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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Gone are the days when we used to wait for the Postman!But Indian Post is neverthe less safest Public Service we evergot which has not been Inflicted with Gross Corruption. Havoc retrenchment has minimised the Workforce and trade Unions indulged in P

PRIVATIZATION Post Office!Gone are the days when we used to wait for the Postman!But Indian Post is neverthe less  safest Public Service we evergot which has not been Inflicted with Gross Corruption. Havoc retrenchment has minimised the Workforce and trade Unions indulged in Prostitution for the Rulin Free Market Brahaminical Hegemony and the LPG Mafia Neoliberal Rule, Postal workers have to shed Work Load workning over time. You may see it in the nearest Post Office. Already Postal savings has been subjected to Incom Tax. We have been warning for long about IMMINENT Privatisation of Railway and indian Post along with Disinvestment of ONGC, Air India, LIC and SBI. Friends are Gaa Gaa for UID benefits, Corporate Responsibilty, Indiscriminate Industrialisation and Urbanisatin, FDI and FII boosted Sensex economy of Exclusion and ethnic Cleansing, Growing INFRASTRUCTURE and Service oriented Growth divastaing Production System, Agrarian Rural India and Livelihood. We do not mind PRICE Rise or Inflation nowadays. Banking Reforms Act and Mining Draft Bill are folowed by Post Office Bill 2011. And it is quite Unnoticed!A planned overhaul of a 113-year-old postal law proposes to end government monopoly completely in the next decade and a half, but, ironically, sets the clock back for courier companies, which are governed by a different policy at present. The draft Post Office Bill 2011 aims to open the letter mail segment to the private sector in 15 years by withdrawing all exclusive rights to India Post and removing all pricing curbs on private courier companies. The Department of Posts has sent the draft bill for cabinet approval to replace the archaic Indian Post Office Act 1898. The amendment will also provide greater legitimacy to the courier industry.Economic Times reports.

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SIX HUNDRED SEVENTY NINE

Palash Biswas

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http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/

The Post Office by Rabindranath Tagore. Search eText, Read Online ...

www.online-literature.com › Rabindranath Tagore - Cached
31 Dec 2009 – The Post Office by Rabindranath Tagore. Searchable etext. ... Rabindranath Tagore. About RabindranathTagore. Text; Summary ...


Gone are the days when we used to wait for the Postman!But Indian Post is neverthe less  safest Public Service we evergot which has not been Inflicted with Gross Corruption. Havoc retrenchment has minimised the Workforce and trade Unions indulged in Prostitution for the Rulin Free Market Brahaminical Hegemony and the LPG Mafia Neoliberal Rule, Postal workers have to shed Work Load workning over time. You may see it in the nearest Post Office. Already Postal savings has been subjected to Incom Tax. We have been warning for long about IMMINENT Privatisation of Railway and indian Post along with Disinvestment of ONGC, Air India, LIC and SBI. Friends are Gaa Gaa for UID benefits, Corporate Responsibilty, Indiscriminate Industrialisation and Urbanisatin, FDI and FII boosted Sensex economy of Exclusion and ethnic Cleansing, Growing INFRASTRUCTURE and Service oriented Growth divastaing Production System, Agrarian Rural India and Livelihood. We do not mind PRICE Rise or Inflation nowadays. Banking Reforms Act and Mining Draft Bill are folowed by Post Office Bill 2011. And it is quite Unnoticed!A planned overhaul of a 113-year-old postal law proposes to end government monopoly completely in the next decade and a half, but, ironically, sets the clock back for courier companies, which are governed by a different policy at present. The draft Post Office Bill 2011 aims to open the letter mail segment to the private sector in 15 years by withdrawing all exclusive rights to India Post and removing all pricing curbs on private courier companies. The Department of Posts has sent the draft bill for cabinet approval to replace the archaic Indian Post Office Act 1898. The amendment will also provide greater legitimacy to the courier industry.Economic Times reports.


9 JUL, 2011, 08.21AM IST, SOUVIK SANYAL,ET BUREAU

India Post to lose its monopoly; govt. forces courier cos to charge double rates

NEW DELHI: A planned overhaul of a 113-year-old postal law proposes to end government monopoly completely in the next decade and a half, but, ironically, sets the clock back for courier companies, which are governed by a different policy at present. The draft Post Office Bill 2011 aims to open the letter mail segment to the private sector in 15 years by withdrawing all exclusive rights to India Post and removing all pricing curbs on private courier companies. The Department of Posts has sent the draft bill for cabinet approval to replace the archaic Indian Post Office Act 1898. The amendment will also provide greater legitimacy to the courier industry.

"Considering the role of couriers in the present economy, opening up the letter mail sector to them will not only accord legitimacy to the private operators but also would be recognition of market reality ," said an official in the department privy to the cabinet note. Courier companies are not celebrating , though. They say the transition regime proposed is too harsh and could end up killing the over Rs 7,000-crore domestic industry that engages nearly one million workers and pays Rs 1,200 crore in service tax.

In the run-up to the complete deregulation , the draft bill has proposed to open the express mail segment (EMS) with a "reserve area" of 50 gm for all articles at a price multiple of twice the government EMS rate. That is, a courier firm will have to charge at least Rs 50 for a package weighing up to 50 g, which is twice the Rs 25 charged by India Post for its Speed Post service for a similar package. At present, couriers are allowed in the EMS segment without any restriction or price, making the market fiercely competitive. The reserve area regulation will give India Post time to prepare for a more competitive regime.

"The proposal to have a reserve area for EMS is unfair and will lead to anti-competitive behavior by the postal department," said Vijay Kumar, chief operating officer, Express Industry Council of India . It could lead to the extinction of the courier industry, he said. Introduced in 1986, Speed Post is the only EMS service provided by India Post. The department has strongly defended the proposal to impose a reserve area by citing international examples. Globally, postal deregulation has been in phases and exclusive rights for state-run postal business still exist in many countries. In India, the courier industry has run ahead of the postal laws because it was allowed under the foreign direct investment regime, which allows 100% overseas investment in the business. International courier companies, such as DHL , TNT, FedEx and UPS , secured FIPB approval under the 100% FDI route.

The bill will now recognize them under the postal law, but the proposed transition turns the clock back somewhat by imposing restrictions that did not exist earlier. "Over 60% of the business for small- and medium-sized courier business in India is dependent on document delivery, which is typically within the 50 gm weight segment ," said RK Saboo, deputy managing director, First Fight Couriers. The proposal was retrogade and would force small courier firms to close down, he said.

The private industry is also not enthused by the entry in the normal mail business, or letter mail segment , where the draft bill has fixed a reserve area of Rs 150 gm for all registered couriers at a price multiple of Rs 2 times the postage of letter mail. The industry says India Post service is highly subsidized , which industry says will make it difficult for it to compete. The bill, which is likely to be introduced in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament, has also proposed to simplify registration and licensing of couriers without charging any fees. Most large domestic courier companies in the country like DTDC, First Flight and Skypak are all registered with the Registrar of Companies

  1. India Post

  2. www.indiapost.gov.in/ - Cached

  3. 8 Mar 2011 – Official site of Indian Department of Posts provides links to Pin Code search, Track and Trace Speed Postarticles, Mail Service, ...

  4. Speed Post - Welcome to the Indiapost Web Site

  5. www.indiapost.gov.in/netscape/speedpost.html - Cached

  6. Speed Post ushered in a new era when 'One India, One Rate' scheme was ...

  7. Speed Post International Tariff - SpeedPost - State-wise list of post offices ...

  8. Welcome to the Indiapost Website - India Post

  9. www.indiapost.gov.in/pin/pinsearch.aspx - Cached

  10. Searching by Pincode or PostOffice Name. Pincode or Office Name. Type office ...

  11. SAVINGS SCHEMES - Welcome to the Indiapost Web Site

  12. www.indiapost.gov.in/netscape/Banking.html - Cached

  13. Post Office Savings Schemes ... 10000/-, in all Post Offices and INR. 50000 ...

  14. Show more results from indiapost.gov.in

  15. India Post - Speed Post Tracking

  16. services.ptcmysore.gov.in/Speednettracking/ - Cached

  17. Please enter your Speed Post/Express Parcel Post article number and date of Booking (optional for which tracking details are required and then Click on ...

  18. Check Speed Post Status - How do I: National Portal of India

  19. india.gov.in/howdo/otherservice_details.php?service=10- Cached

  20. The Indian Postal Department offers many online services, which include tracking Speed Post and Express Parcel consignments destined to National Speed Post ...

  21. India - Postal Codes

  22. www.mapsofindia.com › Utilities - Cached

  23. Are your trying to find a India Pin Code of specific district. do you want to identify a district on the basis of its Pincode? MapsofIndia provides a useful ...

  24. IndianPost.com

  25. www.indianpost.com/ - Cached

  26. All indian stamps issued by Government of India PostIndependence.

  27. Indian Postal Service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  28. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Postal_Service - Cached

  29. The Department of Posts (Hindi: भारतीय डाक विभाग) functioning under the brand name India Post (Hindi: भारतीय डाक) , is a government ...

  30. E-post

  31. indiapost.nic.in/ - Cached

  32. ePOST can also be availed by the corporate customers, by having a business agreement with India Post. Corporate customers will get special ePOST rates and ...

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PM Manmohan Singh meets Sonia Gandhi, cabinet reshuffle likely next week
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday to discuss a likely cabinet reshuffle next week, party sources said. It was their third meeting in three weeks.

"The reshuffle is likely next week, may be as early as Monday," a Congress leader told IANS.

The two leaders are learnt to have discussed the reshuffle at Saturday's meeting.

With Dayanidhi Maran resigning on Thursday as textiles minister, a cabinet reshuffle has become further necessary, the party sources said.

President Pratibha Patil returned to Delhi Friday after a week-long stay in Andhra Pradesh and the government can now effect the reshuffle any time.

In his recent interaction with print editors, Singh had said the the reshuffle of the Cabinet was a "work in progress".

There are a number of vacancies in the Union Cabinet like Railways, following resignation of Mamata Banerjee who became West Bengal chief minister, and Textiles in the wake of Dayanidhi Maran's resignation on the 2G issue.

There are a number of ministers holding dual charge like Kapil Sibal who has Telecom and HRD. P K Bansal handles portfolios of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences and Parliamentary Affairs.

Elevation of some of the ministers particularly from Uttar Pradesh which is goes to polls next year is expected. There is also possibility of dropping some ministers considered to be non-performing.
Moneycontrol » News » General News » Current Affairs

Post offices to offer core banking solution by next year

Published on Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 17:39 |  Source : PTI
Updated at Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 17:44  
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In a major exercise to boost its profitability, the Department of Posts (DoP) plans to introduce core banking solution besides setting up India Post ATMs and debit cards for its customers.
"We have set target of bringing in core banking solution by 2012. It will ensure smooth online transactions. We are giving some e-payment services, but they are fragmented," a top offical from Department of Post said.
He added that the work for setting up 1,000 India Post ATMs was in advanced stage and DoP had already held parleys with vendors on this front. "We will also issue debit cards to our existing savings account-holders," the source added.
The DoP is tying up with banks so that customers can use their India Post debit card at any ATM machine pan-India. With a network reach of over 1.44 lakh post offices, DoP hopes to transform itself into a post bank.
"Yes, this is very much possible. We are offering three-fourth of a bank's services and have the widest reach. The infrastructure is almost ready. In fact, we have given this proposal to the Ministry of Finance and are waiting for its comments," he added.
The lack of modern banking facilities in rural areas and dependence of villagers on informal sector for their credit requirements prompted government to establish a post bank. "The aim of establishing a post bank is to provide banking services to the rural poor who still do not have modern banking facilities and still have to depend on informal sector for their credit requirements," he said.
The Planning Commission had allocated Rs 5 crore during the 11th Plan period towards this purpose under the head of 'studies and miscellaneous expenditure relating to setting up of Post Bank of India'. The DoP with its huge network already provides various financial services, including a post office savings bank, postal life insurance, pension payments and money transfer services.
Tags: Department of Posts, DoP, banking solution, India Post ATMs

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/current-affairs/post-offices-to-offer-core-banking-solution-by-next-year_562483.html

Rabindranath Tagore's Play : The Post Office; Translated by William Radice

Posted on April 20, 2011 by admin

Directed by Valerie Doulton, Artistic Director, The Live Literature Company, this is the public dress rehearsal performance of Tagore's most celebrated play, The Post Office.Originally written in 1912, The Post Office is rich in symbolism and allegory, and is a play about man's passionate cry for faraway and spiritual freedom.  At the heart of the play is a young boy, through whose imaginative mind life is celebrated, even though this child is facing death.  Mixing simplicity with sophistication, the play's universal appeal has made it a world classic.
Gandhi was spellbound by the play in Calcutta in 1917. Anita Desai called it, 'as modest as a dewdrop, as profound as the ocean'. (Further performances will be held at The British Library on 13 and 14 May). Stage designer : Amy Jackson.
In association with the Live Literature Company (www.theliveliteraturecompany.co.uk)
http://www.nehrucentre.org.uk/2011/04/rabindranath-tagore%E2%80%99s-play-the-post-office-translated-by-william-radice/

Letter: Issa Postal Reform Bill Will Put Many Americans Out of Work Including Military Vets

June 24, 2011 by Lu
Filed under: postal, postal news, postal reform, usps, veterans
Letter To Congressman Darrell Issa from postal employee Guy Nohrenberg
Rep. Darrell Issa
June 23, 2011
Money is being taken from the US Postal Service as a hidden additional Tax.
The wealthiest Congressman in History continues his terrorist attack on the US Postal Service through trying to add an additional government bill, "The Postal Reform Act of 2011″. What is it? It is another expensive government paid committee intended to destroy the nations largest civilian employer.
The US Postal Service is not being harmed by reduction of mail volume, fax, email, or any of that other elitist inspired propaganda. It can manage through mail fluctuations and always has. It's being harmed by an additional hidden tax that this congressman and his ilk have imposed upon the US Postal Service. The US Postal Service is the employer of people you know, love and are related to. This Congressman has a strange fetish against the US Postal Service and he regularly bullies it in an effort to eliminate it.
So he wants more unemployment? His "Postal Reform Act of 2011″ will place over a million Americans out of work. Isn't it bad enough that Post Offices in small towns are closing by the minute, against the desires of the local communities losing them and that you have to drive further just to mail packages and scented letters to loved ones overseas.
The US Postal Service employs a significantly high percentage of Military Veterans. Many are from his own district. This Congressman has continually assaulted the US Postal Service, with misinformation and propaganda. He's even subversively trying to divert attention from the honest efforts underway to stop his hidden additional tax of $5.5 Billion Dollars each year.
read full letter to Rep. Darrell Issa
http://www.postalreporternews.net/2011/06/24/letter-issa-postal-reform-bill-will-put-many-americans-out-of-work-including-military-vets/
20 JUN, 2011, 03.58PM IST, PRIYA KAPOOR,ET BUREAU

Seven cheaper and tax-efficient services available at the post office

When was the last time you visited a post office branch? It's been over a decade that the e-mail replaced the written word, so there's no need to buy stamps, envelopes or inland letters. Besides, thousands of private couriers have mushroomed in the past 15-20 years, giving stiff competition to the speed post and parcel services. So, there's a good chance that you might not have visited a post office for years.

But you should because the bouquet of services offered by India Post has some very interesting and cost-effective products. ET Wealth looks at the financial services that can be availed of at a post office branch and how these compare with similar products from other organisations.

Tax-free bank interest

The interest your balance earns in a regular savings account with a bank is taxable. But if you open a savings account in a post office, the interest is tax-free. If you maintain an average balance of Rs 50,000 in your bank account, you would earn roughly Rs 2,000 as interest income in a year. In the highest tax bracket, the taxman will shave off 30% (or Rs 600) from this income, leaving you with only Rs 1,400.

However, if it is a postal savings bank account, the interest earned is tax-free. There is, of course, a ceiling of Rs 3,500 per account on this exemption in a year. In case of joint accounts, the ceiling is higher at Rs 7,000 a year. But this is a reasonable limit because very few people would keep more than Rs 1 lakh in their savings account.

Lower minimum balance

There are other benefits of opening a postal savings account. You don't have to lock up Rs 5,000-10,000 in maintaining an average quarterly balance. The post office does not mind if you have emptied out your account as long as you leave Rs 500 as balance.

This low-ticket convenience works in case of recurring deposits as well. If you open a recurring deposit with a bank, the minimum monthly deposit is Rs 500. In the post office, the monthly contribution can be as low as Rs 10, making it an ideal option to start your child on the savings habit. The 7.5% interest is compounded quarterly and compares well with what banks offer. The only hitch is that the post office deposit is for a minimum of five years. However, you can withdraw 50% of the balance after one year.

More facilities on the anvil

Even so, the very mention of the post office conjures images of a stodgy organisation with long queues and obdurate babus filling up pass books manually. That's true to a certain extent, but things are fast changing. India Post is working on a core banking solutions project that will offer state-of-the-art facilities to customers, including ATMs, Net banking, debit cards and e-payment services.

AS Prasad, deputy director-general (financial services), told ET Wealth that by the end of the year, account holders will be able to access their accounts at any ATM across the country ( India Post's AS Prasad on how it to transform into a dominant financial services player ). 

Postal Network and System

At the time of Independence there were 23,344 post offices throughout the country. Of these 19,184 post offices were in the rural areas and 4,160 in the urban areas. As on 31 March 2008 the country has 1,55,035 post offices, of which, 1,39,173 are in rural areas and 15,862 in urban areas. As a result of this seven-fold growth in the postal network, today India has the largest postal network in the world.

Expansion of the postal network, especially in the rural areas, has to a great extent been brought about by opening part time Extra Departmental Post Offices, a system unique to the Department of Posts. Under this system, local residents are employed, subject to fulfillment of certain criteria, to man the post office for a period not exceeding five hours and to deliver and convey mails on payment of a certain allowance. On an average in India, a post office serves an area of 21.20 sq km, and a population of 7174. Post Offices are opened subject to satisfaction of norms regarding population, income and distance stipulated by the Department. There is an element of subsidy for opening post offices in rural areas, which is to the extent of 85% of the cost in hilly, desert and inaccessible areas, and 68 percent of the cost in normal rural areas.

The postal network consists of four categories of post offices, viz, Head Post Offices, Sub-Post Offices, Extra Departmental Sub-Post Offices and Extra Departmental Branch Post Offices. All categories of Post Offices retail similar postal services, while delivery function is restricted to specified offices. In terms of management control, accounts are consolidated progressively from Branch Post Offices to Sub-Post Offices and finally in Head Post Offices.

The Department has about 2.18 lakh departmental employees and about 2.76 lakhs Gramin Dak Sevaks as on 31 March 2009. Their training needs are met through a well-developed training infrastructure.

