<P> The first stamps valid for postage throughout India were placed on sale in October 1854 with four values: 1 / 2 anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, and 4 annas . Featuring a youthful profile of Queen Victoria aet. 15 years, all four values were designed and printed in Calcutta, and issued without perforations or gum . All were lithographed except for the 2 annas green, which was produced by typography from copper clichés or from electrotyped plates . The 4 annas value (illustrated) was one of the world's first bicolored stamps, preceded only by the Basel Dove, a beautiful local issue . </P> <P> These stamps were issued following a Commission of Inquiry which had carefully studied the postal systems of Europe and America . In the opinion of Geoffrey Clarke, the reformed system was to be maintained "for the benefit of the people of India and not for the purpose of swelling the revenue ." The Commissioners voted to abolish the earlier practice of conveying official letters free of postage ("franking"). The new system was recommended by the Governor - General, Lord Dalhousie, and adopted by the East India Company's Court of Directors . It introduced "low and uniform" rates for sending mail efficiently throughout the country within the jurisdiction of the East India Company . The basic rate was 1 / 2 anna on letters not more than 1 / 4 tola in weight . The stamps were needed to show the postage was prepaid, a basic principle of the new system, like the fundamental changes of the British system advocated by Rowland Hill and the Scinde reforms of Bartle Frere . These reforms transformed mail services within India . </P> <P> The East India Company already had attempted a 1 / 2 anna vermilion stamp in April 1854, known as the "91⁄2 arches essay". This could not be produced in quantity because it required an expensive vermilion pigment not readily available from England, and the substituted Indian pigment destroyed the printing stones . </P> <P> A new design for stamps, with Queen Victoria in an oval vignette inside a rectangular frame, was inscribed "EAST INDIA POSTAGE". These stamps were recess printed by De La Rue in England (who produced all the subsequent issues of British India until 1925). The first of these became available in 1855 . They continued in use well after the British government took over the administration of India in 1858, following the 1857 Rebellion against the East India Company's rule . From 1865 the Indian stamps were printed on paper watermarked with an elephant's head . </P>

Who was the first living indian to feature on a postage stamp of india kbc