Over 65 Lakh Digital Life Certificates Issued for Pensioners

NEW DELHI: Over 65 lakh digital life certificates (DLC) have been issued so far, including 31.5 lakh generated by Central government employees, between November 1 and 15 during the ongoing DLC 3.0 campaign.

DLC is a biometric-enabled digital service for pensioners. Pensioners of Central or state government, EPFO or any other government organisation whose pension disbursing agency is live for DLC can take benefit of this facility. Launched on November 1 across 800 cities, the DLC 3.0 campaign aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of empowering pensioners and elderly citizens through digital initiatives. By the end of the campaign on November 30, over 100 lakh DLCs are expected to be issued, officials said.

V Srinivas, secretary, Central department of pensions and pensioners welfare, said, “65,30,787 DLCs have so far been generated, which include 31,63,331 out of 63,69,000 central government employees, from November 1 to 15.” Official figures reveal that 16.95 lakh DLCs out of the total generated so far were issued using face authentication technology. Srinivas said that the campaign is being conducted in 800 cities enabling pensioners from Central and state governments as well as other organisations to submit their DLCs through pension disbursing banks, such as the SBI.

“Following the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials of the department of pension and pensioners’ welfare are working for the digital empowerment of pensioners by adopting the ‘Nation First, Citizen First’ approach,” Srinivas said. The first DLC campaign, conceptualised in 2022, spanned 37 cities, followed by the second in 2023, which covered 100 cities. “During those first and second DLC campaigns, a record number of 2.88 crore DLCs were generated, including more than 54 lakh for Central government pensioners,” said Srinivas.

DLC is a biometric-enabled digital service for pensioners. Pensioners of Central or state governments, EPFO or any other government organisation whose pension disbursing agency is live for DLC can take benefit of this. Launched on November 1 across 800 cities, the DLC 3.0 campaign aims to empower pensioners and elderly citizens via digital initiatives.