Dear Comrades,
NEW DELHI, March 15:
The efforts of the Government to revive the Department
of Posts (DoP) seems to be bearing fruit as its deficit is likely to
come down by over 16 per cent to Rs 5,309.6 crore in 2011-12, the
Economic Survey 2011-12 today said.
“In the current
year 2011-12 (Budget Estimates), the gross receipts were budgeted at Rs
7,517.7 crore and with gross and net working expenses estimated at Rs
13,522.4 crore and Rs 12,827.3 crore respectively, with the deficit
estimated at Rs 5,309.6 crore,” the survey said.
The
gross receipts of the DoP in 2010-11 were placed at Rs 6,962.3 crore
whereas the gross and net working expenses were Rs 13,793.7 crore and Rs
13,307.9 crore respectively.
The resultant deficit for 2010-11 stood at Rs 6,345.6 crore, the survey said.
It
added that the postal sector needs to keep pace with changing times as
many of its services have become redundant with growth in technology and
takeover by other players.
“Quick decisions and
actions to stay abreast of the times, including switching over to new
activities and downsizing, could release a lot of resources from this
sector for use elsewhere,” the survey said.
The
Government has approved a total Plan outlay of Rs 1,877.2 crore for the
modernisation of its IT infrastructure to increase the efficiency of the
department.
“The project is intended for
computerisation of all the non-computerised post offices, mail offices,
administrative and other offices, establishment of IT infrastructure and
development of required software applications... The project is
expected to be rolled out by 2013,” the survey said.
The
DoP has the largest postal network in the world with 1,54,866 post
offices across India as of March 2011. Of these, 1,39,040 post offices
are in rural areas, while the remaining are in urban areas.
Aimed at transforming the infrastructure, the Government had launched
Project Arrow in 2008 for upgrading key postal operations such as mail
delivery, remittance, and banking services.
India Post now offers a single window facility for banking, money remittances and other financial products.
The DoP is also responsible for disbursing wages under the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) through 96,895
post offices.
The postal network is also being used
by other Government agencies to collect data like the rural consumer
price index, the survey said.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article2998435.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home
