Article 41 of the Constitution of India directs the state to provide public assistance to its citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want within the limit of its economic capacity and development. Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution of India enjoin upon the state to undertake within its means a number of welfare measures. It is in accordance with these noble principles that the Government of India introduced National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) in 1995 as a centrally sponsored scheme under which 100 per cent central assistance is extended to the states/UTs to provide the benefits in accordance with the norms, guidelines and conditions laid down by the central government. NSAP is a social assistance programme for poor households—for the aged, widows, disabled and in the case of death of the breadwinner, thereby aiming at ensuring minimum national standards in addition to the benefits that the states are providing or might provide in further. The intention in providing hundred per cent central assistance is to ensure that social protection to the beneficiaries is available throughout the country. States are free to add on and expand their coverage.
