• Over 1.7m to qualify as extremely poor and poor 
• Appeals and objections sought till 11 Nov

The Welfare Benefits Board (WBB) has taken steps to remove 1,391,830 beneficiaries under the revised selection process of the Aswesuma welfare benefits programme. 

According to the Government Gazette Number 2497/03, dated 15 December of last year (2025), financial assistance under the Aswesuma scheme will henceforth be provided only to beneficiaries classified under the ‘extremely poor’ and ‘poor’ categories. 

Following the updating of beneficiary information, 991,800 people have qualified under the first list. Of them, 363,142 beneficiaries fall under the extremely poor category and are eligible to receive a monthly allowance of Rs 17,500 each. A further 628,658 beneficiaries have qualified under the “poor” category, making them eligible for a monthly allowance of Rs 10,000 each.

Meanwhile, the WBB stated that approximately 740,127 families are expected to be selected for the second list, which is scheduled to be released in December. 

The current list of eligible beneficiaries has been displayed on notice boards at all Divisional Secretariat and Grama Niladhari offices.

Members of the public who wish to submit appeals or objections regarding the published list have been given an opportunity to do so from yesterday (29) to 11 November.

The WBB expects to publish the second list of newly eligible beneficiaries in December, following the completion of the information-updating process.