Ministry of Communications (India)
Ministry overview
Preceding Ministry
JurisdictionGovernment of India
HeadquartersSanchar Bhawan
20, Ashoka Road, New Delhi, Delhi, India
Annual budget₹123,393 crore (US$15 billion) (2023-24 est.)[1]
Ministers responsible
Ministry executives
  • Neeraj Mittal, IAS, Chairman of Telecom Commission and Telecom Secretary
  • Vineet Pandey, IPoS, Posts Secretary
Child agencies
Websitedot.gov.in

Ministry of Communications is a Central ministry under the Government of India responsible for telecommunications and postal service. It was carved out of Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on 19 July 2016.

It consists of two departments viz. Department of Telecommunications and the Department of Posts.

Formation

Ministry of Communication and Information Technology was bifurcated into Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.[2]

Department of Telecommunications

Also known as the Door Sanchar Vibhag, this department concerns itself with policy, licensing and coordination matters relating to telegraphs, telephones, wireless, data, facsimile and telematic services and other similar forms of communications. It also looks into the administration of laws with respect to any of the matters specified, namely:

Central public sector undertakings

R&D unit

Specialised units

In 2007, in order to distinctly address the issues of Communication Network Security at DOT (HQ) level, consequent to enhancement of FDI limit in Telecom sector from 49% to 74%, a new wing named Security was created in DOT (HQ).

Objectives

  • e-Government: Providing e-infrastructure for delivery of e-services
  • e-Industry: Promotion of electronics hardware manufacturing and IT-ITeS industry
  • e-Innovation / R&D: Implementation of R&D Framework - Enabling creation of Innovation/ R&D Infrastructure in emerging areas of ICT&E/Establishment of mechanism for R&D translation
  • e-Learning: Providing support for development of e-Skills and Knowledge network
  • e-Security: Securing India's cyber space
  • e-Inclusion: Promoting the use of ICT for more inclusive growth
  • Internet Governance: Enhancing India's role in Global Platforms of Internet Governance.

Telephone Advisory Committees

Department of Posts

The Department of Post (DoP) which wholly the India Post operates one of the oldest and most extensive mail services in the world. As of 31 March 2017, the Indian Postal Service has 154,965 post offices, of which 139,067 (89.74%) are in rural areas and 15,898 (10.26%) are in urban areas. It has 25,585 departmental PO s and 129,380 ED BPOs. At the time of independence, there were 23,344 post offices, which were primarily in urban areas. Thus the network has registered a sevenfold growth since independence, with the focus of the expansion primarily in rural areas. On average, a post office serves an area of 21.56 sq; km and a population of 7,753 people. This is the most widely distributed post office system in the world.[9] The large numbers are a result of a long tradition of many disparate postal systems which were unified in the Indian Union post-Independence. Owing to this far-flung reach and its presence in remote areas, the Indian postal service is also involved in other services such as small savings banking and financial services, with about 25,464 full-time and 139,040 part-time post offices. It offers a whole range of products under posts, remittance, savings, insurance, and philately. While the Director-General is the head of operations, the Secretary is an adviser to the Minister. Both responsibilities are undertaken by one officer.

The DG is assisted by the Postal Services Board with six members: The six members of the Board hold portfolios of Personnel, Operations, Technology, Postal Life Insurance, Banking, Planning respectively. Shri Ananta Narayan Nanda is the Secretary (Posts) also the Chairman of the Postal Services Board and Ms.Meera Handa is Director General (DG) Posts. Shri.Vineet Pandey(Additional Charge) Additional Director General(Coordination) (ADG), Ms. Arundhaty Ghosh, Member (Operations), Shri. Biswanath Tripathy, Member (Planning), Shri Pradipta Kumar Bisoi, Member (Personnel), Shri Udai Krishna, Member (Banking), Shri Salim Haque, Member (Technology) and Shri. Vineet Pandey, Member (PLI) & Chairman, Investment Board. The national headquarters are at Delhi and functions from Dak Bhavan located at the junction of Parliament Street and Ashoka Road.

The total revenue earned including remuneration for Savings Bank & Savings Certificate work during the year 2016-17 was ₹11,511.00  crores and the amount received from other Ministries/ Departments as Agency charges (recoveries) was ₹730.90 crores and expenditure is ₹24,211.85  crores during 2016–2017 against the previous year expenditure of ₹19,654.67  crores. The increase was mainly due to payment of increased pay & allowances consequent upon implementation of 7th pay commission recommendations, leave encashment during LTC, cost of materials, oil, diesel, revision of service tax on government buildings etc.

