Sunday, August 10, 2025
Registered Post
Link :- https://epaper.thestatesman.com/m5/4043542/Delhi-The-Statesman/11-08-2025#page/6/1
Registered Post
-Bruhaspati Samal-
Long before instant messages buzzed on mobile phones and emails zipped across the world in seconds, a simple envelope with a red and blue striped seal carried dreams, fears, and truths across the length and breadth of India. It was called a Registered Post. It walked into people’s lives not just as a service, but as a solemn pledge of accountability. A father's job offer, a daughter's mark sheet, a property title from a distant town, a court notice demanding justice—all travelled through this humble medium. People waited anxiously at their gates, sometimes for days, trusting the postman to deliver not just paper, but fate itself. For millions across India, the sight of a Registered Post envelope evoked a quiet reassurance—a letter carrying hope, a summons, a promise, or a memory, a treasured companion through changing times, especially in rural and small-town India, where its reliability was woven into the fabric of life.
Now, in a decision that has stirred both operational optimism and public sorrow, the Department of Posts has announced the merger of Registered Post into Speed Post, effective 1 September 2025, as per the circular dated 2 July 2025. While the stated aim is to streamline services, reduce redundancy, and improve tracking through a unified mail framework, the emotional disconnect this shift brings to millions of citizens cannot be ignored. Registered Post, governed by rules that ensured delivery only to the addressee or their authorized representative, was widely seen as the most secure channel for legal and government communications. In contrast, Speed Post—although faster and well-tracked—is traditionally designed for time-sensitive rather than identity-sensitive deliveries, and can be handed over to anyone at the recipient’s premises. This technical distinction carries profound implications. It raises a question among common citizens—will faster always mean safer?
Furthermore, affordability is another issue that has led to public anxiety. At present, the base rate (up to minimum 20 grams) for Registered Post is approximately ₹25.96 rounded to Rs. 26/- including GST, with an optional ₹10/- for Acknowledgement Due (AD) or Proof of Delivery (POD). In comparison, Speed Post rates (up to minimum 50 grams) start from ₹41/- Including GST with an optional ₹10/- for POD. For bulk senders such as litigants, pensioners, institutions, and the economically weaker sections, this increase is significant and worrisome. Many have rightly argued that postal services were envisioned not as a profit-making business, but as a public utility ensuring inclusive communication.
However, from a departmental point of view, the writing on the wall has been clear. Usage of Registered Post has been on a steady decline. According to the latest available statistics, Registered Post volumes have dropped below 175 million articles annually, contributing around ₹500 crore in revenue, whereas Speed Post now processes over 425 million articles, fetching more than ₹1,700 crore in revenue. As per India Post’s Annual Report 2024-25, while the volume of Speed Post letters has increased from 52.42 crores in 2022-23 to 69.97 crores in 2023-24, the volume of Regd. letters has decreased from 18.72 crores in 2022-23 to 17.18 crores in 2023-24. Similarly, while the volume of Speed Post parcels has increased from 1,56,21,646 in 2022-23 to 2,51,74,368 crores in 2023-24, the volume of Regd. parcels has decreased from 3,33,79,655 in 2022-23 to 3,02,42,034 in 2023-24. In an era where digital platforms and private couriers are rapidly capturing the communication space, India Post needs to optimize its resources to remain competitive and relevant.
With 1,49,164 rural and 15,833 urban post offices spreading over the country, India Post, with its massive network of 1,64,987 post offices (as on 31.03.2024) is treated as the largest postal network in the world and remains the lifeline of rural India. Leaving aside only 25,096 Departmental Post Offices, it still touches corners of the country with 1,39,891 branch post offices where even mobile signals don’t reach, This institution, whose roots trace back to 1727, has weathered colonial rule, independence, technological revolutions, and now, digital disruption. The recently enacted Post Office Act of 2023, which came into force on 18 June 2024, repealed the colonial-era Act of 1898, signaling the government’s resolve to modernize the system. However, critics argue that the spirit of modernization should never come at the cost of equity and accessibility.
Citizens recall how, over centuries, the Registered Post became the guardian of trust between the State and its people. A new pensioner receiving a PPO (Pension Payment Order), a tribal woman awaiting a land patta, or a litigant awaiting a bail order—all depended on the sanctity and specificity of this service. Their concern today is not with technology or change, but with a potential erosion of that personal guarantee. As we prepare to transition into a new operational paradigm under Speed Post, it is imperative that India Post doesn’t sever its emotional contract with the people. The merger must not just be about merging systems, but about merging values—speed with sanctity, convenience with credibility. The government must ensure that identity-specific delivery options and affordable rates remain intact as built-in features under the new structure, especially for legal, institutional, and rural users.
In the end, the envelope may change, but the message remains: India still needs a postal service that delivers with dignity. The future must carry forward not just faster mails, but the unshakable trust people once sealed with a small red sticker—Registered.
(The writer is a Service Union Representative, former All India Organising General Secretary, National Federation of Postal Employees, P-III, CHQ, New Delhi and a Columnist)
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