As the nation celebrates its 73rd Republic Day today, India Post will showcase the department’s services to the nation at Rajpath in New Delhi in front of a 24,000-strong crowd. Women empowerment will be the central theme of the department’s R-Day tableau. The model postal employee standing in the front of the tableau is based on postwoman Namrata Khote, 26, of Mumbai GPO. Of the India Post payments bank and post office savings bank, nearly 50 per cent of account holders are women. 

Swati Pandey, the postmaster general of Mumbai region and who has been involved with the design of the tableau, said, “When the department nominated me to design the theme and make a projection, I thought that since Mumbai and overall Maharashtra has been the frontrunner in empowering women, the tableau should reflect that. A lot of young women had joined the department and this was a male bastion since delivering mails requires physical efforts.”