Lok Sabha Question No. 1429 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-10
Subject: Life Certificate of Pensioners
Ministry: PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
Asked by: Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, Pushpendra Singh Chandel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS (DEPARTMENT OF PENSION & PENSIONERS' WELFARE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1429

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.02.2021)

## LIFE CERTIFICATE OF PENSIONERS

## †1429. SHRIMATI MALA RAJYA LAXMI SHAH: SHRI KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken appropriate technical and administrative measures for providing  Life  Certificate  easily  to  the  old  age  pensioners  to  be  furnished  by  them  to concerned institution/bank;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has taken cognizance of the fact that old and differently abled pensioners  face  difficulty  in  submitting  Life  Certificate  through  online  mode  and therefore have to submit Life Certificate to their concerned institution/bank by presenting themselves mandatorily; and
- (d) whether the Government proposes to take any steps to provide the facility of submitting Life  Certificate  to  the  old  and  differently  abled  pensioners  through  phone  or  at  their doorstep by sending the persons from the concerned institution/bank to collect the said certificate?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

(a)  &  (b):  Yes,  the  Government  has  taken  many  technical  and  administrative  measures  for providing Life Certificate easily to the old age pensioners to concerned institutions/banks. The details are as under:-

-  Keeping in view the difficulties faced by very senior citizens aged 80 years and above, an exclusive  window  from  1st  October  onwards,  has  been  provided  to  them  to  avoid  the general rush from 1st November onwards.
-  Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare  started a Pilot Programme 'DLC from home campaign' in 2018 in 7 cities through Pensioners' Associations. The objective of the campaign was to extend support to aged and infirm pensioners in submission of Life Certificate digitally from home. In 2019, this project was expanded to cover 24 cities and this  has  continued  up  to  2021  as  well,  with  the  help  of  Registered  Pensioners' Associations

-  Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare roped in the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)  and  utilize  its  huge  network  of  Postmen  and  Gramin  Dak  Sevaks  in  providing doorstep  facility  to  pensioners  for  submission  of  life  certificate  digitally.  As  a  result  a huge number of pensioners across the country shall be able to avail doorstep service through Postmen/ Gramin Dak Sevak, without visiting to bank branch or standing in a queue outside the bank branches by paying a nominal amount.

(c)  &  (d):    Yes,  The  major  issues  reported  regarding  authentication  processes  of  Digital/Life Certificates is non capturing of finger bio-metrics due to aging. Keeping in view the difficulties have been reported in capturing through finger print devices,  IRIS enabled devices have been provided by this department to Pensioners' Associations which is more effective and convenient. Department  of  Pension  and  Pensioners'  Welfare  is  also  instrumental  in  roping  in  an  Alliance comprising  12  Public  Sector  Banks  which  does  'Doorstep  Banking'  for  its  customers  in  100 major  cities  of  the  country  under  Ease  of  banking  reforms.  As  a  result,  Public  Sector  Banks (PSB) Alliance has introduced the service for collection of Life Certificates under the umbrella of Doorstep Banking. This Department also issued instructions, whereby the Banks were directed to resort to Video based Customer Identification Process for obtaining a Life Certificate within the guidelines of RBI which will obviate the need to resort to a bio-metric enabled device.

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