Postal System

The establishment of the modern postal system in India can be traced back to the second half of the 18th century. This postal system, established by Lord Clive in the year 1766, was further developed by Warren Hastings by establishing the Calcutta G.P.O. under a Postmaster General in the year 1774. In the other Presidencies of Madras and Bombay, the General Post Offices came into existence in 1786 and 1793 respectively. The Act of 1837 first regulated the Post Office on a uniform basis to unite the post office organisation throughout the three Presidencies into one all-India Service. The Post Office Act of 1854 reformed the entire fabric of the postal system, and the Post Office of India was placed on the present administrative footing one hundred and fifty four years ago on 1st October 1854. The statute presently governing the postal services in the country is the Indian Post Office Act, 1898.

Besides providing postal communication facilities, the post office network has also provided facilities for remittance of funds, banking and insurance services from the latter half of the 19th century.

International Mails

India is a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) since 1876 and of the Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) since 1964. These organisations aim at extending, facilitating and improving postal relations among other countries. India exchanges mail with more than 217 countries by air and surface.

Money can be remitted from selected foreign countries to India by way of money orders. India has money order services with 27 countries. India has a two way money order service with Bhutan and Nepal, wherein money orders can be sent to and received from these countries. With the remaining 25 countries, only inward service is available where money orders booked in these countries can be paid in India.

International EMS, which started in 1986 with five countries, has now been extended to 97 countries. With a view to facilitate export and import to and from foreign destinations, principal foreign offices of exchanges have been set up at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi. In addition, six sub-foreign post offices have been established at Ahmedabad, Bangaluru, Jaipur, Cochin, Srinagar and Noida for both import and export. Export Extension Windows have also been made operative at Varanasi, Kanpur, Surat, Ludhiana, Moradabad and Guwahati to cater to the needs of the exporters/tourists in these areas.

The department has introduced electronic International Money Order service (Inward) through International Financial System Software developed by Universal Postal Unison (UPU) to provide fast, reliable efficient and up to date remittance service to the customers, the expansion of this service to more countries is under consideration.

In order to ensure higher standards of quality performance in transmission of delivery of international mail, a scheme viz. UP-gradation of International Mail processing Facilities at the Office of Exchange has been implemented under 11th five-year plan.

Technology Induction

India Posts aims to provide enhanced customer and employee satisfaction along with increasing its revenue through induction of IT. The Department of Posts aims to leverage information technology to attain a position of leadership and excellence in delivery of postal services, transforming the Department to a modern communications and financial services agency. The key initiatives undertaken during the year 2006-07 are as under:

Computerisation and Networking of Post Offices: By the end of March 2007, the Department of Posts supplied computer and its peripherals like scanner weighing scales, modems, etc. along with requisite power equipment like Gensets, UPS, etc. to all Head Post Offices and a large number of sub post offices. A total of 8263 post offices have been computerised by March 2007. The NIC is also implementing a WAN connecting all the Head Post Offices, Administrative Offices, Major Speed Post Centres and Accounts Offices. National Data Centre has also been set up at New Delhi and this Data Centre is being connected to the WAN. On being operational, the WAN will ensure a quantum jump in the quality of services being provided by the Posts Offices.

Modernisation of Operative Offices: Under the 10th Five Year Plan, to improve the ergonomics and ambience, 822 Post Offices were taken up for modernisation. This has resulted in better quality of counters, better furniture for customers and staff, proper illumination and uniform for both sign ages. The Department plans to take a quantum leap in its efforts to provide an electronic network of all Post Offices in the 11th Five Year Plan. It also plans to develop a single integrated software to link the data being received from all the Post Offices into a single repository, thereby empowering the customers and the managers.

Mail

Computerisation of Registration Sorting: As a part of the modernisation of mail network, computerisation of the registration sorting work in major mail offices had been initiated during the financial year 1995-96 by computerising Registration Sorting work at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. Registration sorting work in 154 mail offices has been computerized till 31.3.2007.

Computerisation of HROs: As a part of modernisation programme, computerisation of the HRO for proper maintenance of records relating to mail operations, their prompt retrieval and efficient office management has been undertaken. A beginning in this regard was made during the financial year 1997-98 by computerising HROs, Hyderabad Sorting Division. All HRO in the country have been computerised by 31st March, 2007.

Modernisation of Mail Offices (improving ergonomics): To improve the ergonomics and working environment, mail offices are being modernised with better operational equipments and improved ambience. The project was started during the financial year 1995-96, when 22 Mail Offices were modernized. By 31st March 2006, 269 Mail Offices were modernized.

With an objective to consolidate mail network, reduce cost of operation and generate revenue from mail related business, MBCs are being established across the country. These centres would be equipped with state-of-the -art technology and would offer one-stop solution for varied needs of bulk customers. By 31st March, 2007, 90 MBCs have been opened subsequent to merger/closer of smaller mail office.

Source: National Portal Content Management Team, Reviewed on: 10-01-2011 

Sectors:
http://india.gov.in/sectors/communication/postal_network.php

Challenges before India Post

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India Post's recent initiatives, which include slotting itself in cyberspace through the ePost Office, are pointers to the manner in which the world's largest postal network can be better leveraged to strengthen the financial and communication infrastructure. The Internet and other affordable alternatives have hit the basic function of post offices: delivering letters and other mails. In India, as an answer to a question raised in the Lok Sabha reveals, the volume of mail traffic fell from 6,677.18 million pieces in 2006-07 to 6,391.15 million in 2007-08, and rose marginally to 6,540.90 million in 2008-09. That the figure for 1997-98 was 15,749.30 million points to the severity of the fall. Internationally too, there are clear signs of the Internet eating into postal systems. Developed economies, in particular, saw postal businesses slump further with the onset of the recession. Statistics provided by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) show that between 2008 and 2009 domestic mail volumes were down 12 per cent globally (translating to about 13 billion pieces). Although there are signs of recovery now, particularly in the parcel and express segments, fundamental challenges posed by the emergence of alternatives to the post remain.

India's expansion of telephone services — the number of telephone subscribers increased from 76.54 million in 2004 to 764.77 million in November 2010 — and the growth of broadband are important developments that could further eat into the letter-post. Against this backdrop, the ePost Office, through which customers can carry out some basic services such as Money Order transactions, marks the beginning of what could be a new chapter for India Post. Its agreement with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to work more closely in socio-economic areas with the provider of unique identity ID cards will be watched with interest round the world. An excellent way of strengthening India Post's finances would be to build on its biggest strength — as the world's largest postal network whose reach extends to all households in the country — and take a range of services closer to Indian residents: financial services and insurance products, for a start. Optimism over economic growth offers India Post an opportunity to correct its deficit-ridden balance sheets and also play a larger role in development by strengthening business-to-business and business-to-consumer segments. Making this change — while maintaining its key public service role as a provider of affordable services for a country of a billion-plus people — is the strategic challenge facing India Post.

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20 JUN, 2011, 01.04AM IST, PRIYA KAPOOR,ET BUREAU

India Post's AS Prasad on how it to transform into a dominant financial services player

With a network of almost 1.44 lakh branches across the country, India Post is eminently placed to become the largest distributor of financial services in India. India Post Deputy Director-General (Financial Services) AS Prasad spoke to Priya Kapoor on how the organisation plans to transform into a dominant player in this sector and the various services that are in the pipeline.

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Banks have the latest technology working for them. How is India Post competing with banks on this front?

We are a 150-year-old organisation and till a few years ago, all the operations were done manually. But now we have realised the importance of technology. Our post offices have been digitised. In fact, we have started some e-payment services but they are fragmented.

So we are bringing the core banking solution by 2012. As of now, all banks work on this platform. This would ensure that you can transact online with ease. Besides this, we would set up 1,000 India Post ATMs across the country and would issue debit cards to our existing savings account holders. This work is in an advanced stage and talks have taken place with vendors on this front. We will also tie up with banks so you can use your India Post debit card at any ATM machine across the country.

Why did India Post stop distributing mutual funds? Is there any plan to resume the facility?

After upfront commissions were stopped and Sebi came out with a directive on taking advisory fee, mutual fund distribution no longer remained a viable business for us. We don't have dedicated marketing professionals to sell the schemes.

These were sold by our regular employees, who cannot charge an advisory fee from the customer. At least the effort that goes into selling a mutual fund scheme should be compensated. Moreover, there was huge cost involved. If Sebi brings back the upfront selling commission of 2.25%, we would sign MoUs to sell mutual funds again.

Irda has allowed India Post to sell life insurance policies of other companies. That can earn your staff a good commission. Why aren't you selling these life insurance plans?

No, we are not interested in the distribution of other insurance products. We have our own life insurance schemes and want to focus on them.

Post Offices have been successful in selling the New Pension Scheme (NPS). How did you manage that?

Yes, we have done good business. In fact, the number of NPS accounts opened by us have more than tripled since the launch of the scheme. We started with just 3,000 accounts and today more than 20,000 voluntary NPS accounts have been opened through the post office. A large part of the credit for this goes to the post office and the Pension Funds Regulatory and Development Authority has acknowledged this.

However, the NPS has taken off as expected. Why have you not extended it to more post office branches?

There are other factors why the NPS volumes have not taken off. Once the person enrols and fills the application at the post office, it goes to the NSDL through the online mode. Documents need to be scanned. But there are not enough facilitation centres for this. In fact, even the ones that are there are not equipped to handle the volume. They are short staffed, resulting in a considerable time lag.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/India-Posts-AS-Prasad-on-how-it-to-transform-into-a-dominant-financial-services-player/articleshow/8901169.cms
80,000 companies in Northern India are 'defaulters': MCA
JAMMU: Asserting that Companies that have not filed annual returns and balance sheet to Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for past five years have been put on notice, a senior official of MCA today said there were 80,000 such companies in Northern India.

"About 80000 defaulters (defaulting companies) are there in northern India. There are various type of defaulters and most of them are defaulters due to failure to submit annual statement and balance sheets of the companies. But we taking strict action now", the ministry's Regional Director, Northern Region, B K Bansal told reporters.

"These companies were filing only even-based information with the MCA as per their convenience and not filing annual returns. We have sent them notices in past two months and have now blocked them", Bansal said.

He further said that MCA has taken steps for compliance management by the companies to ensure they file their annual returns and balance sheets duly audited in time.

Companies that have failed to file annual returns with MCA for past five years have been barred from filing any further documents with regard to benefits, he said.

"To make the move effective, ministry has also informed the banks associated with defaulting companies", Bansal said.

It has been decided that no request, whether oral or in writing or through e-forms, for recording any even-based information/changes shall be accepted by the Registrar of Companies (ROC) from such defaulting companies unless they file their updated Balance sheet and profit and Loss accounts and annual returns with ROC, he said.

This is in order to ensure Corporate governance and proper compliance of provisions of Companies Act, 1956.

Bansal said Companies are now registered by the ROC within 24 hours of filing of complete documents.

MCA has launched drive for withdrawal of prosecution cases filed wrongly against companies and directors, if any, he said.

He said the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is now fully e-governed and registers almost all the documents in new State of art e-governance project - State Through Process (STP.

"It means that all the documents once it is uploaded through internet and fee is paid, will be registered immediately through STP mode by ROC office", he said.
9 JUL, 2011, 02.25AM IST, SANDIP SEN,

A subprime crisis in the making

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's lament that the media has dubbed his government as the 'most corrupt' may not be the only blot in his stint as a career economist and politician. A bigger crisis may haunt the nation during years to come due to short-sighted execution of policy initiatives of the UPA government led by the noted economist.

It is true that the UPA today is under intense pressure to roll back the momentum of the public opinion against it following the multiple scams that have been unearthed during the past few months. So, it has to think how to effectively counter the same on its feet, and win back popular mass support before the next elections.

The biggest and the most powerful strategic initiative of the UPA government to counter the popular backlash is likely to be the cash subsidy scheme powered by Nandan Nilekani's unique identity number (UID). This will allow the government to transfer cash directly to the bank account of the urban and rural poor and the farming community, both rich and poor. The subsidy on kerosene, diesel and LPG has been well over .`40,000 crore in 2010, while that on fertiliser worth around .`50,000 crore. This means a disbursement of nearly a trillion rupees annually across a subprime population segment of nearly half a billion people spread across the country is envisaged through the UID.

This is no mean task for even the most diligent and efficient task force considering that 90% of this subprime segment today has no bank account, zero literacy and no income source. The finance minister has said that the UID authority has given a plan to implement the scheme in three phases for LPG and fertiliser and two phases for kerosene that will cover all beneficiaries by March 2012.

According to the given road map, the administrative ministries, and not the UID task force, would launch pilot projects for the transfer of direct cash subsidy from October in the seven states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Orissa. Does this mean that consumers of these seven states will see higher prices of LPG, kerosene and fertiliser during the festival season of 2011 or will both the subsidies continue simultaneously?

According to Mr Nilekani, beneficiaries would receive subsidy transfers to their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts that could be accessed through various banking channels such as bank counters, ATMs, Internet and mobile banking. It will also have a transparency portal that would allow customers to check real-time stock movement of LPG and kerosene and see distributor-wise details. The system would have in-built checks and audits.

The key question will, however, be whether a foolproof transfer of funds can be effected to nearly half a billion poor and illiterate widely-dispersed individuals every month without an assortment of enabling or educated brokers as a bridge between the hi-tech system and an ignorant and desperately poor user.

Will they pawn their UID cards to the local retailer, distributor or a bank agent just for the sake of convenience? This is not to say that the poor must not be compensated for the fuel and fertiliser price rise. However, since these subsidies will be ultimately doled out by the concerned administrative ministries and not the UID authority, how shall one check if the system has not been rigged by the same men, who today are profiting from the black market of subsidised kerosene and diesel? After all, it is much easier to fix a computer coding system than burn a Yashwant Sonawane or shoot a Jyotirmoy Dey.

Unless Nilekani's UID authority operates the Aadhaar scheme on a buildoperate-transfer (BOT) basis for at least a decade, the transparency of such a disbursement mechanism can never be guaranteed. The petroleum ministry and the agriculture and fertiliser ministries that have done a poor job of subsidy disbursement till date will ensure that the cash gets siphoned out of the system and the country bears a permanent subprime payout that is hijacked by the officials and the brokers and keeps on spiralling in the years to come.

A trillion-rupee booty each year would be too lucrative for the politicians, the administrators and the mafia to ignore, and auditors can hardly be expected to keep count of checking with the half-a-billion uneducated poor spread across 3.28 lakh sq km of land mass. The Prime Minister will perhaps enhance his claim of bringing transparency in governance if he can actually convince the GoM and the Congress high command to let the UID authority operate Aadhaar on a BOT basis, and save the nation from a subprime crisis in the making.

(The author is an analyst and writes for print and online media in the US, Europe and Asia)
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/policy/a-subprime-crisis-in-the-making/articleshow/9156299.cms

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/post
1
DRAFT OF THE PROPOSED
INDIAN POST OFFICE (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2006
 A
BILL
      further to amend the Indian Post Office Act, 1898.
   BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as
follows:-
1. (1) This Act may be called the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Act, 2006.  
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for
different provisions of this Act.  
Short title and
commencement.
Amendment of
section 1.
2.    In section 1 of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898 (hereinafter referred to as the
principal Act), in sub-section (1), the word "Indian" shall be omitted.  
6 of 1898.
Amendment of
section 2.
3.  In section 2 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1),-
       (i) for clause (a), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:-
             
                     '(a) the expression "Authority" means the Mail Regulatory and
Development Authority established under section 6A;
                               
                     (aa) the expression "Director General" means the Director General of
Posts and includes any other officer authorised by notification by the
Central Government to exercise the powers of the Director General;
                     (aaa) the expression "electronic post"  with reference to receiving and
transmitting message by post includes any message sent, received,
collected, transmitted or stored in media, magnetic, optical, computer
memory, micro film, computer generated micro fiche or any other
similar device, through computer system or secure computer network;';
'(aaaa) the expression 'Board' means the Postal Services Board referred
to in Section 3A of this Act.
       (ii) after clause (b), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-
                     '(ba) the expression "letter" means any written communication, or
communication produced by mechanical, electronic or other means and
sent to and from any person to any specified address and includes lettercard, post-card and open or closed envelope, documents or any return or
answer to such documents, sent, conveyed or delivered by post but does
not include newspapers and parcels;';
       
(iii) in clause (d), for the words "or Her  Majesty's Government or the
Government of any British possession or foreign country", the words "or the 2
Government of any foreign country;" shall be substituted;
        (iv)  after clause (d), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-
           "(da)  the expression "notification" means a notification published in the
Official Gazette;";
 
        (v) after clause (e), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-
             '(ea) the expression "person" means-
       
                  (i) an individual who is a citizen of India;
 
                  (ii) an association of individuals or body of individuals, whether
incorporated or not, whose members are citizens of India;
                  (iii) a company in which not less than fifty-one percent of the paid up share
capital is held by the citizens of India;';
                  
       
(vi)  for clauses (i) and (j), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:-
     
  '(i) the expression "postal article" includes a letter, letter-card, post-card,
newspaper, book packet, parcel and every article or thing transmissible by post,
or by any person or body authorised to carry such article under the provisions
of this Act;
   
(j) the expression "Post Master General" includes the Principal Chief Post
Master General, the Chief Post Master General, the Regional Post Master
General or the Director of Postal Services and any other officer authorised by
order to exercise the powers of the Principal Chief Post Master General, the
Chief Post Master General or the Regional Post Master General;';
   
      (vii) after clause (k), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:-
'(l) the expression "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this
Act;
                
(m) the expression "postage stamping machine" means a machine used to
affix impressions to indicate pre-payment of postage or other sums chargeable
under this Act and includes a franking machine;
(n) the expression "registered service provider" means a person registered as
such under section 4C and includes his agent or assignee;
(o) the expression "Tribunal" means the Mail Disputes Settlement Tribunal
established under section  6L;
(p) the expression "universal service obligation" means the obligation to
provide minimum postal services at reasonable access, affordable price and
with specified quality parameters throughout the territory of the Union of
India.'.
  
4.   In section 3 of the principal Act, in clause (c), after the words "postal articles to
the addressee,", the words "or the placing of a postal article in a letter deposit box kept
at the house or office of the addressee or in a post box at the post office rented by the
addressee in such manner as may be prescribed," shall be inserted.  
Amendment of
section 3. 3
"CHAPTER IA
Postal Services Board
3 A (1) The Central Government shall constitute a Postal Services Board with
Chairperson and as many Members of the Board as the Government may appoint from
time to time:
Provided that the existing Postal Services Board shall, until the constitution of the
Board under this section, continue  to function as if the Indian Post Office
(Amendment) Act, 2006 had not been passed.
(2) The Board shall, subject to the control of the Central Government, exercise such
powers and perform such duties as may be entrusted to it by that Government under
this Act or under any other law for the time being in force.
(3) The Central Government may make rules for the purpose of regulating the
transaction of business by the Board and every order made or act done in accordance
with such rules shall be deemed to be the order or act, as the case may be, of the
Board."
Insertion of new
chapter on Postal
Services Board.
5.  In section 4 of the principal Act,-
  (a)  in sub-section (1),-  
      (i)  for clauses (b) and (c), the following clauses shall be substituted, nalely:-
     
           " (b) letters solely concerning the affairs  of the sender or receiver thereof,   
delivered or sent by his employee or messenger, without hire, reward, profit or
advantage for the purpose of receiving, carrying or delivering them;  
           (c) letters solely concerning goods or property sent either by land, sea or air
to be delivered with the goods or property to which the letters concern, without
hire, reward, profit or advantage for  the purpose of receiving, carrying or
delivering them:";
      
     (ii) after the proviso, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
  
               " Provided further that the Central Government may, by notification, allow,
on such conditions as may be specified in the said notification, the conveying of
letters beyond 300 grams and all the incidental services of receiving, collecting,
sending, despatching and delivering such letters from one place to another.";
  
(b) sub- section (2) shall be omitted.  
 
