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As per the new guidelines, for the purpose of calculation of indirect foreign investment in an Indian entity, a sum total of FDI, stake from non-resident Indians, American and Global Depository Receipts, Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and Convertible Preference Shares will be taken into account.
With these changes, several private sector banks may find themselves transforming their status from being 'resident entities' to the non-resident entities.
The RBI, as also the Finance Ministry, has raised issues concerning these far-reaching changes which will throw several banks into a different regime of governance in terms of policy clearances, an official said.
As these concerns are yet to be addressed, the RBI has not notified the FDI guidelines amended in February. "The RBI has yet to notify the new guidelines... but we are hopeful they will notify" an official in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said.
The North Block was concerned on the new FDI rules prompting several domestic firms to rework their ownership structure for attracting FDI in areas like retail through backdoor.
DIPP, the nodal point for FDI guidelines, is examining the issues raised by the Finance Ministry.
According to the new guidelines, if an Indian company with foreign equity of less than 50 per cent invests in an another firm, it would not be considered as FDI.
While, the DIPP in a further clarification stated that the sectoral cap would apply even to downstream investments, several domestic firms seem to be ignoring this advice.
Two other officials involved in the disinvestment process, whom ET spoke to, said investor appetite for public sector companies will be strong once the market stabilises. “We think the Sensex is already at a comfortable level. It has recovered from about 8,000 in March to 11,000 now. It will improve after the formation of the new government,” said a senior DoD official.
The government had put its disinvestment plans on the backburner in the second half of last fiscal as investor appetite was low and promoters could not afford to sell equity cheap.
Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises chairman Nitish Sengupta pointed out that besides helping the government tide over fiscal deficit, it will also improve the governance of these enterprises.
Proceeds from disinvestment now flow into the National Investment Fund. As much as 75% of the earnings from such investments are channelised into social sector schemes.
A large corpus would also shore up earnings from its deployment. This, in turn, would lower the government’s direct expenditure on such schemes and thereby bring down its deficit to an extent.
The government has budgeted for a gross market borrowing of Rs 3,62,000 crore in the current fiscal year, higher than the revised Rs 3,06,000 crore borrowing in the previous fiscal, and any upward revision in the borrowing targets is expected to crowd out private investments.
"The current bad situation in our country is not because of the global recession. The UPA government is covering up its mismanagement under the garb of recession. From 1986 to 1991, the average fiscal deficit of the country was 7.7% of the GDP. This year, after successive budgets presented by the Congress-led union government, the deficit has risen to 11%," Shourie said at a press meet.
He added that the consequences of this economic mismanagement would be felt next year.
"If the government takes money from the market to cover its losses then there is no liquidity and growth is chocked."
Taking a dig at the UPA government, Shourie said that the development, which political parties were promising to bring for the people, had already been done in Gujarat. "The UPA is talking about broadband connectivity in villages but in Gujarat, each village already has broadband."
Shourie, who held the posts of minister for communications and IT, disinvestment and commerce in the NDA regime, added, "No government has been as corrupt as this UPA government. The progress that was being made in areas like telecom, building of national highways, economic and fiscal reforms has all been stalled."
He refuted statement by union home minister P Chidambaram that the NDA had started the disinvestment process in PSUs while the UPA had turned them into profit-making units. "The disinvestment process was started during Manmohan Singh's time. The government used to sell minority shares to make up the deficit. Chidambaram himself favoured divestment but as he could not go ahead with it, he is now making it a virtue. The PSUs revived due to market conditions and not due to the government's intervention," he said.
Shourie, who has written extensively on political and economic issues, also criticised the government for its failure on security and foreign policy fronts. He said the situation in India's neighbourhood was alarming but the government had failed to act decisively. Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were all facing political instability that would be dangerous for India but the government was a mute spectator.
The internal security situation was no better, he asserted. "According to the government's own report, 170 of 610 districts in the country are affected by Naxalism. The red corridor threatened by the Naxals from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh has become a reality. But the government has stopped the police modernisation programme and restarted the participatory notes through which money was finding its way into the economy and used for financing terrorist cells."
27 Apr 2009, 1300 hrs IST, REUTERS
The special repo facility was introduced on Oct. 14, offering Rs 20,000 crore to meet liquidity needs of mutual funds.
The central bank later increased the facility to Rs 60,000 crore to include liquidity needs of non-banking financial companies and housing finance companies and has said it would be held every day till Sept. 30, 2009.
At its policy review on April 21, the central bank said the auction will be conducted every Monday till March 2010.
But New Delhi would prefer to make the contribution by buying securities that the IMF could issue, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who represented India at the G 20 meeting, told reporters Sunday.
"Our concern here is that this contribution should take the form of investment in IMF securities by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)," he said, as a direct contribution from the government becomes part of fiscal deficit.
The IMF, Ahluwalia suggested, should issue securities which can become eligible for the countries to invest their reserves in so that no fiscal position is affected. A redployment of funds also does not require any government permission.
The RBI, for instance, will shift some of its money currently held US treasury bills or other US government bonds to proposed IMF securities, which are obviously backed by the same government, he said. But the modalities are still being worked out.
In India's view resources being given to IMF should be viewed as an interim measure through its New Arrangements to Borrow, or NAB, Ahluwalia said adding, "In the longer term the way to fund the IMF is to increase the quota."
When they increase the quota the share of the developing countries should reflect their economic importance, he said. "Clearly our view is that India' s share should be increased."
"Our view is that our importance in world economy is more than two percent," Ahluwalia said. The IMF uses a complex formula for determining quotas, but if Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is used as a measure, India's quota will be four percent.
But since a quota review will happen only in January 2011, "for the present, we are willing to contribute in proportion to our existing quota" of two percent making for a contribution of $10 billion in an NAB of $500 billion agreed to at the G-20 summit.
Asked why was India not willing to invest more, he said: "Frankly quota reflects the amount of weight and vote. I don't see why we should contribute more than our vote share."
"If they increase our quota, we would be willing to contribute more in proportion. Otherwise this becomes a funding leaving the quota unchanged. We are not in favour of that."
| RBI, government divided on FDI relaxation in press notes |
| Arun Kumar & Rituparna Bhuyan / New Delhi April 27, 2009, 0:12 IST |
The alignments appear to be RBI and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), which comes under the finance ministry, against the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the commerce ministry, the nodal agency for FDI-related matters, to clarify several issues.
On March 20, RBI had asked the DEA to review the new guidelines on FDI issued under press notes 2, 3 and 4 in February 2009, saying they would lead de facto to full capital account convertibility.
The new norms need to be notified under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) by RBI to give it legal sanctity.
Significantly, the DEA also raised objections to the new FDI norms after receiving RBI's letter and has asked the DIPP to clarify several issues. (DEA was, however, involved in the process of formulating the new press notes.)
According to government officials close to the developments, DIPP feels a comprehensive review of the new norms is not possible. The department, however, is open to releasing clarifications, which could take the form of “minor tweaking and not complete reversal of the new norms”.
Capital account convertibility means that an investor is allowed to move freely from the local currency to a foreign currency. India has limited capital account convertibility to prevent shocks to the capital account and maintain a stable exchange rate, by stipulating sectoral norms that ensure a lock-in period for investments.
The press notes simplify the method for calculating FDI and broadly state that as long as Indian promoters hold a majority stake (more than 51 per cent) in any operating-cum-investing company, it can bring investment up to 49.9 per cent through FDI. This company would be treated as an Indian company and it can invest through a joint venture in any other company that may be engaged in industries in which FDI has a sectoral limit. Several companies like retailer Pantaloon and media house UTV have restructured their organisations to raise FDI in their businesses through step-down joint ventures — FDI is prohibited in multi-brand retail and is restricted to 26 per cent for media
Questioning the proposed definition of Indian ownership and control, given in Press Note 2, RBI stated that ownership and control by a company may not be related to formal equity holding and the right to appoint a majority of directors on the board of the company in which the investments are being made.
