Issued by India

Issued on Nov 12, 1996

Issued for : The Department of Post is happy to issue a set of two stamps to commemorate Salim Ali’s birth centenary.

Design Credit :
Stamp, FDC and Cancellation Design : Bombay Natural History Society.

Type : Stamps, Postal Used

Colour : Multicolour

Denomination : 800 & 1100 Paise

Overall size : 3.50 x 7.00 cms.

Printing size : 3.15 x 6.65 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Paper : Imported un w/m Adhesive Gravure Coated Stamp Paper in Sheets 50.8 x 53.5 cms.

Number of Stamps Printed : 0.4 Million

Number per issue sheet : 18

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printer : India Security Press, Nasik

Name : Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali

Born on Nov 12, 1896 at Mumbai, India

Died on Jun 20, 1987 at Mumbai, India

About : 

• Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was a versatile ornithologist, explorer, ecologist, teacher & a writer. Born on 12^th November, 1896, Salim Ali took up ornithology at a time when the subject in India was little more than an Englishman’s pastime. Salim Ali made it a serious pursuit. In 1930 he went to the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) with a proposal. Indian birds had not been studied systematically, so would the Society send him on ornithological surveys? He didn’t want a salary, only expenses. Thus for the next 20 years Salim Ali roamed the subcontinent, studying birds from Kutch to Sikkim, from Afghanistan to Kerala. His methods were so unique – he wove history, ecology and geography into his description of a bird and its habitat.
• In 1941 Salim Ali published ‘The Book of Indian Birds’. It was an instant success. During this period he formed a deep and abiding friendship with S. Dillon Ripley, a young zoologist with the US Army in Ceylon. Pooling their vast knowledge, the two men would later publish the ten-volume Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan.
• He was an active conservationist (as he was an ornithologist). His role in setting up of the Bharatpur and Karnal bird sanctuaries, the decision not to destroy Kerala‘s Silent Valley for the sake of a power project, the saving of the Keoladeo National Park are eloquent testimony to his concern for environment.
• Recognition came late to Dr. Salim Ali, but it came abundantly. The Asiatic Society‘s Gold Medal for Research in Asiatic Zoology, the Padma Bhushan 1958, and the Padma Vibhushan in 1976 from the Govt. of India, the Sunderlal Hora Memorial Prize of the Indian National Science Academy, the Honorary degree of D. Sc. From the Universities of Delhi, Andhra and Aligarh, the Union Gold Medal of the British Ornithologist Union, the Pavlovsky Centenary Memorial, Medal of the USSR Academy of Medical Science, the Order of the Golden Arc of the Netherlands, the C.V. Raman Medal of the Indian National Science Academy, the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Gold Medal, National Research Professorship in Ornithology from the Govt. of India, and the Paul Getty International Prize for Wildlife Conservation.
• The BNHS was his family and to it he left all the assets accruing from his publications. Nothing could dampen Salim Ali’s spirit, not even old age. Until his 87^th year, he conducted major expeditions, and in 1983 spent four weeks in the remote and difficult Namdapha National Park, near the Burmese border. Two years later he was set to go to the Himalayas in search of mountain quails, last seen in 1858. But he suddenly fell ill. He used the time to finish one more book, ‘The Fall of a Sparrow’, his delightful autobiography.
• Text : Bombay Natural History Society.

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Issued by India

Issued on Apr 4, 1983

Issued for : Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department is privileged to issue a commemorative stamp on St. Francis of Assisi on the occasion of his 800^th birth anniversary.

Description of Designs : The stamp designed by India Security Press, shows the statue of St. Francis and Brother Falcon, by Giovanni Collina in La Verna (Italy). The first day cover, designed by Charanjit Lal, shows the lofty Church of St. Francis of Assisi at Old Goa, which was completed in 1521 and rebuilt in 1661 keeping intact the old portico. It is 190 ft. long and 60 ft. wide. The outer architecture belongs to Tuscan style and the interior to Corinthian-mosaic. Cancellation has also been designed by Charanjit Lal.

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Dark Brown

Denomination : 100 Paisa

Overall size : 4.06 x 2.73 cms.

Printing size : 3.71 x 2.38 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Paper : Unwatermarked P. G. matt coated paper

Number printed : 20,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 40

Printing process : Photogravure

Printed at : India Security Press

Name : Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (Francesco)

Born on 1182 at Assisi, Italy

Died on Oct 3, 1226 at Assisi, Italy

About : 

• Born of a rich cloth merchant in Italy in 1182, Francis abandoned his patrimony and took to a life of renunciation and service at the age of 24. Simplicity and joy marked his life. The poor and the down-trodden, lepers and the destitutes attracted him most. Animals and plants also received his love and affection. He would speak of the mother earth, the brother sun and the sister moon. A wolf that attacked a village was addressed by him as brother and it became a friend of the people who later fed it regularly. The birds of the air and the fish of the sea found in him a loving friend to play with. His love for plants and trees too was unusual. He has become the world patron for ecology and wild life.
• Thousand followed his life style of simplicity and service. As he died at the age of 44 (1226) there were 10,000 Franciscan religious men and 8 convents of sisters. Thousands of laymen also followed his inspiration, grouping themselves as the 3^rd Order of St. Francis. Today his followers, the Franciscans all over the world, go into lakhs. Imitation of St. Francis has produced hundreds of other saints.
• The dust jacket of THE FRANCIS BOOK, a major anthology published for the Century Year of St. Francis has the following : “Rembrandt painted him, Zeffirelli filmed him, Chesterton eulogized him, Lenin died with his name on his lips, Toynbee  compared him to Jesus and Buddha, Kerouac picked him as the patron of the Beat Generation, Sir Kenneth Clark called him Europe‘s greatest religious genius. Merchants and revolutionaries, religious leaders and hippies, writers and film makers all turn to him for inspiration and a glimpse of a better life. The Francis phenomenon grows and cross-fertilizes the earth’s culture…..”
• Many historians trace the origins of Renaissance, modern poetry, art and drama to St. Francis. His poems, especially the “Canticles of the Creatures” are famous.
• He was a great peace maker between warring factions and townships in Italy. During the Crusades, he went unarmed to the Sultan of Egypt for peace talks. His prayer for peace is still popular all over the world. It is his prayer “Lord make me an instrument of peace….” which Mother Teresa made her own.
• St. Francis is one of the most popular saints in India not only among Christians but among all people. Members of the religious congregations founded by him are engaged in service activities in most states of India. It is his inspiration and life example that sustain them. They number 1198 priests and 11,242 sisters.
• It is hoped that the stamp being issued in honour of this ecologist, philanthropist and peace maker of world fame would inspire our country-men and women to love their fellow beings and sympathise with nature.
• (Text by courtesy : Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, New Delhi).

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