13.57 lakh pensioners in Bihar yet to complete life certification, department urges them to act

Life certification of 13,57,568 beneficiaries of social security pension schemes in Bihar is yet to be completed. Treating the matter as serious, the Social Welfare Department has asked all of them to complete the process at the earliest. The process is considered important to ensure that pensions are paid regularly and that distribution remains transparent.

According to the Bihar government's Social Welfare Department, the state has 1,16,71,188 beneficiaries of social security pension schemes. Of them, 1,03,13,620 have completed life certification. That means 88.37 per cent of all beneficiaries have finished the process, while verification of 13,57,568 people is pending. The department said the remaining beneficiaries should complete the process quickly.

By the number of beneficiaries whose certification is complete, Madhubani district leads the state, with 5,09,290 pensioners certified. The position in other districts is as follows.

In Patna, certification of 4,91,125 beneficiaries is complete. In East Champaran the figure is 4,85,930. In Muzaffarpur, 4,62,294 beneficiaries have been certified, and in Samastipur, 4,35,744.

By total number of pensioners, Patna district is first, with 6,17,153 people covered by these schemes. It is followed by Madhubani with 5,88,855, East Champaran with 5,66,316, Muzaffarpur with 5,20,559 and Gaya with 5,07,191 beneficiaries.

Life certification checks whether the person receiving the pension is alive. It makes it possible to pay eligible beneficiaries regularly and to keep the distribution of public money more transparent. Bihar's Social Welfare Minister, Dr Shweta Gupta, has stressed that the benefit of social security pension must reach eligible people.

Beneficiaries whose certification is pending should not delay it. Pension payments may be affected if certification remains pending. However, the available information does not indicate that the pensions of all such beneficiaries will stop automatically. Beneficiaries are therefore advised to get details of the correct procedure and the last date from the department concerned.