Amendment of
section 4.  
Terms and
conditions of
universal
service
obligation to
be complied
by registered
service
providers.
6.  After section 4 of the principal Act, the following sections shall be inserted,
namely:-   
        
    "4A. The Central Government may, by notification, specify the terms and
conditions of the universal service obligation and its applicability to the
registered service provider.
  4
Prohibition of  
carrying  on
any act or
perform any
service unless
registered.
Registration of
service
provider.  
4B. Subject to the provisions of section 4, no person shall carry on any act or
perform any service relating to carriage and delivery of any postal article unless
he is registered as a service provider under section 4C:
    Provided that a person carrying on any act or performing any service
relating to carriage and delivery of postal article, other than letter, immediately
before the commencement of the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Act, 2006,
may continue to do so, for a period of ninety days from such commencement; and
where he has made an application for registration under section 4C within the
said period of ninety days, till a certificate of registration is granted under this
section or the registering authority refuses to grant registration to him.
   
4C. (1) Any person, who is acting or performing any service relating to
carriage and delivery of any postal article, other than a letter, immediately before
the commencement of the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Act, 2006, or is
desirous of carrying on any act or performing any service relating to carriage and
delivery of any postal article or letter, subject to the provisions of section 4, shall
apply for registration as a service provider to the registering authority in such
form and manner as may be prescribed.
(2) Subject to the provisions of section 4, the terms and conditions for
registration of the service provider shall be such as may be prescribed.  
(3) Application under sub-section (1) shall be accompanied by such fee as is
set forth in the Second Schedule:
       Provided that the Central Government shall have the power to amend the
Second Schedule so as to enhance or reduce the quantum of fee.
 
(4) On receipt of the application, the registering authority shall, satisfy itself
that the applicant has fulfilled the prescribed terms and conditions and furnished
the same in the prescribed form and manner.
(5) On being satisfied, the registering authority shall register the applicant as a
service provider and grant him a certificate of registration within a period of
thirty days from the date of receipt of application.
(6) The registering authority may, for  reasons to be recorded in writing and
communicated to the applicant within a period of thirty days from the date of
receipt of such application, refuse to grant registration if he is satisfied that the
applicant does not fulfill the prescribed conditions.
(7) The certificate of registration granted under sub-section (5) shall be in such
form, for such period, and be renewed in such manner, as may be prescribed.  
(8) On registration of service provider under sub-section (5), the registering
authority shall forthwith communicate the particulars of such registration to the
Central Government.  
4D (1) The registration granted under this Act shall not be transferable.  
(2) No registered service provider shall collect,  accept for transmission,
transmit or deliver any postal article, the transmission or delivery of which
through post is contrary to the provisions of this Act.  
(3) The provisions of sections 20,23,24,24A,25, and 26 shall apply in relation
to postal articles authorised to be handled by a registered service provider in the
Obligations of
registered service
providers.  5
 
same manner as they apply in case of transmission or delivery of such postal
articles to the postal authorities under this Act.
(4) Any registered service provider with annual turnover of rupees twenty-five
lakh or over shall deposit ten per cent. of his annual turnover with the registering
authority for meeting universal service obligation in such manner as may be
prescribed:
Provided that the Central Government may, by notification, reduce such
percentage of the annual turnover  from time to time.
4E. For the purposes of this Act the Central Government shall by notification
appoint such number of registering authorities, in such manner and to perform
such functions, as may be prescribed.  
4F. (1) The registering authority may, if  there is any reasonable cause to
believe that the registered service provider has made any statement in, or in
relation to, any application for the grant or renewal of certificate of registration
which is incorrect or false in material particulars or has contravened any of the
provisions of this Act or any rule or order made thereunder, or has received any
recommendation from the Authority under sub-section (1) of section 6J, suspend
such certificate of registration pending the completion of any inquiry against such
registered service provider for making such incorrect or false statement or for
such contravention.  
(2) Where the registering authority is satisfied, after making such inquiry as it
may be deem fit, that the registered service provider has made incorrect or false
statement or contravention referred to in sub-section (1), it may, without
prejudice to any other penalty to which such registered service provider may be
liable under the provisions of this Act, cancel the certificate of registration:     
             
       Provided that no order of suspension or cancellation of certificate of
registration shall be made until an opportunity is given to the registered service
provider to show cause as to why such registration should not be suspended or
cancelled.
(3) A registered service provider whose  certificate of registration has been
suspended under sub-section (1) shall, immediately after such suspension,
surrender such certificate of registration to the registering authority and stop
carrying on any act or performing any service relating to carriage and delivery of
any postal article in respect of which such certificate of registration is given and
shall not resume such activity until the order of suspension has been revoked.
(4) No registered service provider shall be entitled to any compensation for
suspension or cancellation of certificate of registration.  
   
Appointment of
registering
authority.  
Suspension or
cancellation of
registration.
Amendment of
section 5.  
7.  In section 5 of the principal Act, for the words "Wherever within India", the
words and figure "Subject to the provisions of section 4, where within India" shall be
substituted.
  
Amendment of
section 6.  
8.  In section 6 of the principal Act, for the words "The Government shall not incur
any", the words  "Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time
being in force, the Central Government shall not incur any contractual" shall be
substituted.   
Insertion of
New Chapter
9. After Chapter II of the principal Act, the following Chapters shall be inserted,
namely:- 6
IIA.
Establishment
and
incorporation
of Authority.
Qualifications
for
appointment of
Chairperson
and other
members.
"CHAPTER II A
MAIL REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
6A.(1) With effect from such date as the Central Government may, by
notification appoint, there shall be established, for the purposes of this Act, an
Authority to be called the Mail Regulatory and Development Authority.
(2) The Authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual
succession and a common seal, with power, subject to the provisions of this Act, to
acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract,
and shall, by the said name; sue or be sued.  
(3) The head office of the Authority shall be at New Delhi.
6B. The Authority shall consist of the following persons, namely:-
        (a)  a Chairperson, to be appointed by the Central Government by notification,
from amongst persons who is or has held a post, not below that of the
Additional Secretary to the Government of India or any other post under the
Central Government carrying a scale of pay which is not less than that of the
Additional Secretary to the Government of India, for a period of three years
and has practical knowledge and  experience in the postal service
administration;
(b) one member, to be appointed by the Central Government by a notification,
from amongst persons who is or has held the post, not below that of the
Additional Secretary to the Government of India or any other post under the
Central Government carrying a scale of pay which is not less than that of the
Additional Secretary to the Government of India, for a period of three years
and has practical knowledge and experience in the central civil or general
services and administration;   
         (c) one member, to be appointed by the Central Government by a notification,
from amongst persons who is or has held the post, not below that of the
Additional Secretary to the Government of India or any other post under the
Central Government  carrying a scale of pay which is not less than that of the
Additional Secretary to the Government of India, for a period of three years
and has professional knowledge and  experience in trade and commerce.   
    
Term of office,
conditions of
service, etc., of
Chairperson
and  members
of Authority.
6C.  (1) Before appointing any person as  the Chairperson or member of the
Authority, the Central Government shall satisfy itself that the person does not have any
such financial or other interest as is likely to affect prejudicially his functions as such
Chairperson or a member, as the case may be.  
(2) The Chairperson and members of the Authority shall hold office for a term of  
three years from the date on which they enter upon their offices or until they attain the
age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier.
(3) Every person on his selection as the Chairperson or a member of the Authority
shall have to seek retirement from service  before joining as such Chairperson or
member, as the case may be.  
(4) The salary and allowances payable to and other  terms and conditions of
service of the Chairperson and members of the Authority shall be such as may be
prescribed. 7
 
(5)  Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), the Chairperson or a
member of the Authority may –
      (a) relinquish his office by giving to the Central Government a notice of not less
than three months; or  
       (b) be removed from his office in accordance with the provisions of section 6E.
(6) The Chairperson or any member of the Authority ceasing to hold office as such,
shall –  
         (a) be ineligible for further employment under the Central Government or any
State Government; or
         (b) not accept any commercial employment, for a period  of two year from the
date he ceases to hold such office.
       Explanation.- For the purpose of this section, "commercial employment" means
employment in any capacity under, or in agency of, a person engaged in trading,
commercial, industrial or financial business in the field relating to mail or courier
business  including setting up practice either independently or as partner of a firm or as
a director of a company or  an adviser or a consultant in any field relating to the mail
or courier business..
6D. (1)  The Chairperson of the Authority shall have powers of general
superintendence and directions in the conduct of affairs of the Authority and he shall,
in addition to presiding over the meetings of the Authority, exercise and discharge
such powers and functions of the Authority  as may be prescribed.
(2)  When the Chairperson of the Authority is unable to discharge his functions owing
to absence, illness or any other cause, the senior-most member shall discharge the
functions of the Chairperson until the date on which the Chairperson resumes his
duties.  
6E. (1) The Central Government may remove from office such Chairperson or member
of the Authority, who –  
       (a) is, or at any time has been, adjudged as an  insolvent; or  
(b) has been convicted of any offence which, in the opinion of the Central
Government, involves moral turpitude; or  
(c) engages during his term of office in any paid employment outside the duties
of his office; or
(d)  is, in the opinion of the Central Government, unfit to continue in office by
reason of infirmity of mind or body; or
(e) has acquired such financial or other interest as is likely to affect prejudicially
his functions as the Chairperson or a member, as the case may be; or  
(f) has so abused his position as to render his continuation in office prejudicial to
the public interest.
(2) No person shall be removed under clauses (c) to (f) of sub-section (1) unless he has
been given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter.
Powers of
Chairperson.
Removal  of
Chairperson and
member from office. 8
Meetings of
Authority.
Vacancies, etc.
not to
invalidate
proceedings of
Authority.  
Officers and
other
employees to
be provided to
Authority.  
Filling up of
casual vacancy
in Authority.   
Functions and
powers of
Authority.  
6F. The Authority shall meet at least once in every three months and shall observe
such rules of procedure in regard to the transaction of business at its meetings,
including quorum at such meetings, as may be prescribed.
6G. No act or proceeding of the Authority shall be invalid merely by reason of –
       (a) any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of, the Authority; or  
        (b) any defect in the appointment of a person acting as a Chairperson or member
of the Authority; or
       (c) any irregularity in the procedure of the Authority not affecting the merits of
the case.
6H. (1)  The Central Government shall provide the Authority with such officers and
other employees as it considers necessary for the efficient discharge of functions under
the provisions of this Act.
(2) The salary and allowances payable to and the other conditions of service of the
officers and other employees of the Authority appointed under sub-section (1)
shall be such as may be prescribed.
6-I.  If, for reasons other than temporary absence, any vacancy occurs in the office of
the Chairperson or a member of the Authority, the Central Government shall appoint
another person in accordance with the provisions of section 6B to fill the vacancy and
the Chairperson or the member, as the case may be, so  appointed to fill the casual
vacancy shall hold office only for the remainder of the term for which the Chairperson
or the member, as the case may be, in whose place he is so appointed.  
6J.  The functions of the Authority shall be to –
          (a) make recommendations, which may not be binding on the Central
Government,  on a request from registered service providers or department of
Posts, on the following matters, namely:-
                       (i) suspension or cancellation of registration for non-compliance of   
terms and conditions of registration;  
                      (ii)  measures to promote competition and efficiency in carrying on any
service relating to carriage and delivery of postal articles and letters;  
                      (iii)  technological improvements in services provided by the registered
service providers/Department of Posts;  
   
                      (iv) kinds  of equipment to be used by the registered service
providers/Department of Posts;  
                       (v)  standards and quality of service to be provided by the registered
service providers and department of Posts;  
                   
                      (vi)  compliance of terms and conditions by registered service providers;
                      (vii) rates at which mail services within India and outside shall be
provided.  
  
          (b)  fix terms and conditions of inter-connectivity between the registered service 9
45 of 1860.  
providers and the department of Posts;  
            (c)  regulate arrangements amongst registered service providers of sharing with
the Department of Posts their revenue derived from providing mail related
services.  
         (d) conduct periodical survey of services provided by the registered service
providers;
          (e)  protect interests of consumers of mail services;  
 (f)  lay down and ensure time period for providing local and long distance mail
services by registered service providers and the department of Posts;
          (g) maintain records of  mutual agreements between registered service
providers;  
   
          (h) make available the records maintained under clause (g) for inspection to  
public on  payment of such fee and on compliance of such conditions as may
be prescribed;
           (i) ensure effective compliance of universal service obligation;  
 
           (j) perform such other administrative and financial functions as may be
entrusted to it by the Central Government and which are incidental thereto;  
            
(k) carry out inspection of records of the registered service providers; and
            
           (l) call for information, statement and record from the registered service
providers and the Department of Posts.
6K.  The Chairperson, members and other  officers and employees of the Authority
shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian
Penal Code, 1860.  
Chairperson and
members to be
public servants.  
Establishment
of Tribunal.
CHAPTER II B
MAIL DISPUTES SETTLEMENT TRIBUNAL
6L. With effect from such date as the Central Government may, by notification
appoint, there shall be established for the purposes of this Act, a Tribunal to be
called as the Mail Disputes Settlement Tribunal to adjudicate any dispute –
          (i) between the Central Government or a State Government or a local authorities
and a registered service provider;
          (ii)  between the authority and a registered service provider;
          (iii) between two or more service providers;  10
Application
for settlement
of disputes to
Tribunal.  
         (iv) between a service provider and a group or association of consumers:
     Provided that nothing in this section shall apply in respect of matters relating to-
    (a)   inquiring into any alleged contravention of the provisions contained in subsection  (1) of section 3 or sub-section section (1) of section 4 of the
Competition Act, 2002 by the Competition Commission ;  
   
(b)   the complaint of an individual consumer relating to services offered by
registered service providers and  maintainable before a Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forum or a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission or the
National Consumer Redressal Commission established under section 9 of
the Consumer Protection Act, 1986;  
(c)     services provided by the department of Posts.
6M. (1) The Central Government or a State Government or a local authority or a
registered service provider or a group or association of consumers may make an
application to the Tribunal for adjudication of any disputes specified under section 6L.
(2) An application under sub-section (1) shall be made in such form, within such
period,  in such manner and be accompanied by such fee, as may be prescribed:
(3) On receipt of an application under sub-section (1), the Tribunal may, after giving
the parties to the disputes an opportunity of being heard, pass such orders thereon as it
deem fit.
(4) The Tribunal shall send a copy of every order made by it to the parties to the
dispute and to the Central Government.  
(5) The application received under sub-section (1) shall be dealt with as expeditiously
as possible and endeavour shall be made to dispose of the same finally within ninety
days from the date of receipt of such application:
    Provided that where any such application could not be disposed of within the said
period of ninety days, the Tribunal shall record its reasons in writing for not disposing
of the application within that period.
(6) The Tribunal may, for the purpose of examining the legality or propriety or
correctness of any dispute made in any application under sub-section (1), suo moto or
otherwise, call for the relevant records to dispose of such application and make such
orders as it deem fit.  
6N. (1) The Tribunal shall consist of the following persons, namely:-
               (a) the Chairperson, to be appointed by the Central Government by
notification, from amongst persons who is, or has been, or is qualified to be,
a Judge of a High Court;
               (b) one member, to be appointed by the Central Government by notification,   
from amongst persons who is or has been a member of the Indian Legal
Service and has held the post of Additional Secretary in that service;  
               (c) one member, to be appointed by the Central Government by notification,  
12 of 2003.
68 of 1986.  
Composition of
Tribunal.
 11
from amongst persons who is or has been a member of the Postal Services
and has held the post of Additional Secretary or any other post carrying a
scale of pay which is not less than that of the Additional  Secretary for a
period of three years;
               (d) one member, to be appointed by the Central Government by notification,  
from amongst persons who is or has been a member of the Central Civil or
General Services and has held the post of Additional Secretary or any other
post carrying a scale of pay which is not less than that of the Additional
Secretary for a period of three years.
  
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act,-
(a) the jurisdiction of the  Tribunal may be exercised by the Benches thereof;
(b) a Bench may be constituted by the Chairperson of the Tribunal with one or
more members of such Tribunal as may be prescribed:
             Provided that every Bench shall be presided over by the Chairperson
or the judicial member appointed under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of
section 6N.  
            (c) the Benches of the Tribunal shall ordinarily sit at New Delhi but in special
circumstances at such other places, as the Central Government may, in
consultation with the Chairperson of the Tribunal and by notification,
specify;
            (d) the Central Government shall by notification specify the areas in relation to
which each Bench of the  Tribunal may exercise its jurisdiction.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (4), the Chairperson of the
Tribunal may transfer a member of the Tribunal from one Bench to another Bench.  
(4) If at any stage of the hearing it appears to the Chairperson  or a member of the
Tribunal that the case or matter is of such a nature that it ought to be heard by a Bench
consisting of more members, the case or matter may be transferred by the Chairperson
to such Bench as the Chairperson may deem fit.  
   
6-O.  Where Benches are constituted, the Chairperson of the Tribunal may, from time
to time, by notification, make provisions as to the distribution of the business of the
Tribunal amongst the Benches and also provide for the matters which may be dealt
with by each Bench.
Distribution of
business amongst
Benches.
6P.  On the application of any of the parties and after notice to the parties, and after
hearing such of them as he may deem proper to be heard, or sue moto, the Chairperson
of the Tribunal may transfer any case pending before one Bench, for disposal, to any
other Bench.  
Power of
Chairperson to
transfer cases.  
Decision to be
by majority.
6Q.  If, the members of a bench consisting of two members differ in opinion on any
point, they shall state the point or points on which they differ, and make a reference to
the Chairperson of the  Tribunal who shall hear the point or points himself and such
point or points shall be decided according to the opinion of the majority who have
heard the case, including those who first heard it.  
Term of office,
conditions of
service, etc. of
Chairperson
6R. (1) The Chairperson and member of the Tribunal shall hold office for a term of
three years from the date on which he entered upon his office:
    Provided that no Chairperson or other member shall hold office as such after he has 12
and members
of Tribunal.
attained,-
         (a) in the case of Chairperson, the age of seventy years; and  
         (b) in the case of member, the age of sixty-five years.
(2)  Every person on his selection as the Chairperson or a member of the Tribunal shall
have to seek retirement from service before joining as such Chairperson or member, as
the case may be.  
(3)  The salary and allowances payable  to and other terms and conditions of
service of the Chairperson and other members of the Tribunal shall be such as
may be prescribed.
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), the Chairperson or a
member of the Tribunal may –
      (a) relinquish his office by giving to the Central Government a notice of not less
than three months; or  
       (b) be removed from his office in accordance with the provisions of section 6E.
(5) The Chairperson or any member of the Tribunal ceasing to hold office as such,
shall –  
        (a) be ineligible for further employment under the Central Government or any
State Government; or
         (b) not accept any commercial employment, for a period of two year from the  
date he ceases to hold such office.
       Explanation.- For the purpose of this section, "commercial employment" means
employment in any capacity under, or in agency of, a person engaged in trading,
commercial, industrial or financial business in the field relating to mail or courier
business  including setting up practice either independently or as partner of a firm or as
a director of a company or  an adviser or a consultant in any field relating to the mail
or courier business..
   
