Defence pensioners, veer naris and their families can submit digital life certificates at more than 200 SPARSH service centres across India during a nationwide campaign running from November 1 to 30, according to the Defence Accounts Department.
The campaign is designed to help pensioners use Aadhaar-based face authentication to complete their annual life certificate submission digitally. The service will be available through the Jeevan Pramaan and Aadhaar Face RD applications, allowing eligible beneficiaries to complete the process without relying entirely on conventional documentation or repeated visits to pension offices.
The Defence Accounts Department said the drive will also assist pensioners whose Aadhaar details are not linked to the SPARSH, or System for Pension Administration–Raksha, portal. Officials at the centres will help with Aadhaar linking and updating records, which are required for beneficiaries who need to use the digital authentication process.
Special assistance is being provided to super-senior citizens aged 80 years and above and to persons with disabilities. The arrangement is intended to make the submission process more accessible for beneficiaries who may face difficulties using digital applications independently or travelling repeatedly to government offices.
The outreach includes a new SPARSH service centre at the Guards in Kamptee, Nagpur. The centre was inaugurated on October 27 by Defence Accounts Department Controller General Alka Nangia Arora. The facility was opened by the office of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts, Southern Command, Pune.
Digital life certificates are used by pensioners to confirm that they are alive and eligible for continued pension payments. Under the current campaign, the department is promoting face authentication through Aadhaar-enabled applications as an alternative to submitting a certificate through more traditional channels. The service-centre network is expected to provide in-person support to pensioners who need help with the technology or with correcting account details.
The campaign also highlights the operational dependence of pension delivery on the reliability of digital government systems. Some military veterans told The Times of India that SPARSH centres need to function consistently, saying officials sometimes report that the system is slow or has crashed. They also called for a mechanism to reduce waiting times at the centres.
That concern is significant for older beneficiaries because a digital process can remain difficult to access when the underlying portal is unavailable, connectivity is poor or a record requires correction. The department’s decision to combine digital certificate submission with Aadhaar-linking support indicates that the campaign is intended to address both user assistance and database-related issues.
The digital life certificate campaign will continue at participating SPARSH service centres until November 30. Pensioners and families seeking assistance are expected to approach the centres during the campaign period for submission, Aadhaar linking or record updates.
