New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) Nearly 40 lakh digital life certificates (DLCs) have been generated by pensioners within the first five days of the start of a special campaign, surpassing last year's achievement during the corresponding period, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday.
Pensioners are required to submit a life certificate annually for continuation of pension. With DLC, this process can be done digitally through "Jeevan Pramaan", a biometric-enabled digital service.
The nationwide DLC campaign 5.0 is being done from November 1 to 30. Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, on Friday launched the campaign.
Nearly 40 lakh digital life certificates have been generated in the first five days of the campaign against approximately 25 lakh during the corresponding period last year, registering a 60 per cent increase, he said.
Face authentication adoption has surged from 61 per cent to nearly 80 per cent during the same period, reflecting growing confidence among pensioners in technology-enabled pension services, he said.
Singh said the overwhelming response demonstrates how digital innovation is transforming pensioners' ease of living while making governance more accessible, convenient and dignified for elderly citizens.
Addressing a press conference here, the minister said that the campaign has progressively evolved into a nationwide movement, bringing together government departments, pension disbursing banks, pensioners' associations and families to facilitate seamless pension-related services.
Singh said that the fundamental objective of the campaign is to ensure ease of living for elderly citizens, adding that India's changing demographic and socio-economic landscape makes pensioners an increasingly important segment of society.
The number of central government pensioners has now reached nearly 70 lakh against approximately 50 lakh working employees, reversing the earlier situation when the number of working employees was around 55–60 lakh and pensioners approximately 50 lakh, the minister said.
The minister said increasing life expectancy and improved health conditions have created a new opportunity to harness the experience, expertise and potential of senior citizens for nation-building. Many employees retire at the age of 60 when they are still at the prime of their health, experience and professional capabilities, he added.
In the context of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Viksit Bharat, Singh said elderly citizens must be actively engaged in nation-building by ensuring their comfort, health and financial security, enabling them to contribute their potential to constructive national endeavours.
He emphasised the need to build a healthy synergy between the younger and older generations as partners in India's development journey.
Tracing the evolution of digital life certificates, Singh said the government initially relied on conventional life certificates, followed by biometric authentication through fingerprints, before introducing face authentication technology to address limitations faced by elderly pensioners.
He said face recognition technology has emerged as a convenient and accessible solution, enabling pensioners to generate digital life certificates through a mobile phone without the need to visit banks or offices.
The minister said that out of 1.92 crore digital life certificates generated last year, approximately 1.17 crore were through face authentication, demonstrating the growing preference for this technology among pensioners.
Singh said the campaign has increasingly become a “whole of government” and “whole of society” movement, with pensioners' welfare associations and family members playing an active role in facilitating digital life certificates.
He said the campaign's growing acceptance reflects the collective participation of government institutions, pensioners and society in advancing citizen-centric governance.
Secretary, Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, Nivedita Shukla Verma, said the digital life certificate campaign is being pursued with the objectives of pensioners' welfare, ease of living, digital empowerment and dignity of pensioners, while advancing the government's vision of minimum government and maximum governance.
She said the campaign provides pensioners with a quick, convenient and accessible interface, reducing the need for repeated visits and procedural difficulties. Nearly 3,000 locations are being covered through camps, with special efforts to reach pensioners in remote areas.
Doorstep services have also been arranged for pensioners unable to visit camps, ensuring that the campaign reaches elderly citizens irrespective of mobility or geographical constraints, Verma said.
Friday's event was attended by Chairman and CEO, Railway Board, Satish Kumar; Secretary, Department of Posts, Subrat Das; Controller General of Defence Accounts, Alka Nangia Arora; Controller General of Communication Accounts, Vandana Gupta; and CEO, UIDAI, Saurabh Vijay, among others.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)