June 13, 2013, 10:29 pm

A postage stamp to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was issued by the Philatelic Bureau of Sri Lanka. The First Day Cover was ceremonially handed, by the Postmaster General, to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at ‘Temple Trees’ on Friday, the June 07, 2013, in the presence of a large and distinguished gathering, according to a communique issued by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS), Colombo

The BCIS said several Ministers, Members of Parliament, Diplomats, Senior Government Officials and Community Leaders had graced the occasion. Those present included the Acting High Commissioner for India in Sri Lanka Mr P Kumaran, Swami Atmaghanananda from Chennai who was invited by the Government of Sri Lanka to represent the Ramakrishna Mission in India, the members of a Special Delegation from the India Foundation, led by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, a Delegation of four Swamis and 18 devotees representing the Ramakrishna Mission in Sri Lanka and two Nuns from the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, the Principal, Deputy Principal and a Senior Students representing the Vivekananda College, Colombo and representatives of the Hindu Swayamsevaka Sangha including its President R. Wijayapalan.