Government of India
rd
163 ‘B’ Level Training Programme
(04.09.2023 to 06.10.2023)
STATE CITIZEN INTERFACE REPORT
Visit of Sansad Marg Post Office (Head Office) on 22.09.2023
Report prepared by Atul Kumar Mishra, Section Officer
Dte.G.H.S., Ministry of Health & FW
Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi.
Visit of Sansad Marg Post Office (Head Office) on 22.09.2023 by the Participants of 163rd
batch of Level ‘B’ training programme under supervision of Shri R.K. Kundi, Course
Coordinator, ISTM.
We visited the Sansad Marg Post Office (Head Office) as part of Citizen Centric Programme of
the Government of India. Deparment of post is functional from 1854. It’s headquarter is situated
at Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi. Department of posts comes under Ministry of
Communication. The postal services Board is the apex management body of the department
comprising the chairman and six members.
It is given to understand that the Post office is a local unit of Governance. There are 1,59,251
post offices as on 31st March, 2022. There is a floating Post Office on Srinagar’s Dal Lake and
Hikkim in Himachal Pradesh is world’s highest post office above 14000 feet. Primary function
of Post Office is collection, processing, transmission and delivery of mail. Everyone knows that
the post office specializes in mail delivery, but what many don't realize is that the post office
helps us in a number of other ways.
It is involved in delivering mail/post (Ordinary mails, Registration, Parcel, Isurance,
Value payable Post and International mails), remitting money by money orders, accepting
deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance coverage under Postal Life
Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) and providing retail services like bill
collection, sale of forms, etc. The Department of Post also acts as an agent for the Indian
government in discharging other services for citizens such as old age pension payments
and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage
disbursement. With 1.59 lakh post offices, India Post is the widest postal network in the world.
The Postal Department has about 4 lakh employees. The country has been divided into 23 postal circles,
each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General. Each circle is divided into regions, headed by a
Postmaster General and comprising field units known as Divisions. These divisions are further divided
into subdivisions. In addition to the 23 circles, there is a base circle to provide postal services to
the Armed Forces of India headed by a Director General.
Philately
The first philatelic Society in India was founded in Calcutta on 6 March 1897 to service
postage-stamp collections. Function include design, printing and distribution of special or
commemorative postage stamps, definitive postage stamps and items of postal stationery,
promotion of philately, conduct of philatelic examinations at the national level, participation in
international exhibitions and monitoring exhibitions at the state, regional and district levels and
maintenance of the National Philatelic Museum. Philatelic bureaus were established in head post
offices located at circle headquarters and at district-capital head post offices (as necessary).
There are 68 philately bureaus and 1111 philatelic counters, including all head post offices in the
country as of 31 March 2011. A domestic philatelic deposit-account system was introduced on 1
August 1965 at all philatelic bureaus. Customers are given priority in
purchasing commemorative or special-issue stamps and information sheets soon after their issue
by opening a deposit account at any philatelic bureau. The number of philately deposit-
accountholders grew from 23,905 in 1999–2000 to 168,282 in 2006–2007 and 183,202 in 2008–
2009. Four philatelic bureaux—the Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and Parliament Street, New Delhi
GPOs are authorized to sell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_stamps United Nations
Stamps. A quarterly philatelic magazine, Philapost, was launched in 2008.
The National Philately Museum was inaugurated on 6 July 1968 in New Delhi. It had its
beginnings at a meeting of the Philatelic Advisory Committee on 18 September 1962. Besides a
large collection of India Postage stamps designed, printed and issued, it has a large collection of
Indian states (confederate and feudatory), early essays, proofs and colour trials, a collection of
Indian stamps used abroad, early Indian postcards, postal stationery and thematic collections.
After Independence first stamp was issued on Father of Nation and first stamp issued on women
was Mira Bai. Theme of stamp changed from year to year covering eminent personalities, events,
art, culture, progress of nation on various front. Latest one on Chandrayan-3 Mission.
Transformation:
Passing through ages, India Post has never remained as a service department only. Due to
emergence of electronic alternatives, more demanding customers, presence of organized /
unorganized couriers for mail conveyance, financial players like banks and insurance companies
and above all the challenges of globalization, corporatization and liberalization, there are several
challenges before India Post especially in the field of its core sectors relating to Mails, Banking
and Insurance which has compelled it to be commercial day by day rather than remaining as a
full public utility service department. Thus, to meet the challenges and to face the competitors on
one hand and to prove itself as an efficient and reliable communication network as the main
component of the communication infrastructure for playing a crucial role in the socio-economic
development and integration of the country on the other, the Postal department is doing a lot of
things other than just delivering letters aiming for a transformation with re-engineering of
Business Processes and making it compatible to suit the new Information and Communications
Technology solutions and evolving new processes based on customer needs.
