National Postal Week and World Post Day

• 13 Oct 2020

Why in News

India Post commenced the celebration of the National Postal Week, starting with World Post Day which is celebrated each year on 9^th October.

Key Points

• National Postal Week: It is celebrated from 9^th to 15^th October every year.
  
  • Aim: Generating a broad awareness about India Post’s role and activities among the public and media at the national level
  • Activities This Year: Felicitating the valued customers, organizing camps/workshops for Philately, opening accounts, online awareness campaigns etc.
  • Philately: The collection and study of postage stamps and postal history.
    
    • In 2018, Deen Dayal SPARSH (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby) yojana was launched by the Ministry of Communications which gives scholarships to promote philately among school children.
• World Post Day: It is celebrated each year on 9^th October, to commemorate the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in the Swiss capital, Berne.
  
  • It was declared as World Post Day by the UPU Congress held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1969.
  • Purpose: To create awareness about the role of the postal sector in the lives of people and business and its contribution to the social and economic development of the country

Universal Postal Union

• The UPU is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal systems.
• Its headquarters are located in Berne, Switzerland.

India Post

• India Post is the trade name for the Department of Posts (DoP), a government-operated postal system in India under the Ministry of Communications.
• With 1, 55,531 Post Offices, the DoP has the most widely distributed postal network in the world.
• Functions:
  
  • Delivering mails, accepting deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance cover under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) and providing retail services like bill collection, sale of forms, etc.
  • It also acts as an agent for the Government of India in discharging other services for citizens such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement and old age pension payments.
• Significance
  
  • India Post has been serving the people in an extraordinary way in the difficult situation which has emerged due to Covid-19, by bringing them medicines and financial assistance.
  • The Postal Department has been playing a major role in the implementation of Government schemes, leveraging the immense strength of its vast network.
  • Postal schemes are known for providing highly secured deposits, they provide a higher return of interest with low risk.
• Related News:
  
  • The Department of Posts (Ministry of Communications) has launched a scheme called Five Star Villages. The scheme seeks to bridge the gaps in public awareness and reach of postal products and services, especially in interior villages.
  • The Prime Minister launched India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) on 1^st September 2018 aimed at making banking services available at people’s doorstep.
  • A Customized My Stamp on India’s First Anti Satellite Missile (A-SAT) launch was released by the Department of Posts on the occasion of Engineers Day on 15^th september, 2020.

Source: PIB