The Centre’s campaign to ease life for pensioners has made considerable progress with over 77 lakh Digital Life Certificates (DLCs) being issued to them nationwide by the end of second week of its launch, it was announced on Monday.
As many as 1,77,153 pensioners covered under the Digital Life Certificate (DLC) Campaign 3.0 are above 90 years old while 17,212 pensioners are in the 80–90 years category, according to an official statement.
Advanced authentication methods such as face recognition contributed to 24 lakh certificates, making up 34 per cent of the total DLCs generated, official figures show.
The aged pensioners were able to submit the DLCs from the comfort of their home or in offices or bank branches located close by.
The SBI and PNB banks are leading the campaign by generating more than 9 lakh DLCs by the end of second week of the month-long campaign, while Canara Bank and Central Bank of India registered impressive performances by generating 1 lakh and 57,000 DLCs, respectively.
State-wise, Maharashtra led the way with over 10 lakh certificates generated, followed by Tamil Nadu and West Bengal 6 lakh each. Uttar Pradesh has also done well with more than 5 lakh DLCs.
The campaign is being held in 800 cities and towns from November 1-30 with 1575 camps being set up at these sites. As many as 1.8 lakh postmen have also been deployed across the country to help implement the campaign.
Launched on November 6, it aims to bring convenience and accessibility to pensioners across the nation with the participation of banking institutions, and government agencies to work towards a digitally empowered India.
“Jeevan Pramaan is the vision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for digital empowerment of pensioners. All key stakeholders – Pension disbursing banks, Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare, Controller General of Defence Accounts, Ministry of Railways, Department of Telecom, Department of Posts, IIPB, UIDAI and Pensioners Welfare Associations are working with whole of government approach to realise the vision of Digital Empowerment of Pensioners,” the statement said.
The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare has stepped up efforts to create awareness amongst all pensioners regarding DLC-Face Authentication technique through banners and posters placed strategically in offices and all bank branches as well as ATMs.
All banks have created a team of dedicated staff at their branches having downloaded the desired apps in their smartphones for submission of life certificates by the pensioners.
In case, the pensioners are not able to visit the branches due to old age or illness, bank officials are visiting their homes to help them out, according to the government.
(IANS)