Technology-driven pension services have improved efficiency while reducing manpower and financial costs, Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr. Jitendra Singh said on Monday, stressing the need to use technology and pensioners’ feedback to make the system simpler and more responsive.
Addressing the 9th National ANUBHAV Awards Ceremony, 2026 and the 60th Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop at Vigyan Bhawan, Singh said retiring and retired government employees should be treated as a national asset whose experience can help identify gaps in governance and improve administrative practices.
The Minister conferred the National ANUBHAV Awards on five awardees and presented Jury Awards during the ceremony. He also released the Handbook on Pension Mitra, the Anubhav Awardees’ Citation Booklet and the Guidelines for the Nationwide Digital Life Certificate Campaign-5. A short film on the 2026 ANUBHAV awardees was also screened.
Singh said the ANUBHAV initiative, launched in 2015 under the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was designed to preserve the professional experiences of government employees and use them to improve governance.
He said ANUBHAV had evolved beyond being an awards programme and had become an important source of institutional learning. Experiences shared by retired employees can help the government identify systemic shortcomings and improve policies and administrative procedures based on ground-level realities.
Pension rules being simplified
The Minister said the government has continued to simplify pension procedures in response to changing administrative and social requirements. Unnecessary provisions have been removed from pension forms and cumbersome processes have been replaced with simpler procedures.
He also highlighted recent measures to strengthen family pension provisions, including provisions relating to eligible daughters and other family members, to better reflect contemporary social realities.
Singh said pension reforms must remain a continuous process, guided by experience, feedback and changing social needs. He urged retiring employees and pensioners to continue sharing suggestions to help improve pension services.
Digital Life Certificate eases burden on elderly
The Minister highlighted the transformation brought about by the Digital Life Certificate and Face Authentication initiatives, which have reduced the need for elderly pensioners to undergo physical verification.
He said the digital initiatives have also developed into wider public campaigns involving banks, government departments, pensioners’ associations and family members, who assist senior citizens in submitting their Digital Life Certificates.
Technology-driven pension services, he said, have simultaneously increased convenience for pensioners and reduced the administrative burden on the government.
Singh also referred to Pension Adalats, which facilitate on-the-spot resolution of grievances, and efforts to resolve pension-related issues at their source to reduce litigation.
He said the Bhavishya portal and other technology-enabled initiatives had further simplified pension processing and service delivery, while efforts were also underway to integrate pension-related services and information for easier access by pensioners.
Retiring employees’ experience can contribute to nation-building
Singh said the Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop was based on the understanding that employees retiring at the age of 60 often remain in good health and possess decades of valuable professional experience.
Instead of allowing this expertise to remain untapped after retirement, he said, the government was creating avenues through which their knowledge, skills and experience could continue contributing to nation-building.
The 60th Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop brought together around 800 Government of India officials in the National Capital Region who are scheduled to retire in March 2027.
The workshop covered retirement benefits, CGHS facilities, Digital Life Certificate and Face Authentication, cybersecurity, investment options for pensioners, Bhavishya and the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal, family pension, income tax-related matters, CPENGRAMS and ANUBHAV.
Over 14,000 experiences shared on ANUBHAV portal
Secretary, Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, Nivedita Shukla Verma said ANUBHAV had emerged as an important platform for capturing and sharing the institutional experience of retired government employees.
More than 14,000 experiences have been shared on the portal so far, while the 2026 awards received more than 2,000 nominations, the highest number recorded to date, she said.
Verma also highlighted the appointment of Pension Mitras, Digital Life Certificate campaigns, Pension Adalats and efforts to develop an integrated pensioner ecosystem that brings multiple pension-related services and information onto a single platform.
Singh congratulated the National ANUBHAV Awardees and Jury Award recipients and said government employees who had devoted decades to public service represented a valuable national asset.
Pension reforms, he said, are therefore not merely about processing retirement benefits but also about ensuring dignity and convenience for pensioners while continuing to draw upon the experience and expertise of those who have contributed to the country’s development.
The ceremony was attended by senior officials, including Additional Member (HR), Railway Board, Pravash P. Pandey; SBI Deputy Managing Director Chander Shekhar Sharma; senior officials of the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare; and representatives of various ministries and departments.
