The National Social Assistance Programme provides a 'floor' while States build the edifice. Examine the implications of this design for inter-State equity in social protection.

The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), renamed Pradhan Mantri Samajik Sahayata Yojana in October 2026, gives effect to Article 41. It is fully centrally funded and guarantees a national minimum to BPL households: old-age, widow and disability pensions and a family benefit [1][2]. States add their own top-ups to this floor. The design ensures that every BPL citizen gets something, but it does not ensure that equally poor citizens in different States get the same.

The floor-and-edifice design

• Centre sets the floor: it fixes BPL eligibility, base rates (Rs 200/month old-age pension for ages 60–79) and State-wise beneficiary ceilings [4][1].
• States build the edifice: in 2017–21, States/UTs added ₹1,09,573 crore against central allocations of ₹34,432 crore [3].

Implications that promote equity

• A minimum everywhere: about 3.20 crore beneficiaries in all 36 States/UTs get a baseline, whatever their State's finances [2].
• No matching share: with 100% central assistance, poorer States do not have to co-fund the floor [1].
• Common standards: the 2026 reform applies the RPwD Act's 40% benchmark disability test, with eligibility from birth, uniformly across States [2].
• Room to innovate: States can raise rates or widen coverage within cooperative federalism.

Implications that erode equity

• The State decides the amount: top-ups range from Rs 50 to Rs 5,700/month, averaging about Rs 1,100 [1]. Two equally poor elderly people can receive very different pensions.
• The floor has not moved: the central old-age rate is still Rs 200 [4]. Richer States raise their top-ups while poorer States cannot, so the gap keeps widening.
• Delivery capacity varies: citing the 2023 CAG audit, PRS notes that 4 States paid quarterly, 2 annually and 17 on an ad hoc basis, despite the monthly norm [5]. The CAG also found short payment of ₹61.71 crore to 92,602 beneficiaries in 11 States/UTs [3].
• Exclusion is uneven: fixed ceilings and outdated BPL lists exclude eligible people unevenly across States [1].

Way forward

• Index central rates to inflation, and revisit the Mihir Shah Task Force proposal for a Comprehensive NSAP [6].
• Cover everyone who is eligible, replacing ceilings with demand-based coverage.
• Give extra support to low-capacity States, and set common standards: monthly DBT and proactive identification [3].

The floor-and-edifice design secures universal coverage but makes the real value of a pension depend on where the beneficiary lives. A higher, inflation-indexed floor, demand-based coverage and support for weaker States would turn Article 41's promise into an actual national minimum, in line with SDG 1.3 on social protection systems for all.