All Women Post Office Launched In Patna

There is an all women post office in Patna now, empowering women with a ‘Mahila Dak Ghar’, on the premises of the Bihar Public Service Commission. Ranjeeta Kumar who leads the operations was elated at the opening of this branch. "Govt of has taken several bold steps towards empowerment of women. This all women #PostOffice in #Patna is a shining example of that", said Ravi Shankar Prasad, India's minister for Information Technology.

In India the postal department is a big employer for women. At present, the postal circle in India has altogether 1,81,477 employees, of which 33488 are women. The minister promised to open at least one all women post office in all postal divisions of the country.

Women Ahead: All Women Post Office Launched In Patna

This Mahila Dak Ghar will offer both traditional and modern services. Post offices in India are used not just to post or speed post items and letters or documents but it's a centre for paying bills, registering fixed deposits under the postal schemes and for money transfers. For many smaller towns and districts, these are centres of vital importance even in a digitally driven world.

Also Read:

• Women's Football: Time to Raise Questions
• Lily Singh puts name Superwoman to rest, here's why

This is the second all women post office in India. In 2013, the then Union Minister of Communications & IT Kapil Sibal inaugurated India’s First All Women Employees Post Office at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. All the counters of this Post Office are staffed by Women employees.

As on 31st March, 2018, the postal department of India had 32514 women employees employees.

In India, women working with postal services receive the following benefits:

(i) Grant-in-aid is admissible to Central Postal Ladies organization (CPLO) and its subordinate organization upto 60,000 for starting a crèche. They also get a nonrecurring financial support of 20,000 rupees at the end of every 3 years after the establishment of a crèche and recurring grant at Rs 1500- per child per month. This is subject to a maximum grant of  38000 rupees per month for each crèche provided from the Circle Welfare Fund. The recurring grant is increased every financial year by 10% rounded off to the nearest tenth.

(ii) Maternity grant equivalent to three months with DA is admissible to women Gramin Dak Sewaks (GDS) for giving birth up to two children only, as these women are not covered under maternity benefits for departmental employees.