Dear Comrades,
| Year End Review, 2011 Department of Posts |
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Year End
Review of Achievements and Initiatives of Department of Posts
E-Enabled
Services through Computerized Post Offices
India Post Reachs out to Masses to Retail Products and
Services
Department of Posts helping Financial
inclusion of Rural people
South Asian Postal Union’s (SAPU) Ad-Hoc Secretariat to be set up at
New Delhi
Department of Posts has
the largest postal network in the world.
It provides postal facilities within reach of every citizen in the
country through its vast network at affordable prices. During the long journey
from 1857 onward, India Post network has expanded from 23,344 post offices to
1,55,035 post offices as on 31.3.2008. Of these 1,39,173 Post Offices are in
rural areas and 15,862 Post Offices in urban areas with an average post office
serving 7,174 people and covering an area of approximately 21.2 sq. kms. Some of the important significant events of the Department,
particularly focused at Aam Aadmi are as under:-
Enrolling the
citizen for ‘Aadhar’ and
dispatching the ‘Aadhar’ letters
MOU between
Department of Posts and Unique Identification Authority of India
- A Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) was signed
between Department of Posts and Unique Identification Authority of India for
printing, booking, transmission and delivery of letters carrying ‘Aadhar’ numbers of
the residents through Speed Post. More than 2.5 Crores of
‘Aadhar’ letters have
so far been printed and dispatched by Department of Posts. Department is also working as Registrar with Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIDAI) for providing ‘Aadhar' enrollment
service through select Post offices.
During the year 2011(upto 1st week of
Dec, 2011, over 41 lakh enrollments
have been done.
Improving Mail
processing and
delivery
The Department of
Posts has initiated Mail Network Optimization Project to improve the quality of
mail processing, transmission and delivery. The project seeks to optimize the
existing mail network of Department of Posts with a view to streamline core mail
operations. It also seeks to bring in greater standardization and improvement in
the operational processes relating to mail processing, transmission and delivery
and proposes to introduce a more effective Performance Management Mechanism for
mail operations.
Setting up of Automated Mail
Processing Centre’s - The
Department has undertaken a project to set up Automated Mail Processing Centers
(AMPCs) in six major cities with a view to automate mail sorting.
The letter sorting machines would be able to sort approximately 35000
articles per hour whereas the Mixed Mail Sorter would sort approximately 16000
articles per hour.
The Mixed Mail sorting machines would help in faster processing of
large size letters flats and packets/ parcels through the use of Optical
Character Recognition (OCR) technology.
Automation in mail processing would also help the department in
modernization of mail network, consolidation of sorting activities and expedite
mail sorting and delivery in these cities.
Creation of National Address Data
Base Management System - Under this
project, the Department has undertaken and initiative to put in place a national
address database management system with an objective to effectively manage the
address database of public/ customers, update the addresses online, and help the
customers in locating correct addresses and PIN codes. The project has been
completed in to
two metro cities where address data up
to street level has been collected and street directory
prepared.
Mechanization of delivery processes - The
Department has also taken steps to mechanize mail delivery in phased manner. In
order to ensure better monitoring of vehicles used for mail delivery, vehicles are
being equipped with the Global
Positioning System (GPS) device.
Project Arrow
In this year more than 10,000 post offices are being monitored
online.
The Department initiated Project Arrow in April, 2008. The project envisages up gradation of Post
Offices in urban and rural areas both in terms of upgrading and enhancing the
quality of service. The Prime Minister’s Award for excellence in Public
Administration was received for Project Arrow-Transforming India Post-2008.
Introduction
of e-enabled services
In the current calendar year, the Department of Posts supplied
computer hardware and peripherals to 9,600 single handed Post Offices. By the
end of December 2010, 14,415 Post Offices had been computerized in the
Department. In total 24,015 Post Offices have been computerized so
far.
Remotely
Managed Franking System- In the wake
of evolution of advanced technology in the franking system allowing not only
inkjet/digital printing with more security but also creation of electronic
support system facilitating remote setting of franking machines with enhanced
security and transparency in accounting system, India Post have introduced
Remotely Managed Franking System (RMFS) in place of existing electronic Franking
Machines. Around 2,981 RMFS machines have been licensed and activated as on
November, 2011.
