SPARSH' OR TOUCH ME NOT?

'SPARSH' OR TOUCH ME NOT?

(Brig AN Suryanarayanan)

In keeping with Hon'ble PM's fondness for acronyms, SPARSH, an acronym for  'System for Pension Administration Raksha', to be rolled out in Oct 2020 commenced  only in Apr 21, but without necessary preparations , much forethought or a pilot process. The word SPARSH, of Sanskrit origin means Touch.(SPARSH' OR TOUCH ME NOT?) 

It has now become a disliked system of Touch-me-not  to MOST defence pensioners. What are the reasons? There are errors galore due to hurried data transfer to meet a self-proclaimed target date. It has become the bane of ex-servicemen and veer naris (widows)  many of whom are not computer savvy and living in remote areas.

 When CGDA made his Concept Paper, the No of pensioners was 24.16 Lakh and Rs 51000 Cr was being disbursed. Today it is 33 Lakh pensioners and the increment is 60000-70000 annually. The figures include defence civilians whose pensions are about 55% (and only 45% for service pensioners). While pension sanction is being done in a centralized way for each service,  pension disbursement was being carried out by a number of agencies who are working as PDAs

 (Pension Disbursing Agencies):

28 Public Sector and 

4 Private Sector Banks,

 63 DPDOs, 

State Treasuries and 

Post Offices. 

Banks deal with approx 18.06 lakh pensioners or 75% of the total number of defence pensioners, disbursing almost 90% of the total pension disbursement to defence pensioners. There are 63 Defence Pension Disbursement Officers ( Pension Disbursement Agencies or PDAs) 51 in northern India and 12 in Southern India (Eastern, Central and Western India have no DPDOs!). They cater to 4.7 lakh pensioners. 

To start the work, only a modest strength of  one IDAS, One AO, two AAOs and a few others was thought to be sufficient to even last for the first two phases with minor additions. It was assessed that this manpower can be spared from the existing resources of the organization of CDA. In an RTI reply dated 07 Jul 22, CGDA stated that they now  have 160 personnel (SAO /AO 24; AAO 64; and SA/Audit/ Clerks 72). It was also announced that savings of Rs 180 Crores pa will result from the Government no longer having to pay the banks a service charge of Rs 60 per pensioner per month. Other benefits have been listed. But we know that the Empire will keep building, to a level when there will be more PCDA level officers, with  a dozen IDAS and the rest of the caboodle. 

The initial figure of a dozen staff has already grown to 160. Add the manpower, premises, and computer and allied costs for establishing  SPARSH Service Centres and  4.5 Lakh CSCs.  Add further the Rs 250 Cr to TCS brought in for software and hardware support for five years. So would the projected annual savings of Rs 180 crores still be valid? Or is the Government being taken for a ride?

The project envisages centralized  pension payment to all defense pensioners under SPARSH: a single point.  It commenced with freshly retiring ESM first, and to progressively include earlier years thereafter. The main argument for establishing SPARSH was  stated to be  that 95% of the pension grievances have to do with bank-dependent pensioners. The changeover to SPARSH is projected to drastically reduce this. It was stated that pensioners dependent on DPDOs are a satisfied lot, while those with banks are not; and that SPARSH will make the bank-dependent pensioners too satisfied. Pensioners, especially old ones, however, feel that if ever there was a problem, a call/ email to the Branch Manager or CPPC (Centralized Pension Processing Centre) of  the Bank usually sorted it out. Compare it with what happened to Devika,  the widow of Naik Sekar of Guards. She just couldn't upload the Death Certificate to SPARSH site for many months and a CPENGRAM complaint on her behalf elicited the typical bureaucratic response of :" Go to CSC available in every village". (CSC is Common Service Centre; there are to be 4.5 Lakhs of them). 

Today when   even Record Offices, banks and DPDOs are unable to, can a CSC person in a remote village be able to upload it? Is he computer savvy? Does he/ will  he, in the near future, have a PC? Does he have a place?  In the legacy System she could have just walked into her Bank and given the Death Certificate and WITHIN 30 days, would have got her Pension in her account.

 SPARSH will not be able to surmount the enormous task of transferring the pensioner data-bases (personal and pension details) from the CPPCs of banks. We are aware how compatibility issues, during mergers of banks delayed everything. So you can imagine the problem with SPARSH. The migration needs  extensive manual intervention., in which case,  mistakes of omission and commission are bound to happen; they will not be detected without either a time-consuming pre/concurrent -audit or a representation by an affected pensioner. The audit option,  is viable only if pensions continue to be "back-ended" by bank CPPCs for some months/ years. The changeover has been a misery and worry for pensioners, particularly those not internet savvy or unable to lodge a grievance.

