Technology-driven pension service delivery has brought greater efficiency, while saving significant manpower and financial resources, Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh said today, as he described the superannuating employees as a national asset and called for continued use of technology and feedback from pensioners to make the pension system simpler, more responsive and aligned with changing social requirements.

Addressing the 9th National ANUBHAV Awards Ceremony, 2026 and the 60th Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, Dr. Jitendra Singh said the Government’s pension reforms are aimed not only at providing ease of living to pensioners but also at making the entire administrative system more efficient. He said the experiences of retiring and retired employees provide valuable feedback for identifying systemic gaps and improving government practices.

The ceremony was attended by Secretary, Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, Ms. Nivedita Shukla Verma; Additional Member (HR), Railway Board, Shri Pravash P. Pandey; DMD, SBI, Shri Chander Shekhar Sharma; senior officials of DoPPW and representatives of various Ministries and Departments. Dr. Jitendra Singh conferred the National ANUBHAV Awards on five awardees and presented Jury Awards as part of the ceremony.

The Minister also released the Handbook on Pension Mitra, Anubhav Awardees’ Citation Booklet and Guidelines for the Nationwide Digital Life Certificate Campaign-5. A short film on the National ANUBHAV Awardees, 2026 was also screened during the ceremony.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said the ANUBHAV initiative, launched in 2015 on the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was conceived to preserve and make use of the vast experience acquired by government employees during their years of public service. He said the value of ANUBHAV goes beyond recognising individual awardees, as each experience can provide the Government with practical feedback to improve policies, procedures and administrative practices.

The Minister recalled an experience shared by an ANUBHAV awardee from the early years of the initiative, where an employee working in the tourism sector had sought an opportunity to upgrade her professional capacity through a specialised course. After considerable administrative time and resources had been invested in the training, she was transferred to another department. The employee eventually returned to the tourism sector, but the experience raised an important question about how administrative decisions can sometimes result in the loss of institutional investment, expertise and public resources.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said such experiences demonstrate why ANUBHAV is also a valuable source of institutional learning. Experiences of serving and retired employees can help identify systemic gaps that may otherwise remain unnoticed and enable the Government to improve its practices on the basis of actual ground-level experience.

He said the Government has continued to simplify pension procedures in response to changing administrative and social requirements. Unnecessary provisions have been removed from pension forms and cumbersome procedures have been replaced with simpler processes. Referring to recent reforms, the Minister said family pension provisions have also been strengthened to respond better to contemporary social realities, including provisions relating to eligible daughters and family members.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said the pension system must remain in a continuous reform mode, with changes guided by experience, feedback and evolving social requirements. He invited pensioners and retiring employees to continue sharing their suggestions so that the Department can keep improving its services and procedures.

The Minister also spoke about the transformation brought about by the Digital Life Certificate and Face Authentication initiatives. Technology, he said, has replaced the earlier requirement of physical verification with a much more convenient digital process. The initiative has also evolved into a wider public campaign, with banks, government departments, pensioners’ associations and family members helping elderly citizens submit their Digital Life Certificates.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said the increasing use of technology in pension services has simultaneously improved convenience and reduced the administrative burden on the system. He also referred to the Pension Adalats, which have provided on-the-spot grievance resolution, and the continuing efforts of the Department to address pension grievances and reduce litigation by resolving issues at their source.

The Minister said the Bhavishya portal and other technology-enabled initiatives have further simplified pension processing and service delivery. He also referred to the Department’s efforts towards integrating pension-related services and information, making it easier for pensioners to access the support they need.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said the Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop was conceived on the understanding that employees retiring at 60 are often in good health and possess valuable professional expertise accumulated over decades of public service. Instead of allowing this experience to remain untapped after retirement, the Government is creating avenues through which their knowledge, skills and energy can continue to contribute to nation-building.

The 60th Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop brought together around 800 Government of India officials in the National Capital Region scheduled to retire in March 2027. The workshop covered retirement benefits, CGHS facilities and procedures, Digital Life Certificate and Face Authentication, cyber security, investment choices for pensioners, Bhavishya and the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal, family pension, income-tax related issues, CPENGRAMS and ANUBHAV.

Secretary, Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, Ms. Nivedita Shukla Verma said ANUBHAV has become an important platform for capturing and sharing the institutional experience of retired government employees. More than 14,000 experiences have been shared on the portal so far, while the 2026 awards received over 2,000 nominations, the highest number so far. She also spoke about the appointment of Pension Mitras, Digital Life Certificate campaigns, Pension Adalats and the Department’s work towards developing an integrated pensioner ecosystem that brings multiple pension-related services and information onto a single platform.

Dr. Jitendra Singh congratulated all the National ANUBHAV Awardees and Jury Award recipients and said government employees who have devoted decades to public service constitute a valuable national asset. Pension reforms, he said, are therefore not merely about processing retirement benefits but about ensuring dignity, convenience and continued engagement with the experience and expertise of those who have contributed to the nation’s development.

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NKR/SR/AK

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