A.P.DAK SEVA WINNERS

AISBCEU-A.P.CIRCLE CONGRATULATES ALL THE WINNERS

50 paise postcard costs Rs 7 to Postal Department

A postcard which is sold for 50 paise actually costs the government Rs 7, according to an RTI response from the postal department listing the costs incurred by it on such services which are proving to be loss-making propositions for it. 

 
In the year 2012-13, the per unit revenue earned from the sale of postcards was 50 paise whereas, to keep the service running, the per unit cost came to Rs 7.18, down from Rs 7.50 during 2010-11, the department said in its RTI response. 

 
Similarly, the printed postcard was bringing a revenue of Rs 6 although the cost incurred on it was Rs 7.19 per unit in the year 2012-13. The RTI query further found that the cost of a letter card was Rs 7.18 per unit whereas the revenue earned from it was Rs 2.50. 

 
The postal department also incurs a loss in dispatching registered newspapers with the per unit cost for a single dispatch being Rs 10.59 while Rs 20.79 is the cost for sending newspaper bundles. However, the revenue earned is a meagre 59 paise for single and Rs 1.63 for bundled dispatches, the reply said. 

 
The postal department also said that while insurance is offered at Rs 55.24, its cost was almost three times at Rs 141.82 during 2012-13. Each dispatch of a book packet costs the department Rs 9.51 but the revenue earned by it for every delivery is Rs 2.90. 

 
Each parcel brings revenue of Rs 40.69 while the cost incurred for sending the same is Rs 46.58. Printed books gave a revenue of Rs 2.90 to the department while the cost of dispatching such material was Rs 12.44, it added. 

 
The response provided to applicant SC Agrawal said, "It is submitted that no annual profit and loss account is prepared in this section. However, allocation of expenditure and revenue to around 30 services is being maintained every year as an annual costing exercise on the basis of data received from different sections of the directorate."

Source:-The Economic Times

postal news

Chennaiites write in to greet the new PM

Residents queue up for online postal service, send message to PMO in Delhi

Not everyone could attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on Monday. But several people in the city did manage to extend their greetings through the postal service, ePosts. 

Many residents queued up at the city post offices to send their greetings through the online service. 

E-posts are booked and sent online to the designated post office from where it is printed and delivered to the recipient. 

For R. Selvaraj, a retired bank employee from Anna Nagar, it was a good opportunity to convey his wishes to the Prime Minister. 

“I wanted to congratulate Mr. Modi for his victory and also express my hope for better governance. I found e-post to be reliable and an easy way to greet the Prime Minister,” he said.

Over the past three days, the Anna Nagar post office has booked nearly 200 greetings to the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi. The head post office on Anna Salai has also been receiving such bookings since Friday.

K. Radhakrishnan, founder of Om Ganapathy Trust, was content that he could send his message across to the Prime Minister. 

“I wanted to convey my emotions and appreciation as a citizen to Mr. Modi. It only took 15 minutes to book and send the greetings. I am glad that my one-page greetings will reach his office,” he said.

Officials of the postal department said that while some customers brought their messages, some sent bulk messages. “We charge Rs. 10 for a message on an A4-sized page. There is no time limit for such greetings,” said an official. On an average, 5,000 e-posts are booked at the Anna Salai HPO every month. 

Source: The Hindu

India’s first post office savings bank ATM in Chennai

The HinduA customer using the country's first post office savings bank ATM in T.Nagar HPO after the facility was inaugurated by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated the ATM service at Thiyagaraya Nagar Head Post Office

The country’s first Post Office Savings Bank ATM was inaugurated in Chennai on Thursday by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram as part of the government’s Rs. 4,909 crore IT modernisation scheme for the Department of Posts specified in the interim budget for 2014-15. 

After launching the ATM service at Thiyagaraya Nagar Head Post Office (HPO), Mr.Chidambaram said, “The IT modernisation scheme is aimed at making Department of Posts a technology-oriented one and today’s initiative is a step in that regard.” The IT modernisation scheme would cover 1.55 lakh post offices and would be implemented by next year, he added. 

