Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister addressing during the release function of Circular Postal Stamps on the occassion of 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on 2nd October, 2018 ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19 Department of Posts Ministry of Communications Government of India Table of Contents Chapter Content Page No. Chapter 1 An Overview 9 Chapter 2 Organisation 15 Chapter 3 IT Modernization Project 21 Chapter 4 Postal & Mail Operations 25 Chapter 5 Premium Services 31 Chapter 6 Rural Business 39 Chapter 7 International Business and Cooperation 43 Chapter 8 Financial Services 51 Chapter 9 India Post Payments Bank 61 Chapter10 Financial Management 67 Chapter 11 Philately 73 Chapter 12 Human Resource Development 81 Chapter 13 Estates Management 95 Chapter 14 Development Activities in North Eastern Region 99 Chapter 15 Issues of General Importance 105 Chapter 16 Public Grievances and Right to Information 111 Chapter 17 Vigilance Administration 119 Annexure 1 Audit Observations of CAG 123 Annexure 2 Audit Report Paras Pending 124 Appendix Other Statistical Tables 127 Annual Report 2018-19 3 4 Annual Report 2018-19 Statistical Tables Table No Content Page No. 1 Mail Traffic 26 2 Profile of Savings Bank Schemes 51 3 Performance of Postal Life Insurance/Rural Postal Life Insurance 54 4 Rate of Bonus on Postal Life Insurance/Rural Postal Life Insurance 54 5 Claims Settled in Postal Life Insurance/Rural Postal Life Insurance 54 6 Revenue and Expenditure 67 7 Recovery of Working Expenses on Account of Agency Services 68 8 Average Cost and Average Revenue in Various Postal Services 69 9 Personalised My Stamps printed 75 10 Customized My Stamps printed 75 11 Stamps released 76 12 Personnel : Actual Strength 86 13 Number of Employees : Scheduled Castes/Tribes 88 14 Number of Employees : Differently-Abled, Ex-servicemen, 88 Differently-Abled Ex-servicemen, Women, OBC & Minority Employees 15 Annual Return on Cases of Sexual Harassment 91 16 Average Population and Average Area served per 99 Post Office in North Eastern Region 17 Plan Expenditure in North Eastern Region 100 18 Major Development Activities in North Eastern Region 100 19 Training in North Eastern Region 102 20 MIS on RTI Requests and First Appeals 113 21 Statement of Disciplinary cases 120 Annual Report 2018-19 5 Table No Content Page No. Appendix : Other Statistical Tables 22 Postal Network at a Glance in the Country 127 23 Registered and Unregistered Mail Traffic 128 24 Articles wise Mail Traffic 129 25 Inland Money Orders Issued 130 26 Indian Postal Orders Sold 131 27 Accounts of Savings Schemes 132 28 Outstanding Balance of Savings Schemes 133 29 Distribution of Post Offices 134 30 Classified Function-wise distribution of Post Offices 135 31 Panchayat Sanchar Sewa Kendras, Franchise Outlet and Mukhya Dak Ghar 136 32 Letter Box, Post Box and Post Bag 137 33 Postal and Railway Mail Service Functional Units 138 34 Complaints received, Settled and Pending 139 35 Philately Statistics 140 36 Countries covered under International Speed Post Service 141 37 List of Departmental Heritage Buildings 143 38 Departmental and Rental Buildings 144 6 Annual Report 2018-19 AN OvervieW Annual Report 2018-19 7 AN OvervieW Chapter - 1 Chapter 1.1 The Department of Posts, with its network Office Act of 1854. The Act reformed the entire of 1,55,531 Post Offices, is the largest postal fabric of the postal system and its provisions network in the world. The beginnings of this granted the monopoly of carrying mail in the vast postal network can be traced back to the British territories in India to the Indian Post year 1727 when the first Post Office was set up Offices. The present postal system in India in Kolkata. Subsequently, General Post Offices thus came into existence with the Indian Post (GPOs) were also set up in the then three Office Act of 1854. In the same year, Railway Presidencies of Kolkata (1774), Chennai (1786) Mail Service was introduced as also the Sea and Mumbai (1793). To bring some uniformity Mail Service from India to Great Britain and amongst the then Post Offices, the Indian Post China. Thereafter, the India Post Office Act of Office Act of 1837 was enacted. This Act was 1898 was passed which regulated the postal followed by the more comprehensive Indian Post services in the country. Department of Posts – The Last mile Reach As on 31.03.2018 Urban Post Offices Rural Post Offices 15649 Post Offices 139882 (10.26%) (89.94%) 155531 Departmental Gramin Dak Sewak Departmental Gramin Dak Post Offices Post Offices Employees Sewaks 25556 129975 181477 237341 On an average, 8770 people are served by a Post Office in the country; in rural areas, a Post Office serves 6455 people, and in urban areas, a Post Office serves 29458 people. Average area served by a Post Office is 21.14 sq.km. Annual Report 2018-19 9 VISION To meet the developments and challenges of the new environment where the mail is seeing 1.2 India Post’s products and services will be a decline the world over, the services provided the customer’s first