New EMS Standard Agreement (bilateral) between South Africa and India Post.

To view Department of Posts OM No.38-6/2010-DA dated 17/8/2012 please Click here.

Silent Post Office savings bank a/c constitutes over Rs.750 crores

The government today said that around Rs.752 crore is lying as unclaimed deposits in more than 2.49 crore inactive post office savings bank accounts.

''Rs.752,44,57,414.03 is the amount lying in all silent accounts as on March 31,2011 in 2,49,59,446 ,accounts,'' Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said in a written reply to Lok sabha.

West Bengal led the tally of unclaimed deposits with over Rs. 107 crore lying in 20.16 lakhs accounts,followed by Tamil Nadu(Rs.105.87 crore in 62.72 lakh accounts) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs.68.61 crore in 21.74 accounts).

''The depositor of such account can activate the account at any time by transaction.Notices are issued every year to the account holder of such accounts who are not maintaining minimum balance.Special drives are being launched to re-activate such accounts by issuing notices and giving information through electronic media, ''Sibal said.

Regulation of Courier Companies

The performance of private courier companies has not been the subject of any study by the Department of Posts. 

Department of Posts does not have any regulatory and monitoring mechanism for private courier companies and their services. 

This was stated by Shri Sachin Pilot, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in response to a written question in Lok Sabha today. 

Source:-PIB

Syllabusof PA exam 2012( Direct Recruitment)

SYLLABUS OF PA EXAM 2012 (DIRECT RECRUITMENT)

Paper I

Part 'A' :-25 Questions on General Knowledge - Questions on current events

                       , sports, history, geography, basic economics,

                          general polity, Indian Constitution,science environment etc. - 25 Marks

Part 'B' :-

25    Questions on Mathematics of matriculation standard which may cover

number system, simplification, decimals, corrections, simple and

compound interest, per  centage, average, profit  &  loss, discount,

menstruation, time & work and time & distance etc. - 25 Marks

Part "C" :-

              25  Questions on English covering grammar (prepositions, adverbs,

conjunction,direct/ indirect speech, singular  &  plural, tenses,

antonyms/synonyms etc - 25 Marks

Part “D" :-  25 Questions on Reasoning and analytical Ability - 25 Marks

Paper II

Computer/ Typing Test (Paper-II): The Typing Test shall be for a duration of 30 minutes (15 minutes each for Typewriting and data entry) consisting of one passage of 450 words in English or 375 words in Hindi to be typed with a minimum speed of 30/25 words per minute respectively & Data entry of some figures and letters each carrying equal marks on Computers. The typing test and test of data entry operations will be conducted on Computer key board but not on type writer.

MONEY ORDER TRHOUGH SMS - TRAILS COMPLETED AND THE SERVICES ARE EXPECTED TO BE LAUNCHED SOON

Here is a good news for the customers of postal services. Now, the money orders will become hassle-free and can be disbursed via an SMS. The trials are completed and the services are expected to be launched soon.

The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has developed a customized application to facilitate money order service to 155,000 post offices across India. BSNL is the technology enabler and this service will remain operator neutral.

Speaking to CIOL, BSNL CMD RK Upadhyay said that they are working as per the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the department of post (DoP). "We are in the final stages of service rollout" he informed.

The government initially chose Bihar and Punjab to initiate the service since a lot of immigrant workers hail from these states.

India Posts Secretary, Manjula Prasher had on an earlier occasion told CIOL that mobile money orders would be a good initiative to help immigrant workers who remit money to their home states.

The project will empower designated post offices with mobile devices that have pre-embedded the application. While transferring, the remittance senders' need to furnish basic details that includes receivers' mobile number.

The receiver will get a 16-digit transaction code via SMS from which money can be claimed from a local post office. The government has planned to allow instant money order service up to Rs. 50,000.

India Post Announces Special Discount of 6.5% on Gold Coins for Independence Day & Pushya Nakshtra

For this Independence Day & Pushya Nakshtra, India Post has announced a special discount of 6.5% on purchase of Gold coins. 

On 13th, 14th & 16th August 2012 any customer who buys gold from identified Post Offices in Delhi will get a special 6.5% discount of the day`s retail price on all denominations. 

This offer is available in all 31 Post Offices of Delhi indentified for the sale of Gold coins. 

These gold coins bear unique logo of India Post and are available in denominations of 0.5 gms, 1gms, 5gms, 8gms, 10gms, 20gms & 50gms for sale across counters at select Post Offices. These coins are having purity rating of 24 karat 99.99% from Valcambi, under Swiss certification and are available in tamper-proof packaging having benefits like internationally recognized certification, low risk of duplication, quality packaging, product standardization and numbering with assayer certification. 