The Department has also signed agreement with two Original Equipment
Manufacturers (OEMs) to take complete responsibility of satisfactory functioning
of the Remotely Managed Franking System (RMFS) server and machines associated
with it.
E-Post
office- E-Post
office Portal was also commissioned during the current year for e-Commerce activity of the Department of
Posts which provides for ‘on time sale of philatelic material.’
E-VPP
(Electronic Value Payable Parcels) - E-VPP is a
service made available in 1,100 post offices; herein the value of payable panel
is updated and sent to the sender online by recipient, avoiding the time lag to
enable him to make payment through e-payment system of the
department.
eMoney Order
(eMO) - The electronic money
order, which has been launched in October 2008, facilitates transmission of
ordinary money orders through electronic media. India Post has also signed
bilateral agreement for exchange of electronic international money order service
with Emirates posts, UAE.
Contributing
to the financial inclusion of the rural people:
Wage disbursal under Mahatma Gandhi
National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)-
Extensive rural postal network of the country is actively engaged in
disbursal of wages of MGNREGA with high levels of efficiency. During the year 2011 the Post Offices
disbursed about Rs. 6,000
crore by September,
2011 through about 5.27 crore savings
accounts of MGNREGA workers standing in the Post Offices. Thus, the Department
of Posts significantly contributed towards the success of this unique social
security arrangement of unprecedented scale.
Financial Inclusion of Below Poverty Line
(BPL) Household- Department
of Posts leveraged its network and outreach to financially include BPL
households by targeting them for opening their savings accounts in the Post
Offices and thus providing them with access to savings services. During the year 2011 more than 84.77
lakh households
were financially included through this initiative by October, 2011.
Collection of Data for Computing Rural
Consumer Price Indices-MOS&PI
(Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation) approached
Department of Posts for collection of relevant data
from rural areas for the MOS&PI. This would directly help policymaking for
rural economy on various important issues. MoU
was signed between MOS&PI and Department Posts to collect data on the prices
being paid by the consumers in rural areas for selected consumer goods. Due to
engagement of Department of Posts it was possible for the Ministry to bring out
Rural Consumer Price Index and All India Consumer Price Index in February 2011,
for the first time. Since then the Consumer Price Index is being regularly
computed and issued by MOS&PI in each month.
Data for Rural CPI is collected for 1181 villages across the country
every month. The Branch Post Masters (BPM) concerned ct prices of 185 to 292
commodities from the local market on the weeks fixed for each village.
Other
significant initiatives
RGI Logistic
Project –
Distribution of census materials through Logistics Post was a massive project
and it is managed under a Project model. With a vast network of post offices
across the country, India Post could arrange for the distribution of the
materials in an effective manner. This helped Registrar General of India(RGI) to undertake mammoth task of reaching every
citizen of
In order to facilitate the operations, which started in last week of
December 2010 and Logistics Post booking counters were established in all the
printing presses and consignments were transmitted through multimodal transport
system in order to effect the timely, safe and secure
delivery of the census consignments.
During the phase 2 operations of the project, 9967 MT of census
materials was distributed by India Post to nearly 12,000 locations across the
country including Reverse Logistics services for collection and distribution of
the census materials from the Census Offices in the Talukas/
Municipalities etc. to Directorate of Census Operations in each State as well as
Data Scanning Centers.
A web page has also been developed in order to provide real time
tracking of the census consignments and to monitor the progress of the
project.
Flat Rate Parcel
Service (Domestic) - With the Indian economy growing at a fast pace, the
express parcel industry has been growing consistently. As a part of business
strategy and with a view to restructure its parcel business, Department of Post
launched Flat Rate Parcel (Domestic) Service during February
2011.
Flat Rate Parcel provides an added convenience to the customers by
offering pre-paid boxes in different weight slab as per the requirement of
customers. It is an air express service under the brand 'Parcel Post' and
provides time bound delivery of parcels.