“Control may be maintained through other forms such as funding through preference shares or loans, vesting of executive authority or super minority provisions (like right of first refusal or veto power) in minority shareholders through shareholder agreements,” argued the central bank in its letter. “Therefore, there is a need to fine-tune the definition of control rather than relying on the power to appoint majority directors,” the letter added.
Echoing RBI’s views, the DEA has also stated that an investing company with 49 per cent FDI can go ahead and invest in any FDI-prohibited sectors or exceed the sectoral limits in those industries that have them, sources said.
“In one sweep, therefore, any sectoral cap of 49 per cent and below has become meaningless in so far as downstream investment by a company with foreign investment below 50 per cent and qualifying as an Indian owned and controlled company,” the DEA argued in a letter, sources said.
“Such a company can apply for cable TV operations (49 per cent cap), FM broadcasting license (20 per cent cap), licensed defence items manufacture (26 per cent cap), printing news papers (26 per cent cap) up linking TV news channels (26 per cent cap) etc. Whether this stance has been approved as such or is an unintended liberalisation is not clear,” the DEA letter said..
The central bank expressed a similar view. “Not only will this lead to the formation of Indian companies that are primarily shell companies whose sole intention would be the downstream investment in sectors with FDI restrictions, but it would also lead to the near total circumvention of the extent FDI policy making it ineffective,” RBI said in the letter to the DEA.
Also read:
March 28: Walt Disney stake hike proposal in UTVi tests new FDI guidelines
April 20: Pantaloon restructuring tests new FDI rules
ON
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
IN
INDIA
- Policy and Procedures
MAY- 2003
DISINVESTMENT IN INDIA’S PUBLIC SECTOR
S. Sethuraman*
Disinvestment of a percentage of shares owned by the Government in public undertakings emerged as a policy option in the wake of economic liberalisation and structural reforms launched in 1991. Initially, it was not conceived as privatisation of existing undertakings but as limited sales of equity with the objective of raising some resources to reduce budgetary gaps and providing market discipline to the performance of public enterprises in general.
A comprehensive policy on public sector was set out in the Industrial Policy Statement of July 24, 1991 - the year when the country had to tide over an unprecedented economic crisis reflected in its internal and external finances. The steps adumbrated included a review of public sector investments to focus on strategic and essential infrastructure enterprises and new procedures to tackle chronically sick and loss-making units.
The ambit of disinvestment was gradually widened in the latter half of 1990s by the subsequent coalition governments to make a clear distinction between strategic and non-strategic enterprises so as to bring down Government share holding to 26 per cent in non-core undertakings through gradual disinvestment or strategic sale while retaining majority holding (51 per cent) in strategic undertakings.
A Disinvestment Commission was set up in 1996 to carefully examine withdrawal of public sector from non-core, non-strategic areas with assurance to workers of job security or of opportunities for retraining and re-employment. The Commission, in its three-year term, gave its recommendations on 58 enterprises referred to it and proposed, instead of public offerings as in the past, strategic trade sales involving change in ownership/ management for 29 and 8 undertakings respectively. In other cases, there was to be offer of shares or closure and deferment of disinvestment.
By strategic sale, privatisation was envisaged though confined to non-strategic areas. The classification was redefined by Government in 1999 to include only defence-related, atomic energy undertakings and railway transport among strategic enterprises and treat all other undertakings as non-strategic. This major decision of the Government also stipulated that reduction of its stake going down to less than 51 per cent or to 26 per cent would not be automatic but would be governed by consideration as to whether continued presence of the public sector in an enterprise was required to prevent concentration of power in private hands. A Department of Disinvestment was established early in 2000 to give an impetus to the programme of disinvestment and privatisation.
In a policy statement while presenting the Union Budget for 2000-01 last year, the Finance Minister, Shri Yashwant Sinha, said the main elements were restructuring and reviving potentially viable PSUs; Closing down PSUs which cannot be revived ; bringing down Government equity in all non-strategic PSUs to 26 per cent or lower, if necessary; and fully protecting the interests of workers. Over the last three years, the Finance Minister had listed in his budget speeches some major public undertakings for sizeable disinvestment or restructuring in the oil, telecom and aviation sectors. These are yet to take off. The utilisation of receipts from disinvestment/privatisation was to be for meeting expenditure in social sectors, restructuring of PSUs or retiring public debt.
Balance-Sheet of the Decade (1991-2000)
Disinvestment was conceived in the context not only of the acute financial stringency of the Government of India, which had to continually provide budgetary support to loss-making units, but also of the failure of public sector as a whole to provide a reasonable rate of return on the total investments in 240 undertakings.
At the end of March 2000, the investments totalled Rs. 2,52,554 crore. Of this the Central Government’s share, through equity and loans was Rs. 1,11,058 crore. The profit-making enterprises averaged between 125 to 130 over the years while over 100 undertakings were loss-making, chronic in a large number of cases.
The progress of disinvestment in India has been very slow, considering the strides in privatisation that developing countries in the East and South East Asia, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe have made by transfer of productive assets to private investors, especially in infrastructure (power, telecommunications, oil and minerals) and financial services.
According to the World Bank (Global Development Finance) 2000, earnings from privatisation in all developing countries totalled 272 billion dollars in the 1990s till 1998. Of this India’s share was seven billion dollars. Except for three years (1991-92, 1994-95 and 1998-99), the budget targets for disinvestment were not met. Between 1991-92 and 1999-2000, the total realisation was Rs. 18,368 crore against the targeted Rs. 44,300 crore.
The Government had divested a part of Central PSUs ranging from about 2 per cent to 49 per cent in forty undertakings till March 1999. The largest chunk of over 40 per cent of government equity had been disinvested in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Videsh Sanchar Nigam, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation and Hindustan Organic Chemicals.
The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council in a report on Economic Reforms early this year suggested that where PSUs cannot function as commercial organisations, able to compete with other private sector units and with imports, they should be sold to the public or financial institutions or to a strategic private investor. The resources realised from the sale of equity could be more profitably deployed in building essential infrastructure or in retiring public debt, it said.
The Economic Survey of the Union Government (2000-01) has also emphasised the need to "get the Government out of the business of production and enhance its presence and performance in the provision of public goods" )basic infrastructure, education, health etc). Funds from privatisation would also help to reduce public debt and bring down the debt-GDP ratio while competitive public enterprises would be enabled to function effectively.
Beginning in the 1950s, with basic industries like steel, the public sector helped build strong economic foundations and a diversified industrial base. In the first four decades of Independence, there was rapid expansion of public sector into almost every area of economic activity and became in time a heterogeneous conglomerate of both basic and consumer goods production units and service enterprises including trading and marketing services. Many of them would have rendered a better account of themselves had they been invested with maximum autonomy, freed from bureaucratic controls, and made accountable. Their net profit to turnover has been pitifully low in spite of the outstanding performance of a select group of undertakings, such as the oil majors.
Although the Government has over the years de-reserved some of the areas reserved exclusively for the public sector, investments in public enterprises had not declined. There was nearly 150 per cent increase in investments in the 1990s. The Government has also had to bear the losses of several enterprises by providing support to them to sustain themselves. Between 1998 and 2000, financial restructuring support to enterprises like the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) and other potentially viable units amounted to more than Rs. 13,000 crore.
The Budget for 2001-02 has assumed disinvestment receipts at Rs. 12,000 crore although the Government could not realise the target of Rs. 10,000 crore in each of the two earlier years. The Finance Minister, Shri Yashwant Sinha reiterated that Government is determined to go ahead with large-scale privatisation and achieve the target in the new fiscal year Rs.7000 crore of the targeted receipts would be for restructuring assistance to PSUs, safety net to workers and debt reduction while Rs. 5000 crore would be additional budgetary support for the plan provision, mainly in social and infrastructure sectors. Shri Sinha is hopeful that the gamble this time would pay off.
