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The Department of Posts released a commemorative postage stamp marking the birth centenary of the painter, sculptor, muralist, architect and writer Satish Gujral, at a ceremony at Bikaner House, New Delhi.
The stamp was released by the Union Minister of Communications and Development of North Eastern Region, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia; it was designed by Shri Anuj Kumar on the proposal of Ms. Raseel Gujral Ansal.
Gujral, a Padma Vibhushan recipient whose career spanned over seven decades, had himself designed stamps for the Department of Posts, including the issue on the 125th anniversary of VSNL and the Financial Inclusion stamp.
A commemorative stamp marks a person, event or theme and is printed for a limited period, unlike a definitive stamp, which is the ordinary everyday stamp printed continuously for postal use. Any citizen of India may propose a commemorative stamp, and proposals are to be submitted in the prescribed format at least two years in advance. They are examined by the Philatelic Advisory Committee (PAC) or its sub-committee, and the issue is approved by the Union Minister in charge of Communications on the PAC's recommendation. The Philately Division fixes the date of issue, weighing the significant dates connected with the subject against the availability of slots in the printing schedule. One rule matters most for exams: a commemorative stamp is not issued on a living personality, and the person honoured must be of national or international importance — which is why such stamps so often appear on a birth centenary or a death anniversary.
Simple Analogy: A definitive stamp is the everyday currency of the post — printed endlessly, used without a second thought. A commemorative stamp is a limited-edition coin struck for an occasion: a fixed print run, a public ceremony, and a subject that had to clear a committee two years earlier.
Issues definitive and commemorative postage stamps and runs India's philatelic system, including philatelic bureaux and counters. Stamp proposals are cleared through the Philatelic Advisory Committee and approved by the Minister of Communications.
India's premier institution for modern art, established on 29 March 1954 and housed in Jaipur House near India Gate — a building designed by Sir Charles Geoffrey Blomfield in 1936 as the residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur. Its collection runs to more than 17,000 works. Branches operate at Mumbai and Bengaluru.
The National Academy of Art, set up as an autonomous body on 5 August 1954 and inaugurated by the then Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, to promote understanding of Indian visual art in India and abroad. It was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in 1957 and works through a General Council and an Executive Board.
The group founded in Bombay in 1947 that broke with the conservative art establishment and shaped post-independence Indian modernism. Founder members were K.H. Ara, M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza and F.N. Souza; Krishen Khanna, V.S. Gaitonde and others were associated later. Its first exhibition was held in 1948 and the group dispersed soon after, Raza moving to Paris and Souza to London.
Lalit Kala Akademi (visual arts, 1954) sits alongside the Sangeet Natak Akademi (music, dance and drama, 1953) and the Sahitya Akademi (literature, 1954). All three were set up in the early 1950s under what is now the Ministry of Culture, and questions regularly ask which one covers which art form and which came first — the answer being Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Instituted in 1954, the Padma awards come in three grades — Padma Vibhushan for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of a high order, and Padma Shri for distinguished service — across disciplines including art, public affairs, science and engineering, literature and education, and sport. They are announced on Republic Day and conferred by the President. Satish Gujral received the Padma Vibhushan in 1999; Jatin Das, present at the release, is a Padma Bhushan recipient.
Gujral's apprenticeship under Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros in Mexico from 1952 carried the muralists' idea of art as public and social work into Indian practice, and shaped his large-scale mosaic and ceramic-tile murals. This is one of the clearest instances of a foreign art movement directly shaping post-independence Indian art.
Gujral is unusual for being tested in two syllabus places at once — as a modern Indian painter and sculptor, and as the architect of the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi, which belongs with Charles Correa, B.V. Doshi and Raj Rewal in the modern Indian architecture list.
GS Paper 1 > Indian Heritage and Culture > Modern Indian Painting, Sculpture and Architecture
General Awareness > Static GK: Personalities, Awards and Institutions
General Awareness > Current Affairs and Static GK
Commemorative stamps on cultural personalities appear several times a year; the individual honoured, their awards and their signature works are the recurring test material.
A stamp issued for a limited period to mark a person, event or theme, cleared by the Philatelic Advisory Committee and approved by the Minister of Communications — as distinct from a definitive stamp printed continuously for regular postal use.
An artist who works on large surfaces such as walls and ceilings, often in mosaic or ceramic tile. Gujral's murals came out of his Mexican apprenticeship under Rivera and Siqueiros.
A Belgian national honour; Gujral received it for designing the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi.
The study and collection of postage stamps and postal history; the Department of Posts runs philatelic bureaux and counters to serve collectors.