Children’s Day – Nest

Every year on the occasion of Republic Day, Independence Day and Children’s Day Department has been conducting stamp design competition at national level since 2015. The selected entries are awarded with the cash prizes and their entries are used in stamps and other philatelic items. This time Department has conducted stamp design competition on theme “Nest”. With support of 23 Circle offices across the country Department has got wide response of this competition. Department is also thankful to those school authorities who have encouraged their students for participating in this competition.

Nest is a structure built by certain animals to hold eggs, offspring, and, occasionally, the animal itself. Birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. This may be composed of organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves, or may be a simple depression in the ground, or a hole in a rock, tree, or building. Human-made materials, such as string, plastic, cloth, or paper, may also be used. Nests can be found in all types of habitat.

Nest building is driven by a biological urge known as the nesting instinct in birds and mammals. Generally each species has a distinctive style of nest. Nest building is considered a key adaptive advantage among birds, and they exhibit the most variation in their nests ranging from simple holes in the ground to elaborate communal nests hosting hundreds of individuals. Nests of prairie dogs and several social insects can host millions of individuals. Normally, nest building happens in the breeding reason among birds and other animals. Nests therefore represent the thriving of life forms and are vital for ecological sustenance.

Small children always live under the parental care at their house, under school authorities during their school time and during the leisure time they are under the lookout of grand parents/ maternal parents/ other senior relative members. The word Nest is also closely associated with small children and that’s why the topic is chosen for inviting entries from children. Through their imagination the small children may illustrate nest in their paintings/drawings in a better way. The theme was selected with an objective that there is a need to enhance awareness of our natural surroundings, and any damage to the ecosystems threatens an entire life cycle of the associated fauna. Based on the selected entries depicting birds’ nests, two stamps, two miniature sheets, 10 maxim cards, a first day cover and a brochure are being released. The designs on the stamps, Miniature Sheets, Maxim Cards, First Day Covers & Brochure are based on the entries submitted by Mr. Somesh Kumar, Mr. Baibhab Saha, Mr. Syed Abid Husain, Ms. Kritica Thakur, Mr. Vikash Prasad, Mr. Tiyasha Saha, Ms. K. Bhoomika, Ms. Sanmista Paul, Ms. Sreeja Das Gupta, Mr. Anurag Sutradhar, Mr. Nilaya, Ms. Urmimala Swain, Ms. Srinidhi Shet U., Mr. Raj Gourab Debnath, Mr. Janvinson, Mr. Dikshant Kumar.