(a) whether the Government proposes to engage rural unemployed youths in providing postal facilities in villages;
(b) if so, the details of the scheme prepared in this regard;
(c) the details of the schemes implemented by the Government to counter the private courier services particularly in rural areas; and
(d) the extent to which these schemes are effective to counter the private courier services?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) & (b) No, Sir. There is no such proposal.
(c) & (d) The Department provides economical postal services through daily delivery of mail and collection of letters in every part of the country, including rural, hilly, tribal, and desert areas whereas private courier services operate primarily within or between urban agglomerations. Postal Services are available through an unparalleled network of 1,39,120 rural post offices, out of the total network of 1,55,516 post offices (as on 31.03.2005) in the country. The Department has an elaborate system in place for collection and delivery of mail. The system is regularly monitored, reviewed and rationalized to ensure provision of efficient services. Products like Speed Post, Express Parcel Post, Logistic Post, e-Post and Bill Mail that are being offered by the Department are showing steady growth. Speed Post is operated through 163 National Speed Post Centres and 951 State Speed Post Centres. Speed Post is a guaranteed, time bound, premium service, and has a traffic growth of 2
3% per annum. e-Post provides a bridge to those customers who do not have easy access to computers and internet by utilizing the last mile reach of the post office. This is of special value in the rural areas.