore University, and the Karnataka Ratna, the highest civilian honour of the State of Karnataka, recognising him as a "Jewel of Karnataka State".In 1985, he was honored by a famous Kentucky colonel award by the then-governor of Kentucky, United States. By this he became the only Indian actor to receive this prestigious from the Kentucky state, United States of America. In 1995 he received the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his outstanding contributions to the Kannada film industry. 

Well known for his highly disciplined and simple lifestyle in both personal and professional fronts, Rajkumar was also an avid Yoga, Pranayama and Carnatic music performer. He is also credited for being the only Indian Super Star who stayed away from acting the vicious acts of drinking, smoking and uttering swear words in all the roles he performed in his long spanning career of close to 50 years. At age 71, he was kidnapped from his farm house at Gajanur by Veerappan. He was released after 108 days. 

He breathed his last of cardiac arrest at his residence in Bangalore on 12 April 2006 at the age of 77.

Department of Posts released a commemorative postage stamp on Dr Rajkumar

Issued Date : 01.11.2009
Denomination : 500 Paise