The government is preparing to start a new welfare program (package) in which 43 lakh low-income families and individual units of the country, including Samurdhi beneficiaries, will be registered through a telephone application and given 5000 rupees each monthly.

Until now, due to the political pressure caused by the selection of the deserving by the government officials, the World Bank together with the Central Bank has planned to directly select the individuals and families who are suffering from poverty.

The support for this program is provided by the World Bank as per the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund that another protection program should be implemented for the people who are suffering due to the economic crisis in the country.

Accordingly, in addition to the 17 lakh community who are currently receiving the Samurdhi benefit, individuals and families who are expecting the Samurdhi subsidy, the elderly, kidney patients and the disabled are also included in this new relief package.

In addition to this, another 600,000 families and individuals identified as impoverished due to the current economic crisis will also benefit. The government has planned to implement this subsidy package for a period of two years in the initial phase.

Commenting on this subsidy package, a Finance Ministry official said, “One of the accusations made by the Financial Fund is that there has been no transparency in the distribution of subsidies in the country so far. Therefore, in this new program we are introducing a mobile app.”