Lack of proper investment in infrastructure and technology is the reason for such low revenue. The present top management has already started investing in the latest technology to improve the infrastructure. Quality of service is being improved and new products are being offered to meet the competition.

The field services are managed by Postal Circles—generally conforming to each State—except for the North Eastern States, India has been divided into 22 postal circles, each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General. Each Circle is further divided into Regions comprising field units, called Divisions, headed by a Postmaster General. Further divided into divisions headed by SSPOs & SPOs. further divisions are divided into Sub Divisions Headed by ASPs & IPS. Other functional units like Circle Stamp Depots, Postal Stores Depots, and Mail Motor Service may exist in the Circles and Regions.

Besides the 23 circles, there is a special Circle called the Base Circle to cater to the postal services of the Armed Forces of India. Army Postal Services (APS) is a unique arrangement to take care of the postal requirement of soldiers posted across the country. Department of Posts personnel is commissioned into the army to take care of APS. The Base Circle is headed by an Additional Director General, Army Postal Service, holding a Major general.<ref>Cheap Eggs Over Animal Welfare

The DoP is governed by the Indian Post Office Acts, 1898. Other than the traditional postage service to keep up with the age, many new services have been introduced by the department:

  • e-Post - Delivery of email through postman where email service is not available
  • e-BillPost - Convenient way to pay bills under one roof
  • Postal Life insurance
  • International money transfers
  • Mutual funds
  • Banking

List of ministers


# Portrait Name Term of office Prime Minister Party
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
1 Rafi Ahmed Kidwai 15 August 1947 2 August 1951 3 years, 352 days Jawaharlal Nehru Indian National Congress
2 Amrit Kaur 2 August 1951 13 May 1952 285 days
3 Jagjivan Ram 13 May 1952 7 December 1956 4 years, 208 days
4 Raj Bahadur 7 December 1956 17 April 1957 131 days
5 Lal Bahadur Shastri 17 April 1957 28 March 1958 345 days
6 S. K. Patil 29 March 1958 24 August 1959 1 year, 148 days
7 Jawaharlal Nehru 25 August 1959 2 September 1959 8 days
8 P. Subbarayan 2 September 1959 9 April 1962 2 years, 219 days
(3) Jagjivan Ram 10 April 1962 31 August 1963 1 year, 144 days
9 Ashoke Kumar Sen 1 September 1963 13 June 1964 286 days
Lal Bahadur Shastri
10  – Satya Narayan Sinha 13 June 1964 12 March 1967 2 years, 272 days
Indira Gandhi
11 Ram Subhag Singh 13 March 1967 14 February 1969 1 year, 338 days
(10)  – Satya Narayan Sinha 14 February 1969 8 March 1971 2 years, 22 days
12 Indira Gandhi 9 March 1971 17 March 1971 8 days
13  – Sher Singh 18 March 1971 2 May 1971 45 days
14 Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna 2 May 1971 8 November 1973 2 years, 190 days
(4) Raj Bahadur 8 November 1973 11 January 1974 64 days
15 Kasu Brahmananda Reddy 11 January 1974 10 October 1974 272 days
16 Shankar Dayal Sharma 10 October 1974 24 March 1977 2 years, 165 days
17 Morarji Desai 24 March 1977 26 March 1977 2 days Morarji Desai Janata Party
18 Parkash Singh Badal 26 March 1977 27 March 1977 2 days Shiromani Akali Dal
19 George Fernandes 28 March 1977 6 July 1977 100 days Janata Party
20  – Brij Lal Varma 6 July 1977 28 July 1979 2 years, 22 days
21 Charan Singh 28 July 1979 30 July 1979 2 days Charan Singh Janata Party (Secular)
22  – Zulfiquarullah

(I/C)

 30 July 1979 27 November 1979 120 days
(21) Charan Singh 27 November 1979 7 December 1979 10 days
23  – Shyam Nandan Mishra 7 December 1979 14 January 1980 38 days
(12) Indira Gandhi 15 January 1980 16 January 1980 1 day Indira Gandhi Indian National Congress
24 Bhishma Narain Singh 16 January 1980 3 March 1980 47 days
25  – C. M. Stephen 3 March 1980 2 September 1982 2 years, 183 days
26 Anant Prasad Sharma 2 September 1982 14 February 1983 165 days
(12) Indira Gandhi 14 February 1983 31 October 1984 1 year, 260 days
27 Rajiv Gandhi 31 October 1984 4 November 1984 4 days Rajiv Gandhi
28  – V. N. Gadgil 4 November 1984 31 December 1984 57 days
29 Ram Niwas Mirdha

