SPARSH: System for Pension Administration Raksha | 09 Jul 2021
Why in News
Recently, the Ministry of Defence has implemented SPARSH (System for Pension Administration Raksha).
Key Points
- About:
- It is an integrated system for automation of sanction and disbursement of defence pension.
- This web-based system processes pension claims and credits pension directly into the bank accounts of defence pensioners without relying on any external intermediary.
- A Pensioner Portal is available for pensioners to view their pension related information, access services and register complaints, if any.
- SPARSH envisages establishment of Service Centres to provide last mile connectivity to pensioners who may be unable to directly access the SPARSH portal.
- The two largest banks dealing with defence pensioners – State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) – have been co-opted as Service Centres.
- Other Initiative Related to Defence Pensions:
- One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme: It provides the payment of the same pension to military officers for the same rank for the same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement.