National Social Assistance Program (NSAP)

It was launched by Ministry of Rural Development in 1995. Key principles of NSAP include universal coverage of eligible persons and proactive identification, transparent and people friendly process, regular monthly disbursement of pensions and benefits preferably at the door-steps, IT based scheme with electronic transfer, robust social audit, key role for local self-government institutions, robust grievance redressal system, automatic convergence and state specific guidelines (3). In addition to some other schemes like financial assistance to widows and persons with disabilities, NSAP includes Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) and Annapurna Scheme. The scheme is revised periodically. IGNOAP provides a monthly pension for 60+ aged persons and an enhanced pension for 80+ belonging to BPL (below poverty line) category. As of now, there are 25 million beneficiaries under IGNOAPS and recent figures under NSAP stand at about 33 million beneficiaries. Shortcomings of NSAP include low awareness of program, inadequate pension amount, difficulties in beneficiary identification and need for a complex administrative machinery for a diverse and vast country like India.