In a big relief to over a crore retired employees of government and PSUs, a pensioner can now digitally provide proof of his existence to authorities for continuity of pension every year instead of requiring to present himself physically or through a Life Certificate issued by specified authorities.
The “ Jeevan Pramaan ” scheme, an Aadhar-based Digital Life Certificate for pensioners, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, is one more enabling mechanism for the benefit of the common man after the push towards self-certification.
“The proposed digital certification will do away with the requirement of a pensioner having to submit a physical Life Certificate in November each year, in order to ensure continuity of pension being credited into his account,” a PMO statement said.
The Department of Electronics and IT has developed a software application which will enable the recording of the pensioner’s Aadhar number and biometric details from his mobile device or computer, by plugging in a biometric reading device.
Key details of the pensioner, including date, time, and biometric information, will be uploaded to a central database on real-time basis, ultimately enabling the pension disbursing agency to access a Digital Life Certificate.
This will conclusively establish that the pensioner was alive at the time of authentication, the statement said.
The earlier requirement entailed that a pensioner either personally present himself before the pension disbursing agency, or submits a Life Certificate issued by authorities specified by the Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO).
At present, 50 lakh individuals draw pension from the central government alone. A similar number draw pension from State and Union Territory governments. Several PSUs also provide pension benefits besides which over 25 lakh retired personnel draw pension from the Armed Forces.