Filling up of
casual vacancy
in Tribunal.  
6S.  If, for reason other than temporary absence, any vacancy occurs in the office of
the Chairperson or a Member of the Tribunal, the Central Government shall appoint
another person in accordance with the provisions of section 6N to fill the vacancy and
the proceedings may be continued before  the Tribunal from the stage at which the
vacancy is filled and the Chairperson or the member, as the case may be, so appointed
to fill the casual vacancy shall hold office only for the remainder of the term for which
the Chairperson or the member, as the case may be, in whose place he is so appointed.  
6T. (1) The Central Government may remove from office, the Chairperson or any
Member of the Tribunal, who –
    (a)  is or at any time has been adjudged as an insolvent; or
    (b) has been convicted of any offence which, in the opinion of the Central
Government, involves moral turpitude; or
    (c)  has become physically or mentally incapable of acting as the Chairperson or a
member; or
    (d)  has acquired such financial or other interest as is likely to affect prejudicially
his functions as the Chairperson or a member; or  
    (e)  has so abused his position as to render his continuation in office prejudicial to
the public interest.  
Removal of
Chairperson and
member of
Tribunal from
office. 13
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Chairperson or a
member of the Tribunal shall not be removed from his office on the ground specified
in clause (d) or clause (e) of that sub-section unless the Supreme Court on a reference
being made to it in this behalf by the Central Government, has, on an enquiry, held by
it in accordance with such procedure as it may specify in this behalf, reported that the
Chairperson or a member, as the case may be, ought on such ground or grounds to
removed.  
(3) The Central Government may suspend from office, the Chairperson or a member of
the Tribunal in respect of whom a reference has been made to the Supreme Court
under sub-section (2), until the Central Government has passed an order on receipt of
the report of the Supreme Court on such reference.  
6U.  (1) The Central Government shall provide the Tribunal with such officers and
employees as it may deem fit.
(2) The officers and employees of the Tribunal shall discharge their functions under
the general superintendence of the Chairperson of the Tribunal.  
(3) The salary and allowances and other conditions of service of the officers and
employees of the Tribunal shall be such as may be prescribed.
Staff of Tribunal.
45 of 1860.  
6V.  The Chairperson, members, officers and other employees of the Tribunal shall be
deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal
Code, 1860.  
Chairperson and
Members  to be
public servants.
6W. No Civil Court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any proceeding in respect of
any matter which the Tribunal is empowered by or under this Act to determine and no
injunction shall be granted by any Court or other authority in respect of any action
taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Act.  
 
Civil Court not
have jurisdiction.
5 of 1908.
5 of 1908.
1 of 1872.  
6X. (1) The Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down by the Code of
Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and,
subject to the other provisions of this Act, the Tribunal shall have powers to regulate
its own procedure.
(2) The Tribunal shall have, for the purpose of discharging its functions under this Act,
the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
while trying a suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:-
    (a)  summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on
oath;
    (b)  requiring the discovery and production of documents;
    (c)  receiving evidence on affidavits;
(d)  subject to the provisions of sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act,
1872, requisitioning any public record or document or a copy of such record or
documents, from any office;
    (e)  issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents;
    (f)  reviewing its decisions;
    (g)  dismissing an application for default or deciding it, ex parte; and
(h)  setting aside any order of dismissal of any application for default or any order
passed by it, ex parte.
     
(3) Every proceeding before the Tribunal shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding
Procedure and
powers of  
Tribunal.  14
45 of 1860.  
2 of 1974.  
within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 and for the purposes of section 196 of the
Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Tribunal shall be deemed to be a civil court for the
purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Right to legal
representation.  
6Y.  The applicant may either appear in person or authorise one or more chartered
accountants or company secretaries or cost accountants or legal practitioners to present
the  case before the  Tribunal.  
    Explanation.-  For the purposes of this section,-
         (a)  "chartered accountant" means a chartered accountant as defined in clause (b)
of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and
who has obtained a certificate of practice under sub-section (1) of section 6
of that Act;
         (b)  "company secretary" means a company secretary as defined in clause (c) of
sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Companies Secretaries Act, 1980 (56 of
1980) and who has obtained a certificate of practice under sub-section (1) of
section 6 of that Act;
          (c) "cost accountant" means a cost accountant as defined in clause (b) of subsection (1) of section 2 of the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959 and who has
obtained a certificate of practice under sub-section (1) of section 6 of that Act.  
         (d)  "legal practitioner " means an advocate, vakil or attorney of any High Court,
a pleader as defined in clause (i) of section 2 of the Advocate Act, 1961.  
38 of 1949.                
23 of 1959.  
25 of 1961.  
Appeal to
High Court.  
6Z. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 or in
any other law, an appeal shall lie against any order, not being an interlocutory order, of
the Tribunal to the High Court on one or more of the grounds specified in section 96 of
that Code.  
(2) No appeal shall lie against any decision or order made by the Tribunal with the
consent of the parties.  
(3) Every appeal under this section shall be preferred within a period of ninety days
from the date of the decision or order appealed against:  
    Provided that the High Court may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said
period of ninety days, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient
cause from preferring the appeal in time.  
 
6ZA. (1) An order passed by the Tribunal under this Act shall be executable by the
Tribunal as a decree of Civil Court, and for this purpose, the Tribunal shall have all the
powers of a civil court.  
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Tribunal may transmit
any order made by it to a civil court having local jurisdiction and such civil court shall
execute the order as if it were a decree made by that court.  
Orders passed by
Tribunal to be
executable as a
decree.
6ZB. If any person wilfully fails to comply with the order of the Tribunal, he shall be
punishable with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.  
Penalty for wilful
failure to comply
with orders of
Tribunal.  15
6ZC. (1) The Authority and the Tribunal shall maintain their accounts and other
records and prepare an annual statement of accounts in such form as may be prescribed
by the Central Government in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor-General
of India.  
(2)  The accounts of the Authority and the  Tribunal, as the case may be, shall be
audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India at such intervals as may be
specified by him and an expenditure incurred in connection with such audit shall be
payable by the Authority and the Tribunal, as the case may be,  to the Comptroller and
Auditor-General of India.
(3) The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and any other person appointed by
him in connection with the audit of the accounts of the Authority and the Tribunal, as
the case may be, shall have the same rights and privileges and authority in connection
with such audit as the Comptroller and Auditor-General generally has, in connection
with the audit of the Government accounts and, in particular, shall have the right to
demand the production of books, accounts, connected vouchers and other documents
and papers and to inspect any of the offices of the Authority and the Tribunal, as the
case may be.  
(4) The accounts of the Authority and the Tribunal, as the case may be, as certified by
the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or any other person appointed by him in
this behalf together with the audit report thereon shall be forwarded annually to the
Central Government and that Government shall cause the same to be laid before each
House of Parliament.  
 
Accounts of  
Authority and
Tribunal.  
6ZD. (1) The Authority and the Tribunal, as the case may be, shall furnish to the
Central Government at such time and in such form and manner as may be prescribed
or as the Central Government may direct, such returns and statements and such
particulars in regard to the functioning,  performance, activities and any proposed or
existing programme for the promotion and development of the postal services, as the
Central Government may, from time to time, require.
(2) The Authority and the Tribunal, as the case may be, shall prepare once in every
year, in such form and at such time as may be prescribed, an annual report giving a
summary of the activities during the previous year and copies of the report shall be
forwarded to the Central Government.  
(3) A copy of the report received under sub-section (2) shall be laid by the Central
Government, as soon as may be after it is received, before each House of Parliament.  
 
Furnishing of
returns, etc. to
Central
Government.  
10. In section 7 of the principal Act, in sub-section (3), for the words "book, pattern
and sample packets", the words "book packets" shall be substituted.
Amendment of
section 7.
Amendment of
section 8.
11.  In section 8 of the principal Act,-
     (i) for clause (a), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-
  "(a) prescribe the manner of pre-payment of postage on inland postal articles
or any class of inland postal articles, the grant of any rebate on such postage if
it is prepaid by means of postage stamping machines or if such postal articles
are pre-sorted and posted;";
     (ii) in clause (d), for the words 'charged for the "express delivery" of postal 16
articles', the words "charged for such service in relation to the delivery of any postal
article," shall be substituted;
     (iii) the Explanation to clause (d) shall be omitted.
Amendment of
section 9.
12.  In section 9 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), after clause (b), the following
clause shall be inserted, namely:-
      "(c) that it does not contain any business reply card except business reply card for
its own subscription.".
Substitution of
new section
for section 10.  
Power to
declare rates of
foreign
postage.  
13.  For section 10 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted,
namely:-
     
"10.  Where arrangements are in force with any foreign country for the
transmission by post of postal articles between India and such country, the Central
Government may, in conformity with the  provisions of such  arrangements, declare
what postage rates and other sums shall be charged in respect of such postal articles
and may specify the scale of weight, size, terms and conditions subject to which the
rates so declared shall be charged.".
Amendment of
section 15.  
14.  In section 15 of the principal Act, for the words "or to the Post Office of the
United Kingdom or of any British possession or foreign country,", the words "or to the
post office of any foreign country," shall be substituted.
Amendment of
section 16.
15.  In section 16 of the principal Act, in sub-section (3), after clause (d), the following
clause shall be inserted, namely:-
"(da) regulate the use of postage stamping machine;".   
Amendment of
section 17.
16. In section 17 of the principal Act, after sub-section (2), the following sub-section
shall be inserted, namely:-
     "(3) The Central Government may prescribe for  use, maintenance, inspection,
seizure and  disposal of postage stamping machine.".  
Amendment of
section 21.
In section-21 of the Principal Act, -  
(a)  in sub-section (2) after clause (e), the following clauses shall be inserted namely:-  
(f) provide for letter deposit boxes by the addressees;
(g) provide for number of postal articles to  be posted at the Post Office in the presorted manner subject to such conditions as may be specified therein; and
(h) notify  any   other  class  of services for collection, conveyance and delivery of
postal articles as may be specified;
(i) provide for the manner and form of     application for registration under sub-section
(1) if section 4 C;
(a) provide for terms and conditions of registration of service provider under subsection (2) of section 4C;
(b) provide for the form and the period of registration certificate under subsection (7) of section 4C; 17
(c) provide for the manner to meet out universal service obligation under subsection (3) of section 4D;  
(d) provide for manner of appointment, functions and number of registering
authorities under section 4E; and
(i) after sub-section (3), the following sub-section and Explanation shall be inserted,
namely:-
Explanation – For the purposes of this section, "speed post", "business post" and
"express parcel post" notified under clause (b) of sub section (2) of section 21 shall be
deemed to be the services specified under clause (h) of sub section (2) of this section.'
18.  In section 22 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), for the words "book, pattern
or sample packets", the words "book packets" shall be substituted.   
Amendment of
section 22.
19.  In section 23 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), for the words "book pattern
or sample packet", the words "book packets" shall be substituted.
Amendment of
section 23.
20.  In section 24A of the principal Act, for the words and figures "the Sea Customs
Act, 1878", the words and figures "the Customs Act, 1962," shall be substituted.  
Amendment of
section 24A.  
21.  In section 25 of the principal Act, for the words and figures "the Sea Customs
Act, 1878", the words and figures "the Customs Act, 1962," shall be substituted.   
Amendment of  
section 25.
22. In section 27 of the principal Act, in Explanation,-  
(a)  for the words "of any part of India or of His Majesty's dominions", the
words "in India" shall be substituted;  
(b)  for the words "such part or country", the words "Indian or of such country"
shall be substituted .       
Amendment of
section 27.  
23.  In section 27C of the principal Act,-
    (a) for the words, figures and letters "sections 99D and 99F of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1898", the words and figures "section 96 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973" shall be substituted;
    (b) for the word, figures and letter "section 99C", the word and figures
"section 96" shall be substituted.
Amendment of
section 27C.
24. In section 29 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), after clause (c), the following
clause shall be inserted, namely:-
 "(d) prescribe the amount to be paid as compensation in case of loss of an article
or  contents thereof.".
Amendment of
section 29.
25.  In section 36 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1),-
    (a) for the words "with the United Kingdom or with any British possession, or
foreign country", the words "with any foreign country" shall be substituted;
    (b) for the words "and the United Kingdom or such possession or country,", the
words "and such country" shall be substituted.
Amendment of
section 36. 18
Amendment of
section 37.
26.  In section 37 of the principal Act,-
    (i)  in sub-section (2), clause (b) shall be omitted;
    (ii) in sub-section (3), the words "free of further charge" shall be omitted.
Substitution of
new heading
for the existing
heading of
Chapter IX.  
27.  In Chapter IX of the principal Act, for the  heading, the following heading shall be
substituted, namely:-
         "MONEY TRANSFER SYSTEM".
 
Substitution of
new section
for section 43
Power to
maintain
money transfer
system and to
make rules as
to remittances
thereby.  
28.  For section 43 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted,
namely:-
    
          "43.(1)  The Central Government may provide for the remittance of money
through post office by means of money order or any other money transfer instrument
and may make rules as to such money orders or money transfer instruments.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such
rules may provide for,-
    (a)  the limit of amount for which money order or any such instrument may be
issued;
    (b)  the period during which money order or such other instrument shall remain
current;
    (c)  the rate of fee to be charged for money order or any other instrument;
    (d)  the receipt that shall be granted to the remitter or by the payee;
    (e)  the nature of the instrument and the manner of transmission, payment of money
order or other instrument and the time at which payment of money order or any other
instrument may be made;
    (f)  the manner of repayment of money order or any other instrument;
    (g)  the period within which a claim may be made in respect of money order or any
other instrument; and
    (h) the arrangement for issue and payment of money order or any other instrument
with other countries;".  
          
Amendment of
section 44.
29.  In section 44 of the principal Act,-
    '(i)  in sub-section (1), for the words "by means of a money order may require that
the amount of the order", the words "by means of a money order or any other
instrument referred to in section 43 may  require that the amount of the remittance"
shall be substituted;
    (ii)  for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:- 19
    "(2)  If neither the payee nor the remitter of a money order or any other instrument
can be found and if within the period of six months from the date of the issue of the
remittance, no claim is made by such payee or remitter, the amount of such remittance
shall not be claimable from the Government.".
30.  For section 45 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted,
namely:-
    "45.  The Central Government may authorise the issue of any type of money
transfer instruments including postal order and may make rules as to the form, rates of
commission to be charged thereon, and the manner in which, and the conditions
subject to which, they may be issued, paid and cancelled.".
Substitution of new
section for section
45.  
Power to provide
for the issue of
money transfer
instruments.  
31.  In section 46 of the principal Act,-
    (i) for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:-
       "(1) Where arrangements made with any foreign country are in force for the issue
and payment of money orders or any other instrument referred to in section 43
between India and such country through the Post Office, the Central Government may
make rules to give effect to such arrangement.";
  
   (ii)  in sub-section (2), in clause (a), for the word "order", the words "order or
instrument" shall be substituted.
Amendment of
section 46.
32.  In section 47 of the principal Act,-
    (i) for the marginal heading, the following shall be substituted, namely:-
      "Recovery of money order or any other instrument, paid to the wrong person."
    (ii) in clause (a), for the words "money order", the words "money order or any
other instrument referred to in section 43" shall be substituted;
    (iii) in clause (b), for the words "money order", the word "remittance" shall be
substituted.  
 
Amendment of
section 47.  
33.  In section 48 of the principal Act,-
     (i)  for the words "money order" wherever they occur, the words "money order or
any other instrument" shall be substituted;
    (ii)  in clause (d), for the word "order", the word "instrument" shall be substituted.
Amendment of
section 48.  
34.  After Chapter IX of the principal Act, the following Chapter shall be inserted,
namely:-
"CHAPTER IXA
NEW POSTAL SERVICES
Insertion of new
Chapter after the
Chapter IX.  
 48A. The Central Government may, if considered necessary, provide for new services
other than those for which provision has been made under this Act, through the post
office and may also enter into agreement with other service providers.  
   48B. The Central Government may make rules for the purpose of section 48A so as
Power of Central
Government to provide
for new Postal Services.
Power to make rules for
the provisions of this 20
to regulate the procedure, scope and  responsibilities for the proper, smooth and
effective functioning of these services.".  
chapter.
Substitution of  
a new heading
for heading of
Chapter X.
35.  In Chapter X of the principal Act, for the heading, the following heading shall be
substituted, namely:-
"Penalties and Procedure
Offences by Officers of Post Office and Registered Service Provider.".
Amendment of
section 49.  
36.  In section 49 of the principal Act,-
    (i) after the words "Whoever, being employed", the words "by the Central
Government or the registered service provider" shall be inserted;
    (ii) for the words "fifty rupees", the words "one thousand rupees" shall be
substituted.
Amendment of
section 50.
37.  In section 50 of the principal Act, for the words "imprisonment which may extend
to one month, or with fine which may extend to fifty rupees, or with both"; the words
"fine which may extend to twenty-five thousand rupees" shall be substituted;
Amendment of
section 51.  
38.  In section 51 of the principal Act, for the words "one hundred rupees", the words
"rupees twenty-five thousand" shall be substituted.
Amendment of
section 52.  
39.  In section 52 of the principal Act,-
            (i) after the words "Whoever, being an officer of the post office", the words
"or an employee of the registered service provider" shall be inserted;
              
             (ii) after the word "fine", the words "which may extend to rupees twenty-five
thousand" shall be added.
Amendment of
section 53.  
40.  In section 53 of the principal Act,-
  (i) after the words "Whoever, being an officer of the post office", the
words "or an employee of a registered service provider" shall be
inserted;
(ii) after the word "fine", the words "upto rupees twenty-five thousand "
shall be inserted.  
Amendment of
section 54.  
41.  In section 54 of the principal Act,-
         
  (i) after the words "Whoever, being an officer of the post office", the
words "or an employee of a registered service provider" shall be
inserted;
               (ii) after the word  "with fine", the words "which may extend to rupees
twenty-five thousand " shall be added.  
 
