Popular Hindi YouTuber Vivek Bindra recently claimed that the Indian government has introduced new postal stamps with his name and photo.
BOOM found the claim to be misleading as the stamp has not been issued officially by the government.
Dr Vivek Bindra is a motivational speaker, business coach and YouTuber with over 20 million subscribers. He is the founder of coaching centre 'Bada Business' and even has a show on OTT platform MX Player called 'Business Baazi'.
Bindra recently shared some photos on his Facebook and Twitter accounts where he is seen posing with a few postal stamps bearing his name and photo, which he claimed were issued by the government of India.
In a post shared on January 11, 2023, he wrote, "How would you feel when you are going to put a postal stamp on the letter and your picture is on that stamp? I was equally happy when I saw that the Government of India has issued a stamp with my name and photo on it. It was a proud moment. I heartily thank the Government of India/Postal Department for this honor."
(Original text in Hindi: "कैसा लगेगा जब आप लेटर पर पोस्टल स्टांप लगाने जा रहे हों और उस स्टांप पर आपकी ही तस्वीर हो। ऐसी ही खुशी मुझे हुई जब मैंने देखा कि भारत सरकार ने मेरे नाम और फोटो का स्टांप जारी किया है। यह एक गर्व करने वाला पल था। इस सम्मान के लिए मैं भारत सरकार/डाक विभाग को दिल से धन्यवाद करता हूं.")
Here is an archive of the tweet.
He shared the same post on Facebook as well.
The claim was even peddled from Bada Business' official Facebook page.
Another user on Facebook shared the photos with the caption, "Government of India issued #Postal #Stamp of Vivek Bindra ji's name and photo. Now think for yourself if you become a business partner with such a special person then no one can stop your achievement."
(Original text in Hindi: "भारत सरकार ने जारी किया विवेक बिंद्रा जी के नाम और फोटो का #पोस्टल #स्टांप. अब आप खुद विचार करें ऐसे विशेष व्यक्ति के साथ यदि आप बिजनेस पार्टनर बनते है तो आपकी उपलब्धि को कोई नहीं रोक सकता.")
Click here to view.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that Vivek Bindra's claim about the government issuing postal stamps in his name is false.
In reality, the postal department of India runs a scheme called 'My Stamp' under which any individual, group of people or organisation can get photos, artwork, heritage buildings, famous tourist places, historical cities, wildlife, other animals and birds printed on a stamp with their name.
We checked media reports to verify the claim made by Vivek Bindra in his posts. However, we could not find any such report in which it was stated that the postal stamps were issued by the Government of India.
We also found a report by the Economic Times which quoted the Department of Post and said that any person or corporate entity could get their picture or logo printed inside the postage stamp for Rs 12 lakh.
The report also carries a statement by the Secretary of the Department of Post, SK Sinha, who said, ""We have opened up customised printing of 'My Stamp' for individuals and corporates. Anyone can get his logo or photo printed inside the stamp for net cost of Rs 12 lakh. There will be 5,000 sheets comprising 60,000 postage stamps."
The Hindu, in a July 2017 report, quoted Sharda Sampath, postmaster general, Tamil Nadu Western Circle Coimbatore, as saying, "The commemorative stamps issued by India Post are only for famous and dead people and go through many bureaucratic procedures. But India Post's 'My Stamp' customised sheet is easily made for anyone. It fulfils the aspiration of the common man to appear in a postage stamp."
After this, we looked for more information about this initiative on the official website of the Department of Post, under the section 'My Stamp'. According to the website, 'My Stamp' is the brand name of India Post's customised sheet of postage stamps. With the selected My Stamp theme stamp, photographs and logos of institutions, or artwork, heritage buildings, famous tourist places, historical cities, wildlife, other animals and birds are obtained by printing them.
The circular also states that corporates and other organisations can create their customised stamps and get them printed through the postal department. Along with the theme stamps of their choice, organisations/institutes can choose to print their logo or photographs.
A My Stamp sheet contains 12 stamps of face value Rs 5 each and one such sheet costs Rs 300.
- According to the website, if a person wants a postage stamp of their name and photograph under 'My Stamp', they have to fill the Stamp Order Form. They are also required to show a photographic ID followed by payment.
- They can get their photo clicked or make it available in hard/soft copy. The customer can also provide a copy of their family photograph/photographs of friends, relatives etc. to obtain the My Stamp.
- At the same time, applications for 'My Stamp' from corporate customers are also being considered. The application, along with the order form should be submitted by an authorised signatory. It should be accompanied with a valid ID proof of the signatory issued by the organisation/company. For corporate customers, a minimum quantity of 100 sheets is mandatory.
We also found that the Department of Post had quoted Bindra's tweet and written, "Department of Posts is fully committed to serve every citizen of the country. We are glad that you have liked our 'My Stamp' service. Thank you for appreciating us."
India Post's tweet clearly mentions the 'My Stamp' service, and nowhere does it mention the Government of India issuing a stamp with Vivek Bindra's name and photo.
We contacted a section officer of India Post's Delhi region for more information on the matter. He told us that under the 'My Stamp' scheme, any person can get a postal stamp bearing their name and photograph.
"There exists a fixed format. Joint stamps remain in it. One stamp remains blank in which your (or any other person's) photo is taken, while the other stamp already has rose flower, red fort, zodiac symbols. You can select them as per your choice. Any Indian citizen can get one made by paying Rs 300 per sheet, and use it for postal purposes," the section officer of India Post told BOOM.
BOOM reached out to Vivek Bindra for a comment on this matter. Despite several calls to his team, we were not able to contact Bindra for his statement. We have even reached out to Bindra via email, but as of writing this article, there has been no response.