Electronic Indian Postal Order
The Electronic Indian Postal Order (e-IPO) was introduced on 22 March 2013, initially
only for citizens living abroad. The postal orders can be used for online payment of fees for
access to information under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Postal Life insurance
Postal Life Insurance (PLI) was introduced on 1 February 1884 with the express approval
of the Secretary of State (for India) to Her Majesty, the Queen Empress of India. It was
essentially a welfare scheme for the benefit of Postal employees in 1884 and later extended to the
employees of Telegraph Department in 1888. In 1894, PLI extended insurance cover to female
employees of P & T Department at a time when no other insurance company covered female
lives. It is the oldest life insurer in this country. Rural Postal Life Insurance was introduced on
24.03.1995 which includes Whole Life Assurance {Gram Suraksha}, Endowment Assurance
[Gram Santhosh], Convertible Whole Life Assurance {Gram Suvidha}, Anticipated Endowment
Assurance {Gram Sumangal}, Gram Priya {10 year RPLI} and Children Policy {Bal Jeevan
Bima}.
Postal savings
The post office offers a number of savings plans, including recurring
deposit accounts, Mahila Samman Bachat Patra, 2023, Sukanya Samriddhi
Account (SSA), National Savings Certificates (NSC), Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), the Public
Provident Fund,[51] savings-bank accounts, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Post monthly-
income plans, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Post senior-citizens' savings plans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Post and time-deposit accounts.
Banking
It was revealed that the Indian postal service had formulated plans to enter the banking
industry after RBI guidelines for the issuance of new banking licenses were released. Eventually
they are planning to open a Post Bank of India, an independent banking service. As of 29
February 2016, 18,231 post offices are utilizing Core Banking Solutions (CBS). ATMs are
installed at 576 Post Office locations and debit cards issued to Post Office Savings Bank
customers. Core Insurance Solution (CIS) for Postal Life Insurance (PLI) is rolled out in 808
head post offices and corresponding 24,000+ sub post offices. In September 2017, it was
announced that by 2018 all of the 1.55 lakh post offices, every postman and grameen dak
sevak (postmaster) will accept all payment options that the India Post Payments Bank plans to
provide. On 1 September 2018, the India Post Payments Bank was inaugurated by Prime
Minister of India.
Data collection
A collaboration between the Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation (MoSPI) and the Department of Posts has enabled the computation of consumer-
price indices for rural areas. These statistics were previously unobtainable, due to problems of
remoteness and scale. The agreement authorises the postal service to collect data on prices paid
for selected consumer goods. In February 2011, MoSPI published its first Consumer Price
Index (CPI) and All-India Consumer Price Index. The information has since been published
monthly, based on data available from 1,181 villages across the country.
Other services
Other services include:
Post boxes and post bags for mail receipt
Speed Post
Identity cards for proof of residence
India Post ATM
RMS (Railway Mail Service)
Post office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK)
Aadhaar Enrollment and Updation.
Western Union.
Postal Life Insurance and Rural Postal Life Insurance.
Savings Bank (SB/RD/TD/MIS/SCSS/PPF/SSA)
Savings Cash Certificates.
India Post Payments Bank (IPPB).
Stamp Sales.
Some important schemes for women
Vision
India Post's products and services will be the customer's first choice.
Mission
To sustain its position as the largest postal network in the world touching the lives of every
citizen in the country.
To provide mail parcel, money transfer, banking, insurance and retail services with speed and
reliability.
To provide services to the customers on value-for-money basis.
To ensure that the employees are proud to be its main strength and serve its customers with a
human touch.
To continue to deliver social security services and to enable last mile connectivity as a
Government of India platform.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I sincerely thanks to Department of Personnel and Training for giving us an opportunity
to participate in mandatory training programme of Level-‘B’ at ISTM.
I sincerely thanks to Shri R.K. Kundi, Course Coordinator and to all the officers and
faculty members of the ISTM for their guidance, vision and support rendered from time to time
during the entire training period.
Atul Kumar Mishra
Section Officer
Dte.GHS, Ministry of Health & FW
