(a) whether the Government proposes to expand postal services to improve its services in the rural areas;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the details of the works carried out by the Government for the welfare of Gramin Dak Sevaks; and
(c) the amount of funds released by the Government to improve postal services in the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh during the last three years?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS, EDUCATION AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)
(a) Yes Sir, the Government has expanded postal services to improve its services in rural areas.
(b) In addition to the current National Saving Schemes, the Government has extended additional five National Saving Schemes such as Monthly Income Scheme, Senior Citizen Savings Schemes, Kisan Vikas Patra, National Savings Certificate, Public Provident Fund from 1,31,312 Branch Post Offices of the country from 23.07.2020 onwards. The services of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) including Door Step Banking and Aadhaar Enabled Payment from 1.1 Lakhs rural post offices have been made available. Aadhaar Updation &Enrolment services have also been made available from Departmental Post Offices of rural areas. In addition, Business to Citizen (B2C) services such as utility bill payments, insurance premium collections, mobile top up recharges, Government to Citizen (G2C) services such as Permanent Account Number (PAN) card, Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, National Pension Scheme etc have been made available from selected Departmental Post Offices of rural areas.
There are various welfare measures for Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDSs) such as Children Education Facilitation allowances @ Rs. 6000/- per annum, Emergency leave for a maximum of 5 days in a calendar year, 180 days Maternity leave for women GDS, Limited Transfer facility (one time for male GDSs and two for female GDSs) and Compassionate Appointments for the dependent of deceased GDS. In addition, there are various financial assistances extended by the Government under the Scheme “Circle Welfare Funds for Gramin Dak Sevaks”. The details of assistances are at Annexure-I.
(c) An amount of Rs. 75.3 crores have been released by the Government to improve the postal services in the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh during the last three years.