* Senior Freelance Journalist
http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2001/fmar2001/f150320012.html
Policy on Foreign Direct Investment Procedure under automatic route Procedure under Government Approval Prohibited Sectors General permission of RBI under FEMA Industrial Licensing Procedure for obtaining an industrial license Small Scale Sector Locational restrictions Environmental Clearances Other approvals/clearances at State level
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In Search Of Strategy
Posted: 2002-12-09 00:00:00+05:30 IST
Updated: Dec 09, 2002 at 0000 hrs IST
: Investors at home and abroad will eagerly anticipate Union disinvestment minister Arun Shourie’s promised statement in Parliament on the government’s revised strategy on disinvestment. It is not clear how exactly this three month debate went within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Sangh Parivar, but it seems like the government is trying to pass off a compromise as a strategy. If the final statement is a mish-mash and a halfway house on disinvestment in the petroleum sector alone, doubts will remain on the government’s overall policy with respect to public sector undertakings (PSUs). The BJP had a formulation in its 1998 manifesto, but the 1999 NDA Agenda is less precise on the subject. It merely states “We will also expedite comprehensive reform of the PSUs, including restructuring, rehabilitation and divestment.” This vague sentence requires fleshing out to avoid future controversy. The Union finance ministry’s Mid-year Review of the Economy (MYRE) categorically states that disinvestment should not be viewed purely from the revenue perspective. This is an important clarification coming from a ministry that has been suspected of eyeing this turf. The MYRE correctly seeks an “unlocking” of the productive potential of public investment. For both reasons, the finance ministry should not take on the burden of handling disinvestment. Outright privatisation rather than piecemeal disinvestment is the best way to ‘unlock’ the potential of most PSUs. Dr Shourie will hopefully clarify where exactly the government stands on this question and not confine his statement to the case of oil sector privatisation alone.
The government must also come forward with a clear policy on where it will allow foreign direct investment into the disinvestment/privatisation process and where it will not do this. There is as yet no clear thinking within the government on this question and this confusion has partly contributed to the policy paralysis in oil sector disinvestment. The Prime Minister and the Union council of ministers must also take a view on what role individual ministries have in taking policy decisions on disinvestment. It is not the administrative ministry in charge of a particular PSU that should decide overall policy on privatisation, since ministers are bound to veto proposals that will diminish their empires and curtail their patronage. The privatisation decision is a policy decision that the Prime Minister must shape in a cabinet form of government and the disinvestment ministry must execute. The insidious...
The Election Commission (EC) has refused to allow the finance ministry to pass a notification allowing the exemption while elections are on because it could result in direct benefits to a section of the electorate, a government official has said. It will be the new elected government which will bring out the notification,” the official said.
Until the elections are over, these units will have to pay the service tax and claim refunds, much to their disappointment as this process is lengthy and locks up cash.
Initially, SEZ units and developers had been allowed exemption on service tax on services availed within the boundaries of the zone, but were made to pay tax on services enjoyed outside the zone.
Following representations from the industry, the finance ministry decided to allow SEZs to claim refunds on services such as banking, courier and port-handling availed outside the zones.
The new notification, however, laid down that SEZ developers and units will get refunds for service taxes on services consumed both outside and inside the zones.
The commerce department, therefore, on behalf of SEZs, had asked the finance ministry to restore the exemption benefit which the zones had been enjoying on service tax availed within the zones.
“The finance ministry has agreed to the proposal. However, it has to wait now till the elections are over,” the official added.
Akshaya Tritiya, one of India's two biggest gold-buying festivals, is the pinnacle of sales in the first half of the year, and offers pointers to full-year demand.
"This year is more difficult than last year," said T.K. Chandiran, managing director of KTM Jewellery Ltd in Coimbatore, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. "Sales could be only about 60-70 percent of last year."
Demand has already been very weak in 2009, with imports at 2.7 tonnes for January to March, down 96 percent from a year earlier, data from Bombay Bullion Association (BBA) shows.
Akshaya Tritiya, when people believe buying gold will lead to prosperity, is more popular in south India where jewellers open shops early in the morning and carry on selling till the last of customer leaves.
"They have a religious belief so they are buying, but the quantity is less," said Jitendra Vummidi, partner with Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.
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A dealer in a large state-run trading company that imports gold and sells in the wholesale market said sales were down 20 percent this month from a year earlier, showing jewellers bought less to prepare items for sales on the festival day.
On Monday, India's gold price was at Rs 14,780 ($294) per 10 grams, up 1 percent from Saturday and 27 percent over the past year.
In global markets, gold jumped to its highest in almost four weeks as fears of a global flu pandemic prompted investors to seek safer assets.
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| Vol. XXXIII No. 16 April 26, 2009 |
People's Democracy
EDITORIAL
Perfidy, Thy Name Is BJP
THE BJP seems to be making a habit of issuing its “vision” in instalments. Maybe, this is their way of keeping in tune with the global economic recession when payments are being deferred or at best paid in instalments. Or, maybe, it is the lack of any clarity of vision that is making them take recourse to such steps. Or, yet again, maybe, this is a convenient methodology that can allow them to completely contradict themselves and renege from their earlier promises to the people.
Following their electronic “vision” to empower all Indians to be cyber savvy came the BJP's manifesto, which as the name suggests, should have detailed their proposals if they, by any chance, form the government, post elections. However, now has come their `vision' on infrastructure development with promises of more bombardments of such `visions' in the future. This is not merely the unfolding of the lack of clarity in instalments but more like a distress sale under recession: `buy one, take two free'.
Promising to adopt a hundred projects of national importance, this document has virtually nothing that has not been said earlier by everyone including the BJP. However, there are two aspects that merit a comment. The first is the brazen negation of their attitude to India's public sector when they were leading the government between 1998 and 2004. They had established a separate ministry for disinvestment and proceeded to try and decimate the public sector systematically. Recollect the scams involved in the sale of public sector units and properties during that period. Under pressure from the Left, the first decision that the UPA government took was to disband this ministry in 2004.
Look at what they say now in this `vision' document: “India's public sector, which has amassed tremendous experience in infrastructure project implementation over the decades, is our national pride (sic). The NDA government will strengthen the public sector, and enable it to make its fullest contribution to infrastructure expansion in India. At the same time, we will also fully encourage participation by India's private sector, which has grown enormously both in size and project implementation capability. The government will fully leverage the private sector's resources and capabilities by aggressively expanding the scope of Public-Private Partnership.” Indeed, as noted above, a very convenient methodology to renege from its past position! More importantly, this is a crass cynical attempt to woo the votes of a vast section of Indians that support and depend upon the public sector.
This brings us to the second aspect, that is, Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Both the Congress and the BJP continue to emphasise this concept. However, what has been our experience of the past. Take the instance of the PPP model adopted for airport modernisation. Because the private party is currently incurring losses due to their own miscalculations and decrease in the volumes of passenger traffic due to global recession, they have been permitted to levy a hefty user development fee per passenger at the airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad. It is the public that has to pay for the business miscalculations of the private parties. This is the logic of PPP. Note that the government-run airports, even if they are making losses, are not allowed to do so since these are public utilities. Clearly, this BJP 'vision' is one of imposing greater burdens on the people.
Such a methodology of double-speak was also evident when the BJP's prime ministerial hopeful L K Advani while releasing this document turned turtle on `BJP's stand on the India-US nuclear deal'. On November 28, 2007, the following were Advani's last words in the debate on the India-US nuclear deal in the Lok Sabha. “I shall conclude my remarks by saying that the 123 Agreement, as it stands, is unacceptable to the nation because it is deeply detrimental to India's vital and long-term interests. Let me say that hereafter if NDA gets a mandate, we will renegotiate this deal to see that all the adverse provisions in it are either deleted or this treaty is rejected completely.”
Now what does he say? “I take cognisance of the fact that the government is a continuing matter. Treaty signed by an earlier government cannot be easily disregarded”. Leave alone rejecting the treaty “completely”, there is no mention of even an effort to “renegotiate” the treaty. Likewise, the word `renegotiate' does not appear in the voluminous manifesto that the BJP had issued earlier.