(I/C)

 31 December 1984 22 October 1986 1 year, 295 days
30 Arjun Singh 22 October 1986 14 February 1988 1 year, 115 days
31  – Vasant Sathe 14 February 1988 25 June 1988 132 days
32  – Bir Bahadur Singh 25 June 1988 30 May 1989 339 days
(27) Rajiv Gandhi 31 May 1989 4 July 1989 34 days
33 Giridhar Gamang

(I/C)

 4 July 1989 2 December 1989 151 days
34 V. P. Singh 2 December 1989 6 December 1989 4 days V. P. Singh Janata Dal
35  – K.P. Unnikrishnan 6 December 1989 23 April 1990 138 days Congress (Secular)
36  – Janeshwar Mishra

(I/C)

 30 April 1990 5 November 1990 189 days Janata Dal
(34) V. P. Singh 6 November 1990 10 November 1990 4 days
37 Chandra Shekhar 10 November 1990 21 November 1990 11 days Chandra Shekhar Samajwadi Janata Party
38 Sanjay Singh

(I/C)

 22 November 1990 21 June 1991 211 days
39 Rajesh Pilot

(I/C)

 21 June 1991 17 January 1993 1 year, 210 days P. V. Narasimha Rao Indian National Congress
40  – Sukh Ram

(I/C)

 17 January 1993 16 May 1996 3 years, 120 days
41 Atal Bihari Vajpayee 16 May 1996 1 June 1996 16 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bharatiya Janata Party
42 Beni Prasad Verma

(I/C till 10 July 1996)

 1 June 1996 19 March 1998 1 year, 291 days Deve GowdaI. K. Gujral Samajwadi Party
(41) Atal Bihari Vajpayee 19 March 1998 21 March 1998 2 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bharatiya Janata Party
43 Buta Singh 21 March 1998 19 April 1998 11 days
(41) Atal Bihari Vajpayee 19 April 1998 20 April 1998 1 day
44 Sushma Swaraj 20 April 1998 11 October 1998 174 days
(41) Atal Bihari Vajpayee 11 October 1998 6 December 1998 56 days
45 Jagmohan 6 December 1998 8 June 1999 184 days
(41) Atal Bihari Vajpayee 8 June 1999 13 October 1999 127 days
46 Ram Vilas Paswan 13 October 1999 1 September 2001 1 year, 323 days Janata Dal (United)
47 Pramod Mahajan 1 September 2001 29 January 2003 1 year, 150 days Bharatiya Janata Party
48 Arun Shourie 29 January 2003 22 May 2004 1 year, 114 days
49 Dayanidhi Maran 23 May 2004 15 May 2007 2 years, 357 days Manmohan Singh Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
50 A. Raja 16 May 2007 14 November 2010 3 years, 182 days
51 Manmohan Singh 15 November 2010 19 January 2011 65 days Indian National Congress
52 Kapil Sibal 19 January 2011 26 May 2014 3 years, 127 days
53 Ravi Shankar Prasad 26 May 2014 5 July 2016 2 years, 40 days Narendra Modi Bharatiya Janata Party
Ministry of Communications
54 Manoj Sinha

(I/C)

 5 July 2016 30 May 2019 2 years, 329 days Narendra Modi Bharatiya Janata Party
(53) Ravi Shankar Prasad 30 May 2019 7 July 2021 2 years, 38 days
55 Ashwini Vaishnaw 7 July 2021 Incumbent 2 years, 190 days

List of ministers of state

Ministers of State For Communications
Minister of state Portrait Political party Term Days
Sanjay Dhotre Bharatiya Janata Party 30 May 2019 7 July 2021 769 days
Devusinh Chauhan 7 July 2021 Incumbent 920 days

References

  1. ↑ "Union Budget 2021-22" (PDF). indiabudget.gov.in. 2022.
  2. ↑ "Centre Bifurcates Communication Ministry; New Ministry For Information Technology", NDTV, 21 July 2016
  3. ↑ "Homepage". www.tec.gov.in.
  4. ↑ "Telephone Advisory Committees (TACs)". dot.gov.in. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Raghuram Rajan went ahead with TAC view on interest rate". moneycontrol.com. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "BSNL holds second TAC meeting". tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  7. ↑ "BSNL to provide 3G connectivity to Lasalgaon, Satana". Times of India. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "Circular" (PDF). dot.gov.in.
  9. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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