There is nothing lovely about one hundred thousand even as a number. When an organisation becomes so large as to have one lakh of branches, it is surely a matter of special gratification. The hundred thousandth post office is being opened today at Brahmpur Chaurasta in Bihar. The Indian Post Office has reached a unique milestone and to commemorate the occasion, a special postage stamp is being issued. 2. Starting from just 701 offices in 1854 when the postal system as we know it came into existence, the number reached 22,000 at the time of Independence in 1947.

Since then the progress has been phenomenal and the number of offices has gone up nearly five-fold. Behind this impressive total is the story of tens of thousands of postal workers many of whom trudge along lonely footpaths to take written messages to the farthest corners of the country. For 91% of all post offices serve rural areas. The countryside has been opened up for commerce and communication by roads, by the radio, by newspapers and most of all by the post office.

The postman is welcomed everywhere, but is eagerly looked forward to in the remoter areas to which he is perhaps the only harbinger of news from outside. 3. The Indian postal network is one of the largest in the world. It provides employment for more than four lakhs of people. It carries over 600 crores of postal articles every year. Daily delivery of mail is effected in about half of India's 6 lakh villages. All but 5100 of the rest are served at least once a week. Nearly 10 crores of money orders are paid in a year and for many of the clients ths is the only mode of remittance available.

About half of all post offices are also savings banks which between them are responsible for a total net balance of over Rs. 1500 crores. It is not only widely known that the department is by far the largest banking institution in the country. 4. Considering the vastness of the country and the relative backgrounds of its communications, our postal system is on of the best of its kind. In performance it is comparable with the postal system of the most developed countries. For the boldness of its conception and the extent of its scope, the All-Up airmail scheme is almost without parallel. According to the scheme, all first-class mails are carried by air wherever it would speed them up to do so.

This has helped to knit the far-flung parts of India closer together. 5. Admitedly, there are still many things to be done such as providing better office buildings, mechanizing the services wherever advantageous and further to hasten the movement of mails. The quantitative growth crowded into the last two decades has to be matched by a process of consolidation with a view to maintaining efficiency at a high level. Nevertheless, today's event is indeed a historic landmark worthly of being celebrated.

The hundred thousand post offices constitute an all-pervasive feature of our national life of which the country can be legitimately proud.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India