The Changing Role of Post Office in the Socio-Economic Development in Pakistan: A Case Study of Tehsil Jhelum

Abstract

Socio-economic development in the rural Punjab of Pakistan has symmetrical and functional relationships with different institutions. The study which is based on the empirical data collected from the same area, specifies that the institutional and functional upshot of the postal services in far flung rural areas of Punjab have elicited the socio-economic development and this thesis thrashes out a positive correlation of these functional relationships. The Post was primarily meant for collection and delivery of mail, but with the passage of time, a gargantuan change was witnessed in its role which had certain overt and vivid raisons d'etre. The basic objective of this study was to explore and identify the circumstances under which the Post was coerced to acclimatize to the changing scenario. The empirical research identified that certain social contexts are embedded within the institutional interaction of postal services, local communities and the social building blocks are the main driving forces behind these core relationships. This thesis makes a note that the Post Office, because of its unrnatchable accessibility in the countryside and due to its social capital, commands relatively higher reverence and immense level of trust of the local communities. The social institution of economy has been triggered by the postal services which have functionally facilitated other social institutions in the process of socio-economic development. The local community, as per empirical evidences, has benefited through postal savings, local and foreign remittances in meeting their routine outlay. The services rendered by the Post in educational enhancement with the collaboration of distance learning system and in poverty eradication whereby marginalized segment of society has achieved economic empowerment, are socially recognized. Thus, the association of the Post and the local communities is based on mutual accommodation.