Paper I

7. Selection Process: All Applicants belonging to various categories who have obtained the
following marks in 10+2 examination shall be called for appearing in the Aptitude Test.
OC 60% and above
SC/ST 45% and above
OBC 55% and above
No weightage of marks secured by the Applicants in 10+2 examination will be given while
preparing the Merit List.
Applicants numbering five times the number of vacancies in each category shall be
declared qualified for appearing Computer/Typing Test based on the marks secured by them in
Aptitude Test (Paper-I). The minimum qualifying marks to be obtained in each part of Aptitude
Test is :
OC 40% i.e. 10 marks in each part & 40% in aggregate
SC/ST 33% i.e. 8 marks in each part & 33% in aggregate
OBC 38% i.e. 9 marks in each part & 38% in aggregate
The final merit shall be prepared on the basis of the aggregate marks obtained by the
Applicants in the Aptitude Test (Paper-I) only subject to their qualifying in Computer/ Typing
Test (Paper-II). Allocation of successful candidates will be as per Sl. 25.1 of the Information
Brochure/ Instruction sheet.

8. Cost of Application form:The Application Form is sold at a price of Rs. 50 and the sale will
be through All Head Post Offices and identified Post Offices in the Circle. The sale will commence
from 11.08.2012 and last date for sale closes on 25.09.2012. There will be no sale after
25.09.2012.

9. Examination Fee: the Applicants have to pay the prescribed examination fee of Rs. 200 and
it should be deposited in a Post Office of the Circle concerned to which the Applicant is applying
and obtain ACG-67/UCR receipt. ALL FEMALE CANDIDATES AND APPLICANTS BELONGING
TO SCHEDULED CASTE/ SCHEDULED TRIBE/ PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED CATEGORIES
ARE EXEMPTED FROM PAYMENT OF EXAMINATION FEE. NO EXAMINATION FEE EXEMPTION
HOWEVER AVAILABLE TO OBC APPLICANTS AND THEY ARE REQUIRED TO PAY THE
EXAMINATION FEE IN FULL. Applications received without prescribed fee receipt shall be
summarily rejected.
Note. I: Fee once paid shall not be refunded under any circumstances.
Note. II: Fee paid through any mode other than UCR/ACG-67 in Post Office will not be accepted.

10. The candidate has to apply for one Post only, and if a candidate submits more than one
Application Form, his/her candidature shall liable to be cancelled and no communication will
be sent in this regard.

11. The Applicants have to indicate their option of Division, in the Circle, to which they
intend to apply and also indicate the options for Examination Centres belonging to that Circle
only. For example, a candidate applying for Haryana Circle has to indicate options of
divisions/units in Haryana Circle and also to indicate Examination Centres in that Circle only.
Allotment of examination city in the Postal Circle is the prerogative of the Postal Department and
change in allotment of Examination city is not permitted at any stage.

12. How to apply: The Applicants have to carefully read & follow the instructions given in
Information Brochure/Instruction sheet supplied along with Application Form in filling the
same. The Applications which do not conform to the conditions are liable to be rejected
summarily.

13. Mode of Despatch: The Applicants duly filled in along with original receipt of ACG-
67/UCR issued by Post Office of the Circle towards payment of Examination Fee have to be sent
to “Direct Recruitment Cell, New Delhi HO, New Delhi-110001” through SPEED POST/
REGISTERED POST OF INDIA POST only. The Applications received through courier or
delivered in person will not be accepted.
i) The Applicants need not enclose/attach copies of any Certificates/ Testimonials along
with the Application except original ACG-67/UCR receipt issued by Post Office towards payment
of Examination fee. All the Applications are treated as provisional and admit card will be issued
subject to his/her satisfying the eligibility conditions.
ii) The original OMR Application Form obtained through Post Office alone should be used
for applying for the Post. Xerox/Photostat copies will not be accepted under any
circumstances.

14. The Applicants have to enclose a Window Envelope affixing a postage stamp of Rs. 5
(provided along with their OMR Application form) and send it along with the filled OMR
Application Form to enable for despatching the Admit Cards.

15. Last date for receipt of Applications by the Recruitment agency is fixed as 01.10.2012
and for those residing in Assam/ Meghalaya/ Arunachal Pradesh/ Mizoram/ Manipur/
Nagaland/ Tripura/ Sikkim/ Ladakh division of J&K State, Lahaul & Spiti District of Himachal
Pradesh and Pangi sub division of Chamba Dist. in Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar
Islands and Lakshdweep will be 11.10.2012.

16. The Aptitude Test will be preferably conducted on a common date for all the Postal
Circles in India. The Admit Card issued to the candidates will be purely provisional subject to
his/her satisfying the eligibility conditions.

17. Applicants may visit the website www.indiapost.gov.in on regular basis till the last date of
examination so that he/she gets last minute update if any in schedule of examination/eligibility
status/venue status/other information related to the Recruitment process.


Sd/-
(V.K. Darji)
Asstt. Director Postal Services (PMI)
O/o The Chief Postmaster General,
Gujarat Circle, Ahmedabad-380001

What is THEMATIC PHILATELY?

