The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a welfare scheme launched by the Government of India as a fully funded Centrally Sponsored Scheme, administered by the Ministry of Rural Development. Its origin dates back to August 15, 1995, when it was introduced to lay the foundation for a National Policy for Social Assistance for the poor. The scheme was created to address the lack of a uniform national social security framework and to fulfill the Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution, particularly Article 41, which mandates public assistance in cases of old age, sickness, and undeserved want.
The NSAP currently comprises five sub-schemes. The three main pension components are the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), and the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS). Under IGNOAPS, BPL beneficiaries aged 60-79 years receive ₹200 per month, while those 80 years and above receive ₹500 per month. The other two non-pension components are the National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS), which provides a one-time lump sum of ₹20,000 to a BPL family upon the death of the primary breadwinner aged 18-59 years, and the Annapurna Scheme, which provides 10 kg of free food grains monthly to eligible senior citizens not covered under IGNOAPS. Benefits are increasingly disbursed through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
The NSAP has undergone significant changes since its inception with three components, including the transfer of the National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) to the Department of Family Welfare in 2001 and the addition of IGNWPS and IGNDPS in 2009. A major overhaul was announced in November 2025, which proposes to increase the central contribution for the three pension schemes from the current ₹200-₹500 to ₹750-₹1,000 and expand eligibility to include transgender persons and unmarried women above 45 years living below the poverty line. However, the central government has recently shifted the onus of revising the pension amounts and updating the beneficiary lists to the states, citing no set timeline for revision in the scheme guidelines.