We are all familiar with the importance of the postal system. It is because of this that we are able to receive letters written by our friends and relatives from England or America in six to seven days. Similarly it takes only 2-3 days for the letters to reach us from cities like Bombay, Calcutta, etc. All this is the marvel of the postal system. Mail-vans, trains and aeroplanes carry letters and messages. Millions of people are engaged in carrying postal articles including letters, packets, and parcels from one place to another.
One hears stories of ancient times about messages being carried by birds and domestic animals even to far off places. Kings had royal messengers of their own who carried messages on horse back, stage coach or whatever means could be available. However, it was not possible for the common citizen to send messages. Some sort of a postal system was needed for the common man. It is said that postal system in some form or the other was present in ancient Egypt, China, and Persia. It is said that the Roman Empire had the ‘cursus publicus’; the most highly developed postal system of the ancient world.
Around 1500 England had a post office and by 1700 England had a GPO with a Postmaster General as its head. By 1839 govt. took over the system. By 1830 there were thousands of post offices in USA. The first dispatch of mail took place between Manchester and Liverpool. In general, either the sender or the receiver paid money for the letters, the amount depending on the weight and the distance. However, the idea of postal stamps was of Sir Rowland Hill of England who introduced the postal stamp which was to be stuck on the letter by the sender. He introduced the uniform ‘penny post’ for the first time in 1840. This rate was a uniform rate irrespective of the distance. It was a big step forward as it was within the common man’s reach. This postal system of British spread far and wide all over the world.
Other countries of the world followed the English system and thus the postal system was established throughout the world. America has a postal system of about 7.5 lac of employees and about 1,00,000 million letters are handled by the system every year. The Air Mail service was started on the 10th of February 1911 between Hendon and Windsor in England.
The postal system of India is considered better than that of America as far as facilities are concerned. The earliest efficient postal system in India was in the 14th century which came to its height during the 16th century under the great Mughal emperor Akbar. This was a courier system. In 1837 the Imperial Post was established for an efficient postal communication. In 1854 the present Indian Postal system was established and a uniform postage rate was introduced, a step of great significance in so vast a country. In 1876 India became a member of the Universal Postal Union. A regular travelling post office service was introduced in 1870 and the railway mail service still continues to carry mail despite the development of our postal service.
More traditional forms of transport the foot runner, horse, mule, camel, bullock cart and bicycle still help distribute mail to many villages of our country through daily as well as weekly deliveries.
