Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha has launched a Pan India scholarship program for school children.
- The scheme is called Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana which aims to increase the reach of Philately.
- SPARSH stands for Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby.
- Under the scheme, students from class VI to IX will be awarded annual scholarships for having good academic record and also pursuing Philately as a hobby.
- Selection of the 920 students will be done through a competition in all postal circles.
- Every Postal Circle will select a maximum of 40 scholarships representing 10 students each from Standard VI, VII, VIII & IX.
- The amount of Scholarship will be Rs. 6000/- per annum
Conditions to Participate
- The child must be a student of a recognized school within India.
- The concerned school should have a Philately Club and the candidate should be a member of the Club.
- In case the school Philately Club hasn’t been established a student having his own Philately Deposit Account will also be considered.
- Every prospective school, which participates in the competition, would be assigned a Philately mentor to be chosen from amongst the renowned Philatelists.
- The mentor will help in the ormation of the School level Philately Club.
- He will provide guidance to young and aspiring Philatelists on how to pursue the hobby and also helping the aspiring Philatelists on their Philately Projects etc.
- The selections would be made based on the evaluation of Project work on Philately & performance in Philately Quiz conducted by the Circles.
What is Philately?
- Philately is the hobby of collecting and study of Postage stamps.
- It also requires the collection, appreciation and research activities on stamps and other related philatelic products.
- The hobby of collecting Stamps includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloguing, displaying, storing, and maintaining the stamps or related products on thematic areas.
- Philately is called the king of hobbies because Stamp collection as a hobby has a lot of educational benefits - it teaches a lot about the socio-economic-political reality of the period in which the stamp is issued or the theme on which it is issued.
