A commemorative postage stamp on the 50^th Anniversary of the India International Center (IIC) :

Issued by India

Issued on Feb 9, 2012

Issued for : India Post is happy to join the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of this intellectual haven by issuing a Commemorative Postage Stamp, the design of which has tried to capture the essence of the Centre.

Credits :
Stamp / FDC & Brochure : Kamleshwar Singh
Cancellation : Alka Sharma

Type : Stamp, Mint condition

Colour : Multi colour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Stamps Printed : 0.4 Million (0.1 Million for the proponent)

Printing Process : Wet Offset

Printer : Security Printing Press, Hyderabad

About : 

• The coming together of a few men and women with a vision for India’s future, led to the founding of the India International Centre (IIC), a premier non-government organization in the capital, in the nineteen sixties. The purpose of the Centre as stated in its charter is, ‘to promote understanding and amity between the different communities of the world’. The IIC is recognized for its creative influence on the cultural and intellectual life of the country.
• Intellectual giants of the time like Jawaharlal Nehru, S. Radhakrishnan, John D. Rockefeller III, C.D. Deshmukh etc. contributed to the IIC becoming a reality. The founders succeeded in creating a liberal ambience that fostered intellectual and cultural explorations, which have become the hallmark of the IIC. The Centre was designed by the famous architect Joseph Allen Stein whose vision was ‘to create a place where a certain kind of relationship exists – between the garden and the building and the water and the earth and the sky, and the learning and activities that take place and the things that happen…….’
• The talks and symposia of the IIC cover a wide range of subjects like international affairs, human rights, environment, wildlife, dimensions in science and medicine, religion, philosophy, culture and literature. Through its close contacts with prominent academic and cultural institutions the world over, the IIC draws original thinkers and professionals from different parts of the globe. The forums also aim to create awareness and influence public opinion on the relevant issues of the day – issues not only of global concern, but equally of relevance in the localized context of India. By bringing attention to remoter regions and plurality of cultures in this country, the programmes present a rich texture of India’s multicultural identity.
• Visiting delegates and speakers to the Centre have included Pearl Buck, P.M.S. Blackett, Robert Goheen, Paul Gore-Booth, Frederick Leboyer, Ivan Illich, Dalai Lama, Sogyal Rimpoche, Julius Nyerere, Willy Brandt, Henry Kissinger, Lee Kuan Yew, Shimon Peres, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Sheikh Hasina, Gunter Grass, Hasan Fathy, Dominique Lapierre, Noam Chomsky, Kathleen Raine, Mahasweta Devi, Nissim Ezekiel, Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Amartya Sen, Jung Chang and many others.
• The facilities at the Centre include an Art Gallery, a hostel, conference rooms and catering facilities. The IIC is also known for its library, open to research scholars from across the globe. The Centre brings out several publications including its journal ‘The IIC Quarterly’, which are valued for their high intellectual content.
• Text : P.N. Ranjit Kumar (Based on the text provided by the proponent).

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