 The transfer and verification of data of approximately 33 lakh pensioners/family pensioners (increasing by the year) is a colossal task. Security, back-up and  crash recovery have to be ensured. Recently in Nov - Dec 2022, about 3 Lakh pensioners attempted to upload their Life Certificates and the system crashed and stayed so for a few days. What happens when the majority of the 33 Lakhs  attempt it  this year? We can only hope TCS has taken note of it and caters for it.

How prudent it would have been if SPARSH had excluded all past  pensioners and certainly pre 01 Jan 2016. One may recall that in 2002, while deciding free medical benefits to ESM, Hon'ble Supreme Court had considered pre-1996 pensioners ... a diminishing commodity. Pre-2016 pensioners should also be so today after two decades. It is sad that 4 Lakh pensioners have passed away in the past five years.

Let us  see the other major problems faced by pensioners:

𝘈𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘬𝘴𝘩𝘢 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪, p𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 '𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭' 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐆𝐃𝐀, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬/𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐇. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢m𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘚𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘚𝘏. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘴y𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴. Brochure issued by PCDA (P) on 22 Mar 22 states in Para 5 : "𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 "𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨n𝘦𝘴𝘴‟ 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 to 𝘔𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵i𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘚𝘏. 𝘛𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐧‟𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐌 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐆𝐃𝐀 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐛𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 ‘𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦. 𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑷𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑺𝑯. 𝑩𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕e𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔/ 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑷𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔/ 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑰𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒃-𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒏e𝒘 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎." Notice  the veiled threat in the subsequent sentences urging all veterans to migrate to Sparsh, otherwise complaints at a later stage will not get the right kind of attention. It was also clarified in an RTI response on 07 Jul 22 that SPARSH was not mandatory. Mysteriously the PCDA-P issued a fresh SPARSH  Aide Memoire pamphlet removing that Para totally (and NOT even re-numbering ) and making it compulsory. Do Raksha Mantri's words carry no sanctity?

 There was NO point in putting very old retirees in their 80s and 90s, through the misery and tension of online enrolment, uploading of documents etc, as most of them are not computer savvy. Why force  those in remote villages especially where neither fiber nor high speed Wi-Fi is available nor are they proficient in computers. If they go to a cyber cafe there is  every chance of fraud at later stages, with all data being available to any crook in such cafe's.

 Pre-2016 pensioners are being taken into the system wef  Sep 2022. The figures being enormous, errors are uncountable. Just to meet their target date of 31 Mar 23, minimal data from the banks have been loaded and the Pensioner accessing SPARSH faces an Alert that says: "As per system records, you have been identified as a pre-2016 pensioner & your SPARSH account has limited access. Services including Profile updates (DOB, Family Details, Bank details etc)have been disabled for your account until further notice. Intimation shall be made via SMS/Email once the services are enabled". Where is the tearing hurry?

Let us see more problems that were faced recently.

-When you try to  download your Pension Slip, you land up staring at someone else's! Warrant Officer R N Thiruchelvam has enumerated the problems he had faced just 4 days ago: when he attempted to get his pension slip, he kept getting  those of EIGHT others; he couldn't upload Life Certificate or Aadhar Card validation.

-In Pune , a Colonel was paid Rs 23,79,726 after TDS of Rs 10,79,182, that is a total of 34,98,518. When the honest officer ran to his bank , his account was blocked instead of the amount only! With the help of the Bank Branch, he got the excess amount removed and his account restored. Could this happen in SPARSH, where you can't even lodge a complaint?

-In Hyderabad, a Colonel got a widow's pension sheet while trying to access his!  

-There is an ambiguity between Life Certificate and Identification and it is NOT explained anywhere: do they both mean the same? If so, how is 01 Jan 23 shown as Last Identified in my case, whereas I had submitted my Life Certificate on 08 Oct 22? It also says, my next Identification is due before 31 Jan 2024.

-A major worry that is gnawing at the hearts of very old pensioners is: what has happened to the Life Time Arrears Form submitted by them to the PCDA (P) through their banks.

-‘On Line Grievance and Correction of Data’ exists but when you can't even upload a Life Certificate, what use is that system?

-Personal data are read only: a few who want to update are unable to do so.

-Contact & Support - is of no help. The Pensioners Help Desk has only one Toll Free number. You have to keep on trying.

 These glitches in SPARSH could also be because of faulty inputs given to TCS and also errors by their data entry operators. In two ( out of five years of contract) is this the best TCS can produce? Compare how smooth their own system is in Passport Offices!

It appears the Government is being made a fool of. Even now it is NOT too late to retrace the steps. Loss would only be of 250 Cr given to TCS.

Like the Americans say, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'!

Best wishes

Surya

(Visit my Blog at https://surya-musings.blogspot.com.html)