New Delhi: The Union Budget aims to transform the rural economy by combining the reach and access of India’s postal department with the needs of farmers, artisans, new entrepreneurs, women self-help groups and MSMEs by creating the country’s largest logistics network, according to details laid out by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on Saturday.
In her budget speech, Finance Minister Sitharaman proposed to utilize the vast network of rural post offices located across the country, including the far-flung areas.
Sitharaman said the government will use India Post as a catalyst for the rural economy. “India Post with 1.5 lakh rural post offices, complemented by the India Post Payment Bank and a vast network of 2.4 lakh Dak Sevaks, will be repositioned to act as a catalyst for the rural economy,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha members.
India’s department of post has been the backbone of the country’s communication for the last 150 years as it was established during the British Raj. The Department of Post has played a crucial role in the country’s social economic development.
Its role has evolved over the years from delivering postal communication such as posts, inland, telegrams and money orders to now accepting deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance cover under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) etc.
In recent years, the department of post has also started providing retail services such as bill collection and sale of different kinds of forms among others.
The department of posts also acts as an agent for the central government in discharging other services for citizens such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement and old age pension payments.