State governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have provided the online facility for pensioners and family pensioners to authenticate themselves.
Although the central government has instructed banks to collect pensioners' life certificates from their doorstep, saving them from hassles of visiting pension disbursing banks, the state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have provided the online facility for pensioners and family pensioners to authenticate themselves.
If the pensioners face a problem with fingerprints, iris of the eye will be taken instead of fingerprints at the time of submission of the certificate online.
Telangana: Authentication of pensioners through AI, ML, Big Data and Deep Learning tools
The Telangana government which attracted criticism for for using facial recognition software without legal sanction, has developed a method to authenticate beneficiaries of various schemes including pensions, using Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data and Deep Learning technologies.
The state government has implemented the Realtime Digital Authentication of Identity (RTDAI) to authenticate pensioners without any need for special hardware at the user end. The app doesn’t require fingerprints or iris images to authenticate a person.
Using a smartphone, the pensioner can authenticate himself or herself from their home or wherever they are. "Click a photo and upload it in the app launched exclusively for the purpose. The software will verify the photo and demographic details in the pension database and there is no need to appear physically for authentication": Managing Director of Telangana State Technology Services (TSTS) GT Venkateshwar Rao has said.
The app can be downloaded from T AppFolio, the umbrella app for various e-governance services of Telangana government.
The consent of the users will be taken before the download authentication app.
The solution has been developed to resolve the issues such as old pictures in the database versus the latest photos of users. The system can take care of the changes happened over a period of up to 20 years in a person's face. It can also identify the names even if there are small differences in spelling and format. For example, the system can match M. Sandanam with Sadanandam Marri by checking other parameters available in the department's database.
PLCS uses three-factor authentication
The Pensioners Life Certificate Authentication using a Selfie (PLCS) system uses three levels of authentication – demographics (name, father’s name and address), photo and liveness. The TSTS has integrated an Artificial Intelligence-based liveness check solution developed by a Bengaluru start-up and a Machine Learning-based demographic comparison solution.
Once registered by appending consent and authentication, the user can authenticate himself or herself from wherever they are and whenever required.
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and deep learning solutions would quickly check the details submitted by the user with the data gathered in other public domains.
The app-based authentication of pensioners is a huge success in the state with 93 percent using it so far. More than 15,000 pensioners attempted the self-authentication system, and over 13,000 were successfully authenticated. Those who failed to authenticate via the system are not genuine but it happens because of some technical snags. “The success rate will improve as the system would learn over a period of time. The success rate can go up to 98 percent in the course of time,” Venkateshwar Rao, who is also Commissioner (Electronic Service Delivery), said.
Andhra Pradesh: Authentication through MeeSeva/e-Seva
The AP state government pensioners can submit digital life certificates by the end of February without fail, district treasury office in-charge deputy director RS Kumar said.
The state government pensioners should submit the life certificates through Jeevan Praman portal at MeeSeva, e-Seva, district treasury office, sub-treasury officers and pensioner associations.
The family pensioners, who get remarried or joined in any job must submit the life certificate directly at the sub-treasury offices concerned.
Central Govt's doorstep service
The central government on Thursday issued the person disbursing banks to collect the life certificate by visiting their houses and charge an amount up to Rs 60, according to a press release issued by the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW).
Pensioners are required to give proof of their being alive to banks in order to continue pension. These certificates can be submitted online or by visiting the bank.
"The department has taken a landmark step to make life easier for senior citizens to submit their annual life certificate for continued pension," the release said.
Instructions have been issued to all pension disbursing banks to send SMS or emails to all pensioners on October 24, November 1, November 15 and November 25 every year reminding them to submit their yearly life certificates by November 30, the government said.
The SMS and email sent to the pensioners should ask them if they are interested in submission of life certificate through a doorstep service chargeable up to Rs 60, the release said.
The Central Pension Processing Cells (CPPC) of the pension disbursing banks should submit a report to the DoPPW in January, February and March indicating the number of pensioners who have not submitted their life certificate and a breakup of the certificates submitted physically and through digital means, the statement said.
This is a landmark step from the side of the central government showing due care for pensioners, it said. The government has issued an order in July last year providing all pensioners age 80 years and above an exclusive window to submit their life certificate on 1st October every year instead of 1st November, the statement added.
