The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an outlay of ₹53,428 crore for the continuation of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) for five years, from 2026-27 to 2030-31. It has also renamed the scheme and removed the “Indira Gandhi” prefix from three sub-schemes covering old-age, widow and disability pensions.

The Cabinet also revised the eligibility criteria and assistance rates for disability pension beneficiaries.

The government statement spoke of “continuation of pension schemes for old age and widows and the family benefit scheme in its existing form”. The decision to lock in the budget for the next five years has raised questions, with critics arguing that NSAP is already inadequate to meet current socio-economic realities. Unlike several other welfare schemes that use the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data to identify beneficiaries, NSAP caps the beneficiary base for its three pension schemes at 3.09 crore.

“Realising Rights: A Handbook of Welfare in India”, published by Azim Premji University, notes that since this ceiling is “neither defined by administrative capacity nor the actual number of eligible rights holders, eligibility as determined in the guidelines does not translate into an entitlement in practice”.

Demographic changes

Rajendran Narayanan, Associate Professor at Azim Premji University and one of the editors of the handbook, said the Cabinet’s decision overlooked the need for pension outlays to keep pace with demographic changes and inflation.

“The decision appears to assume that the number of beneficiaries will remain static. Even for the existing beneficiary base, a back-of-the-envelope calculation using a 5% inflation rate shows that ₹55,698 crore would be required,” he said.

The government also announced that NSAP will be renamed the Pradhan Mantri Samajik Sahayata Yojana. The Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme will be renamed the Pradhan Mantri Vridhavastha Pension Yojana, while the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme will become the Pradhan Mantri Vidhwa Pension Yojana.

The Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme has similarly been renamed the Pradhan Mantri Divyangjan Pension Yojana.

The Centre provides 100% assistance under the programme to ensure uniform support for beneficiaries across the country. However, limited coverage under the scheme has led many States to expand their own pension programmes. The Economic Survey 2024-25 acknowledged that States were supporting an additional 5.86 crore beneficiaries, taking total coverage to 8.95 crore beneficiaries, comprising 3.09 crore covered by the Centre and 5.86 crore by States.