NEW DELHI, MAY 3:
The Postal Department today set a new paradigm for provision of social security to its legions of rural employees by launching the Service Discharge Benefit Scheme for Gramin Dak Sevakas (GDSs).
This scheme would entitle families of GDS, who die in harness during service, to receive Rs 50,000.
Talking to Business Line here informally after the launch, the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, Mr Sachin Pilot, said the scheme would benefit nearly 2.7 lakh GDSs across the country who remain “critical in enabling the Postal Department to complete its obligations in rural and remote areas”.
He described the GDSs as “important national assets because of their ability to deliver services to the last mile”.
Stating that the network of branch post offices has soared from around 18,000 at the time of independence to 1.3 lakh now and emerged as the only Government service available in far-flung areas, Mr Pilot said these post offices must be “leveraged to provide important social security and other G2C (government to citizens) services to citizens, especially given the high trust value attached with the Postal Network”, he noted.
Mr Pilot also said the scheme would provide life-long monthly annuity to the GDSs which would make them more motivated to serve the rural people.
He said under the scheme multiple benefits such as “time-related continuity allowance”, “maternity grant to women GDS” and similar rate dearness allowance as regular employees to GDS would be extended. He said the cover for the Group Insurance Scheme, provided to families of GDSs who die in service, has also been hiked from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000.
Emphasizing the importance of the ability of the Postal Department to provide services in rural and remote areas which would now get reinforced by the incentives to its employees, he said the department alone has the reach and ramifications to provide essential services including banking and insurance products.
He said “the rural poor are the ones who need insurance the most and the Rural Postal Life Insurance has the potential to meet that need”.
He said the GDSs could play a crucial role here, much as they have done in the case of the wage disbursal scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Guarantee Employment Scheme (MGRGES).
He commended the role of GDSs in enabling disbursal of more than Rs 7,850 crore to the beneficiaries.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
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