India Post, BSNL tie-up to offer money order service via mobile

NEW DELHI: The postal department has entered into a partnership with state-run telecom company BSNL to provide money order service using mobile phones.

"The Department has signed an agreement with BSNL for providing money remittance through mobile phones,"Department of Posts (DoP) said in an official statement today.

As per the pact, BSNL has been provided with the requirements of DoP for development of the software.

A DoP spokesperson said the software development is going on and rollout of the pilot is expected in August-September, 2012.

Initially, a pilot of the service will run for a period of 6 months in Punjab, Bihar, Delhi and Kerala Circles, the statement said.

As per the spokesperson, DoP will give commission to BSNL for each remittance made and the commission will vary on the amount transferred.

India Post to network offices across country

CHENNAI: The India Post, on an IT modernization drive, will embark on a major technical project to network all post offices in the state. Tamil Nadu has been chosen for the pilot project in the country, chief postmaster general Shanti Nair said. The project will be unveiled in six other states later. 

She said the project would be equipped with the latest state-of-the-art software, which would help the department reach out to post offices even in villages. Postmasters in villages will be given handheld devices enabling them to perform e-transactions. The device can be used to collect payments and the recipient of a money order or a registered post can either put his signature or provide a thumb impression. 

Nair said the department would soon take up core banking solutions and set up 94 India PostATM's in post offices across Tamil Nadu and introduce debit cards for its customers. "India PostATMs is at an advanced stage and the postal department has already joined hands with vendors on this front," she said. The post offices presently provide financial services like savings accounts, postal life insurance, pension payments and money transfer services. 

She said an automatic mail processing unit will be set up near the Chennai airport. "The machine will be able to sort out mails based on the pincode and deliver directly to the destination post office rather than the mail going to a post office and then being directed to a sub post office'' Nair said.

6 new postal training centres to start in 12th Plan period

VADODARA: The department of posts will start six postal training centres (PTCs) across the country during the 12th Five Year Plan. Kamleshwar Prasad, member, human resource development in the Postal Services Board, New Delhi informed media persons here on Sunday.

Prasad was in the city to inaugurate golden jubilee celebrations of PTC, Vadodara and release a special cover to mark the occasion. He informed that at present the department has six full-time training facilities across the country, including PTC, Vadodara to meet the requirement of a workforce of five lakh.

"We are adopting National Training Policy 2012, which will provide all employees of the department three career development opportunities. This centres will be helpful in providing training to the workforce," he said, adding that the department is also moving ahead with its plans to go for complete computerization of post offices.

"This should be implemented by end of this year or early next year," he said. At present, there are nearly 1.55 lakh post offices across the country of which 9,500 are in Gujarat.

The PTC at Vadodara was established on July 1, 1962 to cater to the training needs of postal employees of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh postal circles.

The centre had started its functioning from a rented accommodation provided by Gujarat government on the premises of Karelibaug-based mental hospital.

It was in 1985 that the centre was relocated to its present premises, opposite Harni airport. At present, it has a capacity of handling more than one lakh trainee days in a year.

Summary of Significant Events of DoP for the Month of May 2012

The significant events pertaining to Department of Posts(DoP) for the month May, 2012  include disbursal of wages amounting to  Rs. 933 croresto 5.62 crores MGNREGS account holders across the country except in  Bihar, Haryana and M.P.Circles During April 2012.

2.                              The following stamps were issued in the month of May 2012 :

S.No.	Name of Stamps	Date of issue
1.	Karpoor Chandra ‘Kulish’	16.05.2012
2.	M.B. Kadai	17.05.2012
3.	800th URS. Dargah Sharif, Ajmer	27.05.2012

3.         As part of  IT project (Information Technology Project), the Department of Posts plans to provide a Postal Core Banking  solution in major Post Offices for the Post Office Savings Bank Customers.  A comprehensive overhaul of the remittance service delivery is also planned taking into account the changing customer preferences and expectations of improved service delivery. The vendor for the implementation of the above i.e. Financial Service Solution Integrator (FSI) has been selected and the Letter of Intent has been issued. The contract is under finalization and it is expected to be finalized in the month of June 2012.

 4.        Implementation Report on the recommendations of 15^th Report of Standing Committee Communications & IT captioned ‘Modernisation of Post Offices has been laid on the Table of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabja on 16.05.2012 & 18.05.2012 respectively by Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications & IT along with a statement.

5. Till Apriil 30, 2012., 24969 departmental post offices have been computerized. This comprises 99.69% of all the departmental post offices in the country.

 6.        The Department has signed an agreement with BSNL for providing money remittance through mobile phones.  BSNL has been provided with the requirements of DoP for development of the software.  Initially a pilot of the service will run for a period of 6 months in Punjab, Bihar, Delhi and Kerala Circles.  The rollout of the pilot is expected in August-September 2012.

AIS(LTC) Rules, 1975 - Application of relaxation under CCS Rules to visit North Eastern States and J and K in lieu of one LTC (Home Town) - reg.

To view DoPT OM No.11022/2/2008-AIS-11 Dated, the 29th  June, 2012 please Click here.