Clearly, the BJP was misleading the nation on the India-US nuclear deal, in an effort to mask its real pro-US imperialist stand. After all, it was the BJP-led NDA government that initiated the process of developing a strategic alliance of India with US imperialism. It was they who further strengthened relations with Israel. The UPA government under Dr Manmohan Singh's leadership has ably carried forward this process of subservience to US imperialism. Advani is now promising that if ever the BJP comes to power, it shall carry forward this process further and make India a junior subordinate ally of US imperialism.
Such are the perfidious games that the BJP plays. What they say for public consumption is entirely different and, at times, the complete opposite of their real agenda and intentions. The most blatant expression of this is their so-called acceptance of the secular democratic foundations of the modern Indian Republic. Functioning as the political arm of the RSS, they want to convert this Republic into a rabidly intolerant fascistic “Hindu Rashtra”. It is for this precise reason that they must be prevented from holding the reins of State power. Indian people must, for the sake of a better India and a better future of its people, ensure that a non-Congress, non-BJP secular alternative forms the government post 2009 general elections.
(April 22, 2009http://pd.cpim.org/2009/0426_pd/04262009_1.htm
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Railway Mail Service
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States Postal Service's Railway Mail Service was a significant mail transportation service in the US during the time period from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th century. The RMS, or its successor the Postal Transportation Service (PTS), carried the vast majority of letters and packages mailed in the United States from the 1890s until the 1960s.
[edit] History
George B. Armstrong, manager of the Chicago Post Office, is generally credited with being the founder of the concept of en route mail sorting aboard trains which became the Railway Mail Service. Mail had been carried in locked pouches aboard trains prior to Armstrong's involvement with the system, but there had been no organized system of sorting mail en route, to have mail prepared for delivery when the mail pouches reached their destination city.[1]
In response to Armstrong's request to experiment with the concept, the first railway post office (RPO) began operating on the Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago and Clinton, Iowa, on August 28, 1864.[1] The concept was quickly seen as successful, and was expanded to other railroads operating out of Chicago, including the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, Chicago and Rock Island, Pennsylvania and the Erie.
By 1869 when the Railway Mail Service was officially inaugurated,[1] the system had expanded to virtually all of the major railroads of the United States, and the country was divided into six operating divisions. A superintendent was over each division, all under the direction of George B. Armstrong, who had been summoned from Chicago to Washington, D.C. to become general superintendent of the postal railway service. Armstrong served only two years as general superintendent before resigning because of failing health. He died in Chicago on May 5, 1871, two days after his resignation.
Armstrong's successor in Chicago, George S. Bangs, was appointed as the second general superintendent of the postal railway service. Bangs encouraged the use of fast mail trains, trains made up entirely of mail cars, traveling on expedited schedules designed to accommodate the needs of the Post Office rather than the needs of the traveling public.
In 1890, 5,800 postal railway clerks provided service over 154,800 miles (249,100 km) of railroad. By 1907, over 14,000 clerks were providing service over 203,000 miles (327,000 km) of railroad. When the post office began handling parcel post in 1913, terminal Railway Post Office operations were established in major cities by the RMS, in order to handle the large increase in mail volume. The Railway Mail Service reached its peak in the 1920s, then began a gradual decline with the discontinuance of RPO service on branchlines and secondary routes. After 1942, Highway Post Office (HPO) service was utilized to continue en route sorting after discontinuance of some railway post office operations. As highway mail transportation became more prevalent, the Railway Mail Service was redesignated as the Postal Transportation Service.
Abandonment of routes accelerated in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and many of the remaining lines were discontinued in 1967. On June 30, 1974, the Cleveland and Cincinnati highway post office, the last HPO route, was discontinued. The last railway post office operated between New York and Washington, D.C. on June 30, 1977.
[edit] Operating Divisions - 1950
- First Division: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts. Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts.
- Second Division: New York, New Jersey. Headquarters: New York City.
- Third Division: District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina. Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
- Fourth Division: Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Florida. Headquarters: Atlanta.
- Fifth Division: Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio. Headquarters: Cincinnati.
- Sixth Division: Illinois, Iowa. Headquarters: Chicago.
- Seventh Division: Missouri, Kansas. Headquarters: St. Louis, Missouri.
- Eighth Division: California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona. Headquarters: San Francisco.
- Ninth Division: Michigan, also lines of New York Central Railroad between New York City and Chicago. Headquarters: Cleveland.
- Tenth Division: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan peninsula. Headquarters: St. Paul, Minnesota.
- Eleventh Division: New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma. Headquarters: Fort Worth.
- Twelfth Division: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi. Headquarters: New Orleans.
- Thirteenth Division: Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington. Headquarters: Seattle.
- Fourteenth Division: Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska. Headquarters: Omaha.
- Fifteenth Division: Pennsylvania, Delaware, also lines of Pennsylvania Railroad west of Pittsburgh. Headquarters: Pittsburgh.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- History of the United States Postal Service 1775-1993: Railway Mail Service
- National Postal Museum - Railway Post Office
- Bergman, Edwin B. (1980) 29 Years to Oblivion, The Last Years of Railway Mail Service in the United States, Mobile Post Office Society, Omaha, Nebraska.
- Wilking, Clarence. (1985) The Railway Mail Service, Railway Mail Service Library, Boyce, Virginia. Available as an MS Word file at http://www.railwaymailservicelibrary.org/articles/THE_RMS.DOC
- U.S. Post Office Department. (1956) MEN AND MAIL IN TRANSIT, Railway Mail Service Library, Boyce, Virginia. Portion available as a video clip at http://www.railwaymailservicelibrary.org/videos/m&mit01.MPG
- National Postal Transport Association. (1956) MAIL IN MOTION, Railway Mail Service Library, Boyce, Virginia. Portion available as a video clip at http://www.railwaymailservicelibrary.org/videos/MIM-01.MPG
[edit] References
- Carr, Clark E. (1909) The Railway Mail Service, Its Origin and Development, A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.
- Bergman, Edwin B. (1980) 29 Years to Oblivion, The Last Years of Railway Mail Service in the United States, Mobile Post Office Society, Omaha.
- Romanski, Fred J. The Fast Mail, History of the Railway Mail Service, Prologue Vol. 37 No. 3, Fall 2005, College Park, Maryland.
- Pennypacker, Bert The Evolution of Railway Mail, National Railway Bulletin Vol. 60 No. 2, 1995, Philadelphia.
- ^ a b c White, John H., Jr. (1978). The American Railroad Passenger Car. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 475–476. ISBN 0-8018-1965-2.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | This article includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (December 2008) |
Mail, or post, is a method for transmitting information and tangible objects, wherein written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.[1]
In principle, a postal service can be private or public. Governments often place restrictions on private postal delivery systems. Since the mid 19th century national postal systems have generally been established as government monopolies with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is often in the form of adhesive postage stamps, but postage meters are also used for bulk mailing.
Postal systems often have functions other than sending letters. In some countries, the postal system also has some authority over telephone and telegraph systems. In others, postal systems allow for savings accounts and handling applications for passports.
[edit] Early postal systems
The art of communication by written documents carried by an intermediary from one person or place to another almost certainly dates back nearly to the invention of writing. However, development of formal postal systems occurred much later. The first documented use of an organized courier service for the diffusion of written documents is in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers for the diffusion of their decrees in the territory of the State (2400 BC). This practice almost certainly has roots in the much older practice of oral messaging and may have been built on a pre-existing infrastructure.
[edit] Persia (Iran)
The first credible claim for the development of a real postal system comes from Persia (present day Iran) but the point of invention remains in question. The best documented claim (Xenophon) attributes the invention to the Persian King Cyrus the Great (550 BC), while other writers credit his successor Darius I of Persia (521 BC). Other sources claim much earlier dates for an Assyrian postal system, with credit given to Hammurabi (1700 BC) and Sargon II (722 BC). Mail may not have been the primary mission of this postal service, however. The role of the system as an intelligence gathering apparatus is well documented, and the service was (later) called angariae, a term that in time turned to indicate a tax system. The Old Testament (Esther, VIII) makes mention of this system: Ahasuerus, king of Medes, used couriers for communicating his decisions.
