Cabinet reimburses ₹53,428. for social assistance program till 2030-31 deletes “Indira Gandhi” from names of pension schemes

Representative image only. File | Photo credit: The Hindu

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

The cabinet also revised the eligibility criteria and level of assistance for disability pension recipients.

A government statement spoke of “the continuation of the old-age and widow’s pension schemes and the family benefit scheme in their current form”. The decision to freeze the budget for the next five years has raised questions, with critics saying the NSAP is already insufficient to meet current socio-economic realities. Unlike several other social security schemes that use data from the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) to identify beneficiaries, NSAP caps the beneficiary base for its three pension schemes at 3.09 billion crowns.

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

Demographic changes

Rajendran Narayanan, an associate professor at Azim Premji University and one of the editors of the handbook, said the cabinet’s decision overlooked the need for pension spending to keep pace with demographic changes and inflation.

“The decision seems 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 as Pradhan Mantri Samajik Sahayata Yojana. Indira Gandhi National Pension Scheme will be renamed as Pradhan Mantri Vridhavastha Pension Yojana while Indira Gandhi National Pension Scheme will become Pradhan Mantri Vidhwa Pension Yojana.

The Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme was similarly renamed as Pradhan Mantri Divyangjan Pension Yojana.

The Center provides 100% assistance under the scheme to ensure uniform support for beneficiaries across the country. However, limited coverage under this system has led many states to expand their own pension programs. The Economic Survey 2024-25 confirmed that states supported an additional 5.86 million beneficiaries, taking the total coverage to 8.95 million beneficiaries, of which 3.09 million were covered by the Center and 5.86 million by the states.

Published – 14 Oct 2026 18:32 IST