Below 500 grams? Use Indian Post - Compulsorily

"Arre aap chinta mat karo! main courier kar deta hoon, shaam tak pahonch jayega" (Don't you worry! I will courier it, it will reach you by the evening).

I had to collect my transcripts from Sathaye College and had asked a friend staying nearby to do so. I needed those immediately and was apprehensive and he was reassuring me about the efficiency of the courier service. And sure enough the envelopes reached me by 5.00, the same day. Now imagine if this service had not been there. The only option would have been to physically go and collect the envelopes from my friend. In the process wasting both time and money. From then on, I have used this service a lot of times: for sending mundane things like notes or books (the lighter ones).

Everyday lakhs of people in the cities use the courier service: for cheques, magazines, invitations, orders, receipts and everything else that requires assured and easy delivery. At about twice the price of the normal post, you get assured delivery within a day all over the city. As for the local post office, it is already understaffed and cannot deal with the volume of letters, delaying letters by weeks.

'The Indian Postal Act -1898' - is an archaic law, more than a century old. This Act gives an exclusive right to the Department of Post to carry letters. However, private couriers are allowed to carry documents. What differentiates letters and documents? To say pretty frankly, nothing objective. So, the courier companies use this ambiguity to their advantage, classifying anything and everything as a document. Are the people happy? You bet!! Except this group of happy and satisfied people excludes our law-abiding (at convenience) babus and ministers. I can almost imagine the smug face of a beauraucrat when he dug up a copy of this law while cleaning the basement. 'Aha! A solution to all our problems! For a change, lets follow the law, lets even tinker with it for our benefit!!' I can imagine the minister gloating when he hears of this bright flash, 'Haha! So the below 500 grams postal market is all ours!!' This is about all the thought that must have gone on in making this declaration.

Therein lies the problem. For while the world thinks of progess, the state looks towards the dictatorial powers vested in the executive to forward it's (politician's) business interests. Where it should encourage business, it creates protectionist environments to revel in monopoly. Where its role should be regulatory and facilitatory, it is invasionary and promotes irregularity. Where it should nurture competition and reward efficiency, it tries to get rid of the competition and is oblivious to the word 'efficiency'. Where it should take up the minimum duties and look forward to performing them well, it decides to everything itself and ends up doing a very clumsy job of it. And all this in the name of 'helping the poor', 'promoting social equality', 'rural development' et al. I almost throw up now when I hear of these reasons, especially from our policy makers.

Lets see who will be affected if the Act is passed this budget session:
- People like me and you who need to transfer documents urgently
- Weekly, monthly magazines that use couriers
- People sending applications, letters abroad
- Bills, cheques that are regularly passed on through courier
- Invitations that need to reach out with surety within a time limit
- The current postal structure, it cannot deal with the business it already has

In short, everyone. What the current courier system has done, is actually realize the potential of this business. Deals are made on mobiles and payments & orders pass through couriers. The example in the first paragraph that I had given is increased business. If this Act passes, the government will not earn more revenue it will only decrease business. This will start a new process of litigation, each side searching for loopholes. Even if the govt. wins at the end of the day, it would not be able to stifle this business lifeline. In a throwback to the license Raj days, it will carry on, illegally. The only poor to be helped would be our 'poor' babus and politicians. If it is not allowed to carry on (even illegally), it will discourage business and only create more problems.

Lets get this fact clear in our minds people. Good business is good for the poor too, in the short term and vastly better in the long term. It is good for the society in general. Development is not a zero sum game and the earlier we recognize it, the better. An argument that money earned in cities would be used in villages holds no water. Cross-subsidizing is one bright idea that does not work, as seen in the telecom sector. If there are inefficiencies in the system, like holes in a boat, plugs like the courier companies will come up. If you remove these plugs, the boat is only going to sink. The best option is to repair the boat. But to think about this would require a mental strain of five minutes and the mental ability of a five year old which our policy makers very seriously lack.