The popularity of submitting digital life proof through new technology is continuously increasing among EPFO pensioners. This information has been given in a press release issued by EPFO on Saturday. According to EPFO, during the financial year 2023-24, EPFO received digital life proofs based on face authentication technology from 6.6 lakh pensioners. During this period, a total of 60 lakh digital life proofs were submitted. Earlier in the financial year 2022-23, the number of people submitting digital life proofs based on face authentication technology was 2.1 lakh.
If you are a pensioner or there is a pensioner in your house and want to submit life certificate from home through face authentication, you can submit life certificate with the help of easy steps given here.
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How to submit Digital Life Certificate using FAT technology on mobile
According to the press release issued by EPFO, to submit digital life proof from home through Face Authentication Technology i.e. FAT technology, pensioners need to install two apps – ‘Aadhaar Face RD’ and ‘Jeevan Pramaan’ in their smartphone. Operator verification for these apps is done through mobile numbers linked to Aadhaar. In such a situation, it is necessary to have Aadhaar linked with the pension releasing institution like bank, post office etc. Detailed steps are given in these apps to ensure successful face scan. Once the scan is complete, the digital life certificate submission is confirmed on the mobile screen along with the Jeevan Pramaan ID and PPO number, thereby completing the process sitting at home.
To submit life certificate through face authentication, first of all you need to have a smartphone. Keep in mind that to submit digital life proof from home through FAT technology, pensioners or close ones must have an Android (version 7.0 and above) phone with at least 5MP front camera or rear camera. Also, internet connectivity is also necessary.
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Here are the steps for Android smartphone users. You can take its help to submit digital life proof from home.
First of all, the pensioner or his/her close one has to download and install the ‘Aadhaar Face RD (Early Access) Application’ from Google Play Store in the phone. According to the Jeevan Pramaan website, once the app is installed, it will not appear on the home screen of the phone and it will not have any icon. It is said on the Jeevan Pramaan website that this app appears in Settings and then in App Info.
Now download and install the Jeevan Pramaan Face App from Google Play Store. Enter your personal information on the ‘Jeevan Pramaan’ app. In the app, you will have to provide information like Aadhaar number, mobile number, email ID etc. After entering all the information, you have to click on submit.
Complete the one-time operator authentication process on the Jeevan Pramaan app. Anyone, including pensioners, can register as an operator. Now you will receive a one-time password (OTP) on your registered mobile number and e-mail ID. Now enter the OTP.
After this, you have to enter the name written on the Aadhaar card and select the scan option.
You will be asked for permission for face scan. You have to click on yes.
To complete the face scan process, you have to click on ‘I am aware of it’.
After this, your photo will be captured i.e. scanned and recorded by the app. After the face capture process is completed, the screen verify ID and PPO number will be submitted.
After you successfully verify yourself through face scan, the app restarts itself and a toast is displayed on the screen: ‘Client Registration Successful’. This notification indicates that the operator registration is successful.
Pensioners have to enter Aadhaar number and mobile number to complete the face authentication process. Email ID is optional. If you have entered both mobile number and email address, OTP will be sent to both. Enter it and submit. After successful OTP verification, the screen will either be blank or the details will be pre-filled. Check the pre-filled details or if it is blank, then fill in the requested details. According to the press release issued by EPFO, this verification is done from UIDAI’s Aadhaar database using UIDAI’s face recognition app.
There are more than 78 lakh pensioners in EPFO. In order to continue receiving pension, it is necessary for these pensioners to submit life certificate every year. Earlier they had to go to banks to submit physical life certificate, which caused many problems. However, face authentication technology has made this process very easy for pensioners.
To reduce the problems faced by the elderly in physically visiting banks or post offices etc., MeitY and UIDAI have developed Face Authentication Technology (FAT), under which face recognition technology can be used for life certificate proof. With this technology, pensioners can be identified by face scan using a smartphone camera while sitting at their homes. Such verification is done from UIDAI’s Aadhaar database using the UIDAI Face Recognition App.
In the year 2015, EPFO adopted Digital Life Certificate (DLC) to simplify the process of submission of Jeevan Pramaan certificate. To submit biometric based digital life certificate, pensioners had to go to their nearest bank, post office, common service center or EPFO office branch. Pensioners’ fingerprints or their iris are captured at these places to submit biometric based digital life proof. Due to old age or being physically very weak, pensioners are unable to reach these places. Keeping this in mind, pensioners have been made mandatory for the last 25 years. In 2022, EPFO adopted face recognition technology. The use of this convenient technology for digital life certificate of EPS pensioners was added to the EPFO software in July, 2022.
The new face authentication technology has made the process of submitting life certificate proof even easier for pensioners. With this step of EPFO, old and frail pensioners are able to complete the process of submitting life certificate proof from home using any Android based smartphone. To make the new face authentication technology system more and more popular among pensioners, detailed instructions were issued to all regional offices. This process is regularly explained to pensioners not only in regional offices but also during the ‘Nidhi Aapke Paas’ program being organized in all districts across India from January 2023.
A detailed video on the use of this technique is available on EPFO’s official YouTube handle SOCIALEPFO. EPFO is confident that the convenience of this method will make it easier for more and more pensioners to submit life certificates.
Let us tell you that earlier pensioners had to go to banks to submit life certificate, in which they had to face some challenges and complaints were also received from them. According to the Jeevan Pramaan website, there are three ways to submit digital life certificate – Windows PC, Android mobile or tablet and central and state government offices.