Re: Re:
Chandra Nath
Subject: SPARSH, Veteran Welfare and the Need for an Empowered Veterans Administration
Dear Brig Vidyasagar and other collegues,
I have read the observations on SPARSH with considerable interest. I broadly agree with the central concern, but I would frame the issue slightly differently.
The real issue is not digitisation versus non-digitisation. No sensible veteran, pensioner or family pensioner is opposed to digitisation. We all use digital banking, UPI, online reservations and other digital services. The issue is whether digitisation is being used to improve service delivery, or whether it is being used to shift responsibility away from accountable institutions.
SPARSH, in principle, is not a bad idea. A single digital pension platform can reduce delays, standardise pension records, improve auditability and remove dependence on multiple disbursing agencies. The official SPARSH position itself is that it is meant to provide “right pension at right time”, centralised sanction, claim and disbursement, pensioner self-verification, digital identification and real-time grievance tracking. If these objectives are actually achieved, pensioners will benefit.
However, the experience of many veterans and family pensioners shows that the transition has exposed serious weaknesses. A pension system cannot be judged only by how it works for a digitally literate officer living in a city. It must be judged by how it works for an aged sepoy in a hill district, a widow in a village, a disabled pensioner, or a family pensioner who cannot navigate usernames, passwords, OTPs, PDV and online grievance forms.
That is where the present model has a structural defect.
A pensioner today may be told by the bank that he has been migrated to SPARSH and therefore the bank has no role. He may be told by DPDO that it has generated the life certificate and cannot do anything if SPARSH does not accept it. He may be told by SPARSH to raise an online grievance, which he may not be able to do. The result is a “tennis ball” situation where the veteran is passed from one counter to another.
This is not acceptable.
The Government has already recognised the last-mile problem by onboarding Common Service Centres under SPARSH. In February 2022, MoD announced that more than four lakh CSCs would act as an interface for SPARSH, especially for pensioners in remote areas or those without technical means. These CSCs are supposed to help with profile updates, grievance registration, digital annual identification, pensioner data verification and pension information. But CSCs cannot become a substitute for trained defence pension case officers. They can help a pensioner access the system, but they cannot adjudicate pension entitlement, interpret casualty pension rules, resolve family pension disputes, or correct complex PPO errors.
Therefore, the problem is not the portal. The problem is ownership.
I would go a step further. The Service HQs cannot be expected to function as the primary post-retirement welfare machinery for all veterans and family pensioners. Their principal duty is to raise, train, equip and employ the serving forces. They must remain stakeholders because Record Offices, service documents and personnel records are essential, but veteran welfare cannot depend on ad hoc intervention from serving headquarters.
This model has not worked satisfactorily elsewhere either. In the United States, veterans’ benefits are not administered by the service headquarters as a routine military function. They are handled by a separate Department of Veterans Affairs headed by a Cabinet-level Secretary. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs covers veterans’ health, education, disability, funerary and financial benefits. India need not blindly copy the U.S. model, but the principle is sound: veterans require a dedicated, empowered, accountable institution.
India already has the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare. DESW was created in 2004 to give focused attention to welfare and resettlement of ex-servicemen. It has a Pension Division, Resettlement Division and attached offices such as KSB, DGR and ECHS. But DESW does not yet function as a fully empowered Ministry of Veterans Administration with single-point ownership over pensions, healthcare, resettlement, disability claims, family pension issues, casualty benefits and grievance redressal.
This is the reform we should demand.
SPARSH should not be scrapped merely because implementation has been problematic. But SPARSH must be subordinated to a veteran-centric administrative model. The pensioner should not have to know whether the error lies with PCDA, DAD, SPARSH, Record Office, bank, DPDO, CSC or DESW. The pensioner should have one accountable authority, one case number, one escalation chain and one time-bound resolution mechanism.
The minimum reforms should be:
- No pension stoppage without human review, prior notice and alternative verification for elderly, disabled and family pensioners.
- A trained Defence Pension Facilitation Officer at district level, preferably linked to Zila Sainik Boards, with authority to escalate cases directly to PCDA/SPARSH.
- Separate widow and family pension cell, because family pension cases involve dependency, remarriage, division of pension, casualty attribution, disability and legal complexity.
