Menu
SUNDAY WEEKLY ISSUE #11 
Oh, and we will also tell you the heart-breaking story of the little boy Amal from Rabindranath Tagore's, The Post Office.
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER
BEFORE YOU DIG IN... Is your money safe with the post office?
The answer to that question can be found in this passage from "The Post Office of India and its Story", 1918, Geoffrey Clarke.
"An Indian coolie in Burma, who has saved a few hundred rupees and wants to return to his village, seldom carries the money on his person, and he has a strange mistrust for banks; He usually goes to a post office and sends to himself a money order addressed to the post office nearest his own home and then he is satisfied. It may be months before he turns up to claim the money, as he frequently gets a job on the way back or spends some time at a place of pilgrimage, but he knows that his money is safe enough."
It was true in 1918, it is true more than 100 years later today in 2020. THE POST OFFICE - SCENE 1 (By Rabindranath Tagore) 
Madhav and his wife have adopted Amal, a little boy who lost both of his parents. The poor boy has a medical condition which has made him very sick. The doctor who comes in to see him says to Madhav that the boy needs to be kept indoors to protect him from the wind and sun. Heartbroken, Madhav tells Gaffer, his friend, that the boy may not live very long. Amal yearns to go out, climb the hills and go up the streams wading through water. But Madhav tells the boy that the learned doctor has said that he should not be going out.
So, Amal sits by his little window peeping out into the world. A dairyman passes by shouting, “Curds, curds, good nice curds”. Amal calls him asking the dairyman to tell him about his village up the hills by the river. The boy gawks dreamily as the dairyman describes it to him. Amal tells him that when he gets well, he too will become a dairyman carrying curd along the red road by the banyan tree hawking it from cottage to cottage.
The watchman passes by next and Amal calls him. The boy asks him, “what's going on there in that big house on the other side?”. The watchman says, “Oh, there? That's our King’s Post Office.” The watchman says to Amal, “One fine day there may be a letter for you in there from the king”. The boy’s curiosity knows no limits. He enquires out about the postmen who go across the country delivering letters from one house to another. Amal tells the watchman that that’s what he will be when he grows up, a post man. POST OFFICE SAVINGS SCHEMES
QUICK SUMMARY - POST OFFICE SAVINGS SCHEMES SCHEME INTEREST RATE Post office savings account 4.0% 1, 2 & 3 Years Time Deposit 5.5% 5 Year Time Deposit 6.7% 5 Year Recurring Deposit 5.8% Monthly Income Account 6.6% National Savings Certificate (NSC) 6.8% Public Provident Fund 7.1% Kisan Vikas Patra 6.9% Sukanya Sanriddhi Account 7.6% THE POST OFFICE - SCENE 2 (By Rabindranath Tagore) 
The village headman passes by and Amal calls him. He asks the headman if he’d tell the postmen that it is Amal who sits by the window in case there is a letter for him from the king.
Sudha, the daughter of the flower-seller passes by next. She tells Amal that she picks flowers from the trees and the boy tells her that he wishes to be out with her as well. Sudha promises to come back and let him have a flower.
A bunch of boys pass by the road and Amal pleads them to come and play in front of the window. He offers them all the toys he has and watches them play with it. Amal asks them about the postmen and the boys tell him that the King’s postmen will surely find him if Amal’s name is on the letter.
Gaffer, Madhav’s friend, comes to see Amal dressed up as a fakir. He tells the boy about the Isle of Parrots he’s has just been to, the magical land, a haunt of birds where there are no men, no speaking nor walking – just birds flying and singing. The boy imagines the place to be by the sea with water falling down the hill on little pebbles. Amal says, “I can see it all: there, the King's postman coming down the hillside alone, a lantern in his left hand and on his back a bag of letters climbing down for ever so long, for days and nights, and where at the foot of the mountain the waterfall becomes a stream he takes to the footpath on the bank and walks on through the rye. I can feel him coming nearer and nearer and my heart becomes glad.”
