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What is the full form of UPU, a specialised agency of the United Nations?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option D — Universal Postal Union
Detailed Solution
UPU stands for the "Universal Postal Union", a specialised agency of the United Nations that coordinates postal policies among member nations.
About the UPU:
It was established on 9 October 1874 by the "Treaty of Bern", signed by 22 countries. It was first called the "General Postal Union" and was renamed the Universal Postal Union in 1878.
It was set up mainly on the initiative of Heinrich von Stephan, a senior official of the German postal service.
It is the second-oldest international organisation, after the International Telecommunication Union (ITU, 1865).
Its headquarters is in Bern, Switzerland.
It became a specialised agency of the United Nations in 1948.
It has 192 member countries.
India joined the UPU on 1 July 1876.
Its work:
- It created a single postal territory for the exchange of letters and parcels among its members, with common rates and rules.
- It sets rules for international mail and for payments between postal administrations.
- It promotes postal services, financial inclusion through post offices and e-commerce delivery.
- It holds a "Universal Postal Congress" every four years.
World Post Day:
It is observed on 9 October, the anniversary of the UPU's founding. It was declared at the UPU Congress in Tokyo in 1969.
India observes "National Postal Week" from 9 to 15 October, and "National Postal Day" on 10 October.
About India Post:
It has the largest postal network in the world, with about 1.6 lakh post offices, most of them in rural areas.
The first post office in India was set up in Calcutta in 1774 by Warren Hastings. India's first postage stamp, the "Scinde Dawk", was issued in 1852 in Sindh.
The "PIN code" (Postal Index Number) system of six digits was introduced on 15 August 1972.
The "India Post Payments Bank" (IPPB) was launched in 2018.
In 2025, India Post introduced "DIGIPIN", a digital address code based on geographic coordinates.
Why not the other options?
- ✗"United Postal Union" is not the correct name.
- ✗"Universal Peace Union" is not related to the UN postal agency.
- ✗"United Parcel Union" is not the correct name.
Quick tip
Remember: UPU = Universal Postal Union (9 October 1874, Treaty of Bern; HQ Bern; UN agency 1948; India joined 1876); World Post Day = 9 October; PIN code = 1972; first stamp = Scinde Dawk (1852).
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International Economic Organisations — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of International Economic Organisations, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers international economic and financial organisations: the IMF, the World Bank group, the WTO, the Asian Development Bank, the New Development Bank, the AIIB, OPEC, the OECD and groupings such as the G20, along with their headquarters, founding and functions. Questions usually ask where an organisation is headquartered, when it was set up, and what it does. For example, the IMF and World Bank were created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, the WTO replaced GATT in 1995, and the New Development Bank, set up by the BRICS countries, is headquartered in Shanghai. Practise the international economic organisations questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.