October 5, 2016 will go down in the history of Indian American community as the day when the United States Postal Service (USPS) released Diwali stamp. At long last, the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee fulfilled the long standing demand of Indian Americans and announced on August 23, 2016 the issuance of postage stamp commemorating the festival of Diwali. The dedication ceremony took place at the Consulate General of India, New York, on October 5, 2016, the first day of issue of the Forever postage stamp in the presence of Consul General Ambassador Riva Ganguly Das, Representative Carolyn Maloney, Diwali Stamp Project Chair Ranju Batra, USPS Vice President for Mail Entry and Payment Technology Pritha Mehra, India’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri and many members of the local Indian American community.

It was in 2004, that Dr. Shailendra Kumar, Chairman, Diwali Postage Stamp Committee of Association of Indians in America and its president Dr. Piyush Agrawal jointly wrote to the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee requesting the issuance of a postage stamp for Hindu Festival of Diwali. Since then, several Indian national & local organizations in America have been pursuing relentlessly with the Stamp Advisory Committee for Diwali stamp. They reminded the Committee that they have already issued Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Eid stamps.