Did you know that the world’s first official airmail delivery took place in…
2025
Did you know that the world’s first official airmail delivery took place in India in 1911, only 8 years after the invention of airplanes?
On February 18, 1911, French pilot Henri Pequet carried the first official mail flown by airplane. Pequet carried a sack with about 6,000 cards and letters on his Humber biplane. The flight covered a distance of five miles, from Allahabad polo field to Naini across the Yamuna river. All mails received a special parcel depicting an airplane, mountains, and - “First Aerial Post, 1911, U.P. Exhibition Allahabad” written on it.
On October 1, 2024, India Post celebrated 170 years of service. Originally started by the British East India Company and known as ‘Company Mail’, India Post was brought under the Crown as a service in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856. However, the history of postal systems in India goes back to the Maurya period, particularly the reign of Chandragupta Maurya circa 300 BCE.
Some historians believe that Chandragupta introduced an early postal system in India, using carrier pigeons to communicate between the different provinces of his vast empire stretching from Karnataka in the South to Afghanistan in the North, and Nagaland in the East to Eastern Iran in the West. This early postal system was most probably introduced to India by Alexander III of Macedon, who used it widely during his military campaigns after adopting it from the ancient Persians, who trained and used carrier pigeons as messengers as early as the 5th Century BCE. Carrier pigeons remained the primary mode of long-distance communication in India over the next thousand years. They were used extensively by rulers from the Maurya emperor Ashoka (302-234 BCE) to the Mughal emperor Babur (1483-1530 CE).
How many years has India Post been in service for ?
- A.
170 years
- B.
Since 1 Oct, 2024
- C.
150 years
- D.
Since 1921
Attempted by 8 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
When a passage-based question asks “how many years” something has existed, the answer is the specific duration the passage itself states — not a calendar date mentioned alongside it, and not a similar-looking number tied to a different organisation's anniversary.
Application
The passage states directly: “On October 1, 2024, India Post celebrated 170 years of service.” It also explains that India Post was brought under Crown administration in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie.
India Post became a Crown-administered service in 1854.
The anniversary described in the passage falls in 2024.
2024 − 1854 = 170 years, matching the figure the passage states.
Cross-check
Government of India Department of Posts and PIB press releases from October 2024 independently confirm that India Post marked “170 years of service,” corroborating the passage's own figure with an external, authoritative source.
Contrast
“Since 1 Oct, 2024” names the anniversary date itself, not a span of years — it does not answer “how many years.”
“150 years” is the milestone tied to the Universal Postal Union's own 2024 anniversary (150 years since its 1874 founding), a different organisation's history, not India Post's.
“Since 1921” does not correspond to any date the passage links to India Post's founding or its transfer to Crown administration.