Speaking about the newly launched ATM service at the HPO, Mr.Chidambaram said that while it will initially operate in a closed environment for about six months, and later change to ‘inter-operability,’ on the lines of bank ATMs, allowing customers to withdraw money from any ATM. 

About Department of Posts, Mr.Chidambaram said that while questions were being raised about its future, especially in the wake of dip in use of letters and postcards, it was adopting new strategies and was therefore on the path to growth. Still a large number of people believe that the Department of Posts is the best in courier and parcel delivery areas, he added. 

An official release said the T Nagar HPO ATM is the first in the country and “four more ATMs are ready for operations” in Delhi and Mumbai. 

“It has been proposed to install 1,000 ATMs across the country in 2014. Another 1,800 ATMs will be added in 2015,” it said. 

The release added that Rs. 700 crore has been earmarked for implementing Core Banking Solution (CBS) for Post office Savings Bank. As on date, 51 HPOs and 11 sub-post offices have “migrated” covering 64 lakh accounts. 

By March 31, 2014, a total of 700 more post offices will be covered and all 26,840 post offices will be functional under CBS in another two years, it said. 

Source : The Hindu

Comments of Sri N.K.Raghupathy, Former chief of Staff Selection Commission on Besant Nagar Post office in Facebook

Sri N.K.Raghupathy, Former chief of Staff Selection Commission offered the following comments about Besant Nagar Post office in Facebook

 

 

When I visited Besant Nagar Post office in Chennai last week to send a letter by registered post, it was a pleasant surprise to see a flower decoration near the entrance, a rarity in government offices. 

 

The young counter personnel were good and caring. I saw a Citizen's Charter too specifying the average time for different transactions and except for one counter handling postal operations, the service was so prompt that customers were disposed off in half the time mentioned in the Charter. 

 

In SBI Branch, Besant Nagar, where I do not have any account but deposit rental cheques of my daughter, they called me back to inform me that the Account Number had a missing digit. None in the Branch recognizes me. 

 

 I wish all government offices learn to treat their customers with as much care as these two offices. There is still some hope that India will shine!

 

Now, Postal Department's Financial services at a mouse-click

The financial services of the postal department , including Post Office Savings Bank and Postal Life Insurance, will henceforth be available online, P. Gopinath, secretary, Posts, said Wednesday.

Gopinath was here to inaugurate the new building of DLF Qutub Enclave Phase-I Post Office.

Gopinath informed about the ambitious IT modernisation project, wherein all the services provided by post office will be available on an IT-based platform.

"The Core Banking Solution (CBS) implementation is already under progress and day by day, post offices are being migrated to the new CBS platform," she said.

"CBS has already been rolled out in 27 post offices of six states -- Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Further, the department is setting up 3,000 ATMs, of which 1,000 are projected to be installed by the end of 2014," she added.

Speaking on the occasion, Kalpana Tewari, Member Planning, Postal Services Board, said Gurgaon was the most developing city of the National Capital Region and the Department of Posts is committed to provide better postal facility in the area. 

Source : http://www.business-standard.com

India Post to install 3000 ATMs,1.35 lakh mirco-ATMs by Sept 15

We will be starting with three ATMs to be installed in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore on Feb 5," says postal dept secretary

Even as its application to start a commercial bank is pending, India Post has drawn a massive plan to install as many as 3,000 ATMs and 1.35 lakh micro-ATMs at the ubiquitous post offices across the country for savings account holders by September 2015, a top official has said.

"We will be starting with three ATMs to be installed in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore on February 5 and then ramp it up gradually," postal department secretary Padmini Gopinath told a select group of reporters here over the weekend.

She said 1,000 ATMs with the India Post branding will be put in within the first year, which will be ramped up massively to 3,000 in the next 18 months.

To start with, the ATMs can be used only by 26 crore savings account-holders who save with the postal department, but Gopinath exuded confidence that within six months of the launch, they will get the interoperability permission from the Reserve Bank.

Postal savings are worth around Rs 6.05 trillion, which is half the savings in the largest lender SBI and more than double that of the largest private sector lender ICICI Bank.

Through interoperability, India Post will join the National Financial Switch, which will benefit India Post account holders to transact at the banks' ATMs and vice versa, she added.

India Post has been working with software major Infosys on this project, she added.

