Celebrating National postal week
Indian Posts Department is celebrating National Post Week from 9th October to 15th October on occasion of World Post Day celebrated each year on 9th October. India Post has done well to be in tune with new-era changes to provide best to its customers. But much more requires to be done where even now users have more faith in ever reliable postal services as compared to private courier-services.
Department raked in Rs 3000 crores in very first year of launching its distribution network as a retailing platform. Union government should utilise vast network of post-offices (alongwith bank-branches) to handle sale of stamp papers by doing away with present faulty system of selling these through private vendors. System will eliminate chances of fake stamp-papers apart from other irregularities like back-dated sale or selling these at more than face-value in days of scarcity. Philatical counters at post-offices can also handle sale of coin-sets of new commemorative coins which are presently available only through cumbersome procedure by advance-booking at mints. Post-offices can earn sale-commission for such sale.
Loss saved is profit earned. Inland postal-tariffs should be generally in multiples of Rs 5. Since even beggars refuse to accept coins below Re 1, it is senseless to price highly subsidised Post Cards below Re 1. Printed or competition post-cards can have uniform tariff of Rs 5. Inland-Letter-Cards should be discontinued to bring down huge subsidy of Rs 1203 crore per annum on postal services. Book-Post service is mostly used by affording ones to mail greeting-cards, and as such its minimum tariff should be marginally increased to that of first-class mail-tariff (presently Rs 5) so that commemorative stamps generally issued in tariffs of first-class mail-tariff may be used by users of Book-Post services even though its weight-slab may be kept at 50 gms when first-class mail has slab of 20 gms. Speed Post tariff should be uniform at rupees fifteen per 50 gms both for local and national mail abolishing present dual tariff of rupees twelve and twenty-five respectively.
Irrational and confusing foreign mail-tariffs should be revised in multiples of Rs 10 which should also be cost of an aerogramme by having equal tariff-rise for every 20 gms rise in weight slab for independently fixed air-mail tariffs unlike present system where air-mail tariffs are calculated by imposing air-mail surcharge for every 20 gms on haphazardly fixed sea-mail tariffs. Presently for example, Rs 712 is the air-mail tariff for an article of 1020 gms. But the same can be air-mailed in just Rs 469 if it is mailed in two parts of 1000 gms (Rs 454) and 20 gms (Rs 15). Added revenue can be achieved if air-mail tariff is Rs 20 for first 20 gms and Rs 10 for every additional 20 gms. Sea-mail tariffs may be rationalised for uniform tariff rise for every 20 or 100 gms weight-slabs.
With modernised clearing-operation, it is needless to provide space for payable Post-Office on postal-orders. These should be payable at par at all post-offices. Presently postal-orders are available only at select post-offices that too in restricted timings of just two hours. These should be available at all post offices during their complete working hours like postage-stamps are sold. Considering high cost of printing and handling of postal-orders, postal-orders should be in minimum 10-rupees denomination with added new denominations of rupees 200 and 500 abolishing lower and uncommon denominations like rupees 1, 2, 5 or 7.
Stamps of all denominations of a new definitive series should be released simultaneously together with a complete set of postal stationary on the same theme on first day of new financial year (1st April) every year which should also be date for introduction of any new postal tariff announced earlier in Union Budget presented on last day of February. System will provide newness to the system increasing income by way of philately. Present system of issuing commemorative stamps in denomination of rupees 15 should be changed to that of rupees 10 because an RTI reply reveals that most commonly used denominations are rupees 5 and 10. Since users of different denominations of stamps are different, a stamp-sheet must have only one denomination of stamps unlike presently where a sheet at times also has stamps of two or more denominations. Some highly dignified, non-controversial and non-political legendaries like Lata Mangeshkar should be given special honour by portraying them on stamps in their life-time. Selection of such legendaries should be rare with consent of all major political parties in the Parliament to avoid misuse.
Delhi Postal Circle has moved rightly by allocating 50 new exclusive PIN Codes to private and government addressees receiving maximum postal articles. Till now only Rashtrapati Bhawan with 110004 and Delhi Telephones with 110050 had such privilege. It will be better if new PIN codes with numeral ?1? at fourth digit may be allotted to Rashtrapati Bhawan and Delhi Telephones to be in tune with new system. Present PIN code system adopted several decades back needs to be reallocated with large-scale changes in PIN code boundaries where areas covered by some PIN codes have much less population/area/received postal articles while many others are comparatively too big. New PIN codes should equally divide the area covered, and PIN codes of neighbouring areas should be in serial order. Major roads, river or railway-lines should divide new PIN code zones.
SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL
(Guinness Record Holder for most letters in newspapers& RTI Activist)
1775 Kucha Lattushah
Dariba, Chandni Chowk
DELHI 110006 (India)
Mobile 9810033711 Fax 23254036
E-mail subhashmadhu@sify.com
Web www.subhashmadhu.com