Amendment of
section 55.  
42.  In section 55 of the principal Act,-
(i) after the words "Whoever, being an officer of the post office", the
words "or an employee of a registered service provider" shall be
inserted;
(ii) after the words "with fine", the  words "which may extend to rupees 21
twenty-five thousand " shall be added.
43. In section 56 of the principal Act,- after the word "fine", the words "which may
extend to rupees twenty-five thousand " shall be added.
Amendment of
section 56.
44.  In section 58 of the principal Act,-
(a) in sub-section (1), for the words "fifty   rupees ", the words "  rupees one  
thousand" shall be substituted;
 
(b) for sub-section (2) the following sub-section shall be substituted,
namely:-
  "(2) Whoever being registered and authorised to collect, convey and deliver postal
article under sections 4C and 4D contravenes any of the provisions of this Act or the
rules made there under, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to rupees two
lakh.".
    
Amendment of
section 58.  
45.  In section 59 of the principal Act,-
(a) in sub-section (1), for the words "fifty rupees", the words "rupees one
thousand" shall be substituted;  
(b) in sub-section (2), the words "five hundred rupees", the words "rupees one
lakh" shall be substituted.   
Amendment of
section 59.
 
46.  In section 60 of the principal Act, for the words "two hundred rupees" wherever
they occur, the words "twenty-five thousand" shall be substituted.  
Amendment of
section 60.
47. In section 61 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), after the words "with fine" the
words "which may extend to rupees twenty-five thousand" shall be inserted.  
Amendment of
section 61
48.  In section 62 of the principal Act after the words "with fine", the words "which
may extend to rupees twenty-five thousand" shall be inserted.
Amendment of
section 62
49.  In section 63 of the principal Act, for the words "fifty rupees", the words "one
thousand rupees" shall be substituted.  
Amendment of
section 63.
50.  In section 64 of the principal Act, for the words "five hundred rupees", the words
"rupees five thousand" shall be substituted.   
Amendment of
section 67.  
2 of 1974.
51.  In section 67 of the principal Act,-
(a) for the words "two hundred rupees", the words "rupees five thousand " shall
be substituted;
(b) in the proviso, for the words and figures "the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1898", the words and figures "the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973" shall be
substituted.
Amendment of
section 67.  
52.  In section 68 of the principal Act, after the word "fine", the words "which may
extend to rupees ten thousand" shall be inserted.  
Amendment of
section 68.
53.  In section 69 of the principal Act,-  Amendment of
section 69.  22
(a) for the word "letter" at both the places, the words "postal article" shall be
substituted,
(b) for the words "five hundred rupees", the words "rupees ten thousand " shall
be substituted.  
Insertion of
new section
71A.     
Offences by
companies.  
54.  After section 71 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted,
namely:-
    '71A. (1) Where any offence punishable under this Act has been committed by a
company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed was in charge of,
and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company,
as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable
to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
    Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person
liable to any punishment, if he proves that the offence was committed without his
knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of
such offence.
   (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence under
this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been
committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the
part of, any proprietor, partner, employee, agent or franchisee of the company, such
person or persons shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable
to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
    Explanation.-  For the purposes of this section, company means any body,
corporate and include a firm or other association of individuals.
            
Omission of
section 73.  
55.  Section 73 of the principal Act shall be omitted.   
Amendment of
section 74.  
56.  In section 74 of the principal Act,-
   (i) for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:-
        "(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power,   
such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
           (a) the salary and allowances and terms and conditions of service of the
Chairperson and  members of the Authority under sub-section (4) of section
6C;  
           (b) powers and functions of the Chairperson of the Authority under sub-section
(1) of section 6D;  
           (c) the procedure to be adopted in the meetings of the Authority under section
6F;  
           (d) the salary, allowances and conditions of service of the officers and
employees of the Authority under sub-section (2) of section 6H;  
           (e) the fee and conditions for making available records under clause (h) of
section 6J;  
            (f) the form and the manner of application and the fee to be accompanied with
the application under sub-section (2) of section 6M; 23
            (g) constitution of Benches and the number of members to be appointed in
such Benches under clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 6N;  
            (h) the salary, allowances, terms and conditions of service of the Chairperson
and members of the Tribunal under sub-section (3) of section 6R;
            (i) the salary, allowances and conditions of service of the officers and
employees of the Tribunal under sub-section (3) of section 6U;
            (j) the form of accounts, records and annual statement to be prepared under
sub-section (1) of section 6ZC;  
            (k) time, form and the manner of furnishing returns, statements and other
particulars regarding functioning etc. by the Authority and the Tribunal to the
Central Government under sub-section (1) of section 6ZD;
(l) the form and the time of preparation of annual report of the Authority and
the Tribunal under sub-section (2) of section 6ZD.;  
     (ii)  in sub- section (4), for the words "Every rule made", the words "Every rule   
made and every notification issued under sections 4A and 4D" shall be substituted.
            
For section 75 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:-
"75.Delegation of powers to Director General or to Postal Services Board.-  
(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, authorise,
either absolutely or subject to conditions, the Postal Services Board, or the Director
General to exercise any of the powers conferred upon the Central Government by this
Act, other than powers to make rules.
(2) The Central Government may, on the recommendation of the Director General and
by notification in the Official Gazette, authorise one or more members of the Postal
Services Board to exercise the powers of the Director General."
   
57.  After the FIRST SCHEDULE to the principal Act, the following SCHEDULE
shall be inserted, namely:-
"THE SECOND SCHEDULE
[See section 4C (3)]
RATES OF FEES FOR GRANT OR RENEWAL OF REGISTRATION
1.  For grant of registration –  
(a) one time registration fee of rupees ten lakh in case the area of operation of
service provider seeking registration is within and beyond India for
authorising carriage of postal article under  section 4C and 4D;or
(b)  one time registration fee of rupees twenty-five thousand in case the area of
operation of the service provider seeking registration is within India for
authorising carriage of postal article.
Insertion of new
Schedule.  24
2. For renewal of registration-
(a) a renewal fee of rupees five lakh per annum in case the area of operation of
service provider registered is within and beyond India; or
(b) a renewal fee of rupees ten thousand per annum in case the area of
operation of service provider registered is within India.
http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/pdfdocs/post_draft_bill2006.pdf

Indian Postal History 1947-1957
by Ashok Kumar Bayanwala

First published in April 2001 issue and onwards in GPA News,
the Monthly Newsletter Edited by H C Mehta and Published by Gujarat Philatelists Association

INDEX

00. Introduction

 
19471949
01. India became Independent16. 1949 Night Airmail Service
02. First Special Postmark of Independent India16A. Night Airmail Service Air Crashes
03. First Postage Stamp of Independent India 17. Air Parcel Service

04. Postal Circles In India

18. All Up Scheme
194819. Urban Mobile Post Office 1 & 2

05. Postal Holidays

 20. Archaeological Series

06. Mahatma Gandhi Assassinated 

21. Amalgamation of States' Post Offices

07. Delivery Zone Numbers

22. Discontinuance of O.H.M.S.

08. Air India International

22A. Meter Stamps

09. Pakistan Treated as Foreign Country

23. Republic of India

10. Persian Gulf Countries24. Local Delivery
11. Indian Embassy, Nepal25. Introduction of Weekly Off
12. The stamp that was valid for a day only! 25A. Foreign Express Delivery Service
13. Gandhi - First Indian on Stamps of India26. Inland Letter Card
14. First stationery of Independent India27. Night Post Office
15. Express Inland Air Services  
 

1951

1953

28. Air Mail Money Order

35. Nationalization of Air Transport
29. Acknowledgement Fee on Insured Mail35A. First Military Overprint Stamps
29A. Insured Articles by Air 35B. First Souvenir Sheet

30. Health Seals

36. Hindi The Official Language

30A. Pictorial Postcards

37. Postcard Vending Machines
31. Compulsory Registration1954
32. Green Cross Lines Registered Letter 38. Overprinted Postal Label
195239. Postcard Rules
33. Post Office Reaching to Villages40. Demonetization of Pre Independence Stamps
33A. First Photogravure Stamps41. Centenary of India Postage Stamps
34. P & T Training Centre42. Merger of French Settlements in India
 43. Portuguese India
 43A. Airmail Zones
 43B. International Prize for An Indian Stamp
 43C. First Postal Forgery Since Independence
 
1947-1957 Postage Stamps Instructional Postmarks
1947-1957 Postage Stationery 
1947-1957 Air Mail Service 
1947-1957 Perfins  
1947-1957 Postal Rates 

Copyright
Stamps of India, New Delhi  holds the Electronic media rights and Parth Publications Pvt Ltd, 227 Acharya J C Bose Road, Kolkata 700020 holds the Print media rights for this series of articles and other philatelic works of the author - Ashok Kumar Bayanwala.

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Future of India Post – Rural Dimension

            - Harinder Singh

            India has the largest Postal network in the world with 1,55,618 Post Offices at the end of the financial year i.e. 31.3.2003 including 1,39,081 Post Offices in rural areas.  At the time of independence, India had 23,344 Post Offices, which were largely confined to urban areas and selected villages.  During the last 50 years it has grown almost seven times.  On an average, a post office serves an area of 21.13 sq. km & population of 6,602. At the time when the Indian Postal Department was set up, only telegraph facilities were available in limited areas since 1851 and the first Telephone Exchange was set up in Shimla as late as 1914 with the result that till the first quarter of 20th century the Postal Department was the only means of communication.  All other means of communication other than telephones which are existing at present like fax, internet, email etc. have only developed during the last few years.

2.             With such a large network the question invariably is whether such a large network is beneficial to the  common man or not.  If the postal system enables to ensure optimal utilization of its infrastructure then it can be said that the network justifies itself, but if the utilization is low then there is a case for having a re-look at the existing infrastructure particularly in the rural sector.  An analysis of the various policy initiatives undertaken during the past five year plans would reveal that the postal planning was based on a number of assumptions which have not fulfilled expectations as there is a difference between the market demand and our policy assumptions as the following table will show:

 

Sl. No.

Policy Assumptions

Reality

1.

Whenever a post office is established, it contributes to the development of the area. 

The reality is that economic development leads to demand for postal service and not the other  way round. The Postal Services network were to a certain extent mandatory  in the early years of the 20thcentury but as time passes and rural sector gets linked up to electronic means of communication including telephone land lines, importance of development of postal network is continuing to decline except in some remote, hilly and tribal areas. Otherwise, development of roads, telephones and local market to encourage movement of agricultural products has become more important.

2

If  any post office is set up then over a period of time its traffic increases till the post office becomes a profit-earning center.

As Savoor Committee and Talwar Committee reports would reveal, a large number of post offices have been opened particularly in the rural sector without adequate justification and they have not contributed to the increase in traffic with the result that the traffic has been static in the large number of rural areas.

3

If the State Governments are asked to contribute to the cost of the post office, then the part of the cost will be recovered. 

NRC has been paid by some State Governments only as first installment and thereafter most State Governments have not paid for NRC thereby contributing the losses.

4

As rural post offices are opened, the cost per post office is minimal and remains static over a period of time. 

The reality is that since DA and other allowances are being revised continuously the cost per post office continues to grow even if there is no increase in traffic.

 

5

Post office has a Universal Service Obligation(USO) and therefore, the Govt. is duty bound to open post offices wherever they are required.

The extent to which this Universal Service Obligation of the nation can be met depends on the health of the economy and the priorities and one should remember that there is no such thing as free lunch and somebody has to foot the bill for this USO.  

6

As number of post offices increase economies of scale starts working to the advantage of the post office.

Economies of scales work only when the traffic is increasing faster than the cost involved but as the traffic is static or declining the economies of scales will not work.

7

There are over 6 lakh villages and it is important to provide cheap and efficient service to all the villages. 

When many existing Branch Post Offices(BOs) do not have any traffic, it can be presumed  with certain exceptions that the traffic will not be adequate to justify opening of more B.Os. 

           

3.            There is no doubt that the post office has enormous capacity and capability to provide services because of its unique position but the problems have arisen due to over blown infrastructure over the years which has not taken into account the cost involved and the extent to which these costs can be met.  During a survey conducted in 1973, it was noticed that 9 out of 11 Branch Post Offices were opened on the basis of questionable data, which was only to enable opening of unviable post offices.  This problem was compounded by the fact that during the period starting from III five-year plan, targets were laid down and there was pressure on Postal Circles to open post offices even when many of them were not viable.  In the 70s, invariably the targets were received by the Circles in the last quarter of the financial year and therefore, a number of post offices were opened in great haste ignoring the economic viability.  This is not to suggest that the infrastructure created is of no use but it is relevant to have a re-look and  to emphasize on the quality of infrastructure created with a view to ensure that optimal results are obtained.  This is not very difficult if only we take into account the reality of the situation. 

4.            It needs also to be emphasized that no social purpose will be served by opening post offices, which do not generate any worthwhile work.  Even if there is no increase in the cost, the cost of operations goes up by 8% per annum as DA on Salary and Pension has to be paid to the working employees and pensioners as the case may be.  There are two ways of approaching this problem; one is to cut down the cost of operations and the other is to increase the volume of transaction provided, the business generated is economically profitable.  Though down sizing offers a real opportunity to cut down the cost, the fixed cost cannot be reduced as fixed costs account for 90% of the expenditure including cost of salary, pension, diesel/electricity and rent and other establishment matters.  In India, the Department of Posts has no control over the cost of infrastructure as bulk of the cost comes from the Pay Commission recommendations and there are well established interrelations with other Departments in this regard.  Therefore, the possibility of savings on salary and pension is very limited particularly after 5th Pay Commission which has increased the cost of operations fairly substantially after 1996.  This has resulted in the Department being out-priced by the private couriers who pay between 1/3rd to 1/4th the salary of an average Postal Assistant or Postman for courier work. On the other hand, generating traffic is also challenging because of monopoly culture and mindset prevailing for several years in the Department.  It will take years to develop a truly competitive culture as we are still being guided by earlier monopoly culture even when our monopoly is there only on paper. Therefore, there are very real problems both in marketing postal products and also in affecting savings through down sizing.  Ultimately, both the approaches will have to be adopted but in addition to the above the criteria for opening of post offices would have to be revised substantially in accordance with the post office traffic.  The only workable criteria appears to go by cost and strictly by the work load (minus time spent on Sub Accounts in the parent office which will not exist if the post office itself is closed down.)  The other two criteria namely distance and the population are of hypothetical interest only because if the relevant rural area does not generate any traffic what so ever then the population and distance are not material. It is pertinent to mention here that   the Indian Post Office Act 1898 confers monopoly on the post office for letter posts, but if letter posts itself is running into a loss then it is unlikely that the post office can earn profit.  Hence it is essential that the pricing of the products should be such that it should generate profit as having a monopoly if at all, in a losing product is of no economic use. 

5.            Therefore, it needs to be emphasized that laws of economics/marketing are asserting themselves over legal monopoly of Post Office created through an Act of Parliament.  All delivery systems are now being controlled by the market and it is difficult to identify any delivery system where monopoly has not been eroded through market forces.  One can say, that there is complete monopoly of the State in regard to printing of currency notes but it is also true that this monopoly has also been eroded by credit cards and ATMs which reduce need for printing currency as economies are heading towards cashless transactions. 

6.            There are therefore, two alternatives in dealing with the existing situation.  The first alternative is to increase rural traffic although this may also lead to increased loss to the Department as discussed above and also because a perusal of Table 15 of Annual Report 2003-04 of the Department would reveal that the average revenue earned by the Department in respect of post card, letter cards, letters, money orders and speed post are less than the cost involved. Therefore, an increase in the traffic may actually end up in increased loss for the Department.  The second alternative is to have an understanding with the Ministry of Finance regarding the extent of subsidy to be given to the Department as a whole and there after the Department may be allowed free hand to manage its postal operations in such a way that the Department is not able to exceed subsidy promised.  This may involve either closure of non remunerative post offices or increase in rates of postal products or out sourcing postal services in rural areas.  Para 3.2 of the Annual Report 2003-04 of the Department indicates that Panchayat Sanchar Seva Kendras are useful for retailing some basic services like sale of stamps and postal stationery.  In this, the cost involved is much less than normal postal system.  If Ministry of Finance agrees to this arrangement then the extent of loss agreed upon can be treated as subsidy for a specific period as social obligation towards the nation.  This is all the more important as there is no single product – existing or  proposed, which can wipe out the loss sustained by the Department to the extent of about 1500 crores per annum given the reality that the cost per employee goes up to the extent of around 8% per annum as DA even when there is a decline in postal traffic. 

7.            The Department has completed 150 years of its existence and at the time when Postal Department was created it served a very powerful purpose in ensuring linking all villages, towns and cities.  The traditions, conventions and the initiatives taken by the Department so far would make any Department proud but it needs to be remembered that the past is no guide to the future keeping in view the rapid changes in technology, organizational functions and labour costs involved.  Therefore, the Department has to draw upon its proud traditions but at the same time it would require radical changes in working environment and traditions because the world of 2004 is very different of the world of 1854.  The fact that the old organizations like Tatas and Indian Army have been able to draw upon good management practices from the past while developing new initiatives, give hopes to the Department of Posts to try for a fresh organizational approach. 

8.            A question which is invariably asked is about what will be the shape and size of India Posts in the year 2025. Notwithstanding some bold predictions, it will be very difficult to predict future of any Department dealing with  communication as similar predictions have not bourn fruit in the past. Since the pace of technology and availability of cheap technology like mobile phones, email and money transfer facilities is so fast, it is difficult to make, any such prediction.  However, as the country entered into development of rural economy which has pumped in huge money with richer and middle class farmers, there is a likelihood of increased expenditure on fast moving consumer goods which may indirectly make an impact on the prosperity of the post offices.  The extent to which such prosperity  will be affected by such increased expenditure is difficult to predict.  Further, the recent experiences have show that there is an enormous scope for Rural PLI, Savings Bank and Savings Certificates in the enforceable future although the extent of share of rural post will be influenced by the level of competition. We have seen one Cooperative Bank fail after another but the public confidence in India Post remains intact and if we are able to improve the quality of services offered by India Post in rural areas then the gap between revenue expenditure and cost involved will decline substantially. 

9.            In conclusion,  it can be said that the ability of India Post to compete in the rural segment will depend on the extent with which such new initiatives are pursued with more intensive use of infrastructure.  The decline of the conventional letter mail is a known phenomena.  This trend is not confined to India Post alone, but other similarly placed countries also face similar challenges. However, innovative restructuring, right sizing along with new initiatives may reduce the extent of financial loss and that is the bottom line all of us have to aim at.

                       

 

 

 http://www.indiapost.gov.in/PSCIB/Resource_files/Future%20of%20India%20Post.htm


Indian Postal Service

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Department of Posts
Type Agency of the Government of India
IndustryPostal system
Founded1764
HeadquartersNew Delhi, Delhi, India
Key peopleRadhika Doraiswamy, Director General
Employees520,191 (As of 2007)[1]
Websitewww.indiapost.gov.in

The Department of Posts (Hindi: भारतीय डाक विभाग) functioning under the brand name India Post (Hindi: भारतीय डाक) , is a government operated postal system in India; it is generally referred to within India as "the post office".

The Indian Postal Service, with 155,333 post offices, is the most widely distributed post office system in the world.[2] The large numbers are a result of a long tradition of many disparate postal systems which were unified in the Indian Union post-Independence. Owing to this far-flung reach and its presence in remote areas, the Indian postal service is also involved in other services such as small savings banking and financial services.

