Pensioners: how to submit your life certificate from home this November

If you get a pension, you must prove every year that you are alive, so that your pension keeps coming. This November you can do it from home with a face scan on your phone. The Government’s fifth nationwide Digital Life Certificate (DLC) campaign runs from 1 to 30 November 2026.

The campaign at a glance

• Dates: 1 to 30 November 2026.
• Where: camps in about 2,000 cities and districts, with mega camps in areas with many pensioners.
• Run by: the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW), with pension-paying banks, India Post Payments Bank, 785 district post offices, pensioners’ associations, EPFO, Railways, state governments and UIDAI.
• Main method: face authentication, which works on Android and iOS phones.
• Extras at camps: health check-ups, Aadhaar updates and grievance officers. Home visits may be arranged for pensioners who cannot leave the house.

Last year’s campaign generated over 1.54 crore digital life certificates. More than 91 lakh of them were made with face authentication. Face scans help older pensioners whose fingerprints have faded, and pensioners with mobility problems.

What you need

• Your Aadhaar card
• A mobile number linked to your Aadhaar
• Your Pension Payment Order (PPO) number
• The name of the bank where your pension comes, and your account details
• A smartphone with a camera of at least 5 megapixels

How to do it on your phone

1. Install two free apps: Jeevan Pramaan Face App and Aadhaar Face RD.
2. Open Jeevan Pramaan and allow the permissions it asks for.
3. Enter your Aadhaar number, mobile number and email address. Type in the OTP you receive.
4. Enter the operator’s name (the person helping you, or your own name) and tick the box.
5. Tap Scan, allow camera access and scan your face. Sit in good light.
6. Fill in your pension details, enter the OTP again, check everything and submit.
7. Save the certificate. You will get an SMS, and you can check the status in the app.

If you cannot do it on a phone

• Visit your pension-paying bank branch or a camp in your city during November.
• Ask your local post office or India Post Payments Bank about help with the face scan.
• If your parent cannot leave home, ask the bank or camp about a home visit.
• A family member can help on their own phone. The face scan must be of the pensioner.

Stay safe

• Use only the official apps from the Play Store or App Store.
• Never share an OTP with someone who calls you “from the pension office”. Banks and pension offices do not ask for OTPs on the phone.
• Do not pay anyone to “submit” your certificate. The digital life certificate is free.

Sources: DD India; Indian Govt Scheme; Pune Pulse; All India Radio News. Image: representative image, Unsplash.