Chandigarh, May 22, 2015: The Union Minister for Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad today said that about 48000 Rural BPOs will be distributed in states because lot of data is available there like that of MNREGA, Village Banks etc.
Mr Prasad was chief guest in the concluding function of two day annual Heads of Circles’ Conference organized at Gurgaon on Friday. The Minister also felicitated the top four performing Circles- Assam, Bihar, Delhi and Maharashtra Postal Circles by giving them Speed Post Awards for their outstanding revenue contribution in different segments.
The Conference was attended by senior officers of the Department of Posts to set the agenda of the Government in terms of targets, focus areas, challenges and strategy for the Department of Posts for the current financial year.
During the Conference, amongst the priority areas, panel discussions were held on issues of prime concern like e-Commerce – emerging scenario; Rural Business and strengthening financial inclusion; Postal Life Insurance : Prospects and way forward; Postal financial services: issues and strategies; IT modernization and quality improvement and Training and Capacity Building.
The Union Minister reviewed the performance of the Department of Posts during the last one year with the prime agenda of the Government, that is, Good Governance for One & All. He stated that the Department of Posts, with a history of being the largest, most well known and accessible institution of the Government will play a critical role in furthering the endeavor of the Government for all round growth in social and economic sectors.
Complementing the Department of Posts for ending with a positive revenue growth of around 9.35 % in the last financial year and particularly the big strides it has made in generating e-Commerce revenue of more than 30 % with a steady progress in the IT Modernization Project, the Minister set the agenda for the current financial year on various fronts.
Highlighting the significant achievements made by Postal Circles under the ‘Sukanya Samridhi Yojna’, launched by the the Prime Minister on 22 January this year, where more than 44 lakh accounts have been opened by the Department of Posts and the recently introduced ‘Kisan Vikas Patra Scheme’, where more than 28 lakh Kisan Vikas Patra certificates have been sold across the country by the post offices with an invested amount of more that Rs. 2600 crores since its launch. The Minister mentioned that leveraging the post office network for more and better citizen-centric services would be the major focus area in the coming years, riding on the trust that citizens of this country have, in this 150 years old organization. With its accessibility and reach, conferred by its vast network of more that 1,55,000 post offices, the Department of Posts can become a Game Changer in the socio-economic sector for driving growth, particularly in the rural areas.
The Minister prioritized certain areas for more focus and attention and expected that India Post should become a market leader in the e-Commerce delivery segment also, as it has been in its flagship product – Speed Post. The Minister affirmed his trust in the role of post offices in financial inclusion sector, as the Department of Posts has applied for a Payments Bank license which is under active consideration.
Simultaneously, on the core functions of the Department, that is, parcel and mail delivery, the Minister expected the Department to pay stringent attention by strengthening the monitoring system at all levels as well as the complaints redressal mechanism to ensure that it is not found wanting on this crucial front. Mr Prasad also appreciated the role of the Department in the awareness campaign for the Swachh Bharat Mission. / (SK Vyas, Jalandhar)