Just then, the village headman walks into the room with a letter in his hand. POST OFFICE INSURANCE SCHEMES Pradhan Mantri JeevanJyoti Bima Yojna(PMJJBY) is a rather simple and easy to get life insurance policy offered by LIC and marketed through banks. The post office also offers this scheme. For a total coverage of Rs.2 Lakhs, an insurance premium of Rs.330 is charged per year. People between the age of 18 and 50 can join the scheme.
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna(PMSBY) is the government’s accident insurance scheme offered by LIC and marketed through the post office. All savings bank account holders between the age of 18 and 70 can join the scheme to get coverage for death/disability due to an accident up to a maximum value of Rs.2 Lakhs. The premium charged is Rs.12 per year and covers death, loss of eye(s), hand(s) or leg(s).
Postal Life Insurance Schemes - Apart from these, the post office offers their own in-house insurance schemes to most employed individuals. There are 5 different endowment schemes in offer depending upon what you want - Suraksha, Santosh, Suvidha, Sumangal & Yugal Suraksha (we want them all 🙂 ). A quick calculation suggests that some of these schemes (whole life assurance Suraksha) can be cheaper than that offered by mainstream insurance companies. However, some of them like the endowment assurance (Santosh) are intended to be more of a savings product than insurance.
Which one should you buy? That entirely depends on what you want. Our recommendation for a young individual looking to get insurance is this - Buy a term life insurance policy that will cover your family’s expenses and any outstanding obligations till at least 5 years before the age of your retirement. While endowment policies have the benefit of a guaranteed payback in case of survival, the premium tends to be higher than term insurance policies and the rate of return offered in such policies are typically lower than what you will get if you invest your money in an equity mutual fund.
Remember the formula Long term returns from (Endowment policy) < (Term insurance + Equity Mutual Fund) QUIZ True or false – “It is possible to buy mutual funds from post office.” THE POST OFFICE - SCENE 3 (By Rabindranath Tagore) 
Just then, the village headman walks into the room with a letter in his hand from the king. The fakir reads the letter to Amal and says that the King is coming to see him tonight. The king’s herald walks in and says that the king has sent for his best physician to attend to his young friend. The boy’s face starts looking paler and paler by the hour. The king’s physician arrives, opens up the curtains and the windows and lets the light from the moon and stars in. He asks Amal if he will be able to go with the king when he arrives. Amal says that he has been dying to be out & about for so long.
The little boy looks at Madhav and says, “I shall ask the king to make me one of his postmen that I may wander far and wide, delivering his message from door to door.” The physician asks everybody in the room to be quiet.
He says, “Sleep is coming over him. I'll sit by his pillow; he's dropping into slumber.” Sudha walks into the room with flowers in her hand for Amal. “He’s asleep”, says the physician. “When will he be awake?”, asks Sudha. “Directly when the king comes and calls him” Sudha says, “Will you whisper a word for me in his ear?” “What shall I say?”, says the physician. “Tell him Sudha has not forgotten him PO PENSION SCHEMES & OTHER SCHEMES FOR SENIOR CITIZENS Pension Schemes
For Pensioners and Other Senior Citizens
Other services
ANSWER TO QUIZ TRUE It is indeed possible to buy some mutual funds from some post offices. Select schemes of UTI mutual fund are being marketed through the post office. The agency recently won an award from UTI and CNBC for enabling last mile access for mutual funds in India. QUOTE FROM AMRITA BAZAR PATRIKA, 1879 Spot the error 🙂 
Share with friends and family
From the writer in me, to the reader in you ♥
Follow us on instagram here
© EveryFin.in, 2020, All rights reserved. You are receiving this e-mail because you subscribed to the weekly Sunday newsletter at everyfin.in. To unsubscribe,
Disclaimer : All content published on this newsletter or on any other post on everyfin.in are meant to be for information & education purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell securities. Please do your own due diligence or consult with your financial advisor before making any investment decision. While the information published on everyfin.in and the newsletters are obtained from reliable sources, neither the author, the publisher nor any of their affiliates guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any such information.
|
