Histopathologist’s TB Seal collection chronicles India’s anti-TB philately since 1940

KOLKATA: A histopathologist who began collecting stamps when he was in school in 1990 has built a collection of over 350 TB seals — non-postage stamps that are released annually to raise funds for Tuberculosis and create awareness on the diseases.

Bhaskar Mitra, a senior consultant with Drs Trivedi & Roy Diagnostic Laboratory, has in his collection nearly every TB seal that has been issued in India since 1940. Each year, around four seals are released on Oct 2 by the President of India.


"The use of postal stamps has declined with people shifting from physical letters to emails. Though the tradition of issuing TB seals is very much alive, its relevance has reduced as these stamps are no longer pasted on mails to spread the message," said Mitra.

While the stamps are now issued in India on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, they were released on Christmas Day till 1949. The tradition of issuing TB seals on Dec 25 continues to be followed across the world.

"It all started from Copenhagen in 1903 when postal clerk Einar Holbøll saw two children suffering from TB walk down the road and came upon the idea of releasing stamps to raise funds for sanitariums and the care of children suffering from TB. The first Danish Christmas seal was released in 1904. The practice spread to the US and then Europe. In Asia, Korea was the first to issue Christmas seals. In India, Christmas seals were introduced from Ajmer, Rajasthan, in 1940. The date was changed to Oct 2 post Independence as being a secular country, TB Association of India felt that such a cause could not be associated with a religion," recounted Mitra.

While Indian TB seals were earlier hand drawn and included paintings by Jamini Roy, photographs of societies, cultures, ecosystems began to be used from 1980. From 2000 onwards, Yoga has been the theme. This year, it is community empowerment.

"The colourful stamps of TB seals give the message to fight TB. Though they do not have any postage value, there are many philately connoisseurs who collect them," Bengal Tuberculosis Association chairman Ranjan Kumar Das said at the release of a pictorial book on the TB seals of India 'From Seals to Survival: Echoes of Unspoken Crusade Against TB in India.