Cabinet Extends National Social Assistance Programme Through 2030-31

The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the National Social Assistance Programme for five years, from 2026-27 to 2030-31, with a total outlay of about 53,428 crore rupees. The approval includes a renaming of the scheme and its sub-schemes along with revisions to eligibility criteria, coverage and the rate of assistance, including for pensions for persons with disabilities.

The National Social Assistance Programme is a central welfare programme providing financial assistance to elderly, widowed and disabled citizens in low-income households, delivered in coordination with state governments. Separately, the government highlighted continued momentum in manufacturing policy, with the mobile phone production-linked incentive scheme reported to have generated substantial tax collections, and a container manufacturing assistance scheme advanced to scale domestic production.

Why it matters

A multi-year extension gives states predictability in planning social-security disbursements and signals the Centre's intent to keep direct welfare transfers central to its anti-poverty approach. The revisions to eligibility and assistance rates will determine how far the programme keeps pace with inflation and who falls inside or outside its coverage over the next five years.

For beneficiaries, the rate of assistance and the breadth of eligibility are the provisions that matter most in practice, since they set what reaches households each month. The coming months will show how the revised criteria are operationalised by states, which handle enrolment and disbursement on the ground.