The Persian system worked on stations (called Chapar-Khane), where the message carrier (called Chapar) would ride to the next post, whereupon he would swap his horse with a fresh one, for maximum performance and delivery speed. Herodotus described the system in this way: "It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed".[2]
[edit] South Asia
The economic growth and political stability under the Mauryan empire (322–185 BC) saw the development of impressive civil infrastructure in ancient India. The Mauryans developed early Indian mail service as well as public wells, rest houses and other facilities for the common public.[4] Common chariots called Dagana were sometimes used as mail chariots in ancient India.[5]
Systems for collecting information and revenue data from the provinces are mentioned in Chanakya's Arthashastra (ca. 3rd century BC).
In ancient times the kings, emperors, rulers, zamindars or the feudal lords protected their land through the intelligence services of specially trained police or military agencies and courier services to convey and obtain information through runners, messengers and even through pigeons. The chief of the secret service, known as the postmaster, maintained the lines of communication ... The people used to send letters to [their] distant relatives through their friends or neighbors.[6]
In South India, the Wodeyar dynasty (1399 - 1947) of the Kingdom of Mysore used mail service for espionage purposes thereby acquiring knowledge related to matters that took place at great distances.[7]
By the end of the Eighteenth century the postal system in India had reached impressive levels of efficiency. According to British national Thomas Broughton, the Maharaja of Jodhpur sent daily offerings of fresh flowers from his capital to Nathadvara (320 km) and they arrived in time for the first religious Darshan at sunrise.[8] Later this system underwent complete modernization when the British Raj established its full control over India. The Post Office Act XVII of 1837 provided that the Governor-General of India in Council had the exclusive right of conveying letters by post for hire within the territories of the East India Company. The mails were available to certain officials without charge, which became a controversial privilege as the years passed. On this basis the Indian Post Office was established on October 1, 1837.[9]
[edit] China
China enjoyed postal relay stations since the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). During the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan, China was integrated into the much larger Örtöö system of the Mongol Empire.
[edit] Rome
The first well documented postal service is that of Rome. Organized at the time of Augustus Caesar (62 BC–AD 14), it may also be the first true mail service. The service was called cursus publicus and was provided with light carriages called rhedæ with fast horses. Additionally, there was another slower service equipped with two-wheeled carts (birolæ) pulled by oxen. This service was reserved to government correspondence. Another service for citizens was later added.
[edit] Mongol Empire
Genghis Khan installed an empire-wide messenger and postal station system named Örtöö within the Mongol Empire. During the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan, this system also covered the territory of China. Postal stations were used not only for the transmission and delivery of official mail, but were also available for traveling officials, military men, and foreign dignitaries. These stations aided and facilitated the transport of foreign and domestic tribute, and trade in general. By the end of Kublai Khan's rule there were more than 1400 postal stations in China alone, which in turn had at their disposal about 50000 horses, 1400 oxen, 6700 mules, 400 carts, 6000 boats, over 200 dogs and 1150 sheep.[10]
The stations were 15 to 40 miles apart and had reliable attendants working for the mail service. Foreign observers, such as Marco Polo have attested to the efficiency of this early postal system.[10]
[edit] Other systems
Another important postal service was created in the Islamic world by the caliph Mu'awiyya; the service was called barid, by the name of the towers built to protect the roads by which couriers travelled.
Well before the Middle Ages and during them, homing pigeons were used for pigeon post, taking advantage of a singular quality of this bird, which when taken far from its nest is able to find his way home due to a particularly developed sense of orientation. Messages were then tied around the legs of the pigeon, which was freed and could reach his original nest.
Mail has been transported by quite a few other methods throughout history, including dogsled, balloon, rocket, mule, pneumatic tubes and even submarine.
Charlemagne extended to the whole territory of his empire the system used by Franks in northern Gaul, and connected this service with the service of missi dominici.
Many religious orders had a private mail service, notably Cistercians' one connected more than 6,000 abbeys, monasteries and churches. The best organization however was created by the Knights Templar. The newly instituted universities too had their private services, starting from Bologna (1158).
Popular illiteracy was accommodated through the service of scribes. Illiterates who needed to communicate dictated their messages to a scribe, another profession now quite generally disappeared.
In 1505, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I established a postal system in the Empire, appointing Franz von Thurn und Taxis to run it. The Thurn and Taxis family, then known as Tassis, had operated postal services between Italian city states from 1290 onwards. Following the abolition of the Empire in 1806 the Thurn and Taxis postal system continued as a private organisation, continuing to exist into the postage stamp era before finally being absorbed into the postal system of the new German Empire after 1871.
It was around this time nationalization and centralization of most postal systems took place. Today, the study of mail systems is known as postal history.
[edit] Etymology
The word mail comes from the Medieval English word male (spelt that way until the 17th century), which was the term used to describe a traveling bag or pack.[11] The French have a similar word, malle for a trunk or large box, and mála is the Irish for a bag. In the 1600s the word mail began to appear as a reference for a bag that contained letters: "bag full of letter" (1654). Over the next hundred years the word mail began to be applied strictly to the letters themselves, and the sack as the mailbag. In the 19th century the British usually referred to mail as being letters that were being sent abroad (i.e. on a ship), and post as letters that were for localized delivery; in the UK the Royal Mail delivers the post, while in the USA the US Postal Service delivers the mail. The term e-mail (short for "electronic mail") first appeared in 1982. The term snail-mail is a retronym that originated in 1983 to distinguish it from the quicker e-mail.
[edit] Modern mail
Modern mail is organized by national and privatized services, which are reciprocally interconnected by international regulations, organizations and international agreements. Paper letters and parcels can be sent to almost any country in the world relatively easily and cheaply. The Internet has made the process of sending letter-like messages nearly instantaneous, and in many cases and situations correspondents use electronic mail where previously they would have used letters (though the volume of paper mail continues to increase.)[12]
[edit] Organization
Some countries have organized their mail services as public limited liability corporations without a legal monopoly.
The worldwide postal system comprising the individual national postal systems of the world's self-governing states is co-ordinated by the Universal Postal Union, which among other things sets international postage rates, defines standards for postage stamps and operates the system of International Reply Coupons.
In most countries a system of codes has been created (they are called ZIP Codes in the United States, postcodes in the United Kingdom and Australia, and postal codes in most other countries), in order to facilitate the automation of operations. This also includes placing additional marks on the address portion of the letter or mailed object, called "bar coding." Bar coding of mail for delivery is usually expressed either by a series of vertical bars, usually called POSTNET coding, or a block of dots as a two-dimensional barcode. The "block of dots" method allows for the encoding of proof of payment of postage, exact routing for delivery, and other features.
The ordinary mail service was improved in the 20th century with the use of planes for a quicker delivery (air mail). The first scheduled airmail service took place between the London suburbs of Hendon and Windsor on 9 September 1911. Some methods of airmail proved ineffective, however, including the United States Postal Service's experiment with rocket mail.
Receipts services were made available in order to grant the sender a confirmation of effective delivery.
Mail going to naval vessels is known as the Fleet Post Office.
[edit] Payment
Worldwide the most common method of prepaying postage is by buying an adhesive postage stamp to be applied to the envelope before mailing; a much less common method is to use a postage-prepaid envelope. Franking is a method of creating postage-prepaid envelopes under licence using a special machine. They are used by companies with large mail programs such as banks and direct mail companies.
In 1998, the U.S. Postal Service authorised the first tests of a secure system of sending digital franks via the Internet to be printed out on a PC printer, obviating the necessity to license a dedicated franking machine and allowing companies with smaller mail programs to make use of the option; this was later expanded to test the use of personalised postage. The service provided by the U.S. Postal Service in 2003 allows the franks to be printed out on special adhesive-backed labels. In 2004 the Royal Mail in the United Kingdom introduced its SmartStamp Internet-based system, allowing printing on ordinary adhesive labels or envelopes. Similar systems are being considered by postal administrations around the world.
