Rescue drive: General post office, Ranchi

Ranchi, Dec. 12: Want to save the big cat? Stamp your love.

The Jharkhand postal department, as part of a nationwide initiative of India Post, joined environmentalists and social organisations to try and generate awareness about the dwindling tiger count by organising two contests — Design a Stamp and Letter Writing — based on the tiger theme.

Officials here will select three state-level toppers in each of the two competitions and send the winners’ list to New Delhi by December 30. The first three state winners will get cash prizes of Rs 5,000, Rs 2,500 and Rs 1,000, respectively. More importantly, selected postage stamps will be displayed during the World Philately Exhibition to be held between February 12 and 18 next year in New Delhi.

Held at Marwari Boys College here today, 300 students from Class I to XII from across Dumka, Giridih, Bokaro, Palamau, Dhanbad and Ranchi depicted their stamp designing acumen, while 500 wrote ‘letters’ on various green topics.

For postal department director S.S. Kujur, the contest, which is part of an all-India venture, was like forming a think tank of young minds to save the endangered tiger. “Through this competition we are trying to sensitise young minds about this issue which is a major concern today. This platform will go a long way in enabling students think our solutions and take initiative to save tigers,” Kujur said.

In stamps, while different moods and postures of the tiger in the backdrop of dense forests was the favourite visual, young minds also coined slogans such as “Let tigers rule the jungle once again”, “Only 1411 tigers left”.

Class V student Sneha Sinha of DAV Public School, Hehal, said she took part in the contest because she wanted to “save her favourite animal”, the tiger. For seventh grader Prachi Kumari, saving the tiger was akin to saving the “jungle’s pride”. “The tiger is our national animal, so our responsibility as Indians is greater,” she said.

The letter writing session was in the afternoon. Divided into three categories, in category A, students from Classes I to V wrote on Save the Tiger, while those from Classes VI to VIII (category B) wrote on What steps you and your parents are taking to make your home more environment friendly. Older students between Classes IX and XII (category C) wrote on What India can do to preserve the earth for future generations.

Just as tigers were a dying breed, writing letters was also a dying habit, said the postal director, and that’s why the department had incorporated the letter writing contest. “This is the cyber age, and computer savvy students are writing emails, losing interest in writing letters. That’s why we want to rope in students to write letters,” Kujur said.