Mumbai. The Department of Posts (India Post) has launched a scheme in the name of Five Star Village Scheme in all parts of the country in rural areas of the country. The scheme will try to bridge the gap of public awareness and post office schemes and services especially in remote villages. All postal products and services will be made available at the rural level under the scheme of Five Star villages. The branch office will act as a one-stop shop to meet all the related needs of the villagers.
Plans under Five Star Scheme include:
(1) Savings Bank Accounts, Recurring Deposit Accounts, NSC/KVP Program Certificate
(2) Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts / PPF
(3) Finant Post Office Savings Account Indian Postal Payment Bank Accounts
(4) Postal Life Insurance Policy / Rural Postal Life Insurance Policy and
(5) Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana Account / Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana account.
Now if a village receives universal coverage for four schemes out of the above list, then that village will get four-star status. If a village fulfills three schemes, then that village will be given three-scar status.
Started pilot project-Inaugurating the scheme, Union Minister of State for Communications, Sanjay Dhotre said that this scheme is being launched on an initial basis in Maharashtra. Depending on the experience here, it will be implemented across the country. The postman and postal departments are an important part of the life of the common citizen.
Interest Rate- The NSC scheme of the post office is currently getting interest at the rate of 6.8 percent annually. It is compounded on an annual basis but the payment is on maturity only. The tenure of this scheme is 5 years old. However, it can be extended for 5 years on completion of maturity.
The entire Maharashtra state will be included under this scheme. To start, two rural districts / areas have been identified for each region: Akola and Washim in Nagpur region; Parbhani and Hingoli in Aurangabad region; Solapur and Pandharpur in Pune region; Kolhapur and Sangli in Goa region; And Malgaon and Palghar in Navi Mumbai region. A total of 50 villages in each district will be included during the current financial year 2020-2021. The regional offices will identify the villages to be included.
How will the scheme reach every village- For this, a team of five Gramin Dak Sevaks will be implemented by a team of postal department for marketing all the products, savings and insurance schemes of the Department. This team will be headed by the branch post master of the concerned branch office. Postal inspectors will keep personal monitoring on the progress of the team on daily basis. The teams will be headed and monitored by the Divisional Head, Assistant Superintendent Posts and Inspector posts.
Campaign-The team of Gramin Dak Sevaks will cover awareness campaign from door to door about all the schemes, covering all the eligible villagers. Extensive publicity will be done by displaying information on the notice board of the branch office. Major places of targeted villages like panchayat offices, schools, village dispensaries, bus depots, markets will also be used for advertising and prescriptions will be distributed. Small fairs will be organized keeping in mind the Kovid-19 security guidelines.
Training and Monitoring-The training and infrastructure required to incorporate all the schemes will be provided to all branch offices in identified villages. The progress and target achievement of the scheme will be closely viewed at circles, regional and divisional levels. Monthly progress will be reviewed by the Chief Post Master General.
Maharashtra Circle and Chief Post Master General of the state of Goa, Harish Chandra Aggarwal assured the minister that Maharashtra will later present a good example of the successful implementation of the Five Star Village Scheme, paving the way to launch the plan at the national level. Director General (Post), Vineet Pandey; And Postmaster General, Mumbai Region, Swati Pandey also participated online.