Over 2.1 mn central govt pensioners used digital life certificates: Centre

Over 21 lakh central government pensioners have used digital life certificate (DLC) facility, the Centre said on Wednesday.

The biometric-enabled digital service does away with the requirement for pensioners of the central or state governments or any other government organisation to submit their physical life certificate every November in order to ensure continuity of their pension.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW) under the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions had launched a nationwide campaign to promote DLCs for central government pensioners.

All the registered pensioners' associations, pension disbursing banks, central ministries and Central Government Health Scheme centres had been directed to promote DLCs by organising special camps, DoPPW said in a statement.

The face authentication technology was launched by Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh.

From November 1-15, special awareness camps were organised in different cities, including Delhi, Noida, Chandigarh, Mohali, Jammu, Srinagar, Nagpur, Pune, Allahabad, Jalandhar, Gwalior, Trissur, Madurai, Nagercoil, Vadodara and Ahmedabad.

Due to increasing awareness, face authentication has become more popular and DLCs are being widely accepted, the statement said.

Till November 15, 21.01 lakh central government pensioners used DLCs successfully, in which 1.83 lakh DLCs were created through face authentication, it said.

The ministry said it will conduct 22 awareness camps in different parts of the country in the next two weeks.

State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank sponsored the campaign sites.