K. Shankar Pillai
Complete Set of 2 nos of commemorative postage stamps on Keshav Shankar Pillai (Shankar), an Indian cartoonist :
Issued by India
Issued on Jul 31, 1991
Issued for : To honour this great cartoonist, the Department of Posts is issuing a set of two stamps.
Description of Designs : The stamps depict two of Shankar’s famous cartoons. The First Day Cover is designed by Shri Sankh Samant and cancellation by Ms. Alka Sharma.
Type : Stamps, Postal Used
Colour : Single colour
Denomination : 400 & 650 Paise
Overall size : 3.91 x 2.90 cms.
Printing size : 3.55 x 2.54 cms.
Perforation : 13 x 13
Paper : Indigenous Un W/M Gravure Coated Stamp Paper
Number Printed : 10,00,000
Number per issue sheet : 35
Printing Process : Photogravure
Printed : India Security Press
Name : Kesava Shankara Pillai
Born on Jul 31, 1902 at Kayamkulam, Alappuzha district, Kerala, India
Died on Dec 26, 1989
About :
- Keshav Shankar Pillai, popularly known as ‘Shankar’ was one of India’s most celebrated cartoonists. He was born on 31st July, 1902 in Kayamkulam, in Kerala. After graduating from Maharajah’s College of Science, Trivandrum in 1927 he went to Bombay to join the Law College but soon quit studies and started working.
- Even as a student, Shankar took to cartooning as a hobby and his drawings on political personalities and national events attracted the attention of the newspapers and of the public. He joined ‘The Hindustan Times’ in 1932 and continued as staff cartoonist till 1946.
- Shankar began publishing the ‘Shankar’s Weekly’ in 1948. It abounded in healthy, sparkling humour. The high and mighty came into focus in Shankar’s cartoons. The weekly was closed in August 1975 when Shankar took to the pen. He concentrated on developing the different facets of the Children’s Book Trust (CBT) which he had founded in 1957. Today it is a pioneer publisher of children’s books in India. The object of CBT is to provide well written, well-illustrated and well-designed books for children at affordable prices. The CBT also comprises the International Dolls Museum, the Dolls Designing and Production Centre and Dr. B. C. Roy Library and Reading Room.
- Shankar started the Shankar’s “International Children’s Competition” in 1949, and as a part of it, the Shankar’s “On The Spot Painting Competition” in 1952. He also instituted an annual competition for the Writers of Children’s Books in 1978.
- Shankar was the recipient of numerous awards including Padma Shri (1956), Padma Bhushan (1966) and Padma Vibhushan (1976). Decorations which he received from foreign countries included the Order of Smile – an honour from a Committee of Polish Children (1977), Citation from the Hamilton Branch of the United Nations Association in Canada (1979), Commemorative Medal from the Hungarian Institute of Cultural Relations (1980) and Order de Saint Fortunat from Federal Republic of Germany. In 1984, he was conferred the D. Litt (honoris causa) by the University of Delhi.
- Shankar passed away on December 26, 1989.
- Text : Courtesy matter received from CBT.
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