What is Project Naman?

About Project NAMAN:

• It is designed to provide dedicated support and services to Defence Pensioners, Veterans and their families.
• It is centered around the implementation of the SPARSH (System for Pension Administration Raksha), digital pension system, which streamlines pension related processes for Defence Pensioners, addressing the critical need for accessible facilitation points for Veterans and Next of Kin (NOK) across the country.
• It involves the establishment of reception and facilitation centres, enabled through a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indian Army’s Directorate of Indian Army Veterans Common Service Centre (CSC) e-Governance India Limited, and HDFC Bank Limited signed last year in September 2023.
• These Common Service Centres are dedicated to Army Veterans, Pensioners, War Widows, and NOKs, offering SPARSH-enabled pension services, Government to Citizen (G2C) services, and Business to Consumer (B2C) services, all at a single, convenient location.
• In the first phase of Project NAMAN, 14 CSCs have been established at key locations across India, including New Delhi, Jalandhar, Leh, Dehradun, Lucknow, Jodhpur, Bengdubi, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Secunderabad, Saugor, Guntur, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.
• This initiative not only delivers essential care and support to esteemed veterans but also extends services to the entire resident population of military stations and surrounding localities.
• Each CSC is managed by a Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE), selected from among the veterans or NOKs by the respective Local Military Authorities (LMAs).
• These VLEs are onboarded by CSC e-Governance India Limited and receive comprehensive training to deliver the required services.
• Financial assistance: HDFC Bank also supports the VLEs with a monthly monetary grant of ₹ 20,000 for the first 12 months, assisting in the stabilisation and sustainability of the centres.

Q1: What is the SPARSH portal?

It is being implemented by the Ministry of Defence for meeting the pension sanction and disbursement requirements for Armed Forces viz. Army, Navy, Air Force and Defence Civilians. This system will be administered by the Defence Accounts Department through the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions).

Source: INDIAN ARMY LAUNCHES PROJECT NAMAN: SPARSH-CENTRIC COMMON SERVICE CENTRES ESTABLISHED ACROSS INDIA