Pensioners across India are required to submit their Annual Life Certificate by November this year. Otherwise, the pension or family pension will stop, indicated the details provided by the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare.
If you live abroad, you can submit an Annual Life Certificate online. In that case, it will be called Digital Life Certificate.
According to the Office Memorandum issued by the government, a pensioner or a family pensioner who is not residing in India can ask his duly authorized agent to produce a life certificate signed by a Magistrate, a Notary, a banker or Diplomatic Representative of India. In this case, they need not attend the submission in person.
Notably, the Embassy of India, High Commission or Indian Consulate can also assist citizens living overseas to submit their respective life certificates online. This is especially for non-resident Indian (NRI) pensioners and their family pensioners who are unable to come to India for in-person identification. NRI pensioners can do this by using a photograph pasted in the PPO or using their photograph on the passport or any other equivalent identification document.
If the NRI pensioners are unable to visit the local consulate in person, they have to produce a doctor’s certificate highlighting the reason for their inability to approach the embassy in person. In such a case, the Embassy of India, High Commission or Indian Consulate can also offer help to NRI pensioners to submit the document.
Starting from October 1, 2021, domestic pensioners can submit the Digital Life Certificate at their local Jeevan Pramaan Centres (JPCs) at Head Post Offices. To submit the certificates, the pensioner must be aged 80 years and above and the deadline is November 30, 2021.
In light of this activity, the Department of Posts under the Ministry of Communications has instructed post offices across the country to set up the Jeevan Pramaan Centres at the Head Post Office if not already done. They are also creating the Jeevan Pramaan IDs and ensure that they are active along with the Common Service Centres (CSCs). The department set the deadline to do the same up to September 20, 2021 and is itself re-ensuring that all the Jeevan Pramaan Centre IDs are activated.
You can submit the certificate through the Aadhaar-based biometric authentication system. To submit the Annual Life Certificate, you need to visit https://jeevanpramaan.gov.in/ and start the process of submission. If you opt for the online mode, you don’t need to visit any bank or post office. You can go ahead with the ‘Jeevan Pramaan’, an Aadhaar based Digital Life Certificate (DLC), which is an additional facility to the already existing one of submitting the Life Certificate in the physical form.
Once you are done, the form is automatically processed and sent to the bank branch or the concerned post office and acts as proof that the pensioner is alive.
Now, you need to be alert about the date and start the submission process as early as possible to avoid any unforeseen setbacks at the last minute.