The micro ATMs will be handheld devices to be operated at the post office level while the ATM will be similar to the one operated by any commercial bank, she added.

The postal department, which has 1.55 lakh post offices over 90% of which are in villages, offers the savings account to people across the country and pays an interest of 4% per annum for such deposits. The account offers cheque facility at present.

It can be noted that the Department of Posts is fighting a very contentious battle to convert itself into a full fledged bank, asserting that its reach can help achieve the goal of financial inclusion.

However, the finance ministry has expressed some reservations about the idea, while Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has exuded confidence of winning over his Cabinet colleagues to get the go ahead for the 'Postal Bank'.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com

Why people are parking money in post office deposits and NSC instead of god

Plentiful rains during monsoons have led to bumper crops, delivering a bounty to rural India as expected, but it's not gold that people seem to be buying with their surplus income.

People in villages and semi-urban areas are parking money in Post Office deposits and National Savings Certificates, instead of the usual practice of buying gold with their extra cash. That is a welcome change as India's penchant for gold had wreaked havoc with the country's external balances.

Though numbers are available only till November, agencies involved with small savings say 2013-14 will be a trend reversal year for financial savings. "There is 10% growth in the current financial year (in small savings)," said a government official handling small savings.

Inflows to savings instruments had dipped in the past couple of years as a combination of low economic growth and high inflation forced people to put their money in gold. Some also invested in real estate. India's domestic savings rate declined to 30.8% in 2011-12 from 34.0% in the previous year, the Reserve Bank of India had said in its annual report. But interest in gold is waning.

Steps by the government and central bank to curb gold imports have driven up its price, and many expect returns from the yellow metal to fall.

The nature of inflows into small savings instruments - deposits and savings certificates - suggests inflows are largely rural, the official said. The agriculture sector, the main employer of rural workforce, expanded 3.6% in the first half of the current fiscal year, up from 2.3% a year earlier, and the growth is expected to gather pace in the rest of the year because of the good monsoon.

Against a budgeted outflow of Rs 13,690 crore, there was a net inflow of Rs 3,940 crore in deposits and certificates in the April-November period. In contrast, the public provident fund saw an inflow of only Rs 6,428 crore against the more than Rs 28,000 crore expected for the same period.

Higher interest rates offered by small savings schemes have improved their attractiveness, and helped wean investors away from gold. The government had revamped the national small savings fund in December 2011, benchmarking returns on to market interest rates. Interest rates are now notified at the beginning of every financial year based on the average yields on government securities of similar maturity, with a positive rate spread of 25 basis points.

The fourth quarter is expected to bring in more robust inflows from urban areas as tax savers rush to make their deposits before the end of the fiscal year, the official said. According to him, these savings typically displayed a cyclical character.

Finance minister P Chidambaram had identified increasing savings as one of the focus areas for the government. "A high level of savings is a precondition to a high level of investment," Chidambaram had said after returning to the finance ministry in 2012.

The government and the RBI together had announced inflation-linked bonds to wean people away from gold. India imports most of the gold it consumers. According to authorities, huge imports of the metal were a key reason for India's wide current account deficit, which had pulled the value of the rupee to its lowest level against the dollar in August last year.

Source:-The Economic Times

Postman Chacko road in Thoppumpady in West Kochi

A road named after a postman leaves PRIYADERSHINI S. wondering about the man and his story

Roads named after celebrated social and political personalities are common. Every city in the country has an MG road, named after the Mahatma, a Nehru road, a Tagore road and the like. It is the norm and rightly so. But a road named after a postman is quite the exception. Postman Chacko road in Thoppumpady in West Kochi is perhaps the only road in the State to be named after a postman.

But then there was a time, not so much in the distant past, when the postman was like an extended family member. People waited longingly and lovingly for his arrival.

 

Besides the letter or postcard, the telegram or the money order that he brought, he also gave a round-up of the area. There had been a birth, a death, a famine, a political meeting, rain and the like.

Postman P.M. Chacko was one such person. He became a part and parcel of the lives of the people of his area, knocking on their doors not just with a letter, but with help and guidance too. He became more than just another postman. In 2004, the Corporation of Cochin decided to honour his contributions by naming a road after him.