Source:-PIB

Recruitment for Postal Assistant / Sorting Assistant 2012 for Kerala Circle

DIRECT RECRUITMENT OF POSTAL ASSISTANTS/SORTING ASSISTANTS / POSTAL ASSISTANTS (SAVINGS BANK CONTROL ORGANIZATION)

Applications are invited from the eligible Applicants for filling of vacancies of POSTAL  ASSISTANTS/SORTING ASSISTANTS/POSTAL ASSISTANTS (SAVINGS BANK CONTROL ORGANIZATION)

 The details of the vacancies in each DIVISION/UNIT in the Circle are furnished as hereunder:

 Total No of Vacancies in Kerala Circle:

	OC	SC	ST	OBC	EX SERVICE	PH I	PH II
PA	45	07	01	20	08	01	01
SA	34	12	01	13	07	01	01
PA (SBCO)	14	02	00	08	02	01	00
TOTAL	93	21	02	41	17	03	02

The vacancies notified are likely to vary /change without any prior intimation.

3. Scale of Pay: Rs. 5200-20200 with Grade pay of Rs. 2400 + admissible allowance. 

4. Age Limit: 18-27 years; The Age limit is relaxable for Applicants belonging to Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe Applicants  up to 5 years and for Applicants belonging to Other Backward Classes up to 3 years and for Government servants up to the age of 40 years in accordance with the Instructions or orders issued by Government of India from time to time.

To know about the division wise vacancy position...See below

CLICK here to view division-wise vacancy list.

Age relaxation for Ex-servicemen would be as per extant orders of government  of India  issued from time to time. 
Note~ The crucial date for determining the age limits shall be the closing date for receipt of Applications from Applicants in India (and not the closing date prescribed for those Applicants residing in Assam/Meghalaya/Arunachal Pradesh/Mizoram/Manipur//Nagaland/Tripura/Sikkim/ Ladakh division of J&K state, Lahul & Spiti  District of HP and Pangi sub division of Chamba Dist in HP, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep).

Revision of postage rates of Foreign Parcels (AIR / SAL) w.e.f. 01st September 2012.

To view Department of Posts Letter No.29-1/2011-CF 

dated 9th Aug, 2012 please Click here.

Infosys bags Rs 700 crore deal from India Post for implementing Core Banking Solutions

Infosys was selected by the India's Department of Post, for implementing core banking and insurance solutions in 150,000 post offices across the country, as well as installing ATMs. This project estimated at Rs 700 crore, aims to transform India Post into a technology-enabled autonomous entity.

 Under this, Infosys will implement and manage its Finacle Core Banking and McCamish Insurance products. It will install around 1,000 ATMs for India Post along with an electronic content management system to manage millions of documents generated as part of India Post's financial operations.


It will also participate in designing, building, supplying, installing and commissioning hardware and software, data migration and deployment of the platforms and solutions across all identified post offices.

Infosys would also train more than 35,000 India Post employees across the country on the usage and deployment of the new platform and solutions.

Rural Development Through Post Offices: Endeavors and Initiatives

The Parliamentary Consultative Committee for Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (C&IT) discussed ‘Rural Development through Post Offices: Endeavors and Initiatives’ here last evening. The Meeting was chaired by Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for C & IT and was attended by the two Ministers of State, Shri Sachin Pilot and Shri Milind Deora. 

In his opening remarks, Shri Sibal said, the post office network offers tremendous potential to contribute towards development of rural areas and people of that area.The Minister said that Post office can be the centre of activity, be it communication, banking, insurance, remittance and retailing service. The fundamental focus of the Department of Posts (DoP) is to reach ‘Aam Aadmi. 

Rural development generally refers to the process of improving quality of life and economic wellbeing of people living in relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Like any other development activity, development of rural areas require an adequate support of appropriate infrastructure.With its more than 139,000 Post Offices in rural areas, DoP provides support in various critical functions through communication, financial services, life insurance products and other retail services. Reach, credibility ,experience, trained manpower, time tested operating and accounting procedures put the post offices in unique position of being the most suitable vehicle for rural development. The rural Information Communication Technology(ICT) programme will further strengthen the delivery mechanism of all social security schemes, reduce the delay in payments and improve the quality and collection and sharing of information between Post Offices and State Governments. Encouraging Post Offices involvement in the activities of financial Members of Parliament, Shri P K Biju,Dr Vinay Kumar Pandey And Shri Shivraj Singh Lodhi, participating in the discussions commended the Ministry for staying focused on their work despite and urged to retain the glory and importance of Post Offices. The Members, however, emphasized that potential of the Indian Postal Network be used to the maximum to offer services and products to the common man in rural areas. They said employment generation in rural areas and improving the service hours and conditions of Gramin Dak Sewaks should be regarded important for revenue generation. 

Source:-PIB