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 Aadhaar-based Digital Life Certificate for pensioners, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, 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.