People’s postman

 

Who was P.M. Chacko and what made him so distinctive?

 

Eighty four-year-old K. M. John, a tally clerk at Cochin Port, remembers Chacko lucidly. He talks about the pre-Independence times when the Cochin Rajas’s postal service called anchal service existed simultaneously with the British postal service. Chacko worked for the British post and was called “runner”. “Nobody would see him walk for he used to always run to deliver mail. He would easily run 40 to 50 km in a day, his field of work extending from Chirakal in the South to Karuvelipady in the North, areas in West Kochi. He covered distances up to Edakochi , Mattancherry and Chellanam.”

 

The practice followed then was to clear mail twice a day, at 10 a.m. and at 3 p.m. In between Chacko would help in social activities. In 1948 when the All India Post and Telegraph Union were being formed, Chacko engaged himself in organising that.

 

“There were no modern public address facilities. He would speak through a funnel and hold a public meeting,” says John, adding that Chacko was a theatre man and loved drama. “His family was from Cherthala and as a 14-year-old, Chacko had got involved in freedom fighting activities for which he was to be arrested. It was then that his brother Joseph, a postman, brought him to Cochin and enrolled him in the service.”

John recounts another incident. “The Palluruthy post office under British Cochin was moved inside the premises of the fishing harbour in Thoppumpady. Chacko came in contact with a seasoned postman, Syed Mohammed who was active in forming a union. Chacko began assisting Syed. He soon got promoted from a runner to a postman but his activities were mistaken as political and he was assaulted. Though Chacko had patriotic leanings he was driven by a sense of duty. He was in fact torn between duty and the country.”

Others from the area remember him as affable and helpful.

Suresh Rao, proprietor of Vasant Mahal Hotel and Lodge, a centre of political activities of yore, remembers him for his punctuality. “We knew it was 11 o’clock when we heard the mail land on our office table,” says Suresh. “Chacko was a workaholic, a duty-bound man in khaki uniform. He was not very tall, wore very thick reading glasses and had a stern expression.” He was service-oriented, says 85-year-old Abraham Puthussery, a well known social activist from the area. His sense of service was keenly talked about even then.

Love for children

A. M. Jacob, a colleague who worked with Chacko in the sixties, remembers him for delivering every single mail unfailingly to the right address. “He never had ‘no returns’. He knew each and every address.”

 

Jose Thampi, his son, who runs a Cybercafe in Thoppumpady, smiles about this distinction of his father. “Even today the police seek us out in case of any confusion in address. He has left that impression.”

 

But something about Chacko that really touched the lives of the people was his love for children and his concern for them, as his very own.

 

Jose recalls that his father would be very watchful about every child and about them attending school. “He would scold shabbily dressed children, as if they were all his own and he was responsible for their welfare.”

 

When his father passed away in 1987 at the age of 71, the people of Mundamveli where Chacko worked for a long time opened their doors to his family. “We are welcome in their homes anytime,” says Jose with pride.

“There was an all round sense of loss among the people of the area when Chacko died. It was as if some one of our own had passed away,” says Sudhir Master from Palluruthy, who proposed naming the road on which Chacko lived to be after him. K. J. Maxy the councillor then recalls, “When this proposal came up at the division committee meet everyone felt that Chacko’s contributions to the people here were significant and that he was loved and respected. It would be only right to name a road after a person whose sense of duty and brotherhood can be emulated by coming generations.”

 

And so as most roads are named after our tall leaders there’s this one named after an ordinary postman who left an impression in the hearts and lives of the people of his area.

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/

GUNTUR POSTAL MAHILA COMMITTE RALLY

The Photographs of  GUNTUR POSTAL MAHILA COMMITTE RALLY held on 04.01.2013 in connection with submission of memorandum to District Collector, Guntur against the atrocities on women.  

Postman shows the way

 

Officials of the Department of Post distributing bed sheets and fruits to the poor and needy women on behalf of postman Ramachandra Rao (in blue coat) at Gandhinagar post office in Vijayawada on Saturday.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF BED SHEETS, BREAD AND FRUITS TO STREET URCHINS AND THE HOMELESS WAS SPONSORED BY THE POSTMAN OF THE GANDHINAGAR POST OFFICE R. RAMACHANDRA RAO.