Contents

 [hide]

[edit]Governance and organization

A Raja & Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, launching the new logo for India Post on 23 Sept 2008, at New Delhi

The postal service comes under the Department of Posts which is a part of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology under the Government of India. The apex body of the department is the Postal Service Board. The board consists of a chairman and six members. The members hold the portfolios of Operations & Marketing, Infrastructure & Financial Services, andPersonnel. The Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor to the Board is also a permanent invitee to the Board.

India has been divided into 22 postal circles, each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General. Each Circle is further divided into Regions comprising field units, called Divisions, headed by a Postmaster General. Other functional units like Circle Stamp Depots, Postal Stores Depots and Mail Motor Service may exist in the Circles and Regions.

Besides the 22 circles, there is a special Circle called the Base Circle to cater to the postal services of the Armed Forces of India. The Base Circle is headed by an Additional Director General, Army Postal Service holding the rank of a Major General.

[edit]History

Main article: Postage stamps and postal history of India

The Indian Postal Services were established in the current format largely under the East India company. It was first established under the name "Company Dawk". In 1688, the first post office of the Company Post was established at Bombay/Madras. The system was reorganized and the service opened to the general public by Warren Hastings, the first governor general of Bengal with supervisory powers over Bombay and Madras, in 1774. A Postmaster General was appointed and metal tickets or tokens were issued to pay for the postal charges. The presidencies of Bombay and Madras followed suit.

In 1835 a Committee was set up for unification of customs and postal system of all the presidencies. The result was the first Indian Post Office Act of 1837. It not only provided for uniform rates and routes but for the uniform designs and other specifications of the postmarks for each category of post office. A Commission was setup in 1850 and submitted its report in 1851 that resulted in the post office act of 1854. Under the provisions of this act, the monopoly of carrying mail in the entire area of British possessions in India were granted to Indian Post office and office of the Director General of Post Offices of India was established. Mr. H P A B Riddle, till then the Postmaster General of North West Presidency, was appointed the first Director General in May 1854.

Adhesive stamps were introduced on 1 October 1854 on all India basis. Meanwhile in 1852 adhesive postage stamps were issued for use within the province of Sind, now in Pakistan. These were the first adhesive postage stamps in Asia.

[edit]Postal Services

 This section is written like an advertisement. Please help rewrite this section from a neutral point of view. (July 2009)
A small rural post office at Chamundi Hills, near Mysore, Karnataka

[edit]International Registered Post

Delivery time is the same as normal post. Registered post is the safest[who?] and cheapest mailing system for international post from India.[citation needed]

[edit]Speed Post

It is an express mail service for letters and documents offered in league with the international EMSservice. It was started in August 1986 for providing time-bound and express delivery of letters, documents and parcels across the nation. It links more than 1200 towns in India, with 290 centres in the national network and around 1000 centres in the state network. For regular users, Speed Post provides delivery 'anywhere in India' under contractual service.

For corporate customers, Speed Post provides 'Home collection', credit facilities, on-line tracking, account management and personalized services.

[edit]Logistics Post

It is a service for sending parcels and large consignments across the nation and around the world. It has no weight limit. It manages the entire distribution side of the logistics infrastructure from collection to distribution, from storage to carriage, from order preparation to order fulfilment. It is ideal for sending large consignments including multi-parcels, just-in-time parcels, bulk-break consignments and goods of any weight. It offers physical logistics services as well as comprehensive supply chain management services.

[edit]Parcels

It is for sending parcels weighing up to 35 kg across and outside the country.

[edit]Business Post

Total pre-mailing solutions including collection/printing, inserting, and addressing.is the best

[edit]Media Post

Advertisements sent by media companies on Post cards, letters, walls of post offices, letter boxes, stationary etc. and received by millions of peoples.in media post post office provide the facility for vehicle.

[edit]Direct Post

Distribution of advertising materials directly to prospective customers.

[edit]Non-Postal Services

[edit]Postal Life Insurance

Postal Life Insurance was started in 1884 as a welfare measure for the employees of Posts & Telegraphs Department under Government of India dispatch No. 299 dated 18-10-1882 to the Secretary of State. Due to popularity of its schemes, various departments of Central and State Governments were extended its benefits. Now Postal Life Insurance is open for employees of all central and state government departments, nationalized banks, public sector undertakings, financial institutions, local municipalities and Zila Parishads and educational institutions aided by the Government.

A roadside postbox in Chennai.jpg

[edit]ePayment

The most convenient way to pay your bills under one roof. With its tremendous reach and expertise India Post specializes in acceptance of payments across the counter and their consolidation. e-Payment is a 'Many to One' service through which bills (telephone, electricity, etc.) paid by customers in post offices are electronically consolidated.

[edit]Instant Money Order Service (iMO)

The instant domestic money is available in 717 post offices. However no International Money Order facility is available.

[edit]International Money Transfer

As a result of the collaboration of the Department of Posts with the Western Union Financial Services, state of the art international money transfer service is now available through post offices in India. This enables instantaneous remittance of money from 185 countries to India. The recipients can in fact collect the money in minutes after the sender has made the remittance. The service is targeted to particularly fulfil the needs of NRI dependent families in India, visiting International tourists and foreign students studying in India.

[edit]Other Financial Services

The post office has also traditionally served as a financial institution for millions of people in rural India. Currently these are some of the activities being supported:

  • Post boxes for mail receipt
  • Idendity card for Residence proof to General public.

[edit]Postal Index Number

It is a unique 6 digit number, shortly known as PIN code. The First digit denotes the Circle and next two digits denote the area and the remaining digits denote the post office. Thus, very fast and accurate postal delivery is possible all over the country. Hence, the public are advised to use PIN code.

[edit]Trivia

  • India has the highest post office in the world in Hikkim, Himachal Pradesh at a height of 15,500 feet (postal code - 172114).[4]
  • The world's first official airmail flight took place in India, on 18 February 1911. It was a journey that spanned 18 kilometres and lasted 27 minutes. Henri Pequet, a French pilot, ferried around 15 kilos of mail (approximately 6,000 letters and cards) across the Ganga, fromAllahabad to Naini. Included in the historic airmail was a letter to King George V of the United Kingdom.[5]

[edit]References

  1. ^ Indiapost - Actual staff strength official Indian Post website
  2. ^ "Physical Infrastructure". India Post. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
  3. ^ "FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF POSTS". Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications. Government of India. pp. tab215.pdf. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  4. ^ "World's Highest Post Office". Stamps of India. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  5. ^ "The world's highest post office!". Rediff India. Retrieved 24 April 2011.

[edit]External links


Asbury Park Press: Friday's newspaper explored the growing trend of contract postal units — private retailers offering services once limited to your local post office. More of these units, found in pharmacies, groceries and elsewhere, will pop up in a community near you. The next logical step is, we expect, the closure of smaller local post offices. Whenever and wherever it happens, the closures are sure to be met with an outcry from traditionalists.Andalusia Star News: In about six months, the Gantt post office could be the first in the county affected by the U.S. Postal Service's recent announcement it plans to close more than 40 post offices in Alabama to reduce costs. Branches in Wing, Lockhart, River Falls and Red Level may not be far behind.Azerbaijan Business Center: Azerbaijan will be represented at regional conference "Support to countries of Europe and the CIS in strengthening and advancing the process of postal reform". The Conference to be held in Kiev, Ukraine on 6-7 September will discuss the methodology of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in the area of postal reform, and study the European experience in reforming the postal sector, including modernization of the postal operators in developing countries.Billings Gazette: The U.S. Postal Service on Friday announced a major consolidation of Montana services affecting Miles City and three other communities. Citing the need to cut costs, the Postal Service said it will begin processing Miles City mail in Billings by October, and will roll out similar moves for Butte, Helena and Havre by January. The latter three would lose their processing jobs to Great Falls. See also Helena Independent Record.Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Bringing D-FW mail thefts to top inspector's attention."Lancaster Online: Beginning in January or soon thereafter, the letters you drop in your mailbox in Lancaster will be postmarked "Harrisburg, PA" from now on. The loss of the Lancaster postmark will be the most publicly noticeable effect of the U.S. Postal Service's move to transfer mail-processing jobs out of its Harrisburg Pike plant to Dauphin County.The Trinidad Times Independent: Post office operations in small rural communities are sometimes closed to streamline operations and cut costs. The post office in Model is not going to be one of them. The Model post office will continue to serve its customers by providing them with retail, Post Office Box, and mail acceptance services. Customers will be able to buy stamps, mail letters and packages, ship items via Express Mail or Priority Mail, purchase special services and deposit bulk mailings at the Model post office. Hours of operation will remain the same. A major change, however, will come Sept. 10, when mail carriers currently working out of the Model post office will begin working out of the Trinidad post office. Model is 21 miles northeast of Trinidad.Montreal CTV: The postal strike is over but at least one business is still living the crisis. Richard Repper runs a medium-sized business magazine publication company called Presses Commerciale in St-Laurent and reported Friday that posties were still refusing to picking up his mail, which makes it hard to reach invoice his 22,000 Canadian customers. That's a problem because he has 1,500 bills to send out and there's no money coming in if those bills don't get paid.Trinidad Guardian: The T&T Postal Corporation (TTPost) must respond in the next ten days to the T&T Postal Workers' Union wage negotiation proposals for the period 2008 to 2010. The union warns if TTPost's management fails to respond within ten days it will be "at their peril." T&T Postal Workers' Union general secretary Reginald Crichlow said the union has not ruled out industrial action.
July 8, 2011 Bloomberg: The Federal Aviation Administration proposed a civil penalty of $689,800 against FedEx Corp. (FDX), saying the world's largest cargo airline violated U.S. hazardous- materials regulations.The Moscow Times: Long before anyone starts worrying about sending Christmas cards and expecting parcels stuffed with presents, the Russian postal service Pochta Rossii has washed its hands of delays in international deliveries. But customs officials say the mailmen's dire warnings are nothing but a misunderstanding, and new legislation should not affect delivery times. International courier services also say no delays in deliveries are to happen due to the new rules, arguing it makes no difference to them.
The audio recordings from the "PostalVision 2020" conference have been posted on this site. These files can be downloaded or streamed. The video recordings from the "PostalVision 2020" conference  also have been posted. It is extremely important that you note, this is not on a "streaming media" server. Therefore, you must download each file to ensure you're going to hear and see the presentation properly. The videos are listed sequentially. It should be noted, though, that the videos don't neatly break down by speaker. In fact, the video from any session may lop over two video files. Nonetheless, it should be sufficient to give you a good sense of what the conference was about and all that was accomplished. Postalnews Blog: DPMG Ron Stroman has selected Tom Day to be the Postal Service's new chief Sustainability officer. The appointment is effective July 11. Day currently is senior plant manager for the Southern Maryland P&DC. Previously, he was senior vice president of Intelligent Mail and Address Quality. Day's other leadership roles include senior vice president of Government Relations and vice president, Engineering. He also served as manager of the Triboro and Southeast New England districts.
DMM Advisory:  Shortpaid and Unpaid IBI Postage and Shortpaid Express Mail Postage. This week we posted a final ruleFederal Register that implements revenue protection procedures for mailpieces entered with shortpaid and unpaid Information Based Indicia (IBI) postage and for shortpaid Express Mail® service postage. The new process provides corrective measures to recover revenue deficiencies from mailpieces with shortpaid and unpaid postage generated by the following postage evidencing systems: Click-N-Ship®, IBI postage meters, and PC Postage® products. The entire final rule can be viewed on the Postal Explorer® website by clicking "Federal Register Notices" in the left blue navigation panel. The effective date is September 6, 2011. Roll Call: Republicans said the abysmal jobs report today proved their point that now is no time to be raising taxes. Democrats pointed to the same news as evidence it's no time to be cutting federal spending, either. Both sides signaled their hope that a big budget deal could give businesses the confidence they need to start hiring again — although getting such a deal without deep spending cuts or some new revenue remains an impossibility on the balance sheet and at the legislative level.
The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
  • The U.S. Postal Service is a federal agency in crisis. Annual mail volume has declined by more than 40 billion pieces since 2006, accompanied by nearly $6 billion in annual revenue declines during the same period. USPS posted a $2.6 billion loss in the first half of fiscal 2011 and expects to run out of cash by the end of the year. To combat declining funds, USPS is improving technology, cutting legacy systems in favor of more efficient processes and downsizing its workforce.
  • In this paper, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) Risk Analysis Research Center (RARC) presents a high-level approach to design a future mail processing and transportation network based on modeling techniques and stakeholders' input.
  • The Postal Service is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) 705.15 and 708.1.1 to provide a new option for mailers to combine Standard Mail flats and Periodicals flats, when bundled and placed on pallets. Mailers using this option may combine different-class mailpieces within the same bundle (comail), or combine separate same-class.
  • According to Dead Tree Edition,"in PMG Donahoe's Answer to Postal Bailout Criticism, we noted the Postmaster General's recent article explaining that the U.S. Postal Service's financial straits are a creation of Congress rather than actual financial losses. But the article omits key points, partly because the Postal Service can't afford to offend Congress right now with the unvarnished truth. Here are six more things that ignorant critics in Congress and the news media need to consider about USPS finances."
  • PostCom Executive Vice President Jessica Dauer Lowrance is proud to announce the birth of her daughter, Carter Lowrance (6 lbs. 9 oz). USPS cancels exec bonuses. Comment by postal sage Murray Comarow on the Issa bill. Alan Kessler to leave USPS Board of Governors. American Postal Workers Union to launch TV campaign. FedEx doing very well.
  • An update on press reports on postal facility consolidations and closures.
  • An update on key docket activity at the PRC.
  • An update on DMM Advisories issued by the U.S. Postal Service.
  • An update on postal rules and notices published in the Federal Register.
  • An update from the USPS Office of Inspector General.
  • A review of postal news from around the world.
  • Postal previews.

Hey! You've not been getting the weekly PostCom Bulletin--the best postal newsletter anywhere...bar none?  Send us by email your name, company, company title, postal and email address. Get a chance to see what you've been missing.
The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGramThe DC Circuit Court will release its instructions ("the Mandate") in the Exigency Case today.Politico: The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent in June, the Labor Department reported Friday morning. The economy added 18,000 jobs last month, the report says.Yahoo! Finance: Analysts believe FedEx' earnings and revenue will continue to improve this year on strong demand, improved pricing, moderate economic growth, continued yield (revenue per package) improvement, industrial production growth and diminishing cost headwinds. Industrial production, the main driver of the company's volume growth, is expected to be higher than the country's GDP growth. Notably, Express and Ground is also likely to see solid earnings momentum on the back of a profitable Freight business. FedEx is committed to its shareholders in the form of dividends. FedEx' long-term goals of 10.0% revenue growth per year, more than 10.0% operating margin, cash flow improvement and higher returns on invested capital affirm the analysts' confidence on the stock.The Washington Examiner: Rep. Darrell Issa had a few things right in his recent piece on the U.S. Postal Service -- Congress should act now, it bears "a considerable share of the blame" for the Postal Service's challenges, and the USPS is too important to fail. Beyond that, let's just say that the amount of misinformation circulating about the USPS is striking, given that few institutions touch more Americans than it does in delivering mail to 150 million homes and businesses six days a week.AllAfrica.com: Kenya Commercial bank customers can now make basic transactions at selected post offices countrywide after the bank recruited Postal Corporation of Kenya as an agent. KCB which already has 600 agents under its agency programme dubbed KCB mtaani said initially only seven post offices will offer the services but that with time the programme will be rolled out to the over 500 PCK outlets nationally.The Saratogian: The National Association of Letter Carriers will demonstrate on Broadway Friday morning in front of Congressman Chris Gibson's Saratoga Springs office to urge the congressman to support legislation affecting the U.S. Postal Service's workers pensions and healthcare.
  • Mankato Free Press: Postal Service may close mail processing facility
  • Lancaster Newspapers: Post office moving workers to Dauphin County
  • Patch.com: Residents Waiting on Postal Regulatory Commission Decision on Gwynedd Post Office
  • Beaumont Enterprise: Tupelo awaits USPS decision
  • 14WFIE: McLean residents upset over potential postal closing
  • Morris Daily Herald: Downtown Joliet Post Office to remain open
  • Grant Tribune Sentinel: Save our rural post offices
  • Ukiah Business Journal: City appeals post office closure
  • The Business Journal: Jamestown postal HQ hits the market
  • Texarcana Gazette: USPS moving closer to closings WJBC: Bloomington-Normal President for city letter carriers Tim Brucker and Mailman Al join WJBC's Jim Fitzpatrick to discuss the financial situation of the U.S. Postal Service. There has been recent speculation and news reports forecasting reduced delivery days and office closures as a result of decreased demand and budget problems.Zanesville Times Recorder: Why not privatize the Postal Service? Sell it. Give it away. If necessary, pay somebody to take it. ... A truly private board could make decisions based on efficiency, without interference from politicians who pander for votes in a way that runs up the service's deficits. ... They might keep the service solvent until sometime in the future when it really no longer is needed.Inside Ireland: CityPOST has announced its acquisition of Cork based postal service provider Document Express Postal Service (DEPS).North County Times: Businesses should do most of their customer outreach by postal mail and go easy on telephone calls and emails, according to a study co-authored by a UC Riverside researcher, Andrea Godfrey, the UCR co-author, an assistant professor of marketing. "Good old snail mail seemed to be more effective in the long term than phone and email," Godfrey said. The results challenge a popular marketing theory that constant communication with customers is essential to building a strong relationship, Godfrey said. The study carries the emphatic title, "Enough is Enough! The Fine Line In Executing Multichannel Relational Communication." It appeared in the July issue of the Journal of Marketing. Co-authors are marketing professors Kathleen Seiders of Boston College and Glenn B. Voss of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.PRNewswire: Continuing its green innovation and leadership strategy, the U.S. Postal Service released its fiscal year (FY) 2010 Annual Sustainability Report, which demonstrated the agency had exceeded a number of its sustainability goals — including nearly a 30-percent reduction in facility energy use, a 33-percent reduction of supplies purchases and a 133-percent increase in alternative fuel use.American Postal Workers Union: The APWU will launch a television ad campaign on July 11, with spots airing on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX, President Cliff Guffey has announced. This APWU TV ad will air on CNN, MSNBC and Fox in the coming weeks. (Click on image to watch.) The union's 30-second ad describes the enormity of the job postal workers do, and ends with a simple question and response: Ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? Not a single cent.At the Postal Regulatory Commission:

