As many as 1.9 crore digital life certificates (DLCs) were generated by pensioners during the financial year 2025–26, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply that submission of a life certificate is mandatory for the continuation of pension payments. To ease the process, especially for elderly, super senior and differently-abled pensioners, the government has rolled out several facilitative measures.
Among these is a nationwide Digital Life Certificate campaign conducted annually from November 1 to 30 since 2022. Camps are organised across identified districts, cities and towns to assist pensioners in generating their certificates.
“A total of 1.90 crore DLCs were generated from 01-04-2025 to 24-03-2026, including 1.15 crore of DLCs generated through face authentication technique. More than 14.16 lakh DLCs were generated by super senior pensioners above 80 years of age,” Singh said.
He added that the government has introduced a face authentication system that allows pensioners to generate DLCs using only a smartphone, eliminating the need for biometric devices or physical presence at centres.
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To ensure continuity in pension disbursement, all pension disbursing banks have been directed to monitor and generate reports of pensioners who have not submitted their DLCs, and to facilitate timely submission.
The minister also said services of the India Post Payments Bank, post offices and gramin dak sevaks have been leveraged to assist elderly citizens, particularly those aged above 80 years. Pensioners in this age group have been allowed to submit their DLCs starting October each year, ahead of the general timeline.
Additionally, doorstep services are provided to aged, sick, incapacitated and Divyang pensioners during DLC campaigns. Mega camps are also organised in areas with a high concentration of pensioners.
In a separate reply, Singh said that since 2023-24, the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare has conducted eight pension adalats to address grievances of central government pensioners. A total of 3,594 pending grievances registered on the CPENGRAMS portal were taken up, of which 2,713 cases were resolved on the spot.
“The balance grievances have also been redressed or taken to finality through follow-up meetings and monitoring. These pension adalats are held in hybrid mode… enabling the pensioners to participate and submit their grievances for timely and effective redressal,” Singh said.
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