31.69 lakh defence pensioners join SPARSH digital platform

New Delhi, Dec 15 The Defence Ministry has onboarded 31.69 lakh pensioners across India and Nepal on the digital platform System for Pension Administration - Raksha (SPARSH), an official said on Monday.

Administered by the Defence Accounts Department (DAD), through Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions), Prayagraj, SPARSH has onboarded these 31.69 lakh defence pensioners, replacing a fragmented system managed earlier by over 45,000 agencies.

The unified, transparent and accountable SPARSH stands as the largest unified pension system in India and the only fully integrated digital pension solution for defence personnel. It represents the Government’s commitment to ensuring dignity, care and timely support for veterans and their families, said the statement.

In FY 2024–25, a Defence Pension Budget of Rs 1,57,681 crore was disbursed on a real-time basis through SPARSH. OROP-III, implemented in July 2024, enabled the quick disbursal of Rs 1,224.76 crore to 20.17 lakh beneficiaries in just 15 days, it said.

Under the nationwide Digital Life Certificate (DLC) 4.0 campaign of DoP&PW (November 1-30, 2025), DAD has mobilised 202 offices, 4.63 lakh Common Service Centres, and 15 partner banks, supported by 27 Nodal Officers. As of November 30, 20.94 lakh DLCs have been generated for Defence Pensioners - the highest among all Departments, said the statement.

Other benefits of onboarding include the resolution of discrepant cases. “Out of 6.43 lakh discrepant cases migrated from previous systems, 6.07 lakh have been normalised without affecting pensioners’ entitlements,” said the statement.

The Defence Ministry said that 284 SPARSH Outreach Programmes and 194 Raksha Pension Samadhan Ayojans have been held across the country. More than 8,000 grievances were resolved on the spot during these programmes conducted in the current Financial Year (FY).

The onboarding also allows pensioners to view their details online and easily raise corrections.

“Average grievance redressal time has come down from 56 days in April 2025 to 17 days in November 2025, and as per the latest Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances report, DAD has achieved a 73 per cent satisfaction score, ranking 5th among Ministries/Departments,” said the statement.

--IANS

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