When the pre-paid envelope or package is accepted into the mail by an agent of the postal service, the agent usually indicates by means of a cancellation that it is no longer valid for pre-payment of postage. The exceptions are when the agent forgets or neglects to cancel the mailpiece, for stamps that are pre-cancelled and thus do not require cancellation and for, in most cases, metered mail. (The "personalised stamps" authorized by the USPS and manufactured by Zazzle and other companies are in fact a form of meter label and thus do not need to be cancelled.)
[edit] Rules and etiquette
Documents cannot be read by anyone other than the receiver; for instance, in the United States it is a violation of federal law for anyone other than the receiver to open mail. However, exceptions do exist, such as postcards, which can be read by the postman for the purpose of identifying the sender and receiver. For mail contained within an envelope, there are legal provisions in some jurisdictions allowing the recording identities.[13] The privacy of correspondence is guaranteed by the Mexican Constitution, and is alluded to in the European Convention of Human Rights[14] and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[13] According to the laws in the relevant jurisdiction, correspondence may be openly or covertly opened or the contents determined via some other method, by the police or other authorities in some cases relating to their relevance to an alleged or suspected criminal conspiracy, although black chambers (largely in the past, though there is apparently some continuance of their use today) opened and open letters extralegally. Military mail to and from soldiers on active deployment is more often subject to strict censorship. International mail and packages are subjects to customs control.
Control of private citizens' mail based on its content is a form of censorship and concerns social, political, and legal aspects of civil rights. Even though often illegal, there have been cases over the centuries of governments illegally opening and copying or photographing the contents of private mail.[13][15] While in most cases this censorship is exceptional, in the military, censorship of mail is routine and almost universally applied, particularly with respect to soldiers near a battlefront.
Modern alternatives such as the telegraph, telephone, and e-mail have reduced the attractiveness of paper mail for many applications. Sometimes these modern alternatives are more attractive because, unlike paper mail, there is no concern about unfamiliar people learning your address from the return address on the outside of an envelope. Modern alternatives can be better than paper mail because vandalism can occur with mailboxes (although it can also be argued that paper mail does not allow for computer viruses). Also, dangerous hazards exist for mail carriers such as unfriendly pets or bad weather conditions. Due to hazards or inconveniences postal carriers may refuse, officially or otherwise, to deliver mail to a particular address (for instance, if a clear path to the door or mailbox is not present). Postal mail is, however, still widely in use for business (due to the particular legal standing of signatures in some situations and in many jurisdictions, etiquette, or transmission of things that cannot be done by computer, as a particular texture, or, obviously, items in packages) and for some personal communication. For example, wedding invitations in some Western countries are customarily sent by mail.
[edit] Rise of electronic correspondence
Since the advent of e-mail, which is universally faster (barring some extreme technical glitch, computer virus or the like), the postal system has come to be referred to in Internet slang by the retronym "snail mail". Occasionally, the term "white mail" or "the PaperNet" has also been used as a neutral term for postal mail.
In modern times, mainly in the 20th century, mail has found an evolution in vehicles using newer technologies to deliver the documents, especially through the telephone network; these new vehicles include telegram, telex, facsimile (fax), e-mail, and short message service (SMS). There have been methods which have combined mail and some of these newer methods, such as INTELPOST, which combined facsimile transmission with overnight delivery. These vehicles commonly use a mechanical or electro-mechanical standardised writing (typing), that on the one hand makes for more efficient communication, while on the other hand makes impossible characteristics and practices that traditionally were in conventional mail, such as calligraphy.
This epoch is undoubtedly mainly dominated by mechanical writing, with a general use of no more of half a dozen standard typographic fonts from standard keyboards. However, the increased use of typewritten or computer-printed letters for personal communication and the advent of e-mail, has sparked renewed interest in calligraphy, as a letter has become more of a "special event." Long before e-mail and computer-printed letters, however, decorated envelopes, rubber stamps and artistamps formed part of the medium of mail art.[citations needed]
In the 2000s with the advent of eBay and other online auction sites and online stores, postal services in industrialized nations have seen a major shift to item shipping. This has been seen as a boost to the system's usage in the wake of lower paper mail volume due to the accessibility of e-mail.
Online post offices have emerged to give recipients a means of receiving traditional correspondence mail in a scanned electronic format.
[edit] Collecting
Postage stamps are also object of a particular form of collecting, and in some cases, when demand greatly exceeds supply, their commercial value on this specific market may become enormously greater than face value, even after use. For some postal services the sale of stamps to collectors who will never use them is a significant source of revenue for example postage stamps from Tokelau, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, Tristan da Cunha, Niuafo´ou and many others. Stamp collecting is commonly known as philately, although strictly the latter term refers to the study of stamps.
Another form of collecting regards postcards, a document written on a single robust sheet of paper, usually decorated with photographic pictures or artistic drawings on one of the sides, and short messages on a small part of the other side, that also contained the space for the address. In strict philatelic usage, the postcard is to be distinguished from the postal card, which has a pre-printed postage on the card. The fact that this communication is visible by other than the receiver often causes the messages to be written in jargon.
Letters are often studied as an example of literature, and also in biography in the case of a famous person. A portion of the New Testament of the Bible is composed of the Apostle Paul's epistles to Christian congregations in various parts of the Roman Empire. See below for a list of famous letters.
A style of writing, called epistolary, tells a fictional story in the form of the correspondence between two or more characters.
A make-shift mail method after stranding on a deserted island is a message in a bottle.
[edit] Deregulation
Several countries, including Sweden (1 January 1993),[16][17] New Zealand (1998 and 2003), Germany (2005 and 2007)[18] and Argentina have opened up the postal services market to new entrants. In the case of New Zealand Post Limited, this included (from 2003) its right to be the sole New Zealand postal administration member of the Universal Postal Union, thus the ending of its monopoly on stamps bearing the name New Zealand.
[edit] Types of mail
[edit] Letters
Letter-sized mail comprises the bulk of the contents sent through most postal services. These are usually documents printed on A4 (210×297 mm), Letter-sized (8.5×11 inches), or smaller paper and placed in envelopes.
While many things are sent through the mail, interpersonal letters are often thought of first in reference to postal systems. Handwritten correspondence, while once a major means of communications between distant people, is now used less frequently due to the advent of more immediate means of communication, such as the telephone or e-mail. Traditional letters, however, are often considered to harken back to a "simpler time" and are still used when someone wishes to be deliberate and thoughtful about his or her communication.
Bills and invoices are often sent through the mail, like regular billing correspondence from utility companies and other service providers. These letters often contain a self-addressed, envelope that allows the receiver to remit payment back to the company easily. While still very common, many people now opt to use online bill payment services, which eliminate the need to receive bills through the mail.
Bulk mail is mail that is prepared for bulk mailing, often by presorting, and processing at reduced rates. It is often used in direct marketing and other advertising mail, although it has other uses as well. The senders of these messages sometimes purchase lists of addresses (which are sometimes targeted towards certain demographics) and then send letters advertising their product or service to all recipients. Other times, commercial solicitations are sent by local companies advertising local products, like a restaurant delivery service advertising to their delivery area or a retail store sending their weekly advertising circular to a general area. Bulk mail is also often sent to companies' existing subscriber bases, advertising new products or services.
There are a number of other things almost without any exception sent exclusively as letters through postal services, like wedding invitations.
[edit] First-class
First-class mail in the U.S. includes postcards, letters, large envelopes (flats) and small packages, providing each piece weighs 13 ounces or less. Delivery is given priority over second-class (newspapers and magazines), third class (bulk advertisements), and fourth-class mail (books and media packages.) First-class mail prices are based on both the shape and weight of the item being mailed. Pieces over 13 ounces can be sent as Priority Mail.[19]
[edit] Registered and recorded mail
Registered mail allows the location and in particular the correct delivery of a letter to be tracked. It is usually considerably more expensive than regular mail, and is typically used for legal documents, to obtain a proof of delivery.
