As a major relief to senior citizens, the Life Certificate submission date has been extended for Pensioners up to February 28, 2021. This important concession for Central government pensioners has been made by the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) in view of the difficulties faced by the elder citizens in the wake of COVID pandemic. Disclosing this here today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh, who is also In-Charge Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, said that this decision has been taken considering all the sensitivities to avoid pandemic risk emanating from gathering of crowds at the Pension Disbursing Banks. In addition to this, he informed that the pensioners above the age of 80 years were given an exclusive window from 1 October, 2020 onward to submit their Life Certificate so as to avoid major rush likely to happen from the opening date of 1 November, 2020 onwards. Dr. Jitendra Singh said, while the Annual Life Certificate is mandatory for the continuation of pension, the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare recently took an innovative decision to rope in the Indian Post Payments Bank (IPPB) to facilitate Digital Life Certificate (DLC). The IPPB, he informed, is now helping to collect the Digital Life Certificate from the home of the pensioners through 1,89,000 Postmen and Gramin Dak Sewaks. This has come as a great comfort to pensioners, especially those residing in rural areas, he added. The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, has also started a campaign to extend support to the aged or infirmed pensioners in submission of Life Certificate digitally from home. Other modes of submitting the Life Certificate from home, such as by attaching biometric device to a Personal Computer or Mobile are also in operation, he said. After a deep and sensitive review, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare noted certain inconveniences being experienced by senior citizens on account of changing biometrics due to age. To overcome this age-related scientific hazard, all the Pensioners Disbursing Banks have been advised to adopt Video-based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP) as an additional facility for obtaining Life Certificate from the pensioners, within the permissible RBI guidelines, he said. In a major technical breakthrough, Dr. Jitendra Singh informed that the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare is on the verge of soon introducing the Face-Recognition technology to submit Digital Life Certificate through a simple Android phone without attaching any biometric device. As per this facility, he said, it would be possible to establish the identity of a person through the face-recognition technique.
