New Delhi, October 30 — The Centre will conduct its biggest-ever Digital Life Certificate (DLC) campaign in 2,000 cities and districts across India from November 1 to 30, the Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW) said on Friday, in a statement reported by The Hindu BusinessLine and PTI. This is the department's 5th nationwide DLC campaign, with guidelines notified through an office memorandum dated August 13, 2026.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine (PTI)

Every pensioner must submit a life certificate each year for the pension to continue. With DLC — Jeevan Pramaan, a biometric-enabled digital service — that proof can be generated digitally instead of in person, and this year's push is squarely on face authentication, which works on Android and iOS phones, with technical support from MeitY and UIDAI.

2,000cities/districts covered, Nov 1–30
2.30 croreDLCs targeted this campaign
1.50 croreof them targeted via face authentication
19 / 785 / 56banks / district post offices / pensioners' welfare associations taking part

The campaign targets 2.30 crore digital life certificates, including 1.50 crore through face authentication, New Kerala reported, citing the official statement. It will be run in 'Utsav' mode, offering pensioners a bouquet of services such as health check-ups and Aadhaar updation, with doorstep services provided where required.

Source: New Kerala

A whole-of-government approach will bring together pension disbursing banks, India Post Payments Bank, pensioners' welfare associations, the CGDA, the Department of Telecommunications, Railways, EPFO, state governments, UIDAI and MeitY, the statement said, with the aim of reaching pensioners in the remotest corners of the country.

For families in Punjab and across India, the practical takeaway is simple: a pensioner who cannot travel to a bank can complete the year's life certificate with a face scan on a smartphone, or seek help at a camp, bank branch or district post office during November. Last year's campaign generated 1.54 crore certificates by November 30, 2025, more than 91 lakh of them by face authentication, according to the department's figures reported at the time.