India Post: A Journey Through Ages

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The developed and organized structure of the Indian postal system that we see today is an outcome of a journey of thousands years. The Indian postal system has contributed significantly towards cultural exchange, growth in business and domestic economy, and social unification in a vast and diverse country like India. Even in this age of Internet, the importance of words filled with emotions written on a post card has not diminished.

Though this network is more than 150 years old, it is still facing challenges from the communication revolution. Lakhs of workers of this network not only reach the common man on the joyous or sad occasion but also are the source of income for countless homes.

Written in easy and lucid style, the book with rare pictures, gives an insight into the various stages of development, functioning and modernization of India Post.

Author of the book, Arvind Kumar Singh is a well-known investigative journalist and this is the reason why on every page is seen the impact of his investigative vision. In the year 1999-2000, he was awarded with litterateur award (Journalism) by Hindi Akademi, Delhi. At present he is the Resident Editor of the newspaper in Hindi, Hari Bhoomi and has toured many Asian countries.

The Indian postal system has played a unique role in the socio-economic development of the country by providing one of the most cost-effective and easy mode of communication to the general public. India Post has become one of the outstanding organisation after passing through many stages since last one and a half century. The role of various organisations has remained unnoticed in this fast changing world and I feel that India Post is also one such organisation. Though, the utility of the postal system remains intact in our country but a very little has been written on it.

Generally, newspapers carry reports criticizing the postal services while folk songs and literary works eugolize the importance of postmen and letters. Since some books on the subject have been written by the authors who are either the employees of the postal department or are the stamp collectors. Therefore, they have their own field of interest and opinion.

Mulkraj Anand, the renowned author, a half-century ago also fried to throw some light on the untouched aspects in his book ‘Story of the Indian Post Office’, but since then many drastic changes have taken place in the structure and functioning of the post offices. The challenges posed by the communication revolution have forced the post offices of not only India but all over the world to change. However, the significance of traditional postal services has remained intact in our villages. I have tried to present to the readers the overall picture of this great organisation by including all the major features of the organisation.

I always had a keen interest in the communication and transportation system and for last one and a half decade it has been a subject of my research and writing. During my tours, I kept the role of post offices as my agenda for investigation and spent a considerable time on it. I have tried to review closely the postal system of many countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan including India. The actual assessment of the Indian Postal system can be done by the readers themselves and the only thing that I can comment upon is that I have tried to put forth all the aspects in a conscientious manner. For investigation at ground level, I had a long discussion with common people, service providers and policy-decision makers.

On the occasion of publication of this book I would like to acknowledge my thanks to Dr. Akhilesh Das, Chief-Editor and head of my organisation and the chief editor of Amar Ujala, Ashok Aggarwal who constantly provided me their guidance and support. I would also like to show my gratitude to R. Ganeshan, Postal Secretary; S.P. Gulati, former secretary; Smt. P. Gopinath, Deputy Director General (Financial services); P.K. Chatterjee, CPMG, W.Bengal, M.S. Bali, Raj Kumar Mishra, S.K. Bhardwaj, senior officers of Directorate of Business Development, Shashi Chawla, Editor, Dak Patrika and my dear friend Sarita Panday.

With the help of the following people, the relevant material and rare pictures for the book could be collected. The Chief of the Army Postal Service, Major General V. Sadashivam, Smt. Manju Bhatnagar, Pankaj Chaturvedi, Pushpendra Kulsheshth, Jagdeesh Yadav, Jaiprakash Panday, Smt. Chitra Phuloria, and Ravindra Mishra who supported me in various stages. I am also grateful to Dharmendra, Ashish, my daughter Garima Singh, Nand Kumar, Surbhi Bhatia and Umesh Kumar who worked extensively and collected material from various parts.

In this book, the older names of the three major metropolitan cities Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai have been mentioned. These cities have a great contribution towards the development of the Indian postal system. The use of different names in different time period might have resulted in perplexity. Similarly the terms related to the postal services have been written in the form as prevalent among the common people.

I express my gratitude to all those individuals who have been associated with this project and to lakhs of runners and postmen who have remained the biggest of source of communication. Because of their indelible sacrifice and selfless services, the communication revolution could manage to create a new history.

It is also a matter of great delight that National Book Trust, India, one of the most reputed organisation accepted my proposal and found it adequate for publication.