India has successfully onboarded approximately 31 million out of its total 32 million defense pensioners onto the System for Pension Administration – Raksha (SPARSH), streamlining the pension process and ensuring direct transfers to their bank accounts. SPARSH, launched in October 2020 as part of the Digital India initiative, represents a significant overhaul in the management and disbursement of pensions for defense personnel and civilians.
Designed to address inefficiencies and inaccuracies in the previous legacy system, SPARSH offers a unified platform for sanctioning and disbursing pensions. Under the older framework, pensions were processed by three separate agencies and disbursed through over 45,000 branches of banks, state treasury offices, post offices, and embassies. This fragmented approach often led to delays, inaccuracies, and a lack of transparency, disproportionately impacting widows and other vulnerable groups.
SPARSH has introduced a comprehensive solution, reducing the time between pension approval and payment, ensuring accurate revisions, and granting pensioners real-time access to their data and entitlements. The platform’s transparency also enables users to update their personal details or raise grievances online, leading to a more streamlined and responsive system.
To assist those without access to digital infrastructure, particularly veterans and families in remote areas, the Ministry of Defense has organized seven Raksha Pension Samadhan Ayojans in 2024, along with over 90 SPARSH outreach programs. These initiatives, supported by nearly 5 million Common Service Centers, 16 bank branches, and 201 Defense Accounts Department offices nationwide, ensure last-mile connectivity. A toll-free helpline has also fielded over 50 million calls since its inception in 2014, providing crucial support to pensioners.
SPARSH has empowered defense personnel and their families by resolving long-standing issues, including mismatched data and delayed payments. The Defense Accounts Department is proactively addressing discrepancies to smooth the transition for remaining pensioners. This effort aligns with the government’s broader push for digital governance, fostering transparency, efficiency, and reliability in public service delivery.
