Very few pensioners opt for digital life certificates

One would think that the option of submitting a digital life certificate would make a pensioner’s life easy, considering it saves the bother of travelling to the disbursing centre every year, irrespective of where he/she lives and their health conditions.

However, in Karnataka, including in the IT capital of Bengaluru, the Union government’s ambitious Jeevan Pramaan scheme to allow pensioners this option has very few takers. In Bengaluru, those opting for digital certificates have not even reached the double digit.

Though the scheme was rolled out in 2014, the number of pensioners opting for biometric-enabled digital certificate has not crossed 1,000 across the State, according to an official in the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Kozhikode, which is overseeing its implementation in Karnataka and Kerala. The Central government pensioners alone number close to two lakh in Karnataka, besides State government, and armed forces pensioners.

A representative of the lone Common Service Centre (CSC) run by NIELIT in Bengaluru said they were unable to enrol more than five to six pensioners ever since they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NIELIT a year ago. “There is no demand for digital certificates. So, we have discontinued issuing them,” he said.

Jeevan Pramaan gives pensioners an option to submit a digital certificate instead of presenting themselves physically once a year before the pension disbursing agency, which in most cases is the bank. It is useful for sick and infirm pensioners and those who have relocated to a different city.

NIELIT, an autonomous body of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, has identified 39 CSCs and equipped them with a biometric reading device. This is uploaded to the central database, which is made accessible to the pension disbursing agency.

Ashok S. Kololgi, Secretary of Karnataka Central Government Pensioners’ Association, told The Hindu that pensioners are not even aware of the existence of CSCs. They should be spread across the city to enable pensioners to go to the nearest one, he said. Also, banks should also have the infrastructure to issue these certificates, he said.

However, NIELIT officials said private agencies do not come forward to take up the work as they need to collect no more than Rs. 10 for each enrolment.

“Earlier, the remuneration for each enrolment by the CSC was Rs. 50, but it has now been brought down to Rs. 10. The CSCs will have to sign a MoU with us,” the official said.

Though NIELIT officials said banks that volunteer to enrol pensioners for Jeevan Pramaan scheme will also be given the biometric reading device, many pensioners said their banks insisted on their physical presence for the life certificate.

Pensioners have to produce Aadhaar card, pension payment order number, bank account number, bank name, and mobile number

Jeevan Pramaan scheme uses Aadhaar platform for biometric authentication of pensioner

Details available at NIELIT, Kozhikode (0495-2287266)