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CHAPTER -IHISTORY AND PRESENT PROFILE OF INDIA POST
1:1 Historically, the postal service is known for its high standards of efficiency. TheRoman boasted their postal system, curses publicans, could deliver messageover distances upto 170 miles in 24 hours! Post Office is the only institution in thecountry touching every person's life.1:1:2 In the late sixth century B.C., Confucius is quoted to have said, "The influence ofthe righteous travels faster than a royal edict by post-station service."1:1:3 While tracing out the History of Indian Post, a regular Postal Service in India wasestablished by the East India Company in 1766. It was, however run by PrivateAgencies. The East India Company, by an Act No. XVII of 1837, nationalised thePostal Services and brought it under the monopoly of the Government.Thereafter, in 1854, separate Postal Department was established and the FirstPostage Stamp was introduced. The First Railway Mail Service was establishedin 1863. First Sorting Section was between Allahabad and Kanpur.1:1:4 Thus, the Postal Department is one of the oldest departmentally run PublicService departments of the Government of India. Its legislative basis is theIndian Post Office Act, 1898. The Department of Posts is committed to fulfil theuniversal services obligation in terms of providing basic postal servicesthroughout the country, irrespective of terrain at an affordable price.1:1:5 The postal system in this country can truly be regarded as indispensable forsocial development and commitment of the country. Our Late Prime Minister SriPandit Jawaharlal Nehru said "
Among the necessary things, good or bad, that the Modern World had produced, only the postal system which covers the world is one of its most beneficent activities. The postal system is a necessary and important public institution. It is one of the public institutions which are most intimately bound up with the human relations than other Government departments; for it deals with messages, helps to connect people and makes communication between human beings possible at all levels through the letters."
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1:1:6 India has the largest number of post offices in the world. At the time ofIndependence, the number of post offices were 23,344. Now the number of postoffices has been expanded to 1,55,516 as on 31-03-2005 of which 1,25,148 arein rural areas and as an average, a post office serves an area of 21.13 sq. kmand population of 6615. Mail processing, transmission and delivery are the coreactivities. Mail is collected from 5,84,006 letter boxes in the country. This isprocessed by a network of 460 RMS offices. During 2004-2005 the Departmentof Posts handled 7630.36 million articles including 214.18 million registeredarticles. It also handled 120.65 million of money orders amounting to Rs.70521.65 millions.1:2 The Department of Posts operates Savings Bank on behalf of Ministry ofFinance. The accumulated savings deposits as on 2004-2005 amounts to overrupees three lakhs seventy five thousand crores, which is almost equivalent tothe deposit of a leading nationalised bank in India. Thus the Post Office SavingsBank is the oldest and largest banking institution in the country. It operatesabout 140 million Savings Accounts. The POSB is an agency function performedby the Department of Posts on behalf of Ministry of Finance, Government ofIndia.1:2:2 The PO Savings Bank provides an avenue to the customers through the networkof 1,54,000 post offices. During 2004-05, the department earned an approximaterevenue of Rs. 20,300 million as remuneration for the Savings Bank work.1:2:3 The POSB is having a customer base of 140 million account holders with annualdeposits exceeding 10,00,000 million. The outstanding balance under allNationalised Savings Schemes in post offices is over 3,750,000 million.SAVINGS BANK – A PROFILE AS ON 31-03-2005Sl.No.Name of the Scheme No. of Accounts Total Amount Deposited(In Millions)1. Savings Accounts (SB) 61990467 152981.02. RD Accounts 64475526 412931.23. TD Accounts 7892478 320607.3
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4. MIS Accounts 22599857 1515735.75. NSS Accounts (87 & 92) 808666 42332.86. PPF Accounts 1873726 148298.17. Senior Citizen 164257 87839.2(Annual Report : 2005-2006)1:2:4 The following is the revenue figures of the postal department earned from itstraditional service.Particulars Rs. (in Million)Sale of Stamps 79986.58Postage realised in cash 12971.13Commission on M.O & IPOs etc. 3268.94Remuneration on SB / SC work 18610.00Other receipts 1481.8244318.47Note:- 'Other receipts' includes service charges retained by the Department of Postsfrom Sale of Passport Application Form, Pass Port Fee Stamps, CRF stamps, receiptsfrom other postal administration etc.1:3 The major operation in Insurance Sector is the PLI / RPLI which is now run bythe department itself and it has 23,91,662 & 37,38,798 polices in PLI and RPLIrespectively with an aggregate assured sum of Rs. 1,91,054.30 millions &1,85,209.30 millions respectively as on 31-03-2005. It had a deposit of Rs. 89330million & Rs. 16240 million as deposits with Government of India as on 31-03-2006. Postal Life Insurance (PLI) operated by the Department of Posts is one ofthe oldest welfare schemes for Government employees. It was introduced in theyear 1884 for the postal employees as a welfare measure and it today coversemployees of Central & State Governments, the Armed Forces personnel,employees of Central and State Public Sector Undertakings, employees ofAutonomous bodies, Financial Institutions, Nationalised Banks, Local Bodies,Universities and Government aided educational institutions. In the address of the
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