- Time-bound grievance redressal, with automatic escalation if a grievance is not resolved within the prescribed period.
- Hybrid model, where SPARSH remains the digital backend but banks, ZSBs, CSCs, Record Offices and DESW provide an accountable human front end.
- Independent audit of SPARSH migration, including cases of non-payment, wrong payment, life certificate rejection, PDV failure and non-receipt of login credentials.
- Monthly public dashboard, showing grievances received, resolved, pending beyond 30/60/90 days, and categories of errors.
- Cabinet-level or statutory Veterans Administration, combining pensions, ECHS, resettlement, disability benefits, welfare grants and family pension support under one empowered authority.
Digitisation without accountability is not reform. Centralisation without field support is not efficiency. A portal without an empowered human interface is not welfare.
The Armed Forces retire people at a relatively young age; many widows and family pensioners are not digitally equipped; and many veterans live in areas where connectivity, documentation and access remain uneven. A defence pension system must therefore be designed for the weakest user, not the most digitally capable one.
In conclusion, SPARSH may remain the technological platform, but India urgently needs a proper Ministry of Veterans Administration model. Service HQs should support it with records and institutional knowledge, but they cannot be expected to carry the entire veteran welfare burden. DAD/PCDA may manage accounts, but accounts staff cannot be the final face of veteran welfare. DESW must be strengthened into the single accountable authority for veterans and their families.
The veteran should not have to fight the system after having served the nation under military contract under "unlimited liability."
See my resources on Ministry of Veteran Administration.
No bandaid can work for veterans. It has not worked in other countries either.
Dear Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd) and my other collegues: Please examine this whole document structure and ask me any questions and logic and reasons. I will make AI to do deep research and produce a convincing document .
Regards,
Chandra Nath
Dear Sir,
I have read views of many on SPARSH with lot of interest. In TSEWA we get complaints by dozens every hour on efficacy of SPARSH.
TSEWA carried out thorough study on SPARSH and took up a case with Min of Def to stop migration till the grievances of pensioners is not resolved. But CGDA played the card of visiono of Hon'ble PM on digitisation. TSEWA is not against digitisation. If the pension is assured every month with all glitches in SPARSH, TSEWA has no objection and we welcome digitisation. We are enjoying digitisation of money transfer through Google Pay, Phone Pe and Paytm. TSEWA gets daily donations from few people to run our office.The real motive of CGDA in implementing SPARSH is not to save Rs 180 crores per annum which is now being paid to banks which are mostly government owned but to save hundreds of employees of Def Accts Dept who man Def Pension Disbursing Offices(DPDOs). The Britishers established 62 PSUs mostly in North India to disburse pensions to the retired Armed Forces Personnel as there were not adequate number of banks to do so. Treasuries of State Govt also were employed to disburse pensions. Now with the proliferation of banks in every nook and corner of the country with the policy of every bank in every village, where is the need for DPDOs? Should they not be disbanded?
When the paper on Central Pension Disbursal System was sent to Min of Def three years back, the reason is CGDA gave is to save Rs 180 crores being paid to banks. When pay and allowances are being paid to officers centrally why cannot the same be done for defence pensoiners? Without any trials in remote areas, SPARSH has been thrust. When SPARSH team could not resolve the problems when 56,000 pensioners did not get their pension of Apr 2022, then DAD ran to Min of Def and got permission to hand over software and hardware development to TCS for a period of five years at a cost of Rs 250 crores. Thereafter there will be Annual Maintenance Contract(AMC) with TCS. Who will pay for it? Def Accts Dept assured ministry that in house talent of department will be utilised and it will result in a big saving. When you create a new system, you need additional resources. If DPDOs are not disbanded then how is the additional resources in terms of manpower, computers, stationery etc will come from ? So the hoax played of savings is exposed. Not one manpower has been reduced, whereas thousands of Def civilians of DAD should have been sent out with a golden. hand shake.