July 7, 2011 Time News Feed: Who still writes in cursive? That age-old writing method you might never have used since fourth grade will no longer be taught in Indiana schools come fall, thanks to a memo from school officials. Instead, students will be expected to become proficient in keyboard use.
DMM Advisory: Improving the Mail Service Update Process. In response to recommendations from a Mailers Technical Advisory Council (MTAC) workgroup, the Postal Service is improving our Mail Service Update (MSU) process. These improvements include expanding and standardizing information to provide mailers with timely updates on occurrences such as service disruptions due to weather, diversion of drop shipments and scheduled resumption of operations. The updates are made in real time, and in many cases, frequently. To receive MSU notifications via email whenever we make a change, please click on Mail Service Update or send an email tomailserviceupdate@usps.gov. Be sure to put "Subscribe" in the subject line. Each notification you receive will provide you with an opt-out option. Even if you don't want to receive the "pushed" email notifications, you can always checkhttp://www.usps.com/communications/news/serviceupdates.htm (accessible through usps.com or RIBBS®) for up-to-date, downloadable information.New Era: Namibia Post Limited (NamPost)'s revenue grew by 13 percent in 2010. The 13 percent growth is in comparison to the 19 percent recorded in 2009. The company's revenue reached the N$504-million mark in financial year 2008/9 and profit before tax increased to N$14 million in 2008/9. This is contained in the company's annual financial report for the year 2010 tabled on Tuesday in the National Assembly.Politico: No deal to raise the debt ceiling is complete without an amendment to the Constitution requiring a balanced federal budget to prevent Congress "from hijacking the promise of American prosperity," two Senate Republicans are arguing as a bipartisan group of congressional leaders heads to the White House on Thursday. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) say that while deep budget cuts and caps on future spending are key to warding off "fiscal calamity," an amendment to the Constitution forcing the federal government to spend only what it has is essential.Wall Street Journal: With debt-reduction talks in disarray, Democrats and Republicans should adopt a new approach: pursue savings by strategically reorganizing the vast federal government. Not only could this produce as much as $1 trillion in savings, but it could create bipartisan momentum to clear the way for harder future choices on taxes and spending. A reorganization package would give President Barack Obama the government overhaul he promised in February, while House Republicans would get many of the bureaucratic reforms they promised in last year's midterm campaigns. Reorganization hasn't been on the table, though, since even members of Congress consider it technical and boring. Yet here's a model that hits a hard target of $1 trillion in savings over the next 10 years:[EdNote: Have a familiar ring? Think not? Then re-read the Issa bill.] CTV News: Canada Post says it is doing its best to cope with a 40-million-letter backlog in the wake of the recent labour disruption, but the postal workers' union says it is being denied the overtime hours needed to get that mail delivered quickly. The corporation said Wednesday that in addition to the eye-popping backlog, workers are also coping with an average of nine million more pieces of mail per day than they normally would be at this time of year.CBC: It has been a week since Canada Post employees were legislated back to work, but many Canadians are still checking their mailboxes in vain. Both the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canada Post agree that mail delivery is not yet up to speed, but neither side takes the blame for the delays. Meantime, customers are complaining.Government Executive: The U.S. Postal Service is a federal agency in crisis. Annual mail volume has declined by more than 40 billion pieces since 2006, accompanied by nearly $6 billion in annual revenue declines during the same period. USPS posted a $2.6 billion loss in the first half of fiscal 2011 and expects to run out of cash by the end of the year. To combat declining funds, USPS is improving technology, cutting legacy systems in favor of more efficient processes and downsizing its workforce.United States Postal Service Governor Alan C. Kessler has informed the Board of Governors that he will resign his position as a member of the Postal Service Board of Governors effective July 31, 2011. His term had been slated to run until 2015.At the Postal Regulatory Commission:
July 6, 2011 PostalReporter News Blog: Postmasters will be impacted by the suspension of the awards program for employee recognition and incentive awards NAPUS has been informed by Postal Headquarters officials that Postmasters were not included in the recently announced freeze on Postal Service officer and executive compensation, as it relates to the Postal Service's pay-for-performance program. Postmasters will be impacted by the suspension of the awards program for employee recognition and incentive awards, which will be suspended until further notice.Advertising Age: The Newspaper Association of America has appointed Caroline H. Little to serve as president-CEO, effective Sept. 6, 2011. Ms. Little succeeds John F. Sturm, who led the association for 16 years and recently announced his retirement.Federal News Radio: The United States Post Office has been making a lot of changes and shakeups, as it tries to climb out of a multi-billion dollar hole. Tom Shoop, editor-in-chief of Government Executive Magazine, explains what the Postal Services needs to do to get out of its financial troubles.
http://media.dev-cms.com/wtop/22/2201/220133.mp3  Smart QR Codes? What are they? Check it out.http://www.uspsoig.gov). If you have additional questions concerning the report or blog, please contact Wally Olihovik at 703-248-2201 or Agapi Doulaveris at 703-248-2286.
  • A Strategy for a Future Mail Processing & Transportation Network (Report Number RARC-WP-11-006). The U.S. Postal Service has examined plans to consolidate its mail processing and transportation network. However, the fundamental questions still remain: what should the mail processing and transportation network look like to meet future demand? And how many plants will be needed? A former deputy postmaster general suggested that in order for the Postal Service to be fully efficient, its footprint must be much smaller, possibly comprising 150 plants, and 400,000 employees. Another stakeholder said the current network is twice the size it should be. Are these reasonable assessments?


The new OIG white paper, A Strategy for a Future Mail Processing & Transportation Network, attempted to answer some of these questions and offers an approach that can be used to create a future mail processing and transportation network based on modeling techniques and stakeholder input. Our research and analysis showed a network of 135 major mail processing facilities, of which 15 are consolidation hubs, could lower net processing and transportation costs and meet or exceed most existing service performance. Ignoring transition costs, the new 135-plant network would cost the Postal Service around $2 billion less per year to operate than the existing network. Our analysis is not an operational blueprint but provides an outline of a modernized network that could meet future demand. We invite you to share your thoughts on this topic on our blog.Roll Call: House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is trying to bypass the rules of the YouTube town hall challenge by explaining just how you can vote for his video so he can win ... win! WIN! Bwahaha. The YouTube town hall website says it is "an online platform for members of Congress to debate and discuss the most important issues of the day." "Visitors can select an issue, watch two short videos expressing competing ideas and then support the one they agree with most," YouTube explains. The video-sharing site promises not reveal the lawmaker's party affiliation until after the viewer has voted on the video in order to keep the focus on ideas, not parties.
National Association of Major Mail Users: The most recent update attributed to Canada Post - July 6, 2011. There was a backlog of mail with Foreign Postal administrations as well as the build up of mail with Large Volume mailers. Below is the latest update that pertains to mostly Lettermail (1st Class). Canada Post has spoken to the majority of Customers/Printers are now up to date with their Addressed Admail or Publications Mail deposited into Gateway. Trailers will have to wait in line but they are getting offloaded and the mail is moving.   
Canada Post Working to Process Mail Backlog
  • Canada Post is facing short-term challenges as it processes the mail that accumulated at large volume mailers and foreign postal administrations during the recent work disruption.
  • Since postal service resumed on June 27, Canada Post's mail processing facilities have been operating at or near capacity in an attempt to process the accumulated mail as quickly as possible.
  • Our largest plants in Toronto and Montreal are currently operating at full capacity.
  • During the week of June 27 – a shorter work week due to Canada Day – Canada Post processed more than two extra days worth of Lettermail in addition to the volumes normally processed.
  • July is typically a busy Lettermail month for large volume mailers as financial institutions and corporations issue mid-year and quarterly reports.
  • At the same time, accumulated product from large volume mailers, when added to the mail being inducted by consumers and small businesses following the work disruption, has created a short-term capacity crunch.
  • It is expected that processed Lettermail volumes will be above normal levels for much of the month of July. We ask for your continued patience as we work to clear the accumulated mail inventory as soon as possible.
  • Parcels are processed in separate facilities from our letter processing plants in our busiest locations. Inventories there are approaching normal levels. We have tracked some of our parcels moving through the system and find small delays in delivery standards. This is continuing to improve through this week.
  • Canada Post hopes to be operating normally within a few weeks. We will continue to keep you updated as the situation progresses.Attention PostalOne! Users You are receiving this email to inform you that the PostalOne! Help Desk telephone system will down during the following times: Date: Thursday 7/7/11 System down: 5:00 PM CST System operational: 6:00 PM CST While our phones will not be available for the designated times listed above, please use our email address postalone@usps.gov to contact the PostalOne! Help Desk with any issues .Directions Magazine: Recently the Steering Committee of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) endorsed the United States Thoroughfare, Landmark and Postal Address Data Standard. The United States Thoroughfare, Landmark and Postal Address Data Standard is the culmination of efforts of the Address Standard Working Group (ASWG) formed by the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) in 2005, when the FGDC accepted a proposal submitted by URISA to create a Street Address Data Standard. The ASWG worked under the authority of the U.S. Census Bureau, which chairs the FGDC Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD). The U.S. Census Bureau is the maintenance authority for the standard.Defense Video & Imagery Distribution Systems: Being deployed presents numerous adversities ranging from incoming mortars to grueling work days to being home sick. Long hours and high operational tempo often makes it difficult to do something as simple as mailing a letter. One of the biggest morale boosters is staying in contact with family and loved ones and to make this easier, one company brought the post office closer to the soldiers. The 350th Human Resource Company, Special Troops Battalion, Task Force Resolute, celebrated the grand opening of a post office annex near the living quarters on Kandahar Airfield, July 5.Government Computer News: The National Weather Service, in fact, has just completed a one-year pilot project in which it received weather data from sensors riding on 20 Greyhound buses between New York City and Montreal. The test went so well that the National Weather Service recently awarded a $2.8 million contract to expand the program. According to the primary contractor, Global Science & Technology, 2,000 commercial vehicles will be equipped with sensors beginning in October and will be sending data to NWS in near real time. "We are rolling out coverage on the national level," said Brian Bell, vice president and general manager at GST. That effort is likely to mark the beginning of programs run by government agencies and private companies to deploy fleets of vehicles that collect a variety of data. [EdNote: This is an idea, incidentally, that has been advocated by PRC postal geek Michael Ravnitzky. At first, there were those who pooh-poohed the idea. This story obviously means the criticisms will have to be reconsidered. As the Good Book says, "A prophet in his own country is without honor."] CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in Europe, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News. (We appreciate the courtesy extended by CEP News to help whet your appetite for more of what CEP offers.) The Press-Enterprise: Six months into his tenure as Congress' chief investigator, Inland Rep. Darrell Issa has overseen 81 hearings, issued nearly 20 subpoenas and released five lengthy reports criticizing Obama administration policies and actions. But whether the sheer volume of Issa's activity has translated to achievement is up for debate -- and, unsurprisingly, opinions differ along partisan lines. The hard-charging Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has fixed his sights on a wide array of issues. They range from his plan to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service to his investigations into burdensome federal regulations, government transparency lapses and, most recently, the controversial anti-gun trafficking operation linked to the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.From the Federal Register:  Postal Service   RULES Shortpaid and Unpaid Information-Based Indicia (IBI) Postage and Shortpaid Express Mail Postage , 39299–39303 [2011–16802] [TEXT]  [PDF The Jerusalem Post: A smart card that allows users to spend a predetermined amount of dollars, with no connection to a bank account, has been launched by the Israel Postal Company's Postal Bank.Newswire Today: NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data enabling navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising around the world, is now offering Postal Code Boundaries in Europe.UNI Global Union: The Dutch colleagues from the UNI P&L affiliate, ABVAKABO, gave a comprehensive and interesting overview about the history, developments and effects of the postal liberalisation in the Netherlands. In a meeting with colleagues from the postal Trade Unions, Peter Wiechmann, secretary in Abvakabo for the postal sector concluded his presentation by saying: "We underestimated the consequences of postal liberalisation".The Moscow Times: The Russian Post said Tuesday that it has busted a trio of postal workers who stole the contents of expensive shipments, stuffed the parcels with junk, and returned them to the sender. The group, which operated in the town of Bogorodsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, stole valuables worth 1 million rubles ($35,000) from more than 20 parcels, the postal service said on its web site. The workers mostly targeted gadgets purchased from online stores and filled the parcels with bricks, wood chips and pulp paper.The Guardian: Junk mail. We all hate it don't we? Postal workers probably hate it more than anyone else, as we see more of it than anyone else. You only have a few items a week to deal with, we have hundreds of items a day. Sometimes we have as many as six separate items per household to load into our frames. That could be well in excess of 3,000 items a week. You can't imagine how tedious this is.Hellmail: UK postal operator, Secured Mail, has appointed Paul Carvell as an independent chairman. Carvell, who is currently executive vice president at operational improvement specialist, Alexander Proudfoot, boasts an impressive CV from the world of logistics. As well as holding senior positions at Christian Salvesen, GE Capital and TDG, he was also CEO of UK Mail, where he took the company into the FTSE 250. Secured Mail, which shifts 400 million items per year, has experienced phenomenal growth over the last few years and last month, attracted capital investment from Next Wave Partners. The business is predicting a turnover of around £50 million this year.Masthead Online: While postal operations are back in swing following a lockout, the Crown corporation is telling its customers there's currently no guarantee when their mailings will be delivered. Canada Post says its employees are dealing with a backlog of mail from an almost two-week lockout of postal workers, and that large-volume customers are advised to schedule their mail deposits. Meanwhile, the National Association of Major Mail Users (NAMMU) says several of its members "have reported their frustration with staging of mail entry and erratic mail delivery, particularly in Toronto." NAMMU has delivered a "stop-gap" funding request for small mail businesses to Maxime Bernier, Minister of State for Small Businesses, on behalf of the Value Add Mailer (VAM) Council. "The Stop-Gap Working Capital Assistance Program would help these small businesses get back on their feet and deliver resounding, positive effects to the Canadian economy," noted NAMMU.Government Executive: With less than a month to go before the government begins to default on its obligations, federal employee groups continue to urge congressional leaders and the White House to reject proposals targeting their pay and benefits as part of a deficit reduction deal. A coalition of 25 groups sent letters to President Obama and House and Senate leaders July 1, criticizing a plan negotiators are considering that would require federal workers to contribute more of their salaries to their pension plans, calling the proposed increase a "payroll tax." Federal employee advocates argue such an increase in worker contributions could exceed 5 percent of employees' income. "Federal civil servants are already subject to a two-year pay freeze, despite the fact the nation's debt crisis did not arise out of exorbitant federal civil service pay or benefits," the letters stated. See also the Washington Post.The Sofia Echo: Bulgaria is yet to decide on the potential privatisation of state-owned postal services operator Bulgarian Posts, Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski said, as quoted by Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on July 5 2011. Removing Bulgarian Posts from the list of companies that cannot be privatised is only an option for finding a strategic investor for the company, according to Moskovski. The amendments to the country's Privatisation Act, which envision pulling out the asset from the not-for-sale list, already passed the first reading in Parliament.
July 5, 2011
The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General invites you to comment on the following:        
This week's "Pushing the Envelope" blog topic:
  • Postal Service Core Strategy Linkage. This week's blog looks at the U.S. Postal Service's Ensuring a Viable Postal Service for America: An Action Plan for the Future, released in March 2010 and the new Postmaster General's four core strategies for the Postal Service, released in December of last year. What do you think is needed to ensure the success of these strategies and the plan? Share your thoughts on our blog.


New Audit Projects: LINK here to visit our audit project pages. This week we opened the following new projects: (Please share any information you may have that would help with these audits currently in progress by clicking on the links below):
  • Postal Vehicle Service Transportation Margaret Sellers P&DC – 11XG017NL001. Postal Service transportation includes both nationwide network transportation between cities and major facilities as well as delivery transportation between local post offices and neighborhood delivery and pickup points. Network transportation that uses Postal Service vehicles and employees is called PVS. Management typically assigns PVS vehicles and personnel to Postal Service network facilities, such as network distribution centers or P&DCs in or near metropolitan areas. PVS operations are normally conducted within 50 miles of the 154 Postal Service facilities with PVS operations. PVS drivers travel about 150 million miles every year. Because PVS operations are local, district, area, and headquarters transportation officials manage them at the facility level.
  • FY 2011 Special Purpose Audit Opinion. – 11BD012FT000. The Postal Service Headquarters Finance Department establishes accounting policies and provides guidelines for recording and reporting Postal Service financial transactions. Internal control and reporting systems have been created to ensure Postal Service management and the public receive meaningful financial information in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. The Postal Service prepares financial statements for its annual report, then uses them for submission to the Department of the Treasury. The forwarded financial statements are known as the special purpose financial statements. This audit is performed to support our audit opinion on the Postal Service's special purpose financial statements as required by the Department of the Treasury.

DMM Advisory:  Combined Mailings of Standard Mail and Periodicals Flats. This final rule Federal Register provides a new option for mailers to combine Standard Mail® flats and Periodicals flats within the same bundle, when placed on pallets, and to combine bundles of Standard Mail flats and bundles of Periodicals flats on the same pallet. Standard Mail service standards will apply to all Periodicals flats pieces entered in these combined mailings. The entire final rule can be viewed on the Postal Explorer® website by clicking "Federal Register Notices" in the left blue navigation panel. The effective date is January 22, 2012.
Postal Explorer® (pe.usps.com) is your source for up-to-date mailing standards. The Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) is fully searchable on Postal Explorer and features fly-out menus, cross-reference links, and an extensive subject index. Today, we updated our mailing standards to capture the following changes:
  • Bundle Preparation - Strapping Transparency. We revised 300, 400, 705 and 707 to provide standards for the transparency characteristic of clear strapping.
  • Clarification on Processing Refund Requests for Unused Meter Indicia. We revised 604.9.3 to clarify the standards that apply to the payment of approved refund requests for unused postage evidencing system indicia.
  • Forwarding and Return Service for Parcel Select Mailpieces. We revised 507.1.0 and 507.2.0 to discontinue the free local forwarding of Parcel Select mailpieces and to eliminate the option to request discontinuance of forwarding.
  • New Authorization Process for Mailers Using Special Postage Payment Systems. We revised 705 to reflect a new authorization process for mailers wishing to mail under a special postage payment system, and to remove reference to fixed 2-year authorization periods.
  • New Standards for Round-Trip Mailings of Optical Discs . We revised 100, 200, 300, and 500 to provide new standards for round-trip mailings with one standard optical disc no larger than 12 centimeters in diameter enclosed per mailpiece.
  • Adult Signature Service. We revised 503, 508.7.2, 601.11.6, and 703.3.2, to add a new extra service called Adult Signature.
  • Mobile Barcode Promotion. We revised 709.4.0 to add a temporary promotion for First-Class Mail cards, letters and flats, and Standard Mail letters and flats bearing two-dimensional mobile barcodes.Murray Comarow: "As all postal governors are corrupt and stupid, I was pleased to have them monitored by the PRC commissioners who are honest and sage. It appears that I was wrong about the PRC, since Congressman Issa proposes two more bodies to help manage the USPS: the Commission on Postal Reorganization and an Authority modeled on the D.C. Control Board. Kudos to Issa. The other 16 self-supporting government agencies struggle along with only one government board. How foolish. Each should have four. That would make them more businesslike." [EdNote: Gosh. Do you think he's gotten his tongue out of his cheek?] The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. "A Review Of Postal Legislative Proposals With Comments"This is an "open" issue available to all PostCom web site visitors. Hey! You've not been getting the weekly PostCom Bulletin--the best postal newsletter anywhere...bar none? See what you've been missing.

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram YLE: At least 8,500 letters went missing in the post in Finland in 2009, reports YLE's Swedish language TV news. This is significantly more than a few years ago. In 2006 over 6,000 letters never arrived at their destinations. Since then the amount has gone up constantly. The figures are based on the amount of complaints by postal customers, which suggests that the real number of missing deliveries could be even larger.Catanduanes Tribune: The chairman of the House Committee on Government Reorganization, Rep. Erico Basilio Fabian, has vowed to look into the complaints of the officers and members of the Postal Employees Union in Catanduanes regarding their unremitted contributions and delayed benefits.Newstalk.ie: Proposals to introduce a national post code system will be examined by a Dáil committee today. The plan is part of a new Postal Bill being introduced by Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte. The Bill also includes a legal guarantee of a delivery service every working day to every address in the state. However, opposition parties say the Bill could lead to higher postal charges for people in rural areas. And the Communications Workers Union says it will put jobs in An Post at risk.The Business Times: SingPost's subsidiary, Quantium Solutions International (QSI), has acquired a 20 per cent stake in Shenzhen 4PX Express Co for RMB60 million (S$12 million), it announced on Tuesday. 4PX provides international express delivery services, freight forwarding, and import and export of goods and technology. It is also the global distribution partner for eBay and PayPal in the China market.Dead Tree Edition: In a recent article for Deliver magazine, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe provided an excellent rebuttal to claims of some ignorant Congressmen and commentators that the U.S. Postal Service is seeking a bailout.Dead Tree Edition: In Donahoe's Answer to Postal Bailout Criticism, we noted the Postmaster General's recent article explaining that the U.S. Postal Service's financial straits are a creation of Congress rather than actual financial losses. But the article omits key points, partly because the Postal Service can't afford to offend Congress right now with the unvarnished truth. Here are six more things that ignorant critics in Congress and the news media need to consider about USPS finances.Winnepeg Free Press: Instead of fighting each other for the past month, Canada Post and its unionized employees should have been fighting for their future. Long before the union's rotating strikes and the corporation's subsequent lockout crippled the delivery of paper mail in this country, the revolution in electronic technology had completely changed how Canadians communicate and, along with that, their need for a traditional post office.National Association of Major Mail Users: Several members have reported their frustration with staging of mail entry and erratic mail delivery, particularly in Toronto. NAMMU was assured today that ALL mail that was in the system at the time of lockout has been processed. Mail delivery will be somewhat erratic at first until that first "bulge" is delivered. Mail induction is being staged to ensure proper processing. We were promised a status report Tuesday.Financial Times: Royal Mail is indeed a great British company but our European and UK express parcels businesses, General Logistics Systems (GLS) and Parcelforce Worldwide, handle some 420m parcels annually. These businesses are growing and profitable. A key reason is that they operate without regulation and are allowed to compete with the same freedoms as their many rivals in markets where competition is intense and the customer is king. That is why Royal Mail is pressing for a radical change in the regulatory framework for letters in the UK to reflect accurately the total cost of providing the universal service in a sustainable way. Royal Mail is far from a monopolyWashington Post: Here's how to negotiate, GOP-style: Begin by making outrageous demands. Bully your opponents into giving you almost all of what you want. Rather than accept the deal, add a host of radical new demands. Observe casually that you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to the hostage you've taken — the nation's well-being.Postal Technology International: Swiss Post Box, which has been offered by Swiss Post since 2009, will soon be available to customers throughout the UK. From the Isle of Man it will operate under the name ePostbox from the end of July. As such, the Isle of Man Post Office will be the first licensed partner to market the digital letterbox in the UK. ePostbox is a reverse hybrid mail solution that has been developed by Swiss Post subsidiary SwissSign and Siemens Mobility. Users can select a correspondence address on the Isle of Man and have their letter mail sent to this address. The letter mail will then be processed in a highly secure scanning centre on the Isle of Man and delivered to customers by email, which they can receive via their smartphone, iPad and other devices. Incoming mail can thus be processed and managed easily and conveniently, anytime, anywhere. Whether physical or digital, an electronic letterbox offers customers maximum freedom and flexibility.Nigerian Tribune: There was confusion in some parts of Lagos on Monday, as retirees of the Nigeria Postal Services shut down major post offices in protest of non-payment of 72 months pension arrears. The protesters vowed to continue with the protest until it became evident that their entitlements would be paid. See also Vanguard.
DMM Advisory: Changes to Destination Entry Periodicals Critical Entry Times. Recently, Periodicals mailers were notified through various channels that national, standardized Critical Entry Times (CET) have been established for destination entry Periodicals mail to provide better service to mailers and to maximize operational efficiency. The four new CETs range from 8 a.m. for mail to Flats Sequencing System (FSS) zones requiring a bundle sort to 5 p.m. for non-FSS zones when no bundle sort is required, and are effective July 1, 2011. Details and additional CET information can be found at RIBBS®>Business Mail Acceptance. A job aid for creating FAST® appointments for mixed Periodicals is available at RIBBS>FAST under "Important Links." A current list of FSS zones is available in labeling list L006 on Postal Explorer® under Additional Links>Labeling Lists.
July 4, 2011 PC Magazine: "Why Twitter Will Be the Next Newspaper"The Globe and Mail: Now that the mail is being delivered again, Canada's economic prospects have brightened considerably. That is, if you believe the Harper government's claims that the phony shutdown of Canada Post by its own management constituted a real and present danger to the national recovery. Canada Post's management wanted to cut wages for new hires and, ultimately, abolish the company's defined benefit pension plan. The union, naturally, resisted. But fearing back-to-work legislation, it organized rotating job actions rather than an all-out strike. So management shut down the whole operation, precipitating the desired government intervention. The resulting legislation imposed a wage settlement lower than what Canada Post had already offered.Focus Information Agency: Bulgarian Posts employees are ready to stage protests and strikes to protect their jobs and small, but stable incomes. Protests will take place outside the parliament when the bill amending Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Act is tabled for discussion in the plenary hall. Nikiforov recalled that about 1,000 people were laid off during the 2010 reform in Bulgarian Posts.Northwest Cable News: Neighbors in the town of Waverly are protesting the U.S. Postal Service's plan to close their post office. Last month, postal employees informed folks of the possible closure. They also asked for feedback. Some members of the city council feel like it is already done deal.Leader-Post: "The recent postal disruptions (strikes and lock-outs) show major changes are needed to the Canadian postal system. In recent years postal rates have skyrocketed and the service provided has not kept pace."Post & Parcel: Marten Buettner, independent postal consultant, provides a framework for successful postal transformation and explains how Pos Malaysia has embarked on a major transformation programme.BBC: Royal Mail bosses are to be questioned by councillors about the standard of service in a Surrey town. Councillor Denzil Coulson, who chairs the overview and scrutiny committee at Woking Borough Council, said he wanted "clear answers". The meeting, due to start at 1900 BST, was called following complaints from residents about the service. Royal Mail has apologised to residents and said the delays were due to changes to its delivery routes.GazetteLive: Plansto close Guisborough's postal delivery office have been defended by Royal Mail but condemned by the town's MP.BBC: Scam mail has been arriving in Britain's letterboxes in a steady stream for years, targeting the most vulnerable and robbing many of their savings. But what role does Royal Mail play in getting it to your front door? A BBC Panorama investigation has highlighted that Royal Mail owns 33% of the Netherlands-based company that is enabling large amounts of the scam mail to get into Britain. See also The Telegraph.Thomson Local: Postal service Royal Mail has said that it is making significant progress in the fight to eliminate scams that can negatively affect customers' perception of B2B direct mail.Hellmail: In a formal statement on Friday, and ahead of a BBC Panorama programme which examines whether the UK's main postal is reliant on the darker side of the letters business, scam mail, the Royal Mail said it is had made significant progress in its efforts to root out the problem although it did not recognise the term "junk mail", pointing out that direct mail accounts for more than £16 billion in sales for the UK economy every year and the industry employs 280,000 people directly and indirectly.MarketingWeek: The direct mail industry's effectiveness in reducing the environmental impact of direct mail will be questioned in the BBC's Panorama tonight (4 July).Roll Call: "Ross: Government Must Cut Federal Workforce"Engadget: At least one country is moving forward with plans to lighten the load on its future generation of Samsung execs. South Korea announced this week that it plans to spend over $2 billion developing digital textbooks, replacing paper in all of its schools by 2015. Students would access paper-free learning materials from a cloud-based system, supplementing traditional content with multimedia on school-supplied tablets. The system would also enable homebound students to catch up on work remotelyBuffalo News: What Postal Service management, the unions, the Postal Regulatory Commission, key Republican and Democratic legislators on postal issues and other stakeholders are asking is simply this: Allow the Postal Service to stop depleting its operating funds to make these payments, and instead permit an internal transfer of funds from its pension surpluses — as any responsible business would do. Once this immediate financial hurdle has been overcome, the entire postal community can focus on how we continue adapting to society's evolving needs in the age of the Internet, which offers both challenges and opportunities.The Age: Australia Post is under fire for lifting prices on parcel post, the fourth price rise in two years. From today, the cost of a single 500-gram prepaid satchel will go up from $6.30 to $6.60, while a parcel of more than 500 grams sent interstate will rise from $10.10 to $10.55. Frustrated owners of small businesses say it is increasingly difficult to remain competitive. Mark Fletcher, whose online business imports and distributes personal care items, said the increases amounted to 28.5 per cent since 2009.Torquay Herald Express: The Royal Mail is planning a shake-up in the way the post is delivered to homes across the Totnes and Buckfastleigh areas. It will mean changes in delivery times, with some people getting their mail earlier and some later than current delivery times. Posties will work in pairs with new trolleys to carry larger parcels.Radio Netherlands: Mario Frusch, the director of TNT Post Germany – as the company is called across the border – says the German postal market is Europe's most competitive one. "The German postal market is the biggest in Europe in terms of both turnover and address numbers," he says. There are 40 million households in Germany.
July 3, 2011 PostCom Executive Vice President Jessica Dauer Lowrance is proud to announce the birth of her daughter, Carter Lowrance (6 lbs. 9 oz). Both mother and daughter are doing fine. Congratulations to Mom and Dad, Joe Lowrance. Edmonton Journal: If there's one union Canadians love to hate, it's CUPW, whose members have been at the barricades since the 1970s, and who apparently haven't heard of this thing called the Internet, which allows people to bank online rather than by snail mail. The more Canadians learn about the sweetheart deals of postal workers, the angrier they get. Canada Post workers can retire at 55, one of the reasons the Crown corporation has issues with unfunded pension obligations and wants to push the retirement age of new hires back to 60. This was a deal breaker for CUPW. What is this, Greece? Actually, it is, since workers are allowed to bank sick days, and are paid for a full day's work even if they deliver the mail in four hours.
July 2, 2011 Sioux City Journal: Sioux City officials and local labor leaders say the savings the Postal Service will realize by shipping work to Sioux Falls is based on faulty analysis, will come at the expense of postal customers and did not take into account savings that could have been achieved by taking advantage of economic incentives offered by the city.NEMS360.com: A plan to ship some of Tupelo's mail operations to Grenada earned swift opposition from Mayor Jack Reed Jr. this week, but Mississippi's two U.S. senators - who had joined Reed in opposing an earlier consolidation attempt - offered little resistance this time.National Association of Letter Carriers: Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL), who chairs the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and District of Columbia, recently posted on his website a floor statement entitled Postal Service "Overpayment" – Myth v. Fact, where he tried to dispel three alleged myths about the Postal Service's pensions and retiree health benefits pre-funding burden. Unfortunately, his "facts" are far from factual and do more to confuse and mislead members of Congress than clarify the issues as the latest debate on postal reform unfolds.Trend: Azerexpresspost Postal Express Service of Azerbaijani Azerpoct postal operator introduced prepayment service of postal fee by customers. The essence of service is that the sending fee is not paid by an addressee or a sender, but by the customer of this service. That is, the customer turns to us in order to deliver the postal item (such as letter) from one address to another, in this case the customer pays the fee for providing this service. Accordingly, in this case, neither the sender nor the addressee act as a customer.From the Federal Register:  Postal Regulatory Commission   NOTICES Post Office Closings , 39141–39143 [2011–16666] [TEXT]  [PDF] Wall Street Journal: United Parcel Service Inc.'s freight division will raise average noncontractual shipping rates in North America by 6.9% starting next month, as the industry copes with rapidly rising fuel costs. The move follows a 5.9% rate increase in October by its UPS Freight unit, the fourth largest less-than-full-truckload carrier in the U.S. Rival FedEx Corp. also has been raising its rates to cope with high fuel prices. The package shipper said the higher rates in the U.S., Canada and Mexico apply to minimum charges, less-than-full-truckload rates and supplemental charges.ABC15: Those on a job hunt should be wary of work-at-home programs, according to the U.S. Postal Service. These programs are increasingly exposed as shipping fraud—a scheme that claims to pay home-based employees to ship merchandise abroad, the Phoenix division of the USPS said. Victims often receive counterfeit checks for their work or have their bank accounts drained by wire transfer schemes, said Paul Krenn with the Phoenix Division of the USPS Inspection Service.The Guelph Mercury: Other countries around the world have already done far more than Canada to modernize their postal systems. Britain is privatizing its Royal Mail. Germany, the Netherlands and Austria have privatized their post offices entirely or in part. The 27 members of the European Union have all agreed to permit in their postal markets something still too rare in Canada's — competition. These may sound like radical solutions. But the status quo is no option. Canada Post is in danger of becoming Canada past.
July 1, 2011 At the Postal Regulatory Commission:

The following reports have been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector Generalwebsite (http://www.uspsoig.gov). If you have additional questions concerning a report, please contact Wally Olihovik at (703) 248-2201 or Agapi Doulaveris at (703) 248-2286.
  • Facility Optimization: Pacific Area Districts (Report Number DA-AR-11-006). We determined that the Pacific Area districts have more than 1.7 million square feet in excess of what their workload suggests they needed. By optimizing the excess space through disposal, the Postal Service could realize more than $170 million over typical and remaining lease terms. Additionally, we determined the Postal Service could reduce its facility infrastructure and generate additional revenue if it were more aggressive in seeking opportunities to fill the space needs of federal entities. In the districts reviewed, our analysis showed that excess space identified at postal facilities might be able to accommodate 84 percent of current federal agencies' space needs.
  • Mail Volume Measurement for City Delivery Carriers – Greater Indiana District (Report Number DR-AR-11-005). During our review, we found most unit officials properly measured the mail using an approved measuring device while compressing mailpieces. Yet, our review at six of seven selected units found discrepancies (overstatements of 25,576 mailpieces and understatements of 5,723 mailpieces) reported in the Delivery Operations Information System (DOIS) for city delivery routes. Discrepancies occurred because of inadequate district oversight and lack of reconciliation processes. Therefore, management's reliance on the DOIS cased mail volume data for these delivery units may result in incorrect daily operational decisions.Billings Gazette: Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. said he would be "more than happy" to work on the retiree benefits issue, but is against five-day delivery. Tester met with Donahoe on Tuesday to discuss the importance of six-day delivery to rural areas.SeacoastOnline: Opponents of shuttering the U.S. Postal Service's Heritage Avenue processing and distribution facility said that doing so could harm the organization's relationship with small businesses. The USPS is examining the pros and cons of transferring operations at the Portsmouth facility to processing and distribution centers in Manchester and Scarborough, Maine.Kenora Daily Minor & News: Aside from limits on pay increases — a cumulative 7.25 per cent rather than the 7.7 per cent on offer from Canada Post and 11.5 per cent sought by the union and a mandated four-year contract term; the government's back-to-work legislation contained a third must do directive for the arbitrator that was overlooked by many — a requirement the post office's current pension and benefit deficit ratio not increase. That deficit is nudging the $3 billion mark and represents a roughly 20 per cent shortfall in what the corporation will have to spend on pensions and benefits such as supplementary health care for retirees in the years ahead compared to money it has set aside to that. Adweek: The U.S. Postal Service confirmed it is reviewing marketing communications covering strategy and creative; media planning and buying; direct marketing and sales support; retail and promotions; and multicultural advertising for the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian markets. While all of the incumbents could not be determined, Campbell-Ewald is the lead on creative, media and direct marketing while Draftfcb, Chicago, handles promotions and retail. Last year, the USPS spent $103 million on measured media, according to Nielsen. (That amount does not include online spending.)Nasdaq: FedEx Corp. is a holding company with subsidiaries that provide a broad range of transportation, e-commerce and business services under the FedEx brand.

We've broken down our analysis of FedEx into 6 main business segments, which you can explore.
1. FedEx Express Package
2. FedEx Ground
3. FedEx Express Freight
4. FedEx Freight
5. FedEx SmartPost
6. FedEx Trade Network & Supply Chain Systems
The largest value drivers for the company are Federal Express package that contributes around 45% to our valuation and almost 30% for FedEx Ground.The BristolBay Times: Sen. Lisa Murkowski said today that the Alaska district manager for the United States Postal Service has informed her that Juneau mail processing operations will not be moved to Anchorage.Federal Times: The U.S. Postal Service has canceled bonuses and performance awards for executives, officers and other administrative employees. BusinessWire: GrayHair Software, Inc., a constant innovator in the direct mail industry, is proud to announce it has enhanced its industry-leading mail-tracking reports with the integration of Google Maps into its reporting engine. This integration provides GrayHair's clients access to the most powerful mapping tool available. GrayHair Software is the largest enterprise-wide provider of USPS® PLANET Code® and Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMb) tracking. Through their MailTrak™ and SelectTrak™ products, 10-15 billion pieces of consumer and business mail are tracked each year. Both of these applications are delivered via SelectSolutions™, GrayHair's recently released cloud-based technology platform, which provides clients unprecedented access to these dynamic reporting engines. By using the Google Maps API to bring Google Maps into its mail-tracking services, GrayHair allows its clients access to the most robust mapping engine available on the market. Clients gain use of easily searchable maps to better understand the distribution of their mail.This mapping data allows GrayHair to offer its clients the ability to view down to the street level when performing a single-piece look up. With this feature, clients can now view actual map pinpoints showing the scanned locations of a single mailpiece as it passes through the postal stream.DMM Advisory: Completing PS Form 8125 Correctly Eliminates Potential Delays. Irregularities in drop ship forms can potentially delay mail acceptance, disrupting mailers' production and distribution schedules. When depositing mail at a USPS®destination entry facility, here are some important reminders for completing PS Form 8125, Plant-Verified Drop Shipment (PVDS) Verification and Clearance. First, make sure that all mailer information on an original (not photocopied) PS Form 8125 is accurately completed. This information includes completed sections for: Class of Mail, Mail Processing Category, Number of Pallets, and Entry Discounts Claimed; plus, Entry Office in the Destination Entry Post Office section.  Also, when the PVDS mailing arrives at the destination entry facility, either the Drop Shipment Appointment Number or the FAST® Scheduler ID must also be completed. For additional information, visit RIBBS®>Business Mail Acceptance>Drop Ship Checklist for Mailers or see Publication 804, Drop Shipment Procedures for Destination Entry.

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