A commemorative postage stamp on the Birth Centenary of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, 1^st President of India (1950-62) :

Issued by India

Issued on Dec 3, 1984

Issued for : The Posts and Telegraphs Department is proud to issue a commemorative stamp for the second time as an humble tribute on the first birth centenary of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India.

Description of Design : The 50 p. multicolour stamp has been designed by India Security Press, Nasik. The First Day Cover shows Dr. Rajendra Prasad with Mahatma Gandhi. The cancellation design has been prepared by Nenu Bagga.

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Multicolour

Denomination : 50 Paise

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 : 15,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 40

Printing process : Photogravure

Printed at : India Security Press

Name : Rajendra Prasad

Born on Dec 3, 1884 at Ziradei, Siwan district, Bihar, India

Died on Feb 28, 1963 at Patna, Bihar, India

About : 

• Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Republic of India was born on 3^rd December, 1884 in a small village in the Saran district of North Bihar known as Jeradei. His father Mahadev Sahay was a scholar in Persian and Sanskrit.
• At the age of five, according to the practice of the times, Rajendra Prasad learnt Persian, besides Hindi and Arithmetic under a Maulvi. Later, he joined the Zilla school at Chapra from where he did his Entrance Examination at the age of 18, standing first in the first division. Thereafter, he joined the Presidency College, Calcutta for higher studies. He claimed the first position in B.A., M.A., LLB and M.L. Examinations. He was elected to the post of the Secretary of the College Union and started a student organisation whose members actively participated in Gandhiji‘s Champaran movement. It was in Calcutta as a student that Rajendra Prasad was exposed to a new awareness that had begun to dawn on the country at that time. The ‘Dawn Society‘ of which Rajendra Prasad was a member provided ample opportunities for his socio-political awakening.
• He first started legal practice in Calcutta. Simultaneously, he joined the Indian National Congress and was elected to AICC. Rajendra Prasad was really a diamond covered with dust. After 33 years, a clever jeweller who was no other than Mahatma Gandhi recognised his worth and presented him before the world, in 1917 when British atrocities ended in Champaran. He was a successful lawyer not merely by dint of his incisive intellect and phenomenal memory but also because of his innate honesty, integrity and purity of character. Jawaharlal Nehru once remarked that he was a symbol of the real India and “truth looked at you through his eyes“.
• Rajendra Prasad’s organising capacity, his devotion to service and popularity were fully appreciated by Gandhiji, specially after his role as Chairman of the “Bihar Central Relief Committee” formed to ameliorate the condition of thousands of people uprooted by the devastating earthquake which occurred in 1934, in Bihar. In 1920, Rajendra Prasad took the final plunge and dedicated himself wholly to the national cause, from where he did not look back. He joined Gandhiji’s Civil disobedience movement, non-cooperation movement and suffered several terms of rigorous imprisonment. Personally, he suffered severe privations for want of a regular income and had a weak health due to asthma, but they did not come in the way of his participation in the national struggle.
• Gandhiji persuaded him to become the President for the 48^th Congress session held at Bombay in 1934. When in 1939, Subash Chander Bose resigned from the Presidentship of the Congress, Rajendra Prasad had to accept the responsibility again. In 1947, when Acharya Kripalani resigned as President of the Congress, all the leaders including Gandhiji unanimously requested Dr. Rajendra Prasad to accept the office. Thus he became President of the Congress for the third term. During the framing of the constitution Dr. Rajendra Prasad made momentous contribution as President of the Constituent Assembly. This was an event which had no parallel in the political history of India. This was an event even greater than his being the first President of India. His appointment to the high office of the President of India in 1950 came as a matter of course which he held lending great dignity to it. He held the office for two terms and retired in 1962. After retirement, he settled in Sadaqat Ashram, Patna and breathed his last on 28^th February, 1963.

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