Thematic philately is collecting stamps and other philatelic items that illustrate a theme: birds, soccer, history, art, way of life, trees, etc. The term "theme" has a dynamic meaning implying the personal elaboration by the collector, who develops a full story around it.

Once stamp collections consisted of stamps from one country or a group of countries. The stamps were usually displayed in date of issue order. Not any more! A thematic collection consists of the widest possible range of philatelic material, from the widest possible range of postal authorities, without any time constraint. Every item selected should be relevant to the theme and arranged in the most suitable order to tell a story.

The outline of the story is presented as a Plan, showing the steps of the development of the theme. The Plan is similar to the Contents page in a book and it is normally organised in chapters and sub-chapters, which make the logical flow of the story along a clear and consistent thread visible.

A thematic collection is fascinating because it allows for continuous improvement. The more you get familiar with the subject, the more you discover new details for supporting your story and acquire the relevant philatelic items. The more you know about the material from using philatelic literature, by browsing through auction catalogues and visiting the dealers, and by studying other collections on display at the philatelic shows, the more you can improve your development when including new items.

What is n o t THEMATIC PHILATELY?

Collections that do not develop a theme but simply accumulate philatelic items with a common subject are far from the essence of thematic philately, since they present no "story", little personal study of the theme. The arrangement of items depicting the chosen subject by country of issue or by year, as well as the choice of items issued by countries of a selected geographic area or in a certain time frame, may be just preliminary approaches to thematic philately. Anyway, they do not bring the true pleasure of thematic collecting.

What can I collect?

A thematic collection is built around an important concept, freely chosen by the collector. Normally this choice relates to a personal or professional interest: medicine or astronomy, gardening or fishing, chess or car races, computers or music... there is no limit to the choice of your theme! By selecting a familiar theme, you will have a lot of information at your fingertips and it will be very easy to draft the Plan of your collection.

A quick perusal of a catalogue from a recent world exhibition will give a very effective overview of the thematic myriad of options available to collectors for choosing a thematic collection. Some titles, chosen at random: World of Butterflies , Sailing ships, "From Abacus to Laptop, Tennis, Apiculture, Weather Story, Railways, Optics, French Painting in the 19th century, League of Nations, Motor Vehicles, Photography, Universal Postal Union, Republic of Weimar, Fire, Christian Vocations, Carnival, Bridges, History of printing, Wine, Roses, Radiomania, History of Tobacco, Ailments of Venus, Danube, Theatre, Dogs, Water, Music through the Ages, Mozart, European Integration, Struggles against Infection, Olympic Games, Christmas, "Nationalities 1914/18".

The wealth of philatelic material often allows collectors to interpret the same subject in different ways, thus generating very different collections. One can present a synthetic view of the whole subject or analyse a specific area of the same. For example, at the afore mentioned exhibition the following were also on display: Birds, Australian Bird Life, Homo‑avis Co‑existence, and How to Identify Birds; in yet another show we saw Eagle, Owls, Penguins, Swan, sand Bird as a Symbol.

What does "Appropriate Philatelic Material" mean?

In addition to stamps a thematic collection can use other items related to transmission of mail other postal communications, which contribute to the development of theme through their illustrations and/or captions. These items are considered appropriate as long they have been issued, intended for issue, or produced in the preparation for issue, used, or treated as valid for postage by governmental, local or private postal agencies, or by other duly commissioned or empowered authorities. The most relevant items are:

Postal Stationery:

postal cards, envelopes and aerogrammes, that have an imprint of a stamp and, often with an illustration,

Postmarks and Cancellations:

postal markings applied when an item goes through the mail, sometimes with an advert or commemorative content,

Franking Meters:
the franking 'slug' from meters are used by many companies and organisations to frank their mail, often with an advertisement,

Stamp Booklets:

these may have illustrations on the cover(s) or on advertising panels inside,

Maximum Cards:

these are picture postcards with a stamp on the picture side and a cancella­tion linking the subject on the card with the stamp.

Several other items, including revenue stamps may contribute to the development of the theme, whereas artists’ drawings, essays and proofs, do increase the philatelic interest of the collection, if appropriately selected.

Where do I find more information?
Several sources enable you to better understand the options and the possibilities of thematic collecting and provide ideas and detailed information for building a collection. A number of national Federations have a commission in charge of this class, aimed at giving guidance to thematic collectors. In several countries thematic collectors have founded a national association, that publish a specialised magazine; members are also organised in thematic groups, active on the most popular themes, which often provide bulletins and checklists of the material relevant to their theme.

Stamp exhibitions and fairs are important events for making contacts, looking at exhibits, visiting the dealers. Those organised with the support of thematic organisations are a good occasion for meeting other thematic collectors and exchanging both ideas and material.

The internet is a powerful source of information for identifying and making contacts with philatelic associations and dealers; the FIP site is a very useful starting point that includes links to other important philatelic sites. Furthermore search engines are available that allow you to find thematic and philatelic information on the fly.