To address the issues of delays, clerical errors, financial losses, and harassment in pension processing, the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DOPPW) introduced a centralized pension processing software called ‘Bhavishya’. This innovative system was implemented to streamline and enhance the efficiency of pension processing across central government ministries and departments.
Overview of ‘Bhavishya’
- Mandatory Implementation: Effective from January 1, 2017, the use of ‘Bhavishya’ became mandatory for all central civil ministries and departments.
- Current Statistics: As of August 14, 2024, 99 ministries/departments, 1,020 offices, and 8,320 Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) have adopted the software. A total of 250,845 Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) have been issued.
- Ranking: ‘Bhavishya’ is ranked 3rd in the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) 2021.
Best Practices of ‘Bhavishya’
- Auto Registration of Retirees
- The software integrates with the payroll package to auto-fill basic data of retiring employees.
- Provides Management Information System (MIS) reports to departments and DOPPW about upcoming retirements.
- Self-Registration
- Stakeholders, including DDOs, Heads of Offices (HOOs), and Pay and Accounts Offices (PAOs), can self-register.
- Self-Filling of Pension Forms
- Retirees can fill out their pension forms directly through the system.
- Strict Timelines
- The system enforces strict timelines for pension processing stages, starting online 15 months before retirement.
- Alerts are sent to pensioners and stakeholders to ensure deadlines are met.
- Transparency and Accountability
- Enhances transparency and accountability, making it easier to identify and address delays.
- Automatic Calculation of Retirement Benefits
- Accurate and automated calculation of pensions reduces manual errors and grievances.
- Real-Time Updates
- Provides real-time updates through email/SMS alerts on pension processing activities.
- e-PPO Integration
- Integrates with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) to issue electronic PPOs (e-PPOs).
- Allows banks to view e-PPOs online.
- End-to-End Digitization
- The e-PPO system makes the pension process paperless by transferring data in encrypted form.
- Digilocker Integration
- Automatically pushes e-PPOs to the retiree’s Digilocker account for easy access.
- Pensioners Identity Card
- Issues pensioners’ identity cards through the Bhavishya system.
- Bank Integration
- Integrated with various banks’ pension portals to provide services like Form-16, Pension Slips, Life Certificate status, and arrears statements.
Impact of Bhavishya
- 83% of superannuation PPOs are issued either before retirement or within 30 days.
Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs):
- When did the use of the ‘Bhavishya’ software become mandatory for all central civil ministries and departments?
- A) January 1, 2015
- B) January 1, 2016
- C) January 1, 2017
- D) January 1, 2018
- As of August 14, 2024, how many PPOs have been issued by ‘Bhavishya’?
- A) 100,000
- B) 200,000
- C) 250,845
- D) 300,000
- Which ranking did ‘Bhavishya’ achieve in the NeSDA 2021?
- A) 1st
- B) 2nd
- C) 3rd
- D) 4th
- What is one of the key features of ‘Bhavishya’ that enhances transparency and accountability?
- A) Manual Calculation of Pensions
- B) Auto Registration of Retirees
- C) Real-Time Updates via Email/SMS
- D) Strict Timelines for Processing
- What does the e-PPO system in ‘Bhavishya’ enable?
- A) Issuance of paper PPOs
- B) Manual pension calculations
- C) Electronic transmission of PPOs to banks
- D) Manual updates on pension status