These boxes available in three capacities viz. 1 Kg, 2.5 Kg and 5 Kg are
specially designed to ensure safe and secure transmission and delivery of the
consignments. Sold at identified Post Offices only these
can be booked at all computerized Post Offices.
ePost -
ePost, a hybrid
mail service is presently available in
3998 Post offices. During the year
2011(upto Nov, 2011),
9.92 lakh of messages
have been sent and Rs.81.07 lakh earned as
e-post charges.
Passenger Reservation System(PRS) - In order to provide Railway Tickets
through convenient locations, Railway Reservations Tickets of all classes are
being sold at the Post office in association with Ministry of Railways
(MOR). The service is presently
available at 172 Post offices and network is being further extended. During the year 2011(upto October,
2011), DoP earned
Rs.2.04 Crores as commission
by issuing
13.73 lakh tickets through Post Offices.
Sale
of Gold Coins - India Post sells 24 carat Gold coins of the denomination
of 0.5 g, 1g, 5g, 8g, 10g, 20g and 50g through select Post offices. The Service is presently available in 728
Post offices. During the year
2011(upto Nov, 2011),
the Department
earned Rs.6.25 Crores as commission
by selling 591.4 KG of Gold Coins.
Creating
“Financial Awareness” –This year
National Stock Exchange signed an MOU with India Post for installation of LCD
TVs in select Post offices for creating “Financial Awareness” among the
public.
Round Table
Conference - A Round
Table Conference on “Partnering India Post: 2012 and Beyond” was organized by
the Department of Posts at Hotel Ashok in July
2011. Key stakeholders from Banking/
Insurance/ Telecom/ FMCG/ IT/ e-Commerce/ Logistics/ Publications/ Financial
Institutions/ Government Ministries & Departments/ Industry Associations/
Academic Sector participated in the Conference and engaged into discussions to
give shape to the India Post 2012 Project and explore strategic tie-ups with
India Post.
Customer
Care
Customer Grievance Redressal
Mechanism- The system of
acceptance/receipt of complaints in the Department of Posts is readily
accessible to the public. Each post office works as a receiving point for
complaints. The Department has also introduced the facility for customers to
register complaints online at its website www.indiapost.gov.in from the year
2001. The reach of upgraded interconnected Computerised Customer Care
software for grievance handling is being widened and it is expected to cover
10,459 Post Offices during the current financial year
(2011-12).
Implementation of RightTo Information
Act, 2005 - CAPIO
module developed by NIC for use of the department has been made functional in
4707 Post Offices. Offices selected under Project Arrow are being authorized to
act as Central Assistant Public Information Officers (CAPIOs) in addition
to the existing ones. Besides this, Department has appointed 845 CPIOs to facilitate
Right to Information Act, 2005 in the Department of Posts.
International
Relations
India Post successfully hosted the meeting of the Board of Trustees
(BOT) of the Quality of Service Fund of Universal Postal Union in July, 2011.
The Board of Trustees comprising 9 elected members from different geographical
regions of the world is responsible to oversee appropriate distribution and
approval of projects that merit QSF funding. India Post is one of the nine
elected members of the BOT.
Department of Post hosted a meeting of an Expert Group of postal
administrations of SAARC countries in New Delhi on 15th and
16th of September, 2011 to discuss the Constitution and General
Regulations of proposed South Asian Postal Union(SAPU). The meeting was convened
successfully with the necessary quorum.
Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal could not attend the meeting. They
however, expressed their strong support for creation of SAPU. A joint statement
proposed by the Chairman was signed by the Expert Group requesting SAARC Chair
to announce the formation of South Asian Postal Union. SAPU would promote
cooperation among Postal Administrations and improve services in the region,
development of common terminal charges and lower postage rates based on regional
costing rather than the current system which is based on world averages,
facilitate human resource development and sharing of best practices in postal
sector.
The Cabinet approved the proposal to join the proposed SAPU
comprising of SAARC member countries.
The Cabinet also approved the setting up of an ad-hoc Secretariat for the
SAPU at New Delhi which will be headed by an interim Secretary General from
Department of Posts, Government of India.
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