The Social Welfare Board of the Finance Ministry is calling for new applications for the ‘Aswesuma’ social benefits programme from today (10) to select 400,000 more beneficiaries.
Accordingly, eligible persons can send their applications to be considered for the ‘Aswesuma’ social benefits programme.
Finance Ministry sources said that certain criteria for the selection of beneficiaries would be revised based on the suggestions made by various parties.
The new ‘Aswesuma’ beneficiaries who are entitled to receive this allowance are to be selected within the first quarter of this year and they will receive the allowance starting from April 1.
In line with this move, the Government has taken the decision to increase the monthly allowances paid to disabled persons, kidney patients and elderly citizens from January 2024. Under this increment, kidney patients and disabled persons’ allowances will be raised from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 7,500, while the elderly citizens’ allowance will be increased from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 3,000 with effect from January 2024. According to the Finance Ministry statistics, the total number of ‘Aswesuma’ beneficiaries now stands at over 1.7 million. However the Government plans to extend these benefits to a total of two million people.
