Monthly Summary of Significant Events of Department of Posts for March, 2012

Postal Network to be Leveraged to Financially Include BPL Households

Given below is a brief summary of significant events pertaining to Dept of Posts for the month March ,2012. Department of Posts have disbursed wages amounting to Rs. 540 crores to 5.45 crores MGNREGS account holders across the country (except in Bihar Circle) during February this year. An MoU was signed with UIDAI for enrolment and dispatch/ delivery of Aadhaar letters. As per the UIDAI portal, 53.31 lakhs enrolments have been done till 26.03.2012 at post offices. And approx. 9.01 crore Aadhaar letters have been booked till 03.04.2012. Under the IT modernization project of the Department approved by the CCEA, 8 RFPs have been issued for selection of vendors. 5 LOI (Letter of Intent) have been issued and in 2 RFPs the financial evaluation is in progress. MoU signed between Kerala water Authority and Kerala Postal Circle for acceptance of water charges through Post Offices. Preliminary discussions were held with Idea Cellular Pvt. Ltd. for accepting payment for recharge of pre and post paid connections through e-payment. Training for Savottam Certification of officials of five selected Head Post Offices was arranged by PTC Vadodara . Project Arrow initiated to improve the “core activities” of the Department and “Look and Feel” aspect of post offices has been implemented in 15597 post offices and 1759 post offices, respectively. The Department of Posts ( DoP) has decided to leverage its extensive network in rural as well as in urban areas to financially include BPL households by opening their savings accounts at their nearest Post Offices. These accounts will not only serve the purpose of financial inclusion but also constitute critical infrastructural support to transfer cash benefits to the BPL households. This will go a long way in reducing their poverty and furthering the mandate of Government of India and the State Governments. More than 1.2 crore such accounts have already been opened so far across the country. Various Ministries and Departments of Government of India have been addressed to consider delivering cash components of their social security and welfare schemes targeting the BPL households through these accounts. Stamps were issued on Vasant Dada Patil ( 1st March), Shyama Charan Shukla (9th March) and 100 years of Civil Aviation (14th March).