FE Editorial : Happy 100, airmail

The world's first airmail flight took place between Allahabad and Naini 100 years ago, and India Post will be commemorating the occasion by re-enacting the flight on February 12. The Americans claim that their first official airmail flight pre-dates ours. But the difference runs into just a few hours and the likeness is much more substantial. The men who flew mail over the Ganges and California in 1911 were working "by the seat of their pants", without fancy instruments or navigational aids or radios. Their pioneering efforts didn't just revolutionise communication but also transportation, convincing the world that the airplane was practicable. Of course, the airmail had only been the latest chapter in the evolution of postal services. For example, Egyptians and the Persians were using homing pigeons 3,000 years ago, and the Orissa police continued to deploy them right into this century. Over in the US, founding father Benjamin Franklin was the first postmaster general. Modern times have seen both countries join others in recognising postal services as a fundamental government function. In France, the post is the country's second-largest employer! But the digital revolution and the rising costs of, say, servicing the Havasupai Indians at the bottom of the Grand Canyon for the same postage paid by those in Manhattan are throwing up big challenges.

India Post is taking on these challenges much more successfully than the US Postal Service. While the latter is looking at closing thousands of branches, much to the chagrin of affected local communities, the former (already the world's biggest network) is looking at expanding. While the former looks for the life jacket of moving counters into existing retail establishments such as supermarkets, the latter is looking at evolving financial supershops that provide insurance, banking, etc, alongside distributing mails. This technology upgrade and rebranding also has a global dimension, with MoUs having been signed with countries ranging from Australia and China to South Africa and UAE in order to provide highly customised business services, including airmail services. Cheers to coming full circle, with notable deviation.

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