The census for the second phase of the Aswesuma welfare benefit program will commence tomorrow, according to the Welfare Benefits Board (WBB). Initially scheduled to begin in July 2024, the census was delayed due to various reasons, it said.
The Board anticipates that nearly 2.1 million families will qualify as beneficiaries in the second phase, an increase from the 1.8 million who benefited last year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has allocated a target disbursement of Rs. 233 billion for the program, which was launched to support vulnerable groups during the economic crisis.
The WBB aims to extend the welfare benefit to 2.4 million families under this phase, although only 800,000 applications have been received so far. The Government has also decided to extend the benefit period for the Extremely Poor and Poor categories by an additional three years.
The Board has assured that families who received benefits during the first phase will continue to receive them in the second phase. However, the number of beneficiaries within each category will be increased.
In the second phase of the program, the Extremely Poor category will record an increase of 80,000 beneficiaries, bringing the total to 480,000. Similarly, the Poor category, which previously had 800,000 families, will rise to 960,000. The WBB has also estimated that the Vulnerable and Transitional categories will collectively increase to 480,000 beneficiaries, up from 400,000 in the first phase.
The welfare amounts will also be an upward adjustment. The Government has decided to raise the benefit for the Extremely Poor category from Rs. 15,000 last year to Rs. 17,500. Families in the poor category will now receive Rs. 10,000, compared to Rs. 8,000 in the previous phase.
The WBB confirmed that the Rs. 5,000 increase granted to the Vulnerable and Transitional categories in the first phase will continue in the second phase of the program.
The disbursement of benefits under the first phase of the Aswesuma welfare program began in July 2023. By December 2024, over Rs. 11 billion had been distributed to over 1.7 million families. On December 27, outstanding funds were transferred to the bank accounts of 212,423 eligible families as part of the first phase of the scheme.
According to the Welfare Benefits Board (WBB), payments to an additional 85,000 families are still pending due to various reasons. However, the Board has assured that these payments, along with any arrears owed, will be completed soon.
Although Rs. 205 billion was allocated for the program in 2024, only Rs. 180 billion was used, enabling the Government to redirect the remaining Rs. 6.6 billion to provide school supplies for over 1.1 million students. This also enabled the Government to achieve 92 percent of the IMF’s welfare target, according to the WBB.
The Government has pledged to continue providing welfare assistance to the differently-abled community, those suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKDU), and elderly people over 70 years of age. In 2025, the WBB estimates that 410,000 people will receive benefits under the differently-abled category, while 410,000 will benefit from the CKDU category and 50,000 will receive assistance under the elderly category.
