The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) has launched a facial recognition-based app to verify pensioners and detect their liveness, according to a press release. The app, available only on Google Play Store for now, uses the Unique Identification Authority of India's (UIDAI) AadhaarFaceRD mobile application and facial database to issue life certificates, DoPPW Joint Secretary S.N. Mathur told MediaNama. In order to receive their pensions, pensioners have to annually create life certificates - a process which has been increasingly digitised through fingerprint or iris scanning. The app, developed by a team under the IT Ministry (along with the UIDAI) is also awaiting clearances for Apple's App Store, MediaNama has learnt. The use of facial recognition and Aadhaar in e-governance projects has been increasing despite experts voicing concerns on privacy as well as the legality and accuracy of such software. In fact, in August, the Internet Freedom Foundation had sent a legal notice to the Meghalaya government's Department of Finance when it rolled out a similar app. How does the pension disbursement take place? At the Central level: Following successful verification through the app, a Digital Life Certificate is issued to the pensioner as well as sent to the bank which can then send the pension in case of central government employees. At the state level: In the case of state government employees, the certificate is also sent to the respective state's treasury department. According to the app's instruction manual, after downloading it, the app operator (which can also be the…
