Living proof of face recognition

Millions of mobile users already deploy face recognition to unlock their phones. The use of face recognition for digital life certificates is a smart way to offer convenience to pensioners

The retired life may appear idyllic to many. To the government pensioners though, every November brings the task of proving that they are still among the living. 

Governments have to keep track of retired officials who receive pension. To do so, an elaborate administrative system has been in place to ensure that pensioners get their due. And also ensure that the system is not misused after the pensioner passes away. 

A retired government employee has to submit a life certificate every November  to pension disbursing authorities. These are usually banks and post offices. 

Such physical processes are now being replaced by technology-based interfaces. These enable retirees to submit life certificates without going to disbursing agencies. 

In the post Covid world, physical submission of certificates created several difficulties. To overcome this, the Department of Personnel in the central government has begun a face recognition option for pensioners in the country. Pensioners can submit their digital life certificates (DLC) using a mobile phone-based app. The Jeevan Pramaan Portal offers various options to the over 10 million people who receive pension every month from the state and the central governments. Additionally, over 2.5 million pensioners are from the defence forces. 

A government statement says that “requirement of personally being present in front of the disbursing agency or getting a life certificate often becomes a major hurdle in the process of seamless transfer of pension amount to the pensioner. It has been noted that it causes a lot of hardship and unnecessary inconvenience particularly for the aged and infirm pensioners who cannot always be in a position to present themselves in front of the particular authority to secure their life certificate.” Mobility causes further complications. “A lot of government employees post their retirement choose to move to a different location either to be with their family or other reasons, hence causing a huge logistical issue when it comes to accessing their rightful pension amount.”

The digital life certificate doesn’t require physical presence anymore. “Jeevan Pramaan uses Aadhar platform for biometric authentication of the pensioner. A successful authentication generates the DLC which is stored in the life certificate depository. The pension disbursing authority can access the certificate online,” the portal says. 

Added to this is face recognition which adds another layer of authentication. The user has to download the Aadhar Face RD app and the Jeevan Pramaan app. Before launching the face recognition feature, the government had been offering a video call-based authentication for DLC. A pensioner would record a video while holding the PAN Card for authentication. Such a process is still in place for creation and authentication of digital signatures by Ministry of Corporate Affairs. 

Millions of mobile users already deploy face recognition to unlock their phones. The use of face recognition for DLC is a smart way to offer convenience to pensioners. For many senior citizens, face recognition can work better than retina scan and fingerprints. Even the video call can be cumbersome for someone unfamiliar with mobile phones. 

Privacy of data and relevant security features must be mandatory for all such systems. While issuing DLC, face recognition will be easier, so will the possibility of data stealing. Increasingly reliance on such technology brings its own challenges. Identity theft will be a serious concern to pensioners if adequate safeguards aren’t in place. The risk of identity theft increases when biometrics are in play in financial transactions. The department of personnel will have to keep updating its systems to ensure that the face recognition algorithms get secure and stronger with time.