[edit] Repositionable Notes
The United States Postal Service introduced a test allowing "repositionable notes" (for example, 3M's Post-it notes) to be attached to the outside of envelopes and bulk mailings,[20] afterwards extending the test for an unspecified period.[21]
[edit] Postal cards and postcards
Postal cards and postcards are small message cards which are sent by mail unenveloped; the distinction often, though not invariably and reliably, drawn between them is that "postal cards" are issued by the postal authority or entity with the "postal indica" (or "stamp") preprinted on them, while postcards are privately issued and require affixing an adhesive stamp (though there have been some cases of a postal authority's issuing non-stamped postcards). Postcards are often printed to promote tourism, with pictures of resorts, tourist attractions or humorous messages on the front and allowing for a short message from the sender to be written on the back. The postage required for postcards is generally less than postage required for standard letters; however, certain technicalities such as their being oversized or having cut-outs[22] may result in payment of the first-class rate being required.
Postcards are also used by magazines for new subscriptions. Inside many magazines are postage-paid subscription cards that a reader can fill out and mail back to the publishing company to be billed for a subscription to the magazine. In this fashion, magazines also use postcards for other purposes, including reader surveys, contests or information requests.
Postcards are sometimes sent by charities to their members with a message to be signed and sent to a politician (e.g. to promote fair trade or third world debt cancellation).
[edit] Other
Larger envelopes are also sent through the mail. These are often made of sturdier material than standard envelopes and are often used by businesses to transport documents that are not to be folded or damaged, such as legal documents and contracts. Due to their size, larger envelopes are sometimes charged additional postage.
Packages are often sent through some postal services, usually requiring additional postage than an average letter or postcard. Many postal services have limits on what can and cannot be sent inside packages, usually placing limits or bans on perishable, hazardous or flammable materials. Some hazardous materials in limited quantities may be shipped with appropriate markings and packaging, like an ORM-D label. Additionally, because of terrorism concerns, the U.S. Postal Service subjects their packages to various security tests, often scanning or x-raying packages for materials that might be found in mail bombs.
Magazines are also sent through postal services. Many magazines are simply placed in the mail normally (but in the U.S., they are printed with a special bar code that acts as pre-paid postage - see POSTNET), but many are now shipped in shrinkwrap to protect the loose contents of the magazine.
Hybrid mail, sometimes referred to as L-mail, is the electronic lodgement of mail from the mail generator’s computer directly to a Postal Service provider. The Postal Service provider is then able to use electronic means to have the mail piece sorted, routed and physically produced at a site closest to the delivery point. It is a type of mail growing in popularity with some Post Office operations and individual businesses venturing into this market. In some countries, these services are available to print and deliver emails to those unable to receive email, such as the elderly or infirmed. Services provided by Hybrid mail providers are closely related to that of Mail forwarding service providers.
[edit] See also
- List of national postal services
- Airmail
- Pony Express
- Mail chute
- Post office, Postal code, ZIP Code
- EPPML (Extensible Postal Product Model and Language)
- Courier, Mail carrier, Express mail
- Online post office
- Electronic mail
- E-Mail Letter
- Fan mail, Hate mail, Love letter, Snail mail
- Irradiated mail
- Railway post office (US), Travelling Post Office (UK): Two types of railway car used for sorting mail aboard a train en route.
- Mail forwarding
- Mailing address format by country
- Digital stamp
[edit] Famous letters
- Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet
- Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail
- The Pauline epistles
- Samantha Smith's letter to Yuri Andropov
- Virginia O'Hanlon's letter to the New York Sun, replied to in a famous editorial
- The Zinoviev Letter, which affected the outcome of the United Kingdom general election, 1924
- The Canuck Letter, which affected the outcome of the 1972 U.S. Democratic primary elections
[edit] Notes
- ^ In Australia, Canada and the U.S., mail is commonly used both for the postal system and for letters, postcards and parcels; in New Zealand, post is more common for the postal system and mail for the material delivered; in the UK, post prevails in both senses. However, the British, American, Australian, and Canadian national postal services are called, respectively, Royal Mail, United States Postal Service, Australia Post, and Canada Post; in addition, such fixed phrases as post office or junk mail are found throughout the English-speaking world.
- ^ HERODOTUS, Herodotus, trans. A.D. Godley, vol. 4, book 8, verse 98, pp. 96–97 (1924).
- ^ [1] First Issues Collectors Club (retrieved 25 September)
- ^ Dorn 2006: 145
- ^ Prasad 2003: 104
- ^ Mazumdar 1990: 1
- ^ Aiyangar 2004: 302
- ^ Peabody 2003: 71
- ^ Lowe 1951: 134
- ^ a b Mote 1978: 450
- ^ "mail, n.2". Dictionary.com (Unabridged (v 1.1) ed.). 2007. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mail.
- ^ Direct Marketing Association article (registration required)
- ^ a b c Back when spies played by the rules, Deccan Herald, January 17, 2006. Retrieved 29 Dec 2006.
- ^ Article 8(1): Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. [2]PDF (179 KB)
- ^ CIA Intelligence Collection About Americans (400 KB download)
- ^ City Mail, Sweden
- ^ Frycklund, Jonas Private Mail in Sweden, Cato Journal Vol. 13, No. 1 (1993)PDF (511 KB)
- ^ Letter monopoly, Wikipedia.
- ^ "First-Class Mail". USPS. http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/senditwithintheus/firstclassmail.htm. Retrieved on 2009-01-09.
- ^ "Postal Service Helps Businesses "Stick" to their Message". 2005-04-05. http://www.usps.com/communications/news/press/2005/pr05_028.htm. Retrieved on 2007-07-17.
- ^ "Marketing 'Notes' Extended for Additional Year: U.S. Postal Service Governors Issue Decision on Repositionable Notes". 2007-07-06. http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2007/pr07_055.htm. Retrieved on 2007-07-17.
- ^ "Cut-Out Postcard - Postage Due". Members.aol.com. http://members.aol.com/raustin13/modernph/pc14due.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
[edit] References
- Peabody, Norman (2003). Hindu Kingship and Polity in Precolonial India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521465486.
- Dorn, Harold; MacClellan, James E. (2006). Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801883598.
- Aiyangar, Sakkottai Krishnaswami; S. Krishnaswami A. (2004). Ancient India: Collected Essays on the Literary and Political History of Southern India. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 0801883598.
- Prasad, Prakash Chandra (2003). Foreign Trade and Commerce in Ancient India. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 8170170532.
- Lowe, Robson (1951). Encyclopedia of British Empire Postage Stamps (v. III). London.
- Mazumdar, Mohini Lal (1990). The Imperial Post Offices of British India. Calcutta: Phila Publications.
- Mote, Frederick W.; John K. Fairbank (1998). The Cambridge History of China. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521243335.
[edit] External links
- A Hundred Years by Post by J. Wilson Hyde
- Potts, Albert, "US19,578 (First U.S. street mailbox patent)". US patent office. 1858
- GRC Database Information: links to worldwide postal services websites
- The British Postal Museum & Archive
- Royal Engineers Museum British Army Postal Services History
PM’s Council on Trade reviews economic steps
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, April 29 — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, today announced that he would set up an implementation committee, headed by the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, to put into action the various recommendations made by his expert Council on Trade and Industry.
The Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry comprising leading Indian industrialists, experts and senior Ministers, which has been divided into six special subject groups, has made recommendations on several spheres of economic planning, Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr N.K. Singh, said here.
The recommendations made cover several areas, including the power sector, textiles, chemicals, tea, education, agriculture, and health.
The two-hour meeting of the Council at the Prime Minister’s residence today was attended among others by the Finance Minister, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Cabinet Secretary and leading industrialists, Mr Mukesh Ambani, Mr Sanjeev Goenka, Mr N. Srinivasan, Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, Mr Nusli Wadia, Mr G.P. Goenka, Mr Rahul Bajaj and Mr Arun Bharat Ram.
