New Delhi — The Digital Life Certificate (DLC) Campaign 4.0 has crossed one crore submissions nationwide as more pensioners use digital authentication to prove eligibility without physical visits to government offices.
The Digital Life Certificate is an online system used by pensioners to confirm they are alive so that their pensions continue without interruption. Traditionally this process required visiting banks or government departments in person, causing inconvenience to many elderly or sick pensioners.
According to official data, the campaign has been running from 1 to 30 November 2025 across 2,540 locations in 2,000 cities and towns. As of 12 November, more than 35,000 Digital Life Certificate camps have been organised and another 75,000 camps are scheduled by the end of the month.
Of the one crore certificates generated so far, about 58 percent were completed through face authentication using a smartphone camera. Officials said seven lakh certificates were issued for pensioners aged 80 years and above, reducing the need for physical travel for those unable to visit banks or pension offices.
Union Minister of State for Personnel Dr Jitendra Singh said the milestone reflects the government’s aim of using digital tools to ease pension delivery. He said the move helped address long-standing difficulties for pensioners by using biometric and face recognition technologies that remove the requirement for in-person verification.
The campaign involves participation from several departments and institutions, including pension disbursing banks, the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, the Defence Accounts Department, Railways, the Department of Telecommunications, India Post, India Post Payments Bank, UIDAI and NIC. Pensioners’ associations are also involved in outreach.
Growing adoption of Digital Life Certificate services
Officials said DLC 4.0 reached the one crore mark earlier than last year’s campaign, indicating more pensioners are becoming comfortable with using digital verification methods.
The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare has set a saturation-based target of two crore Digital Life Certificates in 2025. With the current rate of participation and expansion of camps to rural and semi-urban areas, authorities said the target is likely to be met.
Digital Life Certificate services are also available through smartphones at home, through doorstep banking services and at dedicated centres such as banks, post offices and Common Service Centres.
Authorities have stated that the purpose of scaling up the campaign is to make the annual pension verification process less stressful for elderly pensioners and to support a shift towards digital administration in government services.
