World Postal Day happens each year on October 9, commemorating the date for the
establishment of Universal Postal Union (UPU) in
1874 in Bern, Switzerland. The UPU was the
start of global communication revolution, allowing people could write to others
all over the world. October 9th was first declared World Postal Day at the 1969
UPU Congress in Tokyo, Japan. Since then,
World Post Day has been celebrated all over the world to highlight the
importance of the postal services.
The
Postal Services is under the Department of Posts, which is part of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of
the Govt of India. The apex body of the department is the Postal Service Board,
consisting of a chair and six members. The six board members govern personnel,
operations, technology, Postal Life Insurance, Human Resource Development (HRD)
and planning. The joint secretary and financial adviser is also a permanent
invitee.
India has been divided into 22 postal
circles, each circle headed by a chief Postmaster General. Each circle is
divided into regions, headed by a Postmaster General and comprising field units
known as divisions (headed by SSPOs and SPOs). These divisions are further
divided into sub divisions, headed by ASPs and IPOs. Other functional units
(such as circle stamp depots, postal store depots and mail motor service) may
exist in the circles and regions. In addition to the 22 circles, there is a base circle to provide
postal services to the Armed Forces of India. The base circle is headed by a
Director General, Army Postal Service (with a rank of Major General).
The highest Post Office in the world is Hikkim,
Himachal Pradesh, India at a height of 15,500 ft (4700m) (postal
code-172114).
The first adhesive postage stamp in Asia were issued in the Indian
district of Scinde in July 1852 by Bartle Frere chief Commissioner of the
region. Frere was an admirer of Rowland Hill, the English postal reformer who
had introduced the Penny Post. The Scinde stamps became known as “Scinde Dawks”, ‘Dawk’ is the Anglicized spelling of
the Hindustani word Dak or (‘post’). These stamps with a value of ½ anna, were
in use until june 1866. The first all India stamps were issued on 01 October
1854.
By - Warrant Officer, Rakesh Swarnkar, Army Postal Service Corps
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