Every November, 75-year-old Shakuntala Devi has to travel long distance to the nearest State Bank of India branch to get a “life Certificate” for her pension. The certificate is a proof that she is alive to avail her pension from the Government. She does not have an account in that branch of SBI, hence, convincing the branch manager to give a certificate is a tough task. Not anymore. Her ordeal is going to get over soon, as the Prime Minister on Monday launched a new “Jeevan Pramaan” scheme - an Aadhar-based Digital life Certificate for pensioners.
launching the scheme, the PM said that after the push towards self-certification, this digital life certificate was another enabling mechanism which would benefit the common man. The move is expected to benefit over a crore pensioners employed with both state and central governments.
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. The Department of Electronics and Information Technology has developed a software application which will enable the recording of the pensionerRss 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 earlier requirement entailed that a pensioner either personally presents 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. Over 25 lakh retired personnel draw pension from the Armed Forces. The Aadhar-Based Digital life Certificate will go a long way in reducing hardship which so many senior citizens have to go through to produce a life Certificate every year.
The software application system will be made available to pensioners and other stakeholders on a large scale at no extra cost. It can be operated on a personal computer or a smartphone, along with an inexpensive biometric reading device.
This facility will also be made available at Common Service Centres being operated under the National e-Governance Plan, for the benefit of pensioners residing in remote and inaccessible areas.