Since SPARSH cannot redress grievances of all Ex-Servicemen and family pensioners, CGDA has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with 4.50 lakh common service centres. Now if you see the hand book on SPARSH by Adjutant General put up in public domain on 13 Nov 2022. It says pensioners can approach Common / Citizen Service Centres (CSCs) to project their grievances and payment will be made by SPARSH for processing of the grievances. Pensioner does not have to pay to the CSCs. CSCs manned entirely by civilians who are clueless of defence pensions can only act as post offices. Now CGDA has been able to convince Min of Def and Min of Fin to force the very same banks to act as CSCs. How does CGDA pay for services rendered by CSCs? Now where is the saving?
If you visit remote areas of Uttarakhand, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh UT, Anandaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep Islands, you will find cell towers are not established as revenues are not commensurate with the expenditure incurred by the telcos like Reliance, Vodafone and AirTel. So how will the pensioners get their email id and user name from SPARSH when they are migrated to SPARSH?
Yes, the Service HQs have washed off their hands (thanks to late CDS) of Ex-Servicemen and family pensioners.
Brig SS Jaswal is absolutely correct in saying if the existing system is functional, why screw it up? Banks have spent tons of money to create CPPCs closest to the Ex-Servicemen. Any problem can be resolved in no time. Please speak with Lt Gen Vinod Vashist (Retd), Central Defence Banking Advisor how SBI resolves the problems in case you have any doubt about the ability of SBI to resolve the grievance. I cite a simple case of Smt Mahalakshmi, a widow in Cumbum mandal (Tehsil) of Prakasam dist of Andhra Pradesh. Her husband, a Sapper, died in service and death was attributed to military service. She was sanctioned a Special Family Pension. The in - laws complained that their daughter-in - law does not support them. The BRO adjudicated and recommended division of Special Family pension in the ratio of 70% to the widow to look after her two children and 30% to the in - laws. The orders came from PCDA (Pensions) very late and SBI, Cumbum continued to pay entire Special Family Pension to the widow which amounted to over payment of Rs 2.50 lakhs over more than two years. On the complaint of in-laws, SBI, Cumbum stopped pension of the widow and asked her to refund Rs 2.50 lakhs. The SBI should have simply reduced her pension by one third towards recovery and pay the rest of the pension to the widow in stead of stopping her pension. Any number of visits to CPPC, SBI, Andhra Pradesh and any number of letters to PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj did not help this poor widow. She being illiterate with no job, it became extremely difficult for her to even feed her children. TSEWA swung into action when it was brought to our notice. Immediately Lt Gen Vinod Vashisht and Maj Gen Rajesh Chopra at SBI office in CPPC, South Zone in Hyderabad (zonal defence banking advisor) were approached. In just two days, her reduced pension was sanctioned along with arrears for the period when her pension was stopped thanks to Lt Gen Vinod Vashisht. This is the efficacy of SBI.If such a case comes up in the future, how many years will it take SPARSH to redress the grievance of such a poor family pensioner? Who will help that poor widow especially of lower ranks who live in remote areas where communication even today is not that good.
Our experience in TSEWA is redress grievance system is totally abasent in SPARSH. SPARSH is in a tearing hurry to meet the deadline of migrating all defence pensioners to SPARSH by Dec 2022 or latest by Mar 2023.
Even the life certificate generated by DPDO, a DAD organisation is not being accepted in SPARSH and such pensioners will not get pension from Dec 2022? Many pensioners who are migrated to SPARSH do not receive their user id and pass word from SPARSH. Then how will they log in and submit pensioner data verification (PDV). When the PCDA (Pensions) and the other two of IAF and Navy have got all the details of the pensioner, then where is the need for PDV?Where will they go to get their grievances redressed?. DPDO plays tennis with SPARSH. If a pensioner approches DPDO whose Annual Life Certificate is not accepted by SPARSH, the stock reply they get is " Our job is to generate life certificates. We have done it. If your pension is stopped, we can do nothing. " If he goes to a pension paying bank the reply they are receiving is " you are migrated to SPARSH and we have no role. If we get your pension, then we will disburse. You approach SPARSH". How does the pensioner get his pension from Dec 2022?Warm Regards,Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd)TSEWA- 140Land Line: 040-46016932Call & WhatsApp: 9493191380Email Address: csvidy...@gmail.com or brigvid...@gmail.com
Wg Cdr RK Bali
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