choice. by the Department of Posts are being upgraded, diversified and new services being introduced MISSION in consonance with customer expectations. Chapter - 1 Chapter 1.3 The mission of the Department of Posts is A major IT Induction and Modernization Project as under: is currently being implemented in the department with focus on - Business process re-engineering y To sustain its position as the largest postal and improving operational efficiency of the network in the world touching the lives of department. every citizen in the country. y To provide mail, parcel, money transfer, CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL banking, insurance and retail services with speed and reliability. PROVISIONS y To provide value-for-money services to the 1.6 As per Article 246 (1), the Parliament has customers. exclusive power to make laws with respect to any y To ensure that the employees are proud to be of the matters enumerated in List I (or the “Union its main strength and serve its customers with List”) in the Seventh Schedule. Communication a human touch. is listed at entry number 31 of List I of the y To continue to deliver social security services Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. and to enable last mile connectivity as a As such, it is a Union subject and Parliament has Government of India platform. exclusive powers to make laws on it. The Indian postal network is governed by the Indian Post 1.4 In 1852, the first ever-adhesive postage Office Act, 1898. Additionally, Indian Post Office stamp in Asia was issued in Sindh (Scinde); Rules, 1933 serve as subordinate legislation. these stamps subsequently became famous as the Scinde Dawks. These stamps were in circulation 1.7 An amendment in Section 7 of the Indian up to June 1866. On 18th February,1911, the Post Office Act, 1898 was approved by the world’s first airmail flight – from Allahabad to Parliament through Financial Bill, 2017 whereby Naini - took place. It traversed a distance of 18 the powers to modify rates & tariff of the basic kilometers (approx.) across the river Ganges. Postal services contained in the First Schedule of The first postage stamp valid across the country Indian Post Office Act, 1898, which was earlier was issued on 1st October, 1854 which provided with the Parliament, has now been delegated to an affordable and uniform rate of postage based Ministry of Communications. on weight. Since then, the Department of Posts has proved to be one of the important institutions IT MODERNIZATION PROJECT of the country, playing an important role in the socio-economic development of the nation and 1.8 The IT Modernization Project aims at connecting the remotest corners of the country. transforming the Department into a ‘Technology enabled, self-reliant market leader’. It will result 1.5 While the core activity of the Department in increased market share and revenues, launch is processing, transmission and delivery of mail, of new products and services, improved service there are also a diverse range of retail services delivery system, motivated workforce and undertaken by the Department, which include enhanced customer satisfaction. The primary money remittance, banking, as well as, insurance. focus of this Project is to improve and automate Of late, the Department has undertaken the postal services through business process re- disbursal of the social benefit payments, such as engineering and creation of efficient operations MGNREGA and social security pension schemes. and systems. Under the IT Modernization 10 Annual Report 2018-19 Project, the various postal modules will get have been rolled out under DARPAN Project. integrated to cover various functions of the Post Offices, administrative offices, account offices CORE BANKING SOLUTION (CBS) and mail offices, etc. PROJECT 1.9 Digital India Programme is a flagship 1.11 The Core Banking Solution (CBS) programme of Government of India launched Project is bringing in facilities of ATM banking, - 1 Chapter in 2014 with a vision to transform India into a Internet Banking and Mobile Banking to Post digitally empowered society and knowledge Offices Savings Bank (POSB) customers 24X7 economy. The thrust of the Digital India along with the facilities of National Electronic Programme is digital empowerment of the Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross citizens of India. Department of Posts has been Settlement (RTGS). entrusted to transform the Post Offices into multi service centres. The Department is digitizing all the 1,55,531 Post Offices including 1,29,975 INDIA POST PAYMENTS BANK Gramin Dak Sewak Post Offices. The digitized 1.12 The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Post Office shall work as multi service centre and has been set up by Department of Posts (DoP) become the nodal centre for the dissemination as a Public Limited Company with a mandate to of information vis-à-vis government policies; become most accessible, affordable and trusted disbursement of social security benefits; and bank for the common man by removing the barriers financial inclusion.