Chapter 20 - Indian Postal Service (IPoS) | A Bouquet of Services by IPS Lohit Matani and IPS Vishal - UPSC PDF Download

IPoS is a very satisfying job which provides ample opportunities to grow educationally as well socially. However, the officers always complain about the lack of charm in the service. The major reasons for this are lack of opportunities for IPoS officers to rise in other departments (apart from the postal department). Secondly, Postal Department is undergoing various reforms in terms of its technology and processes. The managers of these changes are IPoS officers. It takes a great toll on them to administer such changes among certain old and less educated lower staff of the Postal Department.

IPoS officers also suffer from frequent frivolous complaints from the public on minor issues. These complaints consume important time and energy of the officers. Apart from these problems, IPoS is a very professional service with minimum occupational hazards.

20.9    Case Studies indicating the work, challenges and ethical dilemmas faced                                    by IPoS officers

20.9.1 Managers of Change

From more than last 150 years, Postal Department has played a vital role in country’s socio-economic development. It touches the lives of Indian citizens in many ways: delivering mails, accepting deposits, providing life insurance cover and providing life insurance cover like bill collection, sale of forms, etc. The Department of Posts also acts as an agent for Government of India in discharging other services for citizens such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), wage disbursement and old age pension payments. With 1,55,015 Post Offices, the Department of Posts has the most widely distributed postal network in the world.

However, in 2008, it was realized that the Department needs to improve in many aspects of its core services as well as in the ‘look and feel’ of post offices. ‘Project Arrow’ was launched towards this end to transform India Post into a vibrant and responsive organization. It was aimed at making a noteworthy difference in the Post Office operations that matters to “Aam Admi”. It was aimed at making the processes in the Post Offices simpler so as to take on new roles and challenges.

The task at hand was challenging and required great leadership. It not only required infusion of technology but was extended to training manpower, increasing their motivation level, creating adequate infrastructure within limited budget and to manage the finances in such a way that the operations of the post offices become self-sustainable.

Mr. Vikram Seth was posted as the Post Master General of a region (Varanasi). The responsibility given to him was daunting. No other service would give an officer a chance to bring such changes in an organization. The kind of freedom he enjoyed in implementing the above reforms in his region was satisfying, to say the least. However, he found that many people do not want to change.

He observed that there were a group of employees who wanted to change but they were low in skills and were old aged. There was another group in which employees were capable enough but they wanted to indulge in corrupt activities. They wanted Mr. Vikram to turn a blind eye to their corrupt means, because they are working hard with Mr. Vikram to bring in the desired changes in the organization. There also a group of employees who had the ability but were least interested in any change, as new processes would mean more transparency and accountability.

Q. How will Mr. Vikram deal with this situation? How will he tackle these employees in order to make India Post a vibrant organization?

20.9.2 NREGA Payments through Post Offices

Mr. Ayush Bhaijaan is posted as the Senior Superintendent of Posts of the Gaya Division in Bihar. Having the largest network of India, the Government of India decided to disburse NREGA payment through Post Offices. This was a proud movement for the postal services as it was given a responsibility to give the citizens of the country their right to work. A young IPoS officer, Ayush was very enthusiastic to implement the project at his division.

In 3 months’ time, Ayush worked very hard to supervise the opening of accounts of many villagers in post offices. He was also applauded for being quick in setting up the ground for disbursing NREGA payment via post office accounts. However, in next few months he came under negative criticism for various reasons.

One of these reasons was that many ghost accounts were opened without taking any proper Know Your Customer (KYC) documents. As there were similar ghost beneficiaries in the NREGA muster rolls, they were being given daily wages also. Secondly, the local post office staff came into an agreement with the local contractors. Under this agreement, the post office staff ensured that only a part of the wage is given to the real beneficiary and rest is given to a contractor whose machinery was being used to do the NREGA work. Like this, work was done by machinery (something which is not envisaged in NREGA) and laborers were given a part of the wage for doing no work. Thirdly, post office staff also used to take a part of the money while giving money from the account of the laborers.

Ayush was very disturbed by the state of affairs as this happening across all the villages under his division.

Q. How will he manage such a situation knowing that India Post has partnered with NREGA and is not completely responsible for the malpractices happening in it?

20.9.3 Use of Postal System in Disaster Management

The highly dense postal network has been used in most unimaginable ways in India. Ms. Rakhi Bakshi was posted as a Senior Superintendent of Posts in a division of Andaman and Nicobar Island. The exemplary efforts put by her were instrumental in streamlining the procedures at the post offices and making service delivery swifter and faster. In two years, she and her subordinates came very nearer to the local tribal population in all the villages of the division.

In 2004, Tsunami struck the island and all the villages under Rakhi were impacted significantly. At a time when all the communication channels were disrupted, it was only the robust postal network (a network of local postal employees) which was still functioning. However, Rakhi realized that there was very less role of the postal department in disaster management. She was confronted in a situation in which she can help but was not in an authority to act. She can go forward to the local district administration and help them by using the postal network in delivering relief packages as well as rescuing individuals. The rapport she was enjoying with local tribals was unparallel.

Q. How could Rakhi move forward and break these silos of governmental machinery? How could she create a memorable moment for the postal department by being an important instrument for fighting the Tsunami disaster?