Club News

CINEPEX-2008
A Philatelic exhibition on Cinema, Cinepex-2008 was held in Calcutta from May 31 to 2 June 2008 in Calcutta. It was a solo exhibition of the collection of Shri Dipok Dey. It was organized by Klokata Utsav News Magazine in collaboration with Cine Central, Calcutta. Dipok Dey is known for his art work in philately as well as for his beautiful philatelic collection on Cinema. On this occasion a stamp booklet on Devika Rani containing (Rs. 5 x 10) stamps was issued to commemorate Birth centenary Celebration of Devika Rani. The price of the Booklet is Rs.100/- and was issued in 200 numbers. (Courtesy- V.K. Sabharwal)

New Indian Issue - A commemorative stamp was issued on 11 June 2008 on Shri Rajesh Pilot.

Prakash Mody from Canada writes.......

Dear friends,
Please see below the news item about Diwali Stamp by Royal Mail that appeared in the Garvi Gujarat (GG), widely read bilingual weekly of London, UK. As you will read, GG contacted Royal Mail and they are expecting the community to approach them with how and what they wish.
I suggest that you individually and/or as representative of the community organizations should contact Stamps Program Manager of the Royal Mail and suggest for a stamp depicting celebrations of "Festival of Lights" that can be issued on the Diwali day. Earliest they can do being in 2010, it can be on November 6, 2010.
Please forward this to other friends, Hindu - Jain - Sikh or other organizations who may also help us in making our case stronger. Anyone can email me at 4prakash@gmail.com for either copy of my own request letter or the info package that I had circulated earlier (referred in GG).
Please feel free, if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely thanking you.
Prakash

Diwali stamp
ROYAL Mail has told GG2 that it is keen to hear from the Asian community about ideas for commemorating religious festivals in the form of stamps.The comments came after philatelist Prakash Mody wrote to the organisation asking why they didn’t appear to celebrate Britain’s many different faiths in the form of stamps. Every year, six to seven stamps related to Christianity are released, he said.‘It may be mentioned that emphasis here is not of religion, but it is of culture. One would like to continue to maintain our cultural heritage that includes religion, food and dress,’ Prakash Mody said in his letter to the Royal Mail group.A Royal Mail spokesman said: ‘We would like to speak further to representatives of all religious groups to determine what exactly they want in a festival stamp. The celebration of different ethnic groups is very important to us.’

Digi Frank Plus - Remotely Managed Franking System by India Post
Gone are the days when you would have to carry your franking machine meters to the post office, stand in long queue and wait for your turn to get the meter loaded. The meter loading process was also tedious involving several checks on the documentation and the machine, followed by the physical sealing of the machine with wire, wax or lead. This method was not only primitive, it was also prone to misuse by some unscrupulous parties.

The Department of Posts worked hard to find a solution to these problems. It researched a lot and finally, at the beginning of this year, it issued a set of innovative and path breaking technical specifications to the franking machine manufacturers of the world to come up with an India specific solution that would solve the existing problems, ensure foolproof security of funds and be futuristic in approach and scope.

Shri IMG Khan, Secretary, Department of Posts, gave green signal to this endeavor of India Post on 21st May 2008 by formally introducing two models of Remotely Managed Franking System Machines, one each from Neopost and Piney Bowes Pvt Ltd. These machines have been tested as per the laid down specifications and cleared by the Electronic Testing Machinery under the Department of Information and Technology. The new generation digitally operated franking system, on which these machines are based, has been appropriately given the name "digi frank plus".

Unlike the older machines fitted with impact printing of franks, these new franking machines will use digitally controlled inkjet printing technology and will print a clear, clean, dynamically bar-coded secure frank that may even be used to offer track and trace by the India Post. The term plus in digi frank plus actually signifies these additional features of the Remotely Managed Franking System (RMFS) as the system is technically called.

RMFS primarily means that the franking machines based on this system would not be required to be physically carried to the post office for crediting. The network that India Post is setting up with the help of the franking machine manufacturers, will enable the new technology franking machine user to remotely credit his machine through dial up or any other network while sitting in his office.

The system involves setting up of Remote Resetting Centers by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The Department of Posts will set up their own Center for electronically receiving fund deposit instructions from the State Bank of India, which is the designated bank for receiving payments for the franking machine credits. The franking machine users will deposit funds through cash / cheque / draft / internet banking in any branch of the State Bank of India across the country. The bank will pass on the details to the India Post Server which will authenticate the transactions and pass the necessary instructions to the OEM’s Remote Servers. The users will simply connect their machines to the OEM’s server through a telephone line and download the required funds from their accounts maintained at the Remote servers. The complete transaction will take between 60-90 seconds only. The entire transactions are managed electronically, involving no manual intervention. It is fast. it is convenient and it is absolutely secure.