Department of Posts conferred Meghdoot Award Function 2020 on December 15, 2020, to Postal Employees for their achievements in 2019-20. The Meghdoot award is given every year for excellence in postal service under following categories:

    1. General category for Grameen Dak Sevak

    2. General category for all employees at different levels

    3. Technology excellence

    4. Best Woman employee

MoU with CSC e-Governance

    • In a major step towards providing the citizen centric services, a memorandum of Understanding was signed by Department of Posts with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited.

    • This will give a flip to setting a common service centres in more than 10000 Post Offices across the country for providing various G2C (Government to Citizen) and B2C (Business to Citizens) services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country.

    • To ensure Government's mandate of a socially, financially and digitally inclusive society.

    • Through this agreement, Department of Posts intends to provide a one-stop solution for all e-Governance services on assisted model through its "Common Service Centres(PO-CSCs)" in Post Offices. 

    • These "PO-CSCs" will also contribute to ease of living and ease of business to the nearby digitally deprived rural and semi-urban population by leveraging the strengths of its network, digitally skilled manpower in synergy with digital services of CSC e-Governance Services India Limited.

    • The B2C (Business to Citizens) Services offered includes Bharat Bill Payment System Bills (Electric, Gas, Water bills etc.).

    • The services offered also included Third Party Services such as EMI (Equal Monthly Instalment) collections for various loans offered by financial institutions and submission of online application forms for loans. 

    • Travel services such as Ticket booking service would be available for Flight, Train and Bus Tickets.

DakPay

    • Department of Posts (DoP) and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) unveiled a new digital payment app ‘DakPay’. 

    • The App is launched as part of its ongoing efforts to provide Digital Financial inclusion at the last mile across India.

    • DakPay is a suite of digital financial and assisted banking services provided by India Post & IPPB through the trusted Postal (‘Dak’) network across the nation.

    • It is to cater to the financial needs (‘Pay’) of various sections of the society – be it sending money to the loved ones (Domestic Money Transfers – DMT), making payment for services/merchants digitally (Virtual debit card) & UPI, enabling cashless ecosystem through biometrics, providing interoperable banking services to the customers of ANY BANK (AePS) and Utility Bill Payment services.

    • DakPay UPI app allows users to create UPI ID and link multiple accounts across banks in a single mobile app.

    • The app facilitates instant money transfers, QR based payments in merchant stores and online shopping on e-commerce websites.

    • DakPay logo was also launched by India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) on 15th Dec.

    • Department of Posts also launched an eBook named “India Post meets Covid-19 Challenge” encapsulating the challenges faced and the solutions offered by India Post in the delivery of essential services to the remotest corner of the country during the ongoing pandemic in the country.

About India Post Payments Bank

    • India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by Government of India.

    • IPPB was launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on September 1, 2018.

    • The bank has been set up with the vision to build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man in India.

    • The fundamental mandate of India Post Payments Bank is to remove barriers for the unbanked & underbanked and reach the last mile leveraging the Postal network comprising 155,000 Post Offices (135,000 in rural areas) and 300,000 Postal employees.

    • IPPB’s reach and its operating model is built on the key pillars of India Stack – enabling Paperless, Cashless and Presence-less banking in a simple and secure manner at the customers’ doorstep, through a CBS-integrated smartphone and biometric device.

    • Leveraging frugal innovation and with a high focus on ease of banking for the masses, IPPB delivers simple and affordable banking solutions through intuitive interfaces available in 13 languages.

    • IPPB is committed to provide a fillip to a less cash economy and contribute to the vision of Digital India with the motto – Every customer is important, every transaction is significant and every deposit is valuable.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)