Cabinet extends National Social Assistance Programme to 2030-31, renames it
The Union Cabinet on 14 October 2026 extended the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) to 2030-31 with Rs 53,428 crore and renamed it the Pradhan Mantri Samajik Sahayata Yojana. Its disability pension now needs 40% disability instead of 80% and pays Rs 375 or Rs 625 a month. The government puts beneficiaries at 3.20 crore.
Syllabus: Prelims · Economy & Social Development; GS2 · Welfare of Vulnerable Sections; GS2 · Poverty & Hunger
Why this matters for UPSC
GS2 welfare schemes for vulnerable sections: Prelims can ask NSAP's ministry, sub-schemes and funding, Article 41 and the 40% benchmark disability of the 2016 Act; Mains, how adequate and fair social pensions are.
Why it matters
Take a young adult in a poor family with a moderate disability, assessed at 50%. Until now the central disability pension left such a person out, because it demanded 80% disability; a child disabled from birth was left out too, because the pension began only in adulthood. Both can now qualify, and the central amount for those under 80 rises from Rs 300 to Rs 375 a month. Elderly people and widows see no change in the central amount. The larger question is whether small central pensions, topped up very unevenly by States, give poor citizens a dignified minimum, or whether a person's security still depends on the State they happen to live in.
Prelims pointers
- NSAP: launched 15 August 1995; a fully funded Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development, covering rural and urban areas.
- NSAP sub-schemes: old age pension from 60 years, widow pension at 40 to 79, family benefit of Rs 20,000 on a breadwinner's death at 18 to 59.
- Annapurna Scheme: 10 kg of foodgrains a month, free, to elderly persons eligible for the old age pension but not receiving it.
- Article 41: the State shall, within its economic capacity, secure the right to work, to education and to public assistance in unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement.
- Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, Section 24: disability assistance under social security schemes must be at least 25% higher than similar schemes for others.
- The 2016 disability Act repealed the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995; its nodal body is the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), consider the following statements:
1. It was launched in 1995 to give effect to the Directive Principle in Article 41 of the Constitution.
2. It is implemented at the Union level by the Ministry of Rural Development.
3. Its central assistance is shared between the Centre and the States in a 60:40 ratio.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer
Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only
Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only. NSAP is a 1995 Rural Development programme under Article 41, and the Centre pays all of its central assistance.
Statement 1: correct. NSAP began on 15 August 1995 to meet the Centre's duty under Article 41, a Directive Principle of State Policy.
Statement 2: correct. The Ministry of Rural Development runs NSAP; the 2026 continuation was proposed by its Department of Rural Development.
Statement 3: incorrect. NSAP is a fully funded Centrally Sponsored Scheme: the Centre gives 100% of the central assistance, and States may add top-ups.
Eliminate: Statement 3 is the surest: NSAP's central assistance is 100% central, with no 60:40 sharing. Out: (b), (c), (d).
Trap: Sounds right. A Centre-State sharing ratio looks natural for a scheme the States carry out, but NSAP's central assistance is paid wholly by the Centre.
Remember: NSAP (1995): Ministry of Rural Development, Article 41, 100% central assistance plus State top-ups.
More from the 14 October 2026 edition
- Cooperation Ministry mandates uniform audit report for Multi-State societies Economy
- CCEA approves strategic buyer for 60.72% of IDBI Bank Economy
- India approved to join Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement Economy
- India–Mauritius tax treaty gets principal purpose test against treaty shopping Economy
- Greater India Society at 100: India's cultural links across Asia National
- Indian Navy to end first command of CMF's Combined Task Force 154 Defence
- Putin signs law ratifying India-Russia temporary labour agreement World & IR
- India rejects UN Indigenous Peoples Rapporteur's reference, cites Forest Rights Act World & IR
- India tells UNGA Third Committee UN rights bodies must shun selectivity World & IR
- 158 refugees get citizenship in Ahmedabad, 126 under the CAA Polity
- India-Canada reset: PMs back early CEPA to double trade by 2030 World & IR
- Union Territory of Ladakh: India rejects China's objection to standard names World & IR