The Prime Minister in his opening remarks at the meeting spoke about the strong economic fundamentals of the economy and added that the implementation committee would give a status report on the recommendations of the Council at its next meeting.
Mr Singh said the Prime Minister assured the members of the Council that the Government would continue with a credible disinvestment programme and pursue policies of fiscal consolidation, reforms of banks and financial institutions, besides removal of infrastructural bottlenecks. High priority would be accorded to education, health and rural development, he added.
Elaborating on the recommendations made by the various sub-groups, set up in December 1999, Mr Singh said the group on disinvestment recommended that stronger PSUs should enter the market first, channelising of divestment proceeds for retirement of public debt and entrusting the sell off responsibility solely to the new Disinvestment Ministry.
Mr Singh however, clarified that these were the committee’s views and the Government had differences on some sensitive issues like disinvestment and dereservation of textile sector.
On the power sector, the recommendations relate to beginning the reforms process with transmission and distribution, increasing tariffs over a three-year period for agriculture, moving subsidisation from SEBs to State budgets and breaking up of monolithic SEBs into different corporations. Private distribution through management contracts, joint ventures or full-fledged licenses and making regulatory commissions independent and autonomous are also part of the recommendations.
On textiles, it has been recommended that structural anomalies be removed, knitting and garment sectors hitherto reserved for the SSI be opened up to improve scale of economies and competitiveness and procedures for relocation and closure of unviable units be simplified. Setting up a brand equity fund for promotion of Made in India label, development of legal and industry knowledge infrastructure and strengthening of anti-dumping mechanism are also among the recommendations.
The committee on tea industry has suggested that there should be a single point Central Income Tax and this should be shared with States, labour productivity should be improved and investments should be made for brand building.
On sugar, full decontrol, setting up a futures market and allowing use of the Sugar Development Fund for modernising existing units have been recommended.
A strategy for a reconvened WTO Ministerial meeting has also been recommended and this includes: re-assert the relevance of special and differential treatment for developing countries; in case of industrial tariffs, demand a substantial reduction of tariffs by industrialised countries on labour intensive and low technology manufacturers; and even while ensuring food security and protecting the interest of farmers, seek greater market access for exportable agricultural products.
The Committee on Avoiding pitfalls of globalisation said that the Government should focus on disinvestment, privatisation and commercialisation of assets, mainly to retire public debt. It cautioned against Government borrowing to ensure macro economic stability and elimination of revenue deficit. It suggested that the capital market be made more broad-based to attract more Indian investors and safeguards be instituted against financial panics by strengthening the SEBI.
Levy of additional tax on areas which increase health care costs like use of tobacco and liquor, and focus of Government’s role on primary and preventive health care programmes were also among the recommendations.
The committee on unshackling the Indian industry said there was a need for a clear cut compliance policy, defining in unambiguous terms the list of compliances which an investor has to meet, computerisation and updating of land records, allowing contract labour in all non-core activities of a company and abolishing the need for Government permission for closure, retrenchment and layoff. It said a unit should be allowed to close down after it pays a mutually agreed compensation to the employees.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000430/biz.htm
Tell me How
The prime minister invites 11 industry bigwings to suggest ways to revitalise the economy further. But is there a death of advice on economic reforms ?
By Rohit Saran
Where there is a will, there is a way. Where there is no will, there is a survey.
Last fortnight the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government displayed a bit of both. First came a flurry of bold economic decisions. The insurance sector was opened for private participation, the notorious Foreign Exchange Regulation Act was repealed and replaced with a more contemporary Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), and a separate Department of Disinvestment was created. Preceding all these were non-populist measures like a steep hike in diesel prices. The Government, it seemed, had the guts and gumption required to undertake tough economic measures.
THE DISPOSERS |
An implementation Review Committee comprising Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission K.C.Pant will evaluate the recommendations of previous committees pending with the Government and ensure that suggestions are implemented with urgency |
That confidence was belied, at least partially, when Vajpayee decided to take fresh lessons on basic economic reforms. In his first meeting with the reconstituted Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry (PMCTI) on December 11, Vajpayee set up not one, not two, but eight committees (called subject groups) to "recommend implementable action points". The committees will suggest policy reforms in areas ranging from good governance in the private sector, to public-sector disinvestment, to power-sector reforms (see box). Last year too, the trade and industry council was split into six sub-groups, each of which had given recommendations on specific areas of reforms.
Says a Mumbai-based member of the council: "The last thing the Government needs is more advice on reforms. Dozens of reports have already detailed what needs to be done and how it could be done." The cynicism over the prime minister's move stems from two factors. The recommendations of the six sub-groups constituted last year are yet to be implemented. In fact, some of the new committees will be replicating the work that last year's committees have done. For instance, last year's sub-group on infrastructure headed by Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata had given detailed recommendations on power-sector reforms. Yet a new committee has been set up for suggesting power-sector reforms. Similarly, the work of the newly appointed committee on administrative reforms will overlap with last year's committee on administrative and legal simplifications.
In the absence of anything new to say, the new committees may end up reinventing the wheel. That's exactly what happened last year. The 1998 committee on administrative and legal simplifications endorsed the suggestions of a prior commission on administrative reforms which was set up in May 1998. The commission had listed 1,300 Central laws for outright abolition and amendments to another 110. Similarly, last year's subject group on infrastructure had drawn heavily from the 1997 Rakesh Mohan Committee's report on infrastructure.
The PMO, however, hopes that the new committees will be able to make a break from the past. "Most of the subject groups set up this year will deal with the issues either not dealt with by earlier committees, or the issues on which the recommendations given were not very practical," clarifies N.K. Singh, secretary to the prime minister. For instance, the committee on administrative reforms will focus on the problems of red tape in the post-industrial delicensing era. That's because industrialists have been complaining that a series of new clearances introduced by different government departments have nullified the benefits of delicensing. In addition, the panel will also suggest ways to revive India's traditional industries like textile and leather.
But for them to be of any worth, these recommendations have to be implemented. Council members are betting on Vajpayee's firm resolve to ensure speedier implementation. Even before he appointed the eight sub-groups, the prime minister had announced an Implementation Review Committee with Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Industry and Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K.C. Pant as its members. The committee's brief is to take "urgent steps to put into action the recommendations that are worthy of acceptance". Vajpayee reassured the sceptics in the council by stating that "implementation and accountability must become the hallmark for assessing the success of our reform strategy".
THE PROPOSERS |
| The eight sub-groups and their members » Good governance in the private sector: N.R. Narayana Murthy Kumar Mangalam Birla » Private investment in education, health & rural development Mukesh Ambani Kumar Mangalam Birla » Strategy for WTO meet N. Srinivasan* Rahul Bajaj » PSU disinvestment G.P. Goenka Rajeev Chandrasekhar Nusli Wadia » Review of rules and procedures to unshakle industry/measures to revive traditional industry Nusli Wadia Ratan Tata » How to avoid pitfalls of globalisation Rahul Bajaj Sanjeev Goenka » Power sector reforms G.P. Goenka A.C. Muthiah » Harnessing wealth and talent of NRIs for development Mukesh Ambani All sub-groups to submit report before March 11, 2000. * Not shown in the picture |
Many industrialists feel that the importance of the PMCTI is not restricted to just what the sub-groups do. Says G.P. Goenka, president of FICCI and a PMCTI member: "Consultations with the industry - which is the real practitioner of economic reforms - helps government fine tune its policy." This is especially true since the private sector is playing an increasingly larger role in the economy. Agrees Singh: "The council was created to develop a lasting partnership and trust with the industry. That, to me, is the more important than any set of recommendations."
There are other benefits of the prime minister's direct interaction with the industry. An obvious one is the positive effect on business sentiments. Points out Sanjeev Goenka, vice-chairman, RPG Enterprises and a member of the council: "Regular interactions with the prime minister and his team instil confidence in industry."
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