Centre likely to introduce new postal Bill in Monsoon Session

New Delhi: In a major move aimed at bringing significant reforms in postal services, the government is likely to introduce the Postal Services Bill during the upcoming monsoon session of the parliament, which is scheduled to begin in the old parliament building from July 20.

The Postal Services Bill seeks to replace the Indian Post Office Act of 1898, which governs the functioning of post offices in the country.

According to sources concerned with the development, the refurbished Postal Bill has been approved by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) after making some important changes in the proposed legislation.

Besides many new areas, the new postal bill would have a special focus on making parcel business of the postal department more competitive to boost the business of delivery, the sources said, adding that the new legislation also talks about providing a unique identification number of every household in the country and expanding the financial inclusion basket of the department to improve financial services of the Postal Department in rural areas.

At a time the postal department is facing several challenges from private players in the areas of dominance, the proposed new postal Bill may help in revitalising the department as well as its officials in scripting new success stories in the days to come.

The new postal Bill is the outcome of a visionary approach adopted by Union Minister for Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw and his deputy Devusinh Chauhan.

The department has registered significant improvements in the services provided by the department in the last nine years.

The key services provided by the department include postal life insurance, postal saving scheme, banking through post offices as well as Indian Postal Payment Bank, data collection, e-commerce delivery, etc.

As per the department officials, there are approximately 1,56,000 post offices in India, which includes both urban and rural post offices.