India Post is an Indian government-operated postal system in India, and is the trade name of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world, and India is the country that has the largest number of post offices in the world. Warren Hastings had taken initiative under East India Company to start the Postal Service in the country in 1766. It was initially established under the name “Company Mail”. It was later modified into a service under the Crown in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie. Dalhousie introduced uniform postage rates (universal service) and helped to pass the India Post Office Act 1854 which significantly improved upon 1837 Post Office act which had introduced regular post offices in India. It created the position Director General of Post for the whole country.
It is involved in delivering mail (post), remitting money by money orders, accepting deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance coverage under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) and providing retail services like bill collection, sale of forms, etc. The DoP also acts as an agent for the Indian government in discharging other services for citizens such as old age pension payments and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement. With 154,965 post offices (as of March 2017), India Post is the widest postal network in the world.
The country has been divided into 23 postal circles, each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General. Each circle is divided into regions, headed by a Postmaster General and comprising field units known as Divisions. These divisions are further divided into subdivisions. In addition to the 23 circles, there is a base circle to provide postal services to the Armed Forces of India headed by a Director General. One of the highest post offices in the world is in Hikkim, At 4,400m above sea level in northern India’s remote Spiti Valley, the Hikkim post office is a vital connection to the outside world.
History
Indian postal service Educational card, late 19th or early 20th century
1850s Scinde Dawk stamp
A modern Indian post office near Udagamandalam
Main articles: Postage stamps and postal history of India and Postage stamps and postal history of the Indian states
Posts and the British Raj (1858–1947)
The British Raj was instituted in 1858, when the rule of the East India Company was transferred to the Crown.
British-era letter box in Shimla, India.
A number of acts were enacted during the British Raj to expand and regulate posts and telegraphs service:
The Government Savings Bank Act, 1873 (5 of 1873), passed by the legislature 28 January 1873, was enacted in 1881. On 1 April 1882, Post Office Savings Banks opened throughout India (except in the Bombay Presidency). In Madras Presidency, it was limited; in the Bengal Presidency, no POSBs were established in Calcutta or Howrah.
Postal life insurance began on 1 February 1884 as a welfare measure for the employees of the Posts & Telegraphs Department as Government of India dispatch No. 299 dated 18 October 1882 to the Secretary of State.
The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885
The Indian Post Office Act, 1898, passed by the legislature on 22 March 1898, became effective on 1 July 1898 regulating postal service. It was preceded by Act III of 1882 and Act XVI of 1896.
The Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933
The world’s first official airmail flight took place in India on 18 February 1911, a journey of 18 kilometres (11 mi) lasting 27 minutes. Henri Pequet, a French pilot, carried about 15 kilograms (33 lb) of mail (approximately 6,000 letters and cards) across the Ganges from Allahabad to Naini; included in the airmail was a letter to King George V of the United Kingdom. India Post inaugurated a floating post office in August 2011 at Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir. Telegraphy and telephony made their appearance as part of the postal service before becoming separate departments. One unique telegraph office was established and operated in the capital of Lhasa until the People’s Republic of China’s annexation of Tibet. The Posts and Telegraphs departments merged in 1914, later separated again on 1 January 1985.
After independence in 1947
Since India became independent in 1947, the postal service continues to function on a nationwide basis, providing a variety of services. The structure of the organization has the directorate at its apex; below it are circle offices, regional offices, the superintendent’s offices, head post offices, sub-post offices and branch offices. In April 1959, the Indian Postal Department adopted the motto “Service before help”; it revised its logo in September 2008.
https://www.indiapost.gov.in/vas/Pages/IndiaPostHome.aspx
Department overview
Formed 1 October 1854; 169 years ago
Headquarters Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi
Employees 403,678 (March 2022)
Annual budget ₹25,814 crore (US$3.1 billion) (2023–24)[4]
Minister responsible
Jyotiraditya Scindia, (Minister of Communications)
Department executives
Ms. Vandita Kaul (IPoS:1989), Secretary, Department of Posts, IPoS
Shri Sanjay Sharan (IPoS:1989), Director General (Posts), IPoS
Parent Department Department of Post, Ministry of Communication, Government of India
Child Department
India Post Payments Bank
Key document
The Indian Post Office Act, 1898
Website www.indiapost.gov.in
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