Rs.5 postal stamp on Ashoka released

Patna, Aug 24: Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday released a Rs.5 postal stamp in honour of Indian emperor Ashoka. "This postal stamp in honour of Ashoka would be available for sale in the post offices," he said. Prasad said he would also propose to senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to instal a big statue of Ashoka in Patna and Delhi. In May, Prasad had announced to release the postal stamp during a BJP function here to celebrate the birth anniversary of Ashoka. Some BJP leaders claimed that Ashoka belonged to the present-day agrarian caste Kushwaha but historians and experts have refuted the claim. The Kushwahas, an Other Backward Class community, accounts for nearly 9 percent of Bihar's 10.5 crore population.