How to record and screencast video using YouTube

At times it is necessary to give presentation virtually with screen sharing. Even though Microsoft provides recording option with Power Point slides it is not useful if you have created presentations in PDF using LaTeX. Screen cast refers to sharing our computer screen with audience with or without voice narration. In case of presentations, screen cast means the sharing of presentation slides on your computer with the audience. In such cases lifesaver is YouTube. Yes, one can create screen cast with simple steps in YouTube without any additional software. Only requirement is you should have a Gmail account and comparably good Internet connection.

Click on Get Started

Step 1: Go to DashBoard in your YouTube login. Click on Live Streaming. Go to get started and verify your Mobile Number by providing OTP. It is a must.

Provide mobile number and OTP to verify your account

Step 2: Then access the page “Events” under the tab Live Streaming and select Schedule a New Event. 

Access the page Events and click Live Streaming


Click on Schedule a new event

Step 3: Here you can enter the Title you would like to have for the screen cast and a brief discussion. Importantly if you want the video to be private then select private before proceeding further and select the Type Quick (using Google Hangouts on Air). Click on Go live now that will open Google Hangouts page.

Enter the event details or the video details. 

Step 4: Select the screen share option in the left tool bar, you will be asked to share your screen. Select either Your entire screen or application window if in case you are screencasting presentations. 

Google Hangouts page from where one can screencast 

Step 5: Click on Start Broadcast and you are live.

Once the screencasting is over, click on Stop Broadcast. You are done and your video with screencast will be ready to play. You can view and share your screencasted videos by accessing them at YouTube dashboard after you login similar to YouTube videos.

In addition, if you want you can enable webcam by which your face will appear in the corner of screencast. Similarly if you don’t want to record voice and just action, you can disable micro phone option in the Google Hangouts top tool bar.

A drawback of this is you require stable internet connection to do screencast video. 

How to get Permanent Account Number (PRAN) for Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

Central Government introduced Atal Pension Yojana (APY) in order to provide pension benefit for  employees of unorganized sector. In the previous post the information on opening an Atal Pension Yojana (APY) account online in State Bank of India (SBI) was mentioned. The accounts opened in this scheme will also be maintained by the Central Record Keeping Agency under National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL). In order to facilitate the users to know the status of APY account opened, one can check online through NSDL. To check the balance and other information first the users need to obtain Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) from NSDL website and take a copy of it for further communication such as upgrade or downgrade of pension amount, change of personal information etc. The PRAN e-copy will also have Full Name of the individual holding the account, Permanent Retirement Account (PRAN) Number, Date of Birth, Assured Pension (which is same as Premium Amount to be paid monthly) along with the Nominee name. Also, the pension start date will also be mentioned on the e-copy of PRAN. APY service provider will be respective bank or agency from which scheme is enrolled.

One can obtain the Permanent Account Number (PRAN) for Atal Pension Yojana (APY) as follows:


2. Select the option Click to Search without PRAN and fill the following details:

    a. Provide Subscriber Name

    b. Bank Account Number where the APY account was linked while opening APY account

    c. Date of Birth of Subscriber


Enter the details and captcha in order to continue

3. Select the option e-PRAN View and provide the CAPTCHA answer. Once you click Submit, your copy of e-PRAN will be available. 

Copy of ePRAN opened in website

To print the e-PRAN details with background color while printing select the option Background Graphics. If you are using Google Chrome you can view this option of selecting Background Graphcis can be accessed from more settings in print dialogue box of Chrome. Alternatively you can save it as PDF also.