As said by Union minister Dr.Jitendra Singh, India wide pensioners have been made to be benefitted by the authorization of Face authentication technology and Digital Life Certificate through camps all over India from 1st to 19th November 2022.
|All the registered Pensioners’ Associations, Pension Disbursing Banks, Ministries of Government of India and CGHS Centers had been directed to promote the Digital Life Certificate/Face Authentication Technique for giving Life Certificate by organizing special camps for ‘Ease of Living’ of pensioners.
As submission of Life Certificates is an important activity to be carried out by pensioners every year in the month of November (with special provision for pensioners aged 80 years and above to submit their Life Certificates in the month of October) to ensure continuity of their pension. in the traditional mode, by physical presence at Pension Disbursing Authority by waiting at the bank branches in queues for this purpose which was found inconvenient for the old, ailing and infirm pensioners. So this digital method was opted.
The nation-wide campaign was conducted by the officials of DoPPW with the help of State Bank of India (SBI) & Punjab National Bank (PNB), who sponsored the campaign sites. The campaign saw the active participation of registered Central Government Pensioner Associations, the representatives of Indian Post & Payment Bank (IPPB), Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), National Informatics Centre (NIC) as well as Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) in every city.
Secretary, Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare and DARPG, V. Srinivas said on the occasion that to enhance ‘Ease of Living’ for Central Government pensioners, DoPPW has been promoting Digital Life Certificate i.e. Jeevan Pramaan extensively. He said, initially submission of DLCs using biometrics was commenced and thereafter the Department roped in the 50 registered Pensioners’ Associations in different cities to promote DLCs.
The Department further associated the Indian Post & Payment Bank (IPPB) to include DLC among one of the door-step services provided through the agency of its Gramin Dak Sevaks, numbering more than 1,90,000. Pension disbursing Banks were also asked to adopt the methodology of video based KYV method of Life Certification and a consortium of 12 Banks asked to provide door-step service for DLC. In order to prevent super senior pensioners aged 80 years and above, DoPPW issued orders permitting this age group to give their LC from October 1 itself in order to provide them an exclusive window and avoid rush at various pension disbursing bank branches. Indian Embassies/Consulates were advised to assist Pensioners living overseas who can now also give a DLC by receiving an OTP on their email.
Based on the feedback received of the Face Authentication App developed for this purpose, NIC was quick to respond and incorporate the same. For example, the life certificate could be opened in the App after receiving an OTP and downloading the same. But because of feedback received from pensioners, the Life Certificate can be accessed immediately after keying in the OTP.
