The pension of former servicepersons was withheld because they failed to provide a Digital Life Certificate, which proves they are alive. They have now received a ‘one-time special waiver’
More than 58,000 former servicepersons received their April pension on 4 May after the defence ministry intervened. Representation pic
Around 58,000 former servicepersons, including commander-rank officers, did not receive their pension for April 2022 at the end of the month, leaving them upset. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) was quick to intervene after many from the armed forces expressed their displeasure on social media.
The pension has now been disbursed after the defence ministry granted a “one-time waiver” to complete the documentation to receive the pension, a requirement that many veterans claim they were not aware of. On Wednesday, an assurance was given by the government that due pensions would be credited into the accounts of the affected 58,275 veterans by night. The promise was kept.
Why were the pensions held back?
The pensions were delayed because the veterans did not provide the Digital Life Certificate (DLC), a process that declares they are alive.
The certificates needed to be submitted to the SPARSH platform before 31 March. The earlier deadline was November 2021, but the date was extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some veterans complained of technical glitches on the government’s online platform, where they are expected to submit their identity papers. Image Courtesy: indianarmyveterans.gov.in
What is SPARSH?
SPARSH – System for Pension Administration (Raksha) – is an online integrated platform designed to automatically sanction and disburse pensions to veterans. It was first implemented in July 2021 but time was given to retired servicepersons to switch from the old banking system to the digital one.
According to the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts website, the need for SPARSH has been felt to obviate and address the current challenges in the pension sanctioning and disbursement process such as decentralised solution existing in silos, manual intervention in processing, lack of centralised information for addressing pensioner queries, etc.
SPARSH will include all the processes and functionalities needed in the pension processing life cycle, ie initiation to disbursement facilitated through a single source of truth, it adds.
Under this system, the pension is directly credited to the bank account of the pensioner, and the role of the bank as a mediator and a commission agent has been removed. This results in substantial financial savings for the government. This is as per the government’s vision for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), says the MoD, according to a report in The Indian Express.
Why did veterans not update their details?
The online platform SPARSH has some technical glitches and for many veterans who are not tech-savvy, the switch has not been easy.
Author, lawyer, and former Indian Territorial Army officer Major Navdeep Singh told ThePrint, “The ones who are not tech-savvy will face the maximum brunt. Though I hear helplines have been established to tide over these teething issues.”
Many retired servicepersons complained that they were not aware of the switch. The pensioners are now being informed about the pending submission of the certificate through text messages and emails.
Veterans have pointed out that if retired officers are facing so many difficulties in migrating to this new online method, then what would be the plight of jawans and JCOs, who may not be accustomed to technology. There are also concerns about the ability to access the online platform by those who live in remote areas and have no internet connectivity, according to a report in The Indian Express.
The defence ministry has given former servicepersons a deadline of 25 May to submit required documents. AFP
What are government officials saying?
The defence ministry said in a statement that during the processing of the pension for April 2022, it came to light that the annual identification of around 3.3 lakh pensioners was not updated. “A list was shared with all Pension Disbursing Banks to share updated identification data if any, and as a result identification status of more than 2.65 lakh pensioners was updated on SPARSH by April 25, 2022 leading to successful processing of pension for all these pensioners,” the statement said.
“However, banks (the previous Pension Disbursing Agency) could not confirm identification for 58,275 pensioners and neither was their identification received directly on SPARSH by the time of monthly closing. Hence, these pensioners were not paid their April pension by April 30, 2022,” it added.
The ministry has also asked all veterans to submit their identity papers by 25 May.
Not the first technical glitch
However, this is not the first time former servicemen have been impacted because of SPARSH. In February, initial glitches in SPARSH resulted in hundreds not getting dearness relief along with their January pension, and several women officers not being paid pension for almost a year until that month, Hindustan Times reports.
With inputs from agencies
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