The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the continuation of the National Social Assistance Programme for a five-year period from 2026-27 to 2030-31 with a total financial outlay of Rs 53,428 crore, alongside a comprehensive renaming of the umbrella initiative and its constituent sub-schemes that officially drops former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s name, transforming the NSAP into the Pradhan Mantri Samajik Sahayata Yojana while changing the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme, the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme, and the National Family Benefit Scheme into the Pradhan Mantri Vridhavastha Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Vidhawa Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Divyangjan Pension Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri Parivar Labh Yojana respectively, with the government maintaining existing structures and rates for old age and widow pensions while introducing vital revisions to the eligibility criteria, coverage scope, and rates of assistance exclusively for the Divyangjan pension scheme—raising monthly support from Rs 300 to Rs 375 for beneficiaries aged zero to seventy-nine and from Rs 500 to Rs 625 for those aged eighty and above, lowering the benchmark disability requirement from 80 percent to 40 percent, and establishing eligibility from birth—to ensure enhanced welfare delivery for vulnerable groups across the nation.
