indian post office history

भारतीय डाक प्रणाली का जो उन्नत और परिष्कृत स्वरूप आज हमारे सामने है, वह हजारों सालों के लंबे सफर की देन है। अंग्रेजों ने डेढ़ सौ साल पहले अलग-अलग हिस्सों में अपने तरीके से चल रही डाक व्यवस्था को एक सूत्र में पिरोने की जो पहल की, उसने भारतीय डाक को एक नया रूप और रंग दिया। पर अंग्रेजों की डाक प्रणाली उनके सामरिक और व्यापारिक हितों पर केंद्रित थी। भारत की आजादी के बाद हमारी डाक प्रणाली को आम आदमी की जरूरतों को केंद्र में रख कर विकसित करने का नया दौर शुरू हुआ। नियोजित विकास प्रक्रिया ने ही भारतीय डाक को दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी और बेहतरीन डाक प्रणाली बनाया है। राष्ट्र निर्माण में भी डाक विभाग ने ऐतिहासिक भूमिका निभाई है और इसकी उपयोगिता लगातार बनी हुई है। आम आदमी डाकघरों और पोस्टमैन पर अगाध भरोसा करता है। तमाम उतार-चढ़ाव के बावजूद इतना जन विश्वास कोई और संस्था नहीं अर्जित कर सकी है। यह स्थिति कुछ सालों में नहीं बनी है। इसके पीछे बरसों का श्रम और सेवा छिपी है।

Indian postal service also known as Indian post office is a most widely distributed postal system in the world (second is china). Indian postal service is run by Indian government. It is a part of Ministry of communications and information technology.

• The first post office in India was established by British East India company in Bombay in 1764.

• Postage stamps were first used in India in 1852 at district of scinde (also known as scinde dawk). On 1st October 1854, the first all India stamp was issued. Post independence, India's first postal stamp was issued on 21 November 1947. Independent India's first postal stamp depicted the picture of national flag of India. Mahatma Gandhi was the first person whose picture was depicted on free India's stamp (1948).

• India is divided into 23 postal circles. Each circle is divided into regions. Regions are also further divided into divisions and subdivisions. Beside 23 circles, there is also a base circle. Which provides postal services to Indian armed forces. Each circle is headed by chief postmaster general and region is headed by postmaster general.

• Pincode system was introduced in India on 15 August 1972 by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar. In 1880 money order service was first started.

• Indian pincode is six digits long. The first digit represents the region, second digit represents the subregion, the third digit identifies the district of the region and last three digits are assigned to the post offices.

• On 18 February 1911, world's first official airmail flight was started. World's highest post office is located in Hikkim, Himachal Pradesh, India ( height is 4,700 m).

• Due to the increase of digital services, Indian Post had terminated two important services - Telegram (in 2013) and Money order (in 2015).

• In 2008, Project Arrow was launched to reform the Indian Postal Services to make it more people friendly and digital.

• Beside postal services, Indian post offices also offers different financial services too.  

QUICK INFORMATION ABOUT POSTAL SERVICES

First Post Office of India	Bombay in 1774
Founder of Postal in India	Governor General Lord Dalhousie
First postage stamp of India	Sinde Dawk in 1852
First airmail	From Allahabad to Naini in 1911
First Post office outside India	Dakshin Gangotri, Antarctica in 1983
Postal staff collage	Ghaziabad
Indian Postal Day	10th October

India has the largest Postal Network in the world with over  155,015 Post Offices(as on 31.03.2014) of which     1, 39,182 (89.86%) are in the rural areas. At the time of independence, there were 23,344 Post Offices, which were primarily in urban areas.

 India Post has the most widely distributed postal network in the world. The country has been divided into 23 postal circles, each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General.

The world's highest post office is also located in India (Hikkim) which is located at 15,500 feet, Hikkim is part of the Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh

IMPORTANT YEARS OF INDIAN POSTAL SERVICES

1863 — Railway Mail Service (R.M.S.) was started.

1873 — Sale of engraving envelopes was started 1876 — India started Parcel Postal Unit. 1877 — Started of V.P.P.

1879 — Post Card was started.

1880 — Money-order Service was started.

1911 — First airmail was sent from Allahabad to Naini.

1935 — Indian Postal Order was started.

1972 — Pin code was started.

1984 — Postal life insurance was started.

1985 — Post and telephone departments were separated.

1986 — Speed Post Service was started.

1990 — At Mumbai and Chennai, two automatic postal edition Centers were started.

1995 — Rural Postal Insurance was started.

1996 — Media Postal Service was started.

1997 — Business Postal Service was started.

1998 — Satellite Postal Service was started.

1999 — Data Dak and Express Dak Services were started.

2000 — Greeting Post Service was started.

2001 — Electronic fund transfer service was started.

3rd Jan. 2002 — Track and Tax Service based on internet was started.

5th Sep. 2003 — Bill mail Service was started.

30th Jan. 2004 — Beginning of E Postal Service.

10th Aug. 2004 — Logistics Post Service was started. -

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