 

On Saturday morning, people in the vicinity of the Gandhinagar Post Office witnessed distribution of bed sheets, bread and fruits to street urchins and the homeless by officials of the Department of Posts.

 

Contrary to the perception that such programmes are sponsored by a government department or an NGO, this distribution was sponsored by the postman of the Gandhinagar Post Office R. Ramachandra Rao.

 

In an ample demonstration of the fact that love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries, Mr. Rao has been making all out efforts to reach out to the poor and the needy in his small way.

 

“I come from a middle class freedom fighters’ family. It may not be of big help to these people who sleep on the pavements in cold winter nights. Buying them bedsheets to cover themselves was all I could think of,” Mr. Rao told The Hindu on Saturday.

 

After office hours, Mr. Rao made good use of his free time on Friday evening by going around the areas of Old Government General Hospital, Old Bus Stand, Railway Station, Eluru Locks and cinema halls and pavements that attract a large number of the homeless.

 

“Of the 80 needy women identified, at least 15 of them were pregnant,” he said adding that he gave them coupons and asked them to gather at the post office the next morning.

 

Post Master Eeswar Prasad, Senior Superintendent S.V. Siva Prasad, Assistant Superintendent of Post Office Mohammed Asif, Office Superintendent C. H. Sivarama Prasad and PRO G.V. Raghavaiah participated in the distribution programme.

 

Mr. Rao has been doing this for the last 10 years. In winters, he distributes bed sheets to the homeless and needy and in summer, it is the needy schoolchildren from economically backward sections who benefit from his magnanimity. He buys books and uniforms for them.

 

Dak Seva Award winner

Winner of the Dak Seva Award, Mr. Rao is also known for his loyalty to the department he works for thanks to his obsession for all things red.

 

He moves around in his uniform, rides a red bicycle, which is equipped with a red bag besides a red colour box affixed to the rear.

Even the water bottle and lunch box he carries are also red in colour.

 

Source : http://www.thehindu.com

 

Postal Department launches cash on delivery for business post

ALLAHABAD: Postal Department has entered the growing market of parcel business with 'Cash on Delivery' now.

This new 'Business Parcel' service aims to promote the e-commerce market in India by offering reliable and cost efficient delivery solutions. This service will provide add-on facilities to customers, which include online end-to-end tracking of consignments, cash on delivery facility, insurance, etc.

Giving this information, Director Postal Services, Allahabad Region, Krishna Kumar Yadav said that Business Parcel is only for bulk customers and is a contractual service designed to suit the requirements of business customers. It provides an economical and reliable distribution solution for bulk customers. Minimum chargeable weight for business parcel is 2 kg and maximum is 35 kg, whereas at present ordinary parcels and registered parcels can be booked for 4 kg and up to 20 kg respectively.

Yadav further added that business parcels can be booked for delivery from any post office in the country providing a national coverage. All business parcel consignments will be given door to door delivery irrespective of their weight. He added that corporate customers are also provided with pick-up facility from premises. Corporate customers can choose from advance deposit facility, credit facility, or payment at the time of booking.

In order to meet the requirements of bulk customers for collection of amount for costlier goods, cash on delivery facility is available. COD facility provides collection of amount up to Rs 50,000/- at the time of delivery of consignments. He said that for business parcels, customers will have to pay in the range of Rs 45 to Rs 115 for items weighing up to 2 kg, Rs12 to Rs30 for additional 1 kg up to 5 kg and Rs 14 to Rs 32 thereafter for every 1 kg.

Source : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

How India Post plans to stay relevant as emails take over

India Post has grand plans for 2014. It launched two new parcel services recently - Express Parcel and Business Parcel - which it hopes will generate Rs 100 crore in annual revenue. It is working closely with e-commerce players. It has also begun a campaign urging people to send New Year greeting cards by post.

P Gopinath, Secretary, Department of Post, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, lists out India Post's plans for 2014. "We will complete the networking of almost 25,000 departmental post offices across the country. The roll out of core banking solutions in the post office savings bank and an ATM network across the country is also on the cards. The other new initiatives include central server based applications for post offices, mail offices, administrative offices and pay and accounts offices and setting up of 28 new parcel hubs across the country to handle the e-commerce traffic."

There has been a lot of buzz around India Post's new positioning. Under Project Arrow, 2,515 post offices across the country have been modernised under a branding programme.

"In the current financial year, 110 Post offices are being modernised under Project Arrow. The project, which has a core operationsmonitoring system for savings banking and mail services, has played an important role in enhancing the image of the Post office in the minds of the people," adds Gopinath. Project Arrow received the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration for year 2008/09.

 

India Post, among its other new initiatives, plans to open 21 more Village Post Offices in 2013/14. By the end of 2015, it will add 80 more village post offices.

 

With snail mail diminishing and emails taking over, what does India Post plan to do to retain its relevance? "There is no doubt that personal communication in printed form has declined and will further decline in the years to come," says Gopinath. "This is a global phenomenon and India is no exception.

 

Mail, however, is being re-invented in its e-avatar. We are going to launch the e-Summons service for the judiciary wherein the acknowledgement for the delivery of court summons shall be transmitted and delivered through e-Post.

 

The court server will be automatically updated after a particular summon has been delivered on a particular date. This will help speed up court cases as proof of those who have been summoned will be available with the judiciary in real time and no excuse for non-receipt of summons will come in the way of delay in court hearing." She adds: "Similarly, through e-post the education departmentcan send communications to all its teachers who are located in various parts of a district/state."

Gopinath is also banking on physical greeting cards. "Greetings sent through email or SMS/MMS are generally deleted as these choke the inbox," she says.

"The emotions conveyed through printed greeting cards are precious particularly if these are sent by near and dear ones and will be cherished by the receiver long after the sender may have forgotten them. The greeting card to a grandchild becomes more valuable if a My Stamp [personalised stamp] postage stamp containing the grand mother and grand father's photo is affixed. If a child is born, parents should affix his/her photo on a My Stamp and send a card announcing the new arrival. Not only will near and dear ones get the information about the new addition to the family, but they will also see the photo of the new born in My Stamp."

-As told by P. Gopinath, Secretary, Department of Post, to Business Today's Arunima Mishra.

Source : http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/how-india-post-plans-to-stay-relevant-as-emails-take-over/1/201991.html

13 new post offices to be opened in the State, including three in Vijayawada region

India Post will start extending ‘Mee Seva’ services through 2,437 post offices inAndhra Pradesh from February 2014. The project was successfully implemented on a pilot basis in 95 post offices across the State.

Citizens can avail of the entire gamut of 177 types of services which Mee Seva centers are currently rendering, through their neighbourhood post offices from the New Year, Chief Post Master General (A.P Circle) B.V. Sudhakar announced at a press conference here on Friday.

Another significant initiative is the opening of 13 new post offices in the State including three in Vijayawada region:

two in Krishna district with one at Tadigadapa and the other one in Umamaheswarapuram village in Bapulapadu mandal and at Perecherla in Guntur district.

Mr. Sudhakar said that Rs. 10,624 crore was disbursed to 1.50 crore beneficiaries of MGNREGS through their post office accounts since February 2006. Payment of wages under the Central government’s flagship scheme was being made under the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme in 14 districts in the State.

Pack post scheme

The Pack Post scheme is a facility through which customers can get their international  parcels containing items as diverse as pickles and televisions, neatly packed in the post offices for charges ranging from Rs.50 to Rs.275.  Professional packing of parcels has been necessitated by damages and other difficulties in delivering them. In Vijayawada region, this service is available only at Buckinghampet post office.

The Mobile Money Order Transfer and Instant Money Order services have drawn encouraging response from the customers. ‘Uttaram Vacchindi’ and ‘Meeru Meedabbu’ schemes under which customers can keep track of their transactions (both deposits and withdrawals) and business mail through mobile phones (numbers have to be registered through e-mail: appostsms@gmail.com) evoked tremendous response. These schemes are specific to Andhra Pradesh.

Director of Postal Services K. Somasundaram and Post Master General (Vijayawada region) M. Sampath were present.

Source : http://www.thehindu.com