According to the data revealed on the official website of the SPARSH, 29.42 Lakhs pensioners have been migrated to the SPARSH Portal among the recorded total number of Defence Pensioners 33.57 Lakh as on 29th Oct 2023. The SPARSH issue is the most talked about and worrying subject as a large number of pensioners have already been migrated but not have access to all features of the portal. It is expected that by the end of this year, 100% Defence pensioners will be included in the SPARSH System.
SPARSH is an initiative of Ministry of Defence to administer the Defence pension disbursement system integrated with the existing environment of PCDA(P) ensuring self reliance. In traditional practice, after issuing of PPO by PCDA (P) pensioners used to depend on the Bank CPPC regarding their pension related matter. In the SPARSH environment, role of CPPC/Bank has been ended and total control on your pension is assigned to the Defence Accounts (Pension) Department. PCDA(P) will now disburse your pension, revise your pension and your grievances on pension matters will be resolved by them only. Your pension will be credited in the Bank A/c number where you were getting till date. You have the option to change your bank account also.
The Defence Accounts Department is the nodal authority under the Ministry of Defence for sanction and disbursement of pensionary benefits to Defence Personnel, Defence Civilians and their families. The Defence Accounts Department acts as a facilitator between the Ministry of Defence, Services HQrs and Pension Disbursing Agencies to ensure that the vast community of Defence pensioners receives their recurring and lump sum pension dues timely and correctly. The Department is the nodal point for compiling expenditure on account of Defence pension and for conducting audit of disbursement of Defence pensions made by various payment agencies on this account. The SPARSH is effectively functioning to administer the entire defence pension from processing, sanction to disbursement and Grievance redressal.
There are 33.57 lakh active pensioners as on 01.04.2023. The different categories of pensioners are as per table below:
| Category | Service Pensioners | Family Pensioners | Total |
| Comm. Officers | 71,595 | 25,295 | 96,890 |
| JCOs/ORs | 20,69,991 | 6,34,270 | 27,04,261 |
| Civilians | 46,082 | 34,136 | 80,218 |
| Defence Civilians | 2,85,081 | 1,89,103 | 4,74,184 |
| Total | 24,72,686 | 8,84,461 | 33,57,147 |
INFORMATION SOURCE : https://cgda.nic.in/magazines/DAD%20Day%20Brochure%202023.pdf
Everyone who has been migrated whether in 2022 or in Sep/Oct 2023 is stuck up with one thing or the other. The issues have been floating in the social media with a huge awareness with these problems. Many pensioners have been migrated to SPARSH, months ago but have not touched the SPARSH portal and as per opinion of some wise pensioners, they are the happiest lot. They are Happy as long as the pension is coming every month in their banks.
We have spreaded awareness on the actions to be taken immediate after migration of your pension account to SPARSH in our website esminfoclub.com and in hindi in faujinews.com regularly, that there is no need to panic, since our payments of pension have been assured, at least up to the next last date of the submission of Annual Life Certificate/identification.
Let the PCDA (P) make their best with the new system, we are sure they too are under tremendous pressure. As regards your data seen on the portal, let it remain as it is. Currently, they have only given us the facility to upload our Aadhaar and Phone Number if these were not uploaded during migration. They have also given us the facility to update our PAN Numbers and Email IDs on the bank page. One can also update one’s Income tax choice and investment related exemptions. These are essential as far as our pension payment is concerned. For all other details like correction in name, DOB, address and spouse PPO number etc, we suggest that we should wait till end of Dec 2023 but keep a close watch on the portal about any notice or instructions.
The other important aspect which comes up now is the Identification or Life Certificate. You should check the next due date on your account in SPARSH. Must ensure that your life certificate has to go on line through digitally whether partially or fully.
A detailed process of submission of digital life certificates on SPARSH Portal has been published on our website – you may check it now. Procedures for generating DLC through Jeevan Pramaan (both finger scanner and FACE Authentication) and also for the Manual Life Cert etc in step wise step details have also been available in our website. You can install the Jeevan Pramaan App on your mobile phone and use it, duly integrated with Face RD App for your own use and also for your friends.
For Life Certificate Need not to Wait Till November : SPARSH Pensioners
Once you go through the apps, you will experience that it is pretty simple now with its new version. Please note that we must keep the hard copy of the Life Certificate in file after submission online till we are sure that the same has been seeded in the SPARSH account.
It is well known that pensioners above 80 yrs of age can submit their life certificates during October and others in the month of November. However in in most cases as given on the SPARSH site the last date is by 31 Jan 2024. We feel there is no harm in submitting life certificates before Jan 2024. In SPARSH Portal, there is no such fixed duration (month) to submit your LC/ Identification certificate, rather you may submit it throughout the year as and when it shows due in your profile.
Different Ways To Submit